Bartimaeus

We are enjoying being back on the water. We have rekindled our love affair with boat life easily and it hasn’t been hard getting back into the swing of things after the long gap.

We set off on our first morning aboard on a cold day but with some bright skies. I am enjoying the Spring with freshly unfurled willow leaves and catkins bursting forth with pollen, ready for airborne pollination.

But I was surprised to see gorse. It is common enough on hillsides, but canals more usually have farm hedges like hawthorns, brambles, roses, willow, alder, rushes or  willowherb and gorse isn’t common. It was another welcome bright yellow splash of flowers all the same. In various dialects there is a folk saying about gorse (or whin) that when it isn’t blooming, kissing is out of fashion. In other words there is no time when it doesn’t  bloom just as there is no time when kissing is unpopular, as Shane likes to point out.

Already some willow was open enough to create a curtain over the water. Willow overhanging the canal is common and it is particularly bright green in Spring.

A short distance into our journey, we met a very long line of boats on permanent moorings. Not all seemed occupied but a few were out and said hello. A large rainbow flag was waving at one. The boat beside it was grey and I couldn’t see a name painted on the side, but the tiny square licence paper on the window said it was called Nauti Buoys, two Romeos aboard I expect from the flag. I only saw one waving through the window when we passed.

This stretch has plenty of mallards and moorhens and there is a fair amount of ducking, darting and swooshing going on. On this first full day out though I was surprised to find a pair sleeping in the sun on the water.

I realise now that there was a submerged branch allowing them to perch while they napped. Ducks usually get out of the water to sleep.

We moored at Waverton and had a good lunch in a busy cafe. The woman working on her own was having no rest. Several people came in after we had ordered. A cyclist who was a regular came and she warned him that she had no bacon ready and he would need to wait or have sausage. He looked jealously at my plate with the last rasher of bacon on it, and suggested he could occupy the third seat next to me. Shane reminded him I had a knife! I guarded my plate. He settled for sausage and let me eat my “small breakfast”. 

The next day we moved off from Waverton. We worked through the locks on the way to Chester with another couple. When we first arrived they were already going in without knowing we were behind. I got off and asked the man at the gate if we could join them and he said of course. His wife was surprised to see me as she drove in and had no idea another boat had snuck up behind, but was happy to have us alongside.

They had a share in the boat they were in and the husband chatted to me while we went through the locks. He told us of two separate incidents they had. Firstly, she fell in a lock, 14 feet down and broke ribs and more. He had slipped walking on the roof at night and damaged far more ribs and both had a long recovery. They must really love the boat life, given their injuries and that they didn’t live aboard or own a boat so could easily have given it up. He said they were both more careful nowadays.

The forecast sunshine had not materialised so the weather felt cooler now and the locking crew were keeping warm working and walking, while the drivers were getting chilly. There were cheering flowers at the locks and on the way too.

The other couple also had a dog to deal with which held them up getting it on and off between the locks at times, but we were in no hurry so it didn’t matter. After the set of locks we let them ahead as we stopped for lunch and to go to shopping. I explored the canal side supermarket while Shane checked the canal ahead for a good mooring spot as we had stopped by rings designated for supermarket customers only.

Meanwhile Shane had realised that we should have filled up with diesel before getting away from Tattenhall and a further explore showed that there was no nearer diesel sellers ahead, so the safest way to fill up was to return. So instead of following our buddies, we just went to the winding hole, turned round and had a short walk along the city walls. 

The next day we were blessed with sunshine and Shane took over locking from me during the first lock, digging out the folding bike to make the locking easier and quicker, especially since he was going to be working hard, with no other boat sharing the locking duties. We met one boat coming the other way, so he got away early from that lock and he managed to have the locks ready for me so I didn’t have much hanging around.

We took in another little village and its cafe in the way back, Christleton. It is a cute little village and we recognised it as one we had twisted through on the bus. There was a little pump and shelter, in stone and wood, a monument to a much loved sister who had died, according to the inscription inside.

There were a few quaint buildings and a particularly large one called The Grange. It had an inscription on a balcony, Nisi Dominus. Some research revealed in meant Except the Lord. That seemed an odd inscription but it turns out it is the start of a verse in a psalm that continues “built this house”.

Shane decided he should catch up with a task neglected over the winter months, a haircut. He had left his clippers on the boat. He emerged a new man. When he drove today into the sun, he needed his shades. I drove for a bit while he changed the lenses for the brightness he was heading into.