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.