Living on a Narrowboat
Close to the winding hole. That doesn’t really tell you much. There isn’t a lot here.
As you can see, it’s faster than 73% of GB in terms of connection speed which makes life nice and quite with the advantage of the internet, TV and lot’s of solar.
There’s not a lot around here. Continue reading “Yelvertoft -> Winwick in the Fields”
Ashby st Ledgers, seat of the ‘gunpowder plot’ of 1605.
I cycled through there yesterday on the way to Daventry.
This is the manor house where the plot took shape.
It was gifted by William the Conqueror around the dates of the Norman conquest to one of his subjects, Hugh de Grandmesnil.
It’s a manor house in a classical style.
The gunpowder plot was planned in the building you see straight ahead, the gatehouse, set back in privacy from the main house.
When the plot was uncovered, as the seat of a criminal event, it passed to the ownership of the crown and since has had various owners, including the pension fund of British Airways!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashby_St_Ledgers
The rest of the village is picture postcard style, apart from this crop sprayer I noticed after inhaling noxious chemicals being blown through the hedge.
No wonder we have no wildlife in this country.
As you can see this guy is coating a grass field with chemicals, sanctioned by the UK’s largest landowner, Co-Op farms who own the fields and the land around Ashby st Ledgers.
The death and destruction of the UK bird and animal population, (insects in particular), is a crisis.
It’s a crisis that’s not being dealt with, or acknowledged.
I shared a facebook post on this the other day.
The broken capitalist system is sending the planet into an irreversible death spiral in the need for our constant insistence on ‘growth’.
The death is spreading.
Maybe a shared vision of the future like that that inspired the gunpowder plotters to do what they did isn’t there anymore. The unstoppable machine of capitalism will gobble all the resources and turn the planet to desert.
We’re cathartically drifting toward that future.
I suppose with the benevolent dictator model, there was always a chance we we’re going to aspire to a greater goal than the acquisition of more money and wordly goods.
I think that time has passed.
Two flights of locks. One of them staircase locks at Watford.The other Braunston Locks. One that I’ve done a few times now.
Braunston Locks are very tiring. And I was kind of happy when I found that due to water shortages, the Watford flight closed at night when the volunteers went home.
Being staircase locks, only one boat can go through at a time. And the CRT like you to book ahead, (which I didn’t).
During the day, the CRT prefer to keep it manned. Previously, at night, they let the public traverse the locks as they wished. Due to water shortages, this practice stopped, and passing through the flight is only possible with the aid of the lock-keeper.
I woke up around eight, and got going just before nine. Entering the first lock at 8.50am. Luckily, they are good and fast and I made it through the whole flight in around an hour. Apart from my button getting stuck under the gates at the top lock, all went without event, and I set off on my way again. Continue reading “Braunston -> Yelvertoft”
People do moor in-between, but there’s no road access, so it’s useless to me.
Fairly picturesque and popular.
At the moment, I’m at Braunston, ancient Bargee village.
All things barge are here, chandlers x 3. Marina x 1. Canalside pubs x2. And some other shops and services connected to the trade.
I was moored here for the winter on the Rugby arm.
This time I’m on Oxford arm.
There’s no piling and I’m moored up on pins but it’s a much better mooring for a number of reasons.
Not least because:
Views are better.
Got a better all over ambiance certainly compared to mooring on the Rugby arm, but also in toward the village. It’s nicer here because you’re out in the country.
Will have to turn Bonnie round in due course, as she’s pointing in the wrong direction. Continue reading “Flecknoe -> Braunston”
It’s amazing the power a little post on social media has…
Imagine.
My little problem with invoicing at Calcutt boats magically disappeared! Simply paid the bill and left.
I was discussing this with my respondents the other day. If you’ve got a grievance with a company these days, often the only way to get someone to take notice of you is posting some nasty stuff about it and spamming it out on social media.
They no longer man the phones any more. You’ll be lucky to get a response by letter.
Working for people like Amazon, I know this to be true.
They will just ignore you till the cows come home. Nothing you can do.
Once you start blowing them up on social-media, it’s a different story, you get a response pretty quick.
Same with this Calcutt Boats thing. One day there’s a problem. Post it on social media and it disappears.
Magic!
I’ve moved the boat a little further down. To Flecknoe.
This is out in the wilds.
The nearest real shops are Daventry, which is 5 miles away. Continue reading “Calcutt Boats -> Flecknoe”
