Harrison gets a workout

Once again it is the end of the week and time for me to drag my weary self behind the laptop and type this out, with the admonition from A “don’t do a long one” ringing in my ears. And so I will attempt to please her.

 

Stupendously tasty steak

Before I get into the week and just how busy it has been let’s go back to after I finished typing the last post and went to start cooking dinner. We had two huge ribeye steaks, bought from our favourite butcher up in Blackpool, and I did my patent butter mushrooms, oven chips (I can’t wait to get back to my deep fryer) and peas and, if I do say so myself, I outdid myself. The steaks were done perfectly with the fat melty and the blood still running, and everything else was perfect as well. It was a lovely way to end the weekend and while now it is a dim memory it has all been brought back to me by typing about it. I’m good at cooking steaks.

 

I needed my third hand for the transfer application

While I was waiting for the chips to be done well enough to start the rest of the meal I set myself back on with the modelling and found a use for one piece of kit that I didn’t think I’d use yet; it says it is supposed to be for holding tweezers however I could not get them to stay firmly grasped, while not putting more pressure than I wanted on the plastic of the model so in the end I carefully and gently clamped the wing in directly and it worked really well. I haven’t actually touched the model since last week as the transfers really need direct sunlight and I haven’t had time, but it is nearly finished finally.

 

Another tasty burger

The main reason for not getting any more time on the kit is it has been a busy week again. Work has been tiring and I came back from the office on Monday with such a bad headache that I was asleep in bed by about 4.20pm and, other than waking to eat some lovely soup for dinner, slept right through until the alarm the next morning. The headache had been so bad that A even walked round to bring me headache pills during the day. Tuesday was a much better day and I got to go and meet up with my ex colleagues in the pub near work for lunch which was a real pleasure and we have agreed that we’ll do at least one more before I get to go home.

 

Stacking and sorting the train track

That evening I set myself the task of sorting, counting and packing the train track that I have so far. I spent about two hours and didn’t complete it all but at least it was a start. A fell asleep laying on the sofa while I was doing it and I don’t blame her as it wasn’t very interesting but we do have to start tidying and clearing up preparatory for leaving as the date is fast approaching. Wednesday night A helped out and we now have some boxes of nicely sorted track (elastic banded together into fives) and a few over which will get sorted with the final box that is due to arrive this week. I will certainly have enough track to make a good layout.

I don’t have pictures of the next but I managed to pick up a three seater sofa and two single chairs from Freecycle. They were just out towards Manchester and it didn’t take long to head over in Harrison to collect them. It was good to get him moving again (he made a “clonk” as we first set off having been sat for so long) and he made good progress all the way. The tail lift was once again a bonus and the chairs were loaded and we left the collection point within a couple of minutes. These will be my furniture once A leaves with the leather suite and it’s good to have that sorted out. The sofa is currently in the back of Harrison, though we have the single chairs inside as they don’t take up that much space.

Wednesday night was a night out with the extended team at my office as a group of them had come down from the Scottish office for the week. On my recommendation we went to the local with the amazing gammon, egg and chips and I don’t think anyone was disappointed. It was a really enjoyable evening with quite a crowd which slowly whittled down to just me, A and the Scottish guys and it was good to get on a social footing with them. I drank more than I meant to, though not that much, and it took a while on Thursday for my head to clear again.

 

Hugest of tasty pizzas

Thursday evening, after eating lovely bangers and mash with onion gravy we jumped into Harrison and headed over to Fi’s house. This weekend we have been helping Cjc move up there and I had the great idea that rather than have a complicated process of collecting and meeting up in service stations why don’t we just go over and stay the night Thursday where I can work from there on Friday and set straight down south at 4pm without complications. This worked really well and we manage to work our way south and round the peaks to avoid the snow that had closed most of the passes over the tops. When we arrived we had a beer and a nice chat before bed. Working from there on Friday was not a problem at all and by 3pm I had reached a point where I could shut down so off we went in Harrison. There were a few roadworks, and quite a number of accidents, on the M1 but we made pretty good time and reached his flat about 7pm. After a short round of tidying and putting some boxes into the back of Harrison we walked to the Italian in town near him and I had a huge hot pizza with chili oil and Gran Riserva. When we got back to his flat after I was very tired and sat watching him tidying around, then got a burst of energy before bed where we packed up and tidied the last of the DVDs and CDs.

 

Loaded the night before

I slept like a log and woke before the alarm which went off at 6.30. It was still dark so I snoozed it but we were both up and working at the loading by 7am. Cjc has a LOT of stuff and while loads had already been boxed, the volume of boxes was such it had prevented a large amount of the final packing and tidying to be completed. I was tasked with fitting everything into the back of Harrison and so went out, moved all the boxes we had loaded the night before (typical) so they were better arranged and every now and then demanded that Cjc tidy and release an item to me so it could be put in its own special place. One of his friends also came along for the morning to help and she was an immense help with tidying and taking beds down and making cups of tea and generally being of assistance in many ways. I made bacon and egg butties for everyone but that was about the only break and when we finally pulled the shutter down on the back of Harrison at 11.45am we were already pretty tired.

 

Still only about 2/3 full

We didn’t pause but were straight on the road and with only a brief pause to buy a butty and have a toilet break we drove straight to Sheffield. Most of the stuff we had collected was due to be put into a storage lockup he had rented and that morning I had a brainwave and asked A to meet us there to help unload. This was a brilliant idea and without her I don’t think we would have managed. We arrived about five minutes before her taxi brought her and when Cjc had found the locker we went to take a look. A was tasked with emptying his OTHER locker (he already had a small one) and moving the boxes to the new one, while we would empty Harrison and stack it all in there. It did not take long for me to observe that the new lockup would be way too small and after a bit of umming and ahhing (not before we’d already moved a load of boxes to the new locker, unfortunately) we managed to persuade him to upgrade and this was a very good job as even with my master tessellating skills we only just managed to fit everything in it. For a while it looked like we would have to take more stuff back to Fi’s than originally planned and I am so relieved we didn’t.

 

You fat bastard!

It was dark and we were starving as we left the storage so we rang ahead and Fi was ready for the walk (quite a long one, as tired and hungry as I was) to the pub with the good food. It was worth the extra effort though as the burger I ordered (doubled up, with egg and bacon) was immense and super tasty. The waitress didn’t think I’d finish it and expressed surprise when I emptied my plate as fast as everyone else who only had “normal” meals. All the food was good and it was a much slower more contented party which walked back to the house. I was shattered and after a short while back there I went to bed and slept through.

This morning I woke up naturally with no alarm and then dragged my complaining body out of bed (A had already gone for a run! Crazy woman!) down stairs and we started unloaded what had been brought back to be stored there. This was mainly a book shelf, boxes of books, and some kitchen stuff. When we had it all unloaded it was realised that we couldn’t find the little shelf things that the shelves sit on so we found a B and Q and myself and Cjc headed off for it; only a fifteen minute drive we thought. A was left with instructions to have breakfast waiting when we got back but fortunately she waited as the traffic was horrendous and it took well over an hour to get there and back. We did find the correct pieces though so Cjc was left happily stacking books as we were back into Harrison and driving home.

So now I sit here having eaten a lovely spag boll (pictures next week now) and before that had a super long soak in a bath with a generous dollop of Radox for relaxation purposes. My muscles are still aching and I am shattered but I feel human again. It has been a really good workout, this weekend, and not just in terms of physical effort. I now feel comfortable with Harrison and understand his limitations (at one point we were reduced to 1st gear going up a hill!) but also am confident that we will have no trouble fitting everything in and making near enough the progress we need to arrive in three days. I have had another idea as well which is to try and leave a space by the shutter where we can collect Rambo on the way. This is to take us on a route which does not require you to do the major mountains between Bulgaria and Romania, and will also mean A doesn't have to disappear midweek to collect him. This will only work if I can pack Harrison such that there is space, and things aren’t likely to fall on him. We shall see.

Right, a cup of tea has just been brought so I’m going to stop typing (it hasn’t been short, has it… oh well) and see you next week.

Bivouacking

Another week passed, and week closer to the trip back over to our home. It is safe to say that we are starting to get very excited and it is awesome to once again enter that period just before “the off” when time is running short to get things organised and the hard and fast deadline of “no more time” fast approaches. This week has seen several steps forwards so without further ado, here it is.

 

Double egg on gammon with Bob

The week began with a day in the office the completely exhausted me and sent me straight to bed when I got home for forty minutes of much needed sleep. It was just one of those days where you end up shattered but without much to show for it. The evening was a real blast, however, as a very good old friend of mine came over and all three of us went to our new local for gammon, egg and chips (they doubled up the egg this time, and the ratio of meat to egg was much better for it) and A suffered through several hours of model trainset talk; Bob has been planning and building a trainset for many years now and has a wealth of knowledge that I was keen to mine. The upshot of the whole thing is I am now going to go for what is called DCC which means you send digital signals to a chip inside each engine, rather than just crudely controlling the train with variable current; it is a much more versatile and simple way to build the layout which appeals to me.

It was a really enjoyable evening and it has been left that Bob will come over again in a couple of weeks maybe, and this time he’ll bring some toys for us to play with. A has said that if this happens, she’ll cook for us and leave us to it while she goes to the pub on her own. For this I could not blame her one little bit.

 

Snow dusting the pavements

The rest of the week at work has pretty much settled into the same pattern as Monday, with quite a lot of frustration at times, but also some personal satisfaction for getting things done. I have learned so much in the time I’ve been at this contract and it was definitely the correct decision to make, notwithstanding how disappointed I was when the Sheffield contract didn’t work out. I am particularly enjoying the walk to and from work and when I left on Wednesday I was most excited by the slight fall of snow the previous night which I crunched through and found surprisingly unslippery. A didn’t believe me and so didn’t go for her run that morning, claiming she didn’t want to slip; I think it was more because it was so cold.

 

A small amount of train kit stuff

When I got back from the office I was taken by a need to tidy up. I have bought so much track from so many different people that it was starting to spread and become irritating. The doorway from the living room to the dining area was basically out of action and there were boxes in the office as well as spread out in the corner of the living room. I pulled everything together then spent some time repacking the few items of rolling stock and scenery that I have and put them into one box, then gathered the track together and stacked it up neatly in the corner. I’m waiting for one more box now, as I type this, and then I will assess what I have and pack it into the boxes which will be transported home.

One of the big ticket items which has been on the list to be ordered for a while now is the scaffolding which we will be taking back with us. On Thursday morning I got round to ringing the guy and this is now sorted; it will be delivered in a couple of weeks to our house here so it can go straight into the back of Harrison. Along with this I have been thinking about taking back an electric roller shutter garage door as I was unable to find one last year while I was in Bulgaria. I am looking for a reasonable price second hand one on eBay but I think this may well end up being too expensive and I’ll just have to settle for what I can get from an out-of-town company in Bulgaria. We also have to be aware of the weight limit of Harrison as we’ll be quite close, what with the scaffolding and the sofas.

Posh spuds

Thursday evening was the highlight of our week when we went, with Ryan, Cat, Lee and Vic, to The French in Manchester. While it doesn’t have a Michelin star, the chef has three others spread over two different restaurants and it was very close to achieving one of its own this year. The report said that it was let down by slight inconsistency and I can’t help but agree. It was absolutely wonderful; four hours or excellent company, fantastic service and exquisite food however the main course (of duck with parsnip, basically) was a let down; for me the parsnip was the biggest fail in that it had no crisp at the tail end at all, but other people commented in the same way that the duck didn’t have crispy fat. It is nitpicking really, and please go if you get a chance as it is a wonderful place to eat, I am just saying I can understand it not getting the star. We had a brilliant time and the legendary Smoked Turkey night has now be arranged as well so that’s to be looked forward to in a couple of weeks.

 

Lee's favourite dish; Ox in Coal Oil

Puddin'

Anyway, back to the food at The French; Lee had been raving about the “Ox in Coal Oil” and when it arrived we were not let down. This is an awesome dish and everyone could have easily eaten ten times the quantity. My favourite was one that I didn’t get a picture of (as I ate it too quickly) and was the salad. It had so many different flavours that every time you picked up a forkful you were treated to a new dish. Wonderful. The other highlight was the cheese board which was stacked with awesomeness including the Irish cheese that A had chosen from the cheese stall in Keswick market. It was gone eleven when we finally left the table and made our way to the bus stop to get back to the car parked outside the old flat. An excellent night.

 

Pitched the bivvy in the snow

A was off to Blackpool again on Friday and so I again got the pleasure of watching her have to get up and leave while I stayed snuggled in bed but, as last week, I didn’t lie in long and was pretty soon sat at my desk working away. It was another really busy day and I didn’t even get time to have a proper lunch as I was glued to skype talking to people scattered around the country. I did take a little time away from my desk midmorning to go outside and pitch the bivouac as my plan was to sleep in it that night. It was sunny, but slightly raining, as I was putting it up and later on it snowed but that wasn’t going to put me off trying it out; if I’m going to be using this to travel across Northern Europe in March then it will need to be able to cope with this weather and worse, possibly.

 

It was a tad nippy when I went to bed

I worked til late but then had to stop as key members of staff decided that pub was more important than finishing our task on the day, so went and ate and relaxed and then it was time to go outside. I am sure that A thought (and still thinks) that I was insane to want to sleep outside and when we got there and found a large lump of ice sat on top of the bivvy maybe she had a point but I was not going to be put off. I put the ice away onto the grass (where it still was the next morning) and then started the process of getting inside.

 

All wrapped up and warm and comfortable

It didn’t take me to get wriggled inside my sleeping bag and then zip myself in and, after snapping a quick picture for this blog, A went in to get into the lovely warm comfortable bed upstairs. It did not take me long to get comfortable and I fell asleep pretty quickly. I woke in the early hours of the morning needing a drink and the loo and so I went inside and found that fortunately A had left the back door unlocked for me. When I got back in I found that there was quite a lot of condensation inside which was putting some water onto the top of the sleeping bag but it wasn’t too bad. I lay there for a bit with the zip above my head open a crack so I could look at the stars and then I closed that up and went back to sleep. I slept so well that it was past 9am before I was inside brewing up and waking A. All in all this has been a really useful experience as I know I need some way of drinking without having to get my hands out of the sleeping bag (maybe a runners water bottle with a nozzle) and also I want a travel clock for in there. We dried all the kit out very quickly in the dining area and that is another thing learned; the sleeping bag will have to be spread out during the day to dry the condensation off of it.

 

Lovely baker and lovely cake

Saturday, having said that I slept well, I was pretty tired and my plans for getting on with the model plane were put on hold, other than a small amount of touching up of the paint. We walked over to Tesco for a shop which was excellent as I have lent Thomas to a mate for the weekend. He should be back on Sunday (today). Other than that A got her baking hat on (the banana bread last week was such a hit she wanted to try something different) and on Saturday she made a lovely lemon cake which will be breakfast for me next week.

We watched a film and then I was yawning so headed up to bed leaving her to watch another, terrible, film. I couldn’t sleep easily so I was pleased to have a quick chat with my mate Pixie who emigrated to Australia a couple of years ago, and I also spoke to Bob about specific DCC controllers the outcome of which is I think I’ve found one and know what I’m going to get. When I woke on Sunday I did a little more research and now I am convinced. I will need to get an Android tablet as the controller doesn’t come with its own interface but then I will have wireless control out of the box. Now I just need to decide which version to get and which tablet and I’m good.

 

Another dusting of snow

It had snowed again in the night but again not a huge amount; not as much as on Boxing Day even, so no snowball fights. A hasn’t even been out in her wellies yet which I’m most surprised by. She has been cooking and baking again all morning and has created this wonderful smelling and tasting Pumpkin cake, making use of the pumpkins segments I had completely forgotten we had saved from when I made the Pumpkin pie which is ALSO still in the freezer.

 

An enormous pumpkin cake 

While she was doing this I was having fun in the dining area at the table putting the transfers onto the Red Arrow. This is super fiddly work and I did lose one when it blew off the tip of the tweezers however despite this set back I’m pretty pleased with my achievement on it. For a first attempt for years it is pretty good if I say so myself. I am again not rushing this and probably won’t complete all the transfers until next weekend. I have the air ambulance to make a start on next and this will give me time to get the paints that I’ll need for that.

 

It is starting to look like the real thing now

And so I’m going to stop typing this up and relax with my book for a bit before doing a little more transferring and then I am cooking steak for dinner so A will have to leave the kitchen and let me in there. Shock horror!

Taking it easier

This week has been far less fraught and overwhelming than the previous and so, possibly, this’ll be a shorter blog post. We shall see, though.

The week began back in the office well enough; it was nice to see my colleagues again after the Christmas break and it has been a good week in that regard, work wise, from beginning to end. The team is starting to gel a bit better and I am enjoying working closer with Lorenzo as well. There was a nasty moment on Monday when I heard that a bailiff had turned up at my accountants, way down south, claiming my business was massively in debt but after a lot of panic, and quite a bit of head scratching, I have worked out what the issue is and this is now in hand. I’m annoyed at a couple of people about it, and it does just show again just what crooks Debt Collection Agencies are, but at least I’m now on top of the situation.

 

Lots of deliveries

The other theme for the week has been deliveries and not just of model railway kit. S and S had asked if we would kindly bring some items back for them in Harrison, which obviously we agreed to without question. This was delivered on Wednesday, along with the two sunbathing recliner rocker chair things that we had picked out for the balcony and roof terrace. A was complaining that the front room looked a bit like a sorting office and you can see her point. We moved all the boxes out into Harrison to clear space for us to continue using the sofa.

It is now less than eight weeks til we drive back to Bulgaria (not that either of us are getting overly excited… honest) and so I’ve been turning my thoughts towards getting completely ready for the journey, and gathering together the items we will need. I do still have to order the second Belfast sink for my part of the kitchen however there was good news that my parents’ offer of the entirety of their kitchen will be able to go ahead. It’ll be a challenge to fit everything in I’m sure but that is such a generous offer and makes a huge difference to us. A has even come round to my thinking that there’ll be plenty of storage in the units we get from my parents and so we may as well just use it as our kitchen and not as random storage around the house.

 

Painting the parts on the sprue

As for my evenings I have been able to spend a few minutes at least every day during the week putting the finishing touches on the paint for my model Red Arrow. I have learned so much from doing this and I am really pleased that I didn’t rush ahead with the Concorde model. I have also ordered almost all the model train equipment that I want to take back and that has been arriving through the week; it has got so the delivery people now know A by sight and don’t have to ask the name for deliveries. I’m obviously loving that it is like Christmas every day I get back with parcels to unwrap. If only I wasn’t having to pay for it all

 

A modelling her wellies

Talking of which I had the great pleasure of buying A a pair of wellies that she has been wanting for ages and getting them shipped to her. When they arrived I was talking to her on skype and hinted that she should go and open the latest parcel. She bounced away and returned to reply fully in capitals and she has been wearing them excitedly ever since. They will do her really well over in Bulgaria during snow and the colder months.

The internet dongle stopped working on Thursday which was a pain as it meant A couldn’t do any work but it did mean that rather than the plan which was to go to Blackpool together on Saturday, she went on her own on Friday so she could work at the studio while Thomas was at the garage getting the clonks and rubbing sounds checked out. This worked out very well as the clonking was just the spare tyre that was once again loose, and the rubbing wasn’t anything major but Chris’ll be able to fix it next week when the replacement bearings arrive. I woke really early on Friday morning and could not get back to sleep so was up checking the internet out and found that it had recovered over night. To be fair to Three they were excellent on the phone, really helpful, and have given me 7 days credit as an apology for the outage which I didn’t even ask for. At the moment, I remain impressed with them.

 

This was such a lovely meal

When A got back from Blackpool we were neither in the mood for cooking so decided to walk up to the pub round the corner for dinner and to check out our local. This ended up being a really good decision as the food was outstanding (the gammon joint underneath that egg was a good two inches thick and fantastically well cooked) as well as being reasonably priced, and the pub is a really lovely one. It is right next to the canal and has two open fireplaces and loads of interesting items displayed around the walls. The other locals are also really nice and welcoming; I can see myself going down there a bit once I am on my own here.

 

Striations in the sky

Saturday morning I was again up early; it had been so windy in the night that neither of us slept particularly well. The most exciting part of the night was about an hour in when I was woken by a loud bang and then the sound of hail. I got up to look out of the window as it was really very loud but the weather wasn’t that bad. When I turned round I saw the front door swinging. My first thought was “break in!” but when I got downstairs I found that the TV and laptop was still lying on the floor so I guess the wind must have blown it open. I checked around the house and found nothing untoward so relocked the door and went back to bed. I was asleep pretty quickly again and slept well. I mainly got out of bed as I had seen a glimmer in the sky through the landing window and was rewarded by a gorgeous “herring bone” pattern in the sky from the sun, still below the horizon. It cleared quite quickly, as I sat in the dining area modelling again and waiting for A to wake up. She was off for her run, which she has managed every single day this week, and when she got back she joined me in toast with some of the plum, raisin and walnut jam that I opened that morning. Wow I’m good at jam making.

 

Delicate work sliding the transfer off the backing

I had reached the point on my model where I would have to start putting transfers on so I sat down with a bowl of warm water and very carefully reminded myself of the technique. All of them went on very well apart from one which I had to secure (later in the day, after leaving it for a good while) with a tiny dab of glue where it was lifting a bit. These transfers are all for the cockpit and so will be enclosed in the final model but I still want them to be good.

 

The cockpit is starting to take shape

A bit later I succumbed to A’s encouragement and also began the gluing, putting the cockpit pieces all together and even managing to squeeze the little pilot figure in with the joystick between his knees. It is very detailed but reveals my lack of skill with a fine paintbrush however that will only get better with time and with practice. My plan is for this Red Arrow to eventually be joined by a second and to have them hanging, flying in formation, from the roof above the train set. I’m even considering getting some cotton wool to trail behind as their smoke. Putting this model together has given me some more ideas about the Concorde including finding out there are no pilot figures included with the kit so I’m going to track some down for it. I’m also really thinking seriously about putting some small lights in the cabin and cockpit so, if I wish to have the train set in a “night time” mode, then the Concorde can have its lights turned on. As you can tell, this is a good hobby for me and will entertain me for hours.

 

The lucky charms for the journey

The final thing I did on Saturday was to mount the two micro machine planes that I had bought for Harrison onto his dashboard. I got a Sopwith Camel and a Red Baron (both had to be shipped from the States and arrived to the studio for A to collect on Friday) and have stuck them down as picture in front of the steering wheel using little glue patches. They will do us proud on the journey over, and when I’m moving Cjc in a couple of weeks too. It’s good to have them there.

 

Chilling on the sun lounger

And so to today. I was up and modelling again relatively early, while A went for her run, then I cooked what ended up being a fantastic breakfast with butter mushrooms, bacon, fried egg and toast and we ate this sat together in the office. It has been a relaxing day in the main, since then, though I’ve been up and down to the table to keep doing bits and pieces of painting and gluing – I found a few mistakes today which really reinforces my determination to be cautious while doing the Concorde. Firstly though I pulled one of the boxed up recliners in from Harrison to put together and found that it went together really easily and once it was built and I sat on it, found that it is really comfortable as well. This will pack down nicely so I’ll keep this one here for the garden come nicer weather, and the still flat packed one can go back with A.

 

Rail bridge

One of the items I bought for the train set, and not one that is immediately in my plans for the layout, is this bridge. It is a lifting bridge over a river and was sold advertised as a project for repair. They weren’t wrong; it has teeth missing from where it lifts up and the whole lifting mechanism is gone. I also found that one of the uprights was broken so this picture is taken just after I fixed that. I really like it though and once it is back working I can imagine it looking really good in the layout. The challenge of wiring it so a locomotive can carry on while going over the bridge is another question, however.

 

Red Arrow Hawk T1 slowly taking shape

As I have mentioned I have been on and off at the modelling all day today as well and this is the state of the plane as of sitting and typing this up. It is by no means perfect and there are a number of things I did wrong right at the beginning which will impact on how well it is finished however it is also a lot better than I expected to be able to achieve so I’m happy enough. The real key is one I knew already which is “be patient” and “be cautious” but my patience and caution, as prepared as I was, was not enough. My basic skills are improving to the extent that today I was able to pare off paint with the scalpel really accurately before gluing some pieces together.

So there you have it; not THAT short a post, but a far less hectic one and now I’m going to save this for upload tomorrow and go and find a snack – big as breakfast was it hasn’t quite been enough to keep me through til dinner.

The weekend

Here is part two of what happened last week as, at over 3000 words, the previous post was well long enough without my rambling on for another extended period of time about the awesome weekend we had. However, now you've had 24 hours to get over it, I’ll not spare you any longer so here it is.

 

Getting started on the Red Arrows Hawk model

We got back from our New Year boating trip feeling really pleased with the time we had had, but also quite tired. It was a quiet evening on the Friday and an early night and when we woke up the next day, to a relatively dry start, we felt a lot better. I had booked us a hotel in Keswick for the Saturday night as a bar I follow on twitter had tweeted an advert to a gig they had on which looked amazing, and it would give us the opportunity to catch up with another good friend of mine who I hadn’t seen for a while. We were in no real rush, however, to set off and so I got to start the day by getting going painting the Red Arrow 1:72 model plane that had been delivered in the week. I did not notice the time passing and spent an hour or two huddled over the kit trying to remember how you are supposed to get an even finish. By the end of the morning I was happy with the progress I had made, though one side of the plane is not finished all that well. It is a learning process and this is the reason I bought the kit.

 

My mate's wife makes the cakes; they are AMAZING!

Once the time was made apparent to me I rushed around to get ready and we managed to leave the house on time to drive up north. It was a pretty easy drive, though the first hour or so was through horrendous rain. As we approached Keswick the skies cleared and it was gorgeous by the time we found our hotel and checked in. We didn't stop in the room but went straight out to the market where I bought some more of the chipotle which I had enjoyed so much on the way to Bulgaria last year (wow – last year, now!) as well as a number of other jars from the same stall, then some super smelly cheeses which we chose with care. We’d arranged to meet my friend about 3pm at his café but were both feeling really hungry so we headed over early, got ourselves a seat, and had a very nice light lunch including this awesome Pecan and Maple Syrup cake (A had a carrot cake) which was scrumptious.

 

The look of a man about to dive into a serious burger

My friend turned up and we spent the next couple of hours sat in his café chatting and catching up which was really good fun. Too soon it was time for us to say goodbye and get the stinky cheese back to the hotel (actually, we put it in the car so it wouldn't stink the room out and thus stank Thomas up instead) and then walk back to the Filling Station Café for the evening. This was a way out of the centre and it felt like a long walk as the temperature had plummeted and we were really cold however when we got there we were very glad to have made the effort. We were made very welcome by the serving staff and settled ourselves in a booth where we had a couple of drinks and then ordered food which came quickly and was outstanding.

 

Petrol can guitar and box drum - Phil Saunders

Slightly later the owner arrived and recognised me and then we sat and drank beer and waited for the act to arrive. It turns out that he had been sat in the corner for a while and then, when he set up, I realised that we’d seen him busking in the centre when we were walking back to drop the cheeses off which was ironic as I hadn't stopped because we were in a rush to get to see him live later on. He took  a little while to get rigged up but it was fun to watch as he had a load of home made gear, including a guitar made from a petrol can, and a box-drum with a Mercedes badge on the front.

It was starting to fill up by this point and the café is so small (only four booths) that we decided to shift around so we could allow someone else to sit down. This was a good move as two gentlemen came in and joined us and we ended up having a really nice chat with them. They were massively into their blues and told me about lots of gigs they had been to and then, at the end of the night and after we had decided that more beer was a bad idea, one of them went and bought us a beer. It’s nice sometimes to be sociable, much as it goes against my grain. By the way, if you want to skip the super long chatty intro in that video, go to about 5 minutes 30.

The walk back to the hotel seemed much shorter than on the way there, though that could well have been because I was desperate for the toilet and so A had to almost run to keep up with me. It was still cold though it didn’t feel quite as bitter as earlier but there was a lot of ice around and A did slide just the once. When we got in the room we made a cuppa and then jumped into bed. I’d booked the last room going which turned out to be a twin room so we spent the night swapping beds; first A was in mine then she went to hers then I chased her and on it went through the night until I woke up and checked the time and found it was about 8am. Both of us woke with no hangover at all which was amazing but we’d forgotten to let the owner know we didn’t want breakfast so I popped down to tell him and pass on greetings from my friend (who knows everyone in Keswick).

 

Reflections in Derwentwater

Sunrise reflected on ice

Snow on the distant mountains

A taking a picture

Sharded ice on the grass near the lake

The sun has risen

We had a cup of tea then checked out, dumped our stuff, and walked down through town towards the lakeside. It was a stunning morning, very similar to the last time I was in Keswick when I had taken Julian for his test trip and stayed at the campsite we were now stood in, photographing the gorgeous views across Derwent water. I make no apology for the number of pictures above. It was stunning.

 

A giraffe sculpture

Once we had taken every picture that we could think of, and repeated a few, we headed back towards town and breakfast. The Strawberry didn't open until about 10 and so we had some time to stroll around. A was looking for some good quality walking boots and with all the camping shops that are there, and the fact all of them had sales, we spent some time popping into a few shops and checking out what was on offer. We were not going to buy anything until after breakfast as some of the larger shops didn't open til 11, but we actually ended up finding the boots that she was to buy a bit later in one of the smaller shops. We went right up the high street and out the other end before turning round and back to the café. It still wasn't open when we got there but the waitress waved to us through the window then a few minutes later opened and we went in to the warmth.

 

Tea, and breakfast

We were brought oodles of tea (I get this treatment everywhere I go, I don’t know why) and then ordered a Full Cumbrian each which arrived shortly after and with extra sossidges as they spoil me here. It was outstanding, every single item on the plate tasting better than ever, and I finished it all then some of A’s bacon and her black pudding and finally we were satisfied. We finished our brews and headed off to the shops where after trying on a couple of different options A went for the first ones she had seen (standard) and then I asked about the bivouac gear I need for the trip back to Bulgaria and also the whisky festival. I had no luck at first but as we headed back towards Thomas we saw one last shop and popped in and I bought a super warm sleeping bag and a self-inflating bed roll and now all I need is the actual bivouac tent.

 

I will be modelling this scene in my train set

The drive home was pretty uneventful once we had reached the motorway, as I took the scenic route from Keswick and we worth both astounded again about how gorgeous the lake district is and the stunning views from the road made me want to stop and walk. A dozed in the car and we played the CD we’d bought the night before and then, with a small amount of traffic just before we left the motorway, we were back and home finally. I went straight into the back room to do some more painting while we had some daylight, and we also measured Harrison up so I can book the ferry tomorrow. I have also been winning some 00 gauge track on eBay over the past week so I can build a bit of a trainset in the roof and on the way we stopped at a particularly beautiful section of the M6 to photograph something I want to model.

So I've sat on the sofa typing both blog posts, eaten some pizza, chips and garlic bread, and A has dozed and cooked and is now reading the curry cookbook that my parents got her for Christmas and shortly we’ll be getting an early night as we’re both pretty tired. Tomorrow is back to the grindstone again for both of us, though by the time this is published that will be the day before yesterday; it’s kinda like time travel isn’t it. We have a couple of quiet weekends ahead before the chaos begins which will only end when we’re on the road back to Bulgaria. I’m going to try and enjoy them as much as possible.

Working, New Year, boating

What a week, so busy that you know that this blog post is going to be an epic one. I’m pretty tired right now, and A is snoozing wrapped up in her blanket on the recliner next to me, but I am so dedicated to writing these posts that I’m keeping myself going and getting on with it. So, without any further froth, here goes.

 

Icy start to the day

This week began with a “back to work” feeling as I was off into the office Monday through Wednesday to keep earning the money to be spent on finishing the work on the Old School. I was up and out bright and early Monday morning and found that it was a really cold morning, with ice everywhere making the paths slippery. This was the weather for all three of my walks into work but I was wrapped up warm so didn’t mind. The first morning in I had to go on a mission to find myself some milk in the office but thankfully the bottle left from the week before wasn’t off. I had the pleasure of coming home for lunch on Monday and Tuesday as I was alone in my office which was great; it was nice to sit with A and eat my lunch.

 

Thomas is now 100,000 miles old

On Wednesday (New Year’s Eve) I did not come home for lunch as we were off to stay on our friends’ boat again over the next couple of days and I worked a slightly shorter day, but over lunch, so we could get away as early as possible. It was quite a big week for Thomas as well as he clicked over the big 100,000 miles on his odometer. Both myself and A got pictures of this exciting occurrence but hers came out far better.

 

Useful sign in a pub

With the clock ticking over to 100,001 and upwards we set off towards North Wales and Ellesmere where they were aiming to meet us. They beat us by about twenty minutes or so and we arranged to meet in Tesco but we couldn’t see them in there so walked and found Valhalla, the boat, but it was locked up. When we headed back to Tesco we bumped into them walking out so went to get our bags and met them onboard. As it was New Year’s Eve we didn’t stay on the boat for that long but headed out into the town to find some beer and food. It was very strange as the first pub we went to was shut and the next was pretty much deserted but we ordered a pint anyway and settled down. My beer was off so I didn’t really touch it but A was most amused by this little sign by the bar.

 

Welcoming in 2015 together

From there we made our way around the centre looking for more pubs and eventually found another which was also pretty much deserted. We had a couple of pints, went round the corner to the chippy to grab some fish and chips, and then walked back to the boat to continue the evening celebration. On the way we found that the first pub, which looked like it served good food, was now open however the fish and chips did not let us down and we didn’t really regret having missed out on that. The rest of the evening passed in a blur of quite a lot of alcohol and a lot of fun as well. It wasn’t planned that we drink a lot; indeed at 10.30 we looked at our watches and almost went to bed but then suddenly we heard fireworks and it was 2015. This picture was taken just after midnight. With the formalities observed we did finally get to our beds and passed out. The fire had been burning really hot all evening and it got so overheated in the cabin that in the night we opened the main door to let some air through.

Amazing colours in the morning

I woke quite early, as I normally do after drinking, but didn’t feel all that bad; I was relieved that the windows and door had been opened in the night, however, as if I’d kept trying to sleep in that heat I reckon I would have woken up feeling terrible. I lay there for a bit then glimpsed some colour in the sky out of the porthole so I got up, went outside, and was rewarded for my efforts with an amazing display as the sky went from purple through to orange. The clouds make sun rises and sun sets even more stunning than with a clear sky, and they were really scooting across the horizon this morning.

Noisy ducks in the morning

A short while after I managed to encourage A to get out of bed and join me watching the sky change and then our friends woke up, or at least Ryan did as his other half was not feeling well at all and actually ended up spending almost the entire day in bed. I gathered together the empty bottles and walked to the recycling point with A, after which she decided to go for a run around the town! Now that is hardcore! When she got back she said she’d found a curry house that looked OK but I was still happy about my fish and chips.

 

The bones of trees, on the horizon

Shortly after A got back from her run Ryan started the engines and we headed off up the canal. Our plans were to get right up to a place called Chirk where they were going to stop for the next couple of weeks, then leg it back to Thomas all together to go to our other friend’s house for a smoked turkey. At first the weather was OK, though it clouded over pretty quickly, but then the wind picked up and it started raining and this pretty much set in for the day. It had been lovely boating weather all week and the day that we get on, it changes and becomes nasty. I think they’ll not invite us again.

 

Driving through the lovely scenery

The weather did not detract from the gorgeous countryside we were going through (well, not before it started hailing anyway) and I stood up with Ryan as he piloted us along the winding waterway. It really was a very bending stretch of canal and I was glad that I didn’t have to steer. After a while I went down and made bacon butties for everyone (other than Cat who hadn’t emerged) and I also kept a steady stream of cups of tea in production. Ryan got a bit lonely through the afternoon as he was stuck up there on his own while I was inside reading with A, so I wrapped myself back up and went and sat with him. I even got to drive for a bit as he made a coffee for himself on his fancy machine that I couldn’t work out at all.

 

Well it certainly LOOKED like a real snake

There were only a couple of locks on the day, which I jumped out and operated, but the high winds made it very tricky for Ryan to control the boat near to shore. It turns out that wind is a big issue for a narrow boat as it forces the nose to swing across the water, if you are going slowly, and when I was driving this, along with the quite high flow of water on this canal, made the whole driving thing quite a stressful experience. Anyway, it wasn’t just the weather that was interesting; there were plenty of sights as we drove along and this is probably the strangest. I don’t know if this is a real snake but I spotted it on the roof of a boat we went past and Ryan reversed us back to get a closer look. He was going to poke it with a stick but I thought it’d be better to just leave it be.

 

Just entering the aqueduct, viaduct to the left

Nasty cold rainy weather

Towards the end of the day we went over the first of two aqueducts, this one quite a short one but still pretty impressive. Both me and A got out of the boat to have a leg stretch as there was a concrete path next to the edge of the canal over the bridge. You can see just how nasty the weather is from this, and the wind was getting up whipping through the valley. At the far end of the aqueduct was a tunnel and this ended up being really quite long and bendy. It was nice, however, to get in out of the elements.

 

Intrepid canoeists

When we got out of the other side of the tunnel we were going through a heavily wooded section which kept the cross breeze down. It was starting to get quite dark now and we were pushing on as hard as we could towards Trevor, our new destination at the head of this stretch of canal. There had been a few boats earlier on in the day but, when we stopped for lunch at a pub and then headed on, I think most of the hire boaters decided to just stop there for the rest of the day and so we had the canal pretty much to ourselves. There were a few other people on the water, however, none so crazy as this pair of canoeists who were heading back up the way we had come, aiming to go over the aqueduct and get to said pub. Fair play, I’d not want to do that.

 

Very dark as we cross the final aqueduct

Around this time Cat joined us and took over some of the driving, which Ryan really appreciated. As the night arrived we finally started crossing the largest aqueduct in the country which was really impressive but it was rather too dark to do much more than just get over, find a mooring, and look forward to the next day when hopefully the weather would improve and we would be able to see a bit more. After some faffing around we managed to moor alongside a hire boat and then made our way to the pub just over the way for dinner. This was pretty unimpressive but we were all so tired that we just ate it and left. It’s a shame when a pub doesn’t make any effort with its food. I was ready for sleeping at 7.30 but we managed to hold on til about 9 before Ryan fell asleep sitting up and so we all hit the sack.

 

Where we stopped for the night

Even though we were so tired neither I nor A slept all that well and we woke before the sun came up to the sight of stars out the port hole. It had been quite a calm night but the wind was still a bit gusty which made the boat shake and knock against the one next door. After a bit of lazing we got up and I went outside to have a look around. This area of the canal was very congested as the hire company had moored their boats really badly. Valhalla is the dark boat on the right in the distance in this picture.

 

Information plaque about the aqueduct

It is a LONG way down!

When A finally got up and out I took my camera up towards the aqueduct while she went for a run in the other direction. It was a really lovely morning, with the sun not quite up still, and the wind had once again dropped. I walked along towards the aqueduct which was really close, no more than a minute away, and then walked out onto the span. It is a really impressive thing, rising as high as it does above the river, and when I was hanging over the edge with my camera to get a shot looking down I did feel a little funny.

 

Reproducing the picture in the pub

One thing which the crap pub the night before had had which was nice was a couple of pictures on the wall, taken from the top of the aqueduct, looking up the Dee towards the road bridge and a house down near the water. This was one I wanted to reproduce for myself and so I worked out roughly where it had been taken from and here it is. Of course the colours are a bit pale as the sun was still not up by this point but you can still see just how lovely this view is.

 

Where the canal stops

After this I turned back and walked past the boat and along the path which A had gone jogging up however I couldn’t see her and returned to the boat pretty quickly. We had attempted to drive up under the bridge and round into the short section of the canal past it but had grounded the night before and, in the clear light of day, you could really see how shallow it was. A hundred yards or so further up the water stopped completely and it turned into a muddy swamp before a wall across the canal that carried a road.

 

Lit by the morning sun

Super fast current

Looking back from a distance

The viewpoint, with concrete step for short people

Today was Ryan’s turn to lie in and Cat had been up early and gone for a walk down below the aqueduct. When he woke up and joined us the four of us went to see where she had gone, walking down a steep path next to the aqueduct and then along the banks of the Dee before climbing up and making a circuit of the excursion. The sun was up by this time and it was quite warm out of the breeze. I got a number of pictures, some bridge-porn for my dad of course.

 

Child at heart

As we were climbing up out of the valley towards the view point A spotted a rope bridge dangling from a tree just off the path. Quick as a flash she ran off to jump on and, having said it didn’t feel very safe, proceeded to swing herself around like a child for a few minutes. She had a huge grin on her face so she must have been enjoying herself; I can see that we’ll maybe have to rig one of these up from the oak tree in the front garden.

 

Motorised canoes making their way across the aqueduct

After a lovely relaxing start to the day Ryan started the engines and we reversed carefully out between the parked boats then did an almost perfect twenty point turn so we were facing back the way we had come the day before and approached the aqueduct. We were stymied in our first approach as there were two motorised canoes coming over so we held back to let them clear the water, and then it was time for our pass.

 

Sheer drop to the right

Wind blown spray

I went down to the front of the boat with A to get some good pictures, and hold on to her as she was standing on the side with no railing and a 100’ drop if she slipped. The wind had really got up by this point, particularly as we were on the highest point, and as I was snapping pictures the canvas cover at the front suddenly started flapping really badly, a tin blew over the side onto the walkway (A heroically chased this down and rescued it) and then we spent the rest of the time trying to secure the tarpaulin and stop it blowing away. We managed to get over without losing any more items but it was a bit hairy for a little while.

 

A getting some (more) exercise

Just after the aqueduct we went past the swing bridge (which Ryan had lifted the night before) and A was ready to grab the windlass and go and lift it for us. There was a boat coming towards us but she got to it first and was proud to lift it fully so we could go under. The other boat came through before us, but we left them to drop the bridge.

 

Guess which country we were in (apparently she's called Blodwyn)

We went back through the tunnel, over the other aqueduct and then just round the corner Ryan spotted a sign for a pub so we moored up, A and I packed our bags, and we headed to find some food and get a cab back to Thomas. Our plans for the afternoon had been cancelled so there would be no smoked turkey in our future but this wasn’t a terrible thing as the rush to get back and over to where that was supposed to be happening would have overshadowed the lovely relaxing start to the day. Our first attempt at finding the pub was thwarted by going the wrong way and then, when we did find it, we found it shut. The village centre was only half a mile away so we ended up walking up the other side of the valley and found a hotel with a bar which served food. This food also was not great, though it was by no means as bad as the night before, and once we’d eaten I booked a cab and we were off to find if Thomas had been clamped in Tesco carpark. He hadn’t been which was a relief and A drove us back home.

I was planning on doing all of last week in one blog but this has gotten so long I’m going to make you wait for tomorrow for the rest of the exciting adventures Last Week. Cheers.