Nov 28

Back in England.

Finished the Scottish adventure with a (long) drive back. Drove through north Yorkshire National Park, with a delightful experience, but not that restful as we wend from Sedburgh through to Ripon. It was very different to see the area around Ripon from the roadway instead of from the canal.

We toured a dutch barge that would be ideal for the next phase of the boating  adventure, but I’m not really ready to abandon the narrowboat yet. Then, Pat and Kerry made their way home to Canada, and I drove back to Braunston to warm up the boat, and establish myself in the comfortable village with my ringing and canal friends of last winter. I’ve had the opportunity to do lots of ringing, something that I haven’t been able to to much of lately. For ringing people- my first experiences of Bob Doubles, inside… For non-ringers, I am trying hard to survive in my first real method ringing (think going from driving a small electric train, to first drive on a street with a manual transmission and lots of traffic including pedestrians!). Fortunately there are lots of people willing to help, and I appreciate the support.

I’ve got the boat blacked (preservative anti-rust coating on the lower hull), and am now established in exactly the same mooring as last winter. Very comfortable!

All good and I will be exploring the ringing and laid-back village activities for a while.