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The Running Boat!

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The daffodils were so beautiful in mid March In November last year we took ourselves to the local Everyman cinema to watch The Running Man. Settled on the comfy sofas, enjoying wine and nachos, we watched the futuristic tale of a reality gameshow contestant who is on the run, narrowly avoiding disaster at every turn. Not my usual choice in movies, but we were keen to see Lucy's boyfriend Roberto in action, as he was performing many of the crazy stunts. Our recent, and for reasons which we will explain later, last trip on Dun Eideann felt as though it was from the very same action genre. What should have been a gentle pootle along the Rochdale Canal, turned into an unpredictable adventure and narrow escape at every turn. We started our journey in Sowerby Bridge where we had abandoned the boat last summer with the canals closing due to water shortages. After a very wet Winter, the hope was that there would be enough water in the Rochdale Canal to float us across the Pennines. So ...
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Homeward Bound!

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Vauxhall Bridge, round the corner from our London flat;  this picture (which I took I the Autumn) is the hob splash back for our new kitchen In two weeks we will return “home” to Edinburgh - almost 2 years and an half years after we left. It was meant to be 18 months, but we took the chance to spend the winter in London and to follow that with what was supposed to be a summer on the boat. Few can have missed the glorious weather we seem to have had for much of the last six months, and, those who know me well, know that I love a hot and sunny climate. But even I am becoming more aware and somewhat concerned about the impact of what feels like a shift in climate in recent years.  Early Summer - Onboard with Sarah & Craig Our plan for the summer was to cruise from East to West along one of three canals which cross the Pennines. We picked up our newly blacked boat at the start of May but as the weeks progressed more and more sections started closing from lack of water. So ba...
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Pushing Weed

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A rare sunny morning on the Leeds & Liverpool   This year we have discovered the seven wonders of the canal boating world, four of which we have visited this “summer”. Though I don’t think we can really call it a summer. There are few days we have not had a coal fire in the evening and my shorts have barely seen the light of day. Lucky for Mum, we had pretty good weather when she joined us for the first of the wonders, and even managed dinner outside - by way of contrast, during our first summer on board, we did not use the breakfast bar, except for breakfast! Her trips seem to extend by a day each year(!)and for her four day trip this year, we chose to cross the Pontcysyllte aqueduct, heading to Llangollen .  Crossing the Pontcysyllte Aquaduct   It is as impressive as it looks in the pictures, and quite freaky when you are just 6 inches of metal away from the edge and a very long drop. The Llangollen canal is extremely pretty but fairly busy with hire boats and so na...
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Across the Tasman Sea

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Two months on.  We are still here – flying out of New Zealand after a lovely five weeks travelling around both Islands.  One big change during this time – Ian has entered his 7 th  decade giving us lots of excuses to indulge! Not that you two need any excuses I can imagine you thinking!  We left you as we arrived into Perth, with Kieran, Alasdair, Tom and Lucy and partners flying in to meet us for Christmas and New Year.  Standing waiting in the arrival hall (which Ian did 3 times in 24 hours), there was a lovely message on the doors where we stood observing many ‘Love Actuallyesque’ reunions.  “The  best Christmas present is about to walk through these doors”.  So true!    I had booked the seven of them into the historic old prison in Fremantle (now a YHA albeit with double en-suite rooms) while we had a rather swanky one-bed loft style apartment down the road in South Freo.  This enabled us to cater Christmas lunch (complete with ...
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