Save Our Waterways For Everyone

Less that 2 weeks to go to the latest action in the Save Our Waterways Campaign. Follow the link on our blog to the latest addition to the SOW website. A Bulletin Board that will give all the details of all the events around the country. Some organisers still have to add details yet so watch the space!

Pass the details on to any of those you know who have anything to do with canals - walkers, cyclists, naturalists and fisherman. How about telling the next fisherman you see on the towpath and encouraging them to join in. It will help keep friendly relations with them and hopefully provoke an answer!

Put a poster on your boat advertising the local event. Those with entertainment and or food will attract attendees! Nothing like food for atttracting a crowd! Articles, letters and publicity in the local press prior to events will also help.

Buy some of the SOW clothing - wear it in the pub, on your cruises, it prompts questions!

Its Snow, But Not As We Know It

I am not sure whether we are jealous or not of those of you who are experiencing snow on the canals! We see pictures of the K and A on No Problem's blog and wonder what Epiphany looks like in the snow. Narrowboats lend themselves to snow photographs; maybe it is something to do with the contrast of colours against the white making an attractive picture.We have been on Epiphany in frost and ice but not with a healthy dollop of snow! I am sure we will in time, maybe this year as snow can fall well into Spring sometimes. We have had it at Easter in our hiring days, on a cruise on the South Oxford canal. How come the country comes to a halt with 6 inches of snow?

In Cornwall we very rarely see heavy falls of snow. November 2005 was our last "dump" as the Canadians say. It brought Truro to a halt and it took me 4 hours to travel 18 miles. I was just grateful for front wheel drive, low profile tyres and an automatic car as I think it made going at 5 to 10 miles an hour easier.

Here is some real snow, does anyone recognise the location? Somewhere in Canada and yes, I was there, I took the photo on the left!

However whilst the rest of the country seems to be snow-bound, Cornwall was just wet wet wet. Floods on the roads meant a 5 mile detour to work as I could not get to the ferry (see blog for September 7th 2006 for pic). The weather is very changable though and we can have wind, gales, rain and brilliant sunshine all in one day.

Don't forget it is 3 weeks to the next stage of the Save Our Waterways campaign. Please join in if you want the canal system to be maintained for all users.

Cornish Home and Floating Home

Epiphany's mooring on the K & A canal is a useful halfway house for us. We have recently used her as a base for travelling into London and beyond.

For many people Cornwall seems to be a long way away, much as Scotland seems to us! However living in Cornwall means we are used to jumping into the car to go anywhere at all. A 3 hour trip "up country" as we do say down 'ere, is not a problem. Actually it depends on which route taken. Our latest idea is to avoid the motorway as much as possible and it is amazing how stress free that can be. We can still do the journey to Epiphany in just over 3 hours - in the winter; summer though may be a different kettle of fish.

I thought I would add a couple of photos from the South coast of Cornwall! Both photos copyright to me as Epiphany!


Below: The Van Gogh, a cruise liner that comes and goes from Falmouth, taken as it leaves on one of its summer cruises.




Above: One of my favourite photos, looking out across the entrance to St Mawes harbour and the Percuil River. Note the variety of craft - no narrowboats, although Chris Coburn did make it to Cornwall on one of his epic voyages.

So Epiphany was our base for a few days last week, not cruising unfortunately but still it felt good to be on her. We met up with the guys from Bath Narrowboats for a "few" drinks. Muggins was driving so the boys - in this case BJ and our son - were able to guzzle beer! It was good to catch up and to hear that they are very busy with a full order book. Epiphany (and our website) is a good advertisement for them and Colecraft we hope.

BJ is keeping up with the SOW campaign, next events are the weekend of 3rd/4th March. Hope you are all planning to join in with your local ones - dont forget to include all the waterway users, walkers, cyclists and fishermen in events; after all we boaters are the minority users.