Sand and Camels On The Trent and Mersey by Captain Carl

Camels in the Churchyard

Well, hello there, dear reader,

I thought it was about time I wrote a jotting or two. You know the sort of thing. A mish-mash of incoherent ramblings, assorted gibberish and the odd things that I wonder about whilst stood at the tiller of our narrowboat. 

Beach by the boat

We returned to the boat last Sunday (30th August) and found that our moorings had taken on a “Skegness” sort of feel. The gravelled bank alongside the Lady Aberlour had transmogrified into a vast area of sand. However, unlike Skegness it wasn't at all bracing. In fact it was a bit of a nuisance; sand was everywhere. In the welldeck, on the bows and in our front mooring rope. By the time we'd loaded our vittles, luggage and Tricky, there was sand in the cabin too. Still, that's progress I suppose. 

Linda on the Windlass

Once we were shipshape we struck up (official term meaning we started the engine) and pushed across to the other side of the canal, where we tied up for the night. At around teatime Linda happened to look out of the window at Skegness and called me over. In the middle of the beach stood a cat, staring malevolently at us. It was a big, surly brute and was clearly the ringleader, for two more cats sidled out from under a hedge, waited for permission, then joined the morose creature. Evidently these were his sidekicks. One was a tabby called Knuckle. The other was a shifty looking white beast called Duster, whose eyes were too close together. Cyclops would have been a better name for it, I thought. After a few minutes the surly brute swaggered off into the bushes in a haughty, “you've not heard the last of this” sort of way, swiftly followed by Knuckle and Duster. Phew, close call folks!

Knuckle or Duster?

As we needed some supplies, we stopped off at Burton upon Trent the next morning. I needed paint brushes and some frog tape. I like frog tape. Not because you can stick frogs to things, but because its the best masking tape I have ever used. Also we needed a new sweeping brush, as the handle of the old one broke in two when I swished it too vigorously trying to shake water off the bristles.

Barton Turns 

Some odd things can happen onboard a narrowboat. You'd think pouring a mug of coffee would be the same as at home, wouldn't you? The basics are the same; boil water in kettle, put coffee of choice in favourite mug/s, add water, milk or cream and sugar as required, drink and enjoy. Well, I followed these basic actions the other day. Linda's coffee was fine, as mine should have been. I started to pour boiling water into my mug. Straight away I noticed something unusual. An ever widening puddle of coffee was appearing on the worktop. I lifted the mug up in disbelief and watched as a wafer thin swathe of hot coffee cascaded out from the side and bottom of the receptacle. Cracked all down the side and bottom it was. Almost on the verge of separating into two pieces. How? And why? It was my most favourite blue mug in the whole world.

Full Moon over the Tile Factory

Oh, I have to tell you dear reader, there was a spectacular full moon the other night. We were moored above Tatenhill lock, opposite what we call Blackpool Illuminations,which is the Marley Tiles manufacturing facility that has invested heavily in flood lighting. The combination of a full moon and the floodlights over a depot of broken plates and toilets was quite a spectacular sight, I can tell you. You aren't impressed? Well then, 'ave a butchers at the photo! Impressive eh?

Sunny afternoon in Alrewas

One of our favourite moorings on this part of the Trent and Mersey canal is Alrewas, and we found ourselves there on Tuesday. We walked up to the butcher for sausages and on to the Co-Op for bread, milk and something for pudding. We weren't sure what to have for pudding. Maybe some singin' ninnies, or crempog, or maybe even bara brith. These are real puddings you know. We are blessed with such choice. While wandering shopwards, not as lonely as a cloud, we stopped at a little coffee shop for a couple of lattes, which were very nice. My cup didn't leak once. I was quite astonished.

Scarecrows in Alrewas

You know, there would have been an open garden and scarecrow festival in Alrewas this year, but it was cancelled due to Covid 19. A couple of scarecrows were knocking about in the courtyard of the cafe. Very good they looked too; a right pair of Wurzels. There must be a lot of talented people in Alrewas, for, as well as the excellent scarecrows, there were three wooden camels in Alrewas cemetery. These were called Humphrey, Bogart and Sir Tristram de Lyones, who was sitting down. Actually I'm telling fibs. I haven't got a clue what their names were. I'm sure that they were local camels though, or “al mahaliyat orra'iyat al dar” as the Arab Bedouin would say.

Al mahaliyat orra'iyat al dar

The weather this week has been a bit of a mixed bag. Mornings have generally been fine but chilly. However, lighting the stove first thing when we get up soon gets the boat nice and “toasty”. The days have then warmed up by early afternoon, with some sun and very little wind. Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday) the rains came. Overnight the rain alternated between ever-so-hard, monsoon and biblical. This morning was misty, murky and mild. There was more rain to come, which fell upon us during our return through Tatenhill lock. To cheer me up (for I was soaked and in a bit of a grumpy mood) Linda brought me a cup of coffee with cream and a dash of Jack Daniels. She was soaked even more than I was, but never complained once! Happily the heavens gradually cleared, the temperature rose and the sun started to shine.

Tricky- is she happy today? Not really!

Finally, no jottings would be complete without a list of the birds and beasts we have seen this week. So, here we go. We have seen some ducks, geese, swans and a great crested grebe. In the fields we have mostly seen cows. We haven't seen any fish, although I'm told there are loads of them in the canal. Lastly, but not leastly, there were the three cats mentioned at the start of this strange jotting.

And there you have it. As they say in the Warner Bros cartoons, “that's all folks!”

Love as always 

The Chandlers Afloat


PS An explorer was on an expedition through the jungle in darkest Africa when he started to hear some drums in the distance. “What are they” he asked his guide, slightly worried. “When drums stop, it very bad” was all his guide would say. After five minutes the drums got louder and faster. “Why have the drums got louder?” asked the explorer, even more worried. “When drums stop, very bad”, was all the guide would say. About five minutes later the drums suddenly stopped. In a panic the explorer said “The drums have stopped. What should we do”? The guide answered “When drums stop, very bad. Now comes bass solo”.

Ship's Mascot

PPS from Linda - Look who came to stay  - what a cutie!  I couldn't leave her behind (blowing kisses emoji)