Cycle ride: conclusion

Next stop was Daisy Dukes snack bar on the A140 for coffee. This must be one of the most comfortable roadside snack bars, being a converted coach. Inside are worktops running along both sides, with padded stools under; the kitchen is at the back end of the coach. (Just searched under "Daisy Dukes" and discovered that they are very short jeans shorts. I never knew that.)





Banana break at Hethel (famous, of course, for Lotus Cars).



Nearly home, but time to stop at the wonderfully named Spong Lane; and the alien-looking water tower.





What road is the water tower in? Oh, yes, of course.

Cycling home

Amazonia is 27 miles from home, so I got the bike out of the boot and started pedalling. I was taking it easy: last time I went too fast and ran out of steam with a few miles still to go.

I cycled through Hoxne, famous for its hoard of Roman treasure. It's also where Edmund, King of East Anglia, is said to have been killed. This is the village hall.





Not much further on is the River Waveney, defining the boundary of Norfolk and Suffolk. Here is Billingford Gauging Station coping with the recent heavy rainfall.

To Eye to get the car fixed

OK, it's Denham Street, not Eye, but who's heard of Denham Street? I know, I know, you haven't heard of Eye either. Eye is a small town in Suffolk which has a Show every so often. When driving along the A140 the signs for the Eye Show certainly catch, er, the eye. I've been taking my various Volvos to Brian at Amazonia for many years. This time it's a coolant leak on the 240 estate (I suspect the water pump).



Most of the cars here are Volvos, mainly Amazons and P1800s, but there was one which will interest someone we know. This is a 1955 Chevrolet, yes, even older than me, here for restoration. It has been used in the past for drag racing, powered by a whopping seven litre engine. Now it's just for road use and has only a 5.7 litre engine. Sorry about the focus on the interior shots, Bones.

Twenty answers

... to the twenty questions in the June 2008 issue of Canal Boat magazine

(and I actually composed these immediately after reading Andrew's replies in Canal Boat, but, unlike Sarah, I didn't post them straight away.)

1. the Peak Forest Canal


2. (tough question) the Aire and Calder perhaps?  No, I like all canals


3. My brother


4. The Canal Age by Charles Hadfield (1968)


5. Dawn


6. GMT


7. An impossible question. I'll say "Now", but can we wind the clock forward ten years, please?


8. I haven't done so yet


9. Something in the BBC


10. ... Probably not be as fit!


11. ... a mixed bunch. People who appreciate our industrial past and who enjoy a slower pace of life.


12. Hot food, preferably cooked by someone else, and ale or red wine


13. ... More working narrowboats


14. "Hello, watch where you're treading!"


15. Both


16. Cassette


17. Canals


18. On a canal somewhere, introducing my grandchildren to narrowboating


19. Staying alive!


20. To be able to do urgent jobs by just looking at them

Now the question is whether Granny Buttons will spot this and include in his list of twenty answerers.

Closing the stable door...

...after the horse has bolted.

As an example of the above I have re-dubbined my "waterproof" shoes.

Going with the flow

We were woken by the rain and wind in the early hours of Monday. I got out and checked the mooring ropes at 7.00, taking up some slack and adjusting a fender. We were being blown about and the current was increasing. And we had to go with the flow before we could turn up the lock cut. This was going to be interesting. Bones and Maffi managed to get NB Bones turned round and disappeared off down the stream. Now it was our turn in Milly M. I planned to go down backwards, reasoning that I would always be able to slow the progress as necessary, and maintain steerage. Not such a good idea, as it happened. For one thing, the current was strong and turbulent, with many bends in the river. For another, the wind was also strong, and blowing against the stream, apart from the times, that is, when it was blowing across the stream. It started well, but things went wrong when the current caught the bow, which started to try to overtake the rest of the boat. Not a problem: Milly M has a bowthruster. But bowthrusters are happier on canals than on fast-flowing rivers: this one just reduced the speed at which the inconveniently-placed tree started to attack the side of the boat. So it was out with the boat hook, this being the longest shaft in the inventory, and, after a bit of straining against said obstruction, and praying that no damage was being done, we got clear. Did I mention it was raining? It was raining. And the phone in my pocket was ringing. That would be Bones wondering where I'd got to, no doubt. Or Maffi wondering what had happened to his home. I decided to tie up alongside a narrowboat (just before the plastic boats, phew!) and take stock. OK, we were secure, but the wind and current showed no signs of abating, and all we needed to do was get down a third of a mile before turning into the lock cut. Bones had done it, so could we. Back up to the pub mooring we went - a lot easier going this way - winded, and cruised down the weir stream in tickover, just enough to keep steerage. In a flash we were there. Why didn't I do it this way in the first place? I know now, but I would have rather found out in my own boat! Maffi assures me that no damage has been done, but you can imagine how concerned I was.

Apologies for the lack of photos to illustrate the above (!)

Somehow during today's quite short cruise, between fixing her engine and checking up on me by phone, Bones managed to concoct a delicious minced beef stew for lunch. After that it was goodbye Maffi, goodbye Bones, and hello A34.

Clifton Hampden and Long Wittenham

Clifton Hampden

On Sunday morning Jan and I walked through exceptionally long grass, and along the Iron Age Dyke Hills to Dorchester. Lots of thatched houses, well-cultivated allotments, and an abbey church. Oh, and trees messily covered in pinned-on posters. The 8.00 service was in progress in a side chapel out of sight, with a congregation of at least five people according to the number of umbrellas in the porch. We crept in and had a bit of a look around. When we came out it had started to rain. We walked back along hay fields, the grass fizzing in the rain, the shoes getting even wetter.



After a leisurely fry-up breakfast - thanks, Maffi - we left Bones and Maffi working on NB Bones while we walked to Clifton Hampden and Long Wittenham. After inspecting the churches and pubs in both villages we reported back to the boats, suggesting the Plough at Long Wittenham for (a late) lunch. We set off up the weir stream towards the mooring at the foot of the Plough's long garden. The current was quite strong, and the mooring not designed for boats longer than 35 feet, but we tied up without too much difficulty. Bones/Maffi have written about lunch and evensong so I'll just say that afterwards we returned to the boats and had a cheesy/winey evening aboard.

Bones and Maffi are tops

NB Bones and Milly M above Day's Lock, R. Thames

The journey started with a pheasant. It was lying in the road half a mile from home, and was still warm when I bagged it up and put it in the car. I took its lack of protest as sufficient indication of its being deceased.

We had taken up Bones’s offer to look after us for a weekend (or was it that we should look after her?) And it was to be 48 hours of boating fun and games, although the official game (of croquet) was left unstarted through lack of time. With a brief explanation of the gear/throttle control, “lift before moving, pull away to disengage. You’ll knock the ignition switch and cut the engine when you dont want to”, Maffi gave us charge of Milly M and we set off in convoy down the River Thames.


steamers Sandra and Chimera II

We shared a lock with a couple of steamers and moored up just above Day’s Lock, having enjoyed sunshine all day. Now I could practise my barbecuing skill, such as it is, on the three varieties of Pickerings sausages we’d brought from Norfolk: Classical Greek; Thai; and a new, as yet anonymous, pork, pepper and garlic sausage. (photo here) I’m happy to report that they were consumed with gusto, along with other things, so a Success. And I didn’t need the umbrella I’d brought especially, although we could have used the fortified look-out post if it had been chucking it down.


camera with viewfinder (see top photo for image)

Oh, the pheasant? Yes, it was dead, and we presented it to Bones on arrival. She seemed pleased.