The Boats are Back in Town

Today Aaron and Nessie brought "Forget me Not" and "Hazel" back from their time under the motorway bridge to Portland Basin.

The first thing was to go to Lumb Lane to wind. Aaron steered the motor.

On the way we passed this lovely conker tree that we planted a few years ago (do kids play conkers any more)?

There was a bit of water bird agro as we passed a woman and her child feeding the swans from a bag. A goose climbed out on to the towpath and tried to grab the bag, which fell to the ground and spilled its contents. The swan was not happy and chased away the goose together with its wife and children.

Now they are back at the basin we have to get them cleaned up and ready to go back into service. Any volunteers?


Visiting Nessie

I'm currently not too well with long haul covid, but I took the time today to visit a volunteer called 'Nessie' who's doing some repairs on  'Hazel'.  I wanted to see how he was coping without much help during the lockdown.

Nessie told me that over the past few days he's been preparing boards for Hazel's roof using a planer thicknesser.  The wood came from some Leylandii trees he got from a friend's garden.  When the boards are planed to the right thickness they are bent with g clamps.  When they are released they'll 'remember' some of the bend and will fit on a curved roof.

Nessie likes to tell me what he's doing in fine detail, so I was down there a little longer than I anticipated.  It's great though when you meet someone who takes so much pride in his work and does a really good job.  Some people are just like that! 

If you're new to this blog you might not have seen my GoFundMe page.  It's the first time I've done this sort of thing.  It's for a good cause, namely to buy us a new van because the old one has broken down for good.  We can't manage without a van, either at the charity shop or the boatyard.  If you can spare a few quid then THANK YOU!

Fundraiser by Chris Leah : Help the Wooden Canal Boat Society Buy a Van (gofundme.com)