The sounds of Wind Speed

I woke up today to an orchestra. It began with a drum roll of rain on the steel roof and shakers of droplets against the windows. There was a gentle hum from the mushroom vents and crackle of wind through the willow trees at the bank. Delia's morning cries for food were drowned out by the sloshing of canal water against the hull as the boat swayed to the rhythm of the wind.

Today it feels like things are on the move. I cast open the curtains to let the indoor plants breathe and the tiny knot of anxiety was dispelled. I saw that we are still moored where we should be, with both ends of the boat secured against the bank as it had been yesterday, the water level was a reasonable depth, however choppy, and we were not at an unusual angle. Phew.

I made the burner glow and got some porridge cooking.

It feels right today to publish my poem about Wind Speed in full. In accordance with the scale, today I would say is 28 knots...

And without further ado...

Wind Speed from a Narrowboat
after The Beaufort Scale of Wind Speed
by Amanda Young


≼1 knots. Calm - Like dry ground. Very little draw up chimney.
Canal still.

1-3 knots. Light air - Quiver of canal water. A whisper of wind.

4-6 knots. Light breeze - Towpath hedgerow rustles. Breeze
brushes face.

7-10 knots. Gentle breeze - Small leaves blown off roof.
Chimney smoke drifts.

11-16 knots. Moderate breeze - Faint whistling wind. Slight
groan of taught ropes. Tiny wavelets on canal.

17-21 knots. Fresh breeze - Tall grasses sway. Water sloshes
against hull. Cat scampers along towpath.

22-27 knots. Strong breeze - Rolling water at bank. More
throttle needed when moving. A librarians Shushsh!

28-33 knots. Near gale - Firewood burns rapidly. Mushroom
vents sigh. Ducks blown along canal. Avoid moving.

34-40 knots. Gale - Hanging lanterns violently sway. Rubber
fenders moan enduringly. Outside bungies metronomically
bounce. Bad day to move.

41-47 knots. Strong gale - Figure-of-eight movements felt
onboard. Screeching wind. Back-breaking work carting goods
along towpath.

48-55 knots. Storm - Difficult to walk length of boat. Ears
popping. Great waves towards gunwhale. Chimney rain-hat
will blow away.

56-63 knots. Violent storm - Do not pour boiling water.
Remove delicate items to safety. Severe spray and waves.
Keep a strong stomach.

≽64 knots. Hurricane - Never moor underneath trees. Drop
anchor. Seek alternative shelter.

A few little secrets

I have some things to report. Firstly, and this does tickle me, is that we have a regular pair of visitors who knock on the side of the boat. They give us a smile and flash off their beautiful bodies in return for some old bread, crackers or seeds. These two swans have been known to come knocking in the early hours when the curtain is open and the light from inside is illuminating the canal. There are other waterfowl who tap the hull, namely ducks who will nibble the length of the boat where the waterline is, to eat the algae. One particular morning, I think about 5.30am we were woken up by such an instance.

Another thing about life aboard is post. Now, I only really want love letters and messages from family and friends to reach my hands, oh, and on occasion, cheques are very nice. Unfortunately, authorities, bodies and organisations do not hear my demands. They don't have a system for 'those floating lot' and the postman can't seem to find us. I like to say I have 'no fixed abode' and watch the face behind the desk crumple and repeatedly say 'Yes and an address please...?' But there are times when you can't seem to get round the bureaucracy i.e. opening a new bank account, Inland Revenue, G.P, DVLA, Payroll and even British Waterways! What can us water gypsies do? Thank the friends and family who help us out.

Finally, a joy of living this life is that when spring arrives it is such an amazing experience; to pass through the transition of hibernating in winter into living outdoors in spring is wonderful!

Moving to Beeston

Yesterday we made the journey to Beeston along the Nottingham Canal. It was another cold day and we were wrapped up well but with an addition of sunglasses. The setting sun was blinding as we tootled towards it's illuminating glare. Ah, it felt good to be on the move again. Being in one place can get a bit stagnant, with debris clogging up between the boat and the towpath and the mind becoming slow and unchallenged. The feeling of undoing the ropes, pushing out the bow and dashing on to the stern to engage the gears is a liberating feeling.

It is a nice stretch of canal, wide and deep with a good towpath and interesting hedgerow. Due to the feed from the River this section of canal apparently, never freezes and from research Leigh has done, currently, other areas across the canal network are frozen stiff, so the truth upholds itself. As we approached the visitor moorings in Beeston we slowed down to pass the other moored boats - a gesture that all boaters are expected to do and few abide by, to the annoyance of many a boater - and we glided into the mooring point for the facilities.

We needed to fill up with water, and have a shower on board (it's that time of the week) as a bowl of hot water by the fire will only suffice 6 days a week. I did notice here, however, that there is a BW shower cubicle. I saw one of these in Birmingham near to Gas Street and was quite awed. I am yet to try it out as there is something a little off putting about having a hot shower in the BW hut and to then walk through the freezing cold back to the boat with wet hair, a bit like swimming in winter, it's not quite right.

Our mooring point is just before Beeston Lock, leading onto the River Trent. There is a lovely willow tree outside, a bus stop for Nottingham, shop round the corner and a train station 10 minutes away. To top it all, there is Attenborough Nature Reserve only 10 minutes walk through Beeston Marina and today, I took a lovely 9 mile walk around it with some very good friends. There is a rubbish point by the lock and facilities hut so it is a great accessible spot. The only down side is the close proximity to some of those awful electricity pylons on the the other side of the water. We will only be here for the allocated 14 days and then move on, but there are permanent moorers opposite and winter moorers too.

After a good dinner of Spanish omelette, beetroot and runner beans we are warming by the fire and I'm pondering a nice movie on the laptop before I consider my plan for getting sorted for work tomorrow.

Whitening Winter

This weekend we started to feel the chill starting with Friday when we woke up to a frosty, cold morning...

We moved to our current mooring spot last weekend after receiving a patrol notice to 'move on'. We have been buttoning down for the freeze, hibernating like hedgehogs. I have merely been concerned with spending my days in an office and coming home at night to a beautiful, warm, loving home. Weekends have been our only opportunity to use facilities and spend over the odds at the Marina. Which might I add, Leigh has done brilliantly getting our rather long boat into a very, very, very tight spot when using Castle Marina services in Nottingham.

On Saturday this weekend we took a lovely jolly in a Skoda South, to the family. We had a warm welcome from Papa Bear and Ma Margaret and were sent off on Sunday with a car full of wood! Thank you to all those that donated each piece, we are managing to stay toasty warm and fend off the freezing cold. Mother bird provided a hearty meal at Sunday lunch-time and has plans for making a commissioned piece of stained glass for the bow. Stay linked to find out more about this...

And when we returned on Sunday, we were 4 inches in snow, Delia was fluffed up like a puffer fish to keep warm and we were breathing smoke like dragons on the boat until the wood caught alight.

Monday morning we carted the wonderful wood from car to boat...

and were hassled by some stylish swans who needed a good feed...

We filled the bow full of bags of wood and made a neat pile beside the multi-fuel stove.

Delia was running up and down in the snow like the trouble she really is...

And I was delighted at such a lovely weekend.

Comment issues

Hello Friends and Followers,

After too many reports of problems you folk are having leaving a comment on my blog I have re-set my comments section to display as a full page. In addition those who have been encountering issues you could set your browser to 'enable third party cookies', info as follows:

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Please, note that any and all cookie filters must be set properly. If you (your reader) has more than one cookie filter affecting access to Blogger, all filters must be set properly, before an improvement will be seen.

This is what I believe might've been the issue for some of you.

So hopefully we've found a resolution and now please do comment - I love to hear from you!

Beginning 2012 back in Nottingham

We are moored in Nottingham, near Castle Marina and Sainsburys, having arrived late on Monday. We were on the move on New Year's Day through Shardlow, which was full of moored boats and reached the flood lock with a red warning light on display for the River Trent. We went no further stopping just before Derwent Mouth.

The following morning, Monday 2nd January, the water level had gone down to amber; proceed with caution. We and another boat shared the lock and set out onto the river. We were going at quite a speed and there were severe eddies and flows. We had set the anchor in place and kept alert. At Sawley the flood gates were closed but we managed to get through after barge-poling some lage logs and reeds out the way. As we began to exit the lock we thought something was wrapped round the prop because with as much throttle Leigh gave, we weren't moving anywhere. We began to crawl forward with some almighty scraping and grinding noises to discover that we were going over an entire tree in the water. This is a huge problem with the first flood of the season as all loose detrius drifts into the canals and rivers.

We left Sawley and cruised to Trent Lock and on through Cranfleet. After leaving the lock there was such a fast flowing current that we were at Beeston in record time. At Beeston, we went though the lock and within an hour we were moored up.

It's good being in Nottingham. The job is going really well and we are looking forward to pay day! From our mooring, it is a short walk into town and today I looked round the Klaus Weber exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary which had some interesting pieces.

Today I've completed the DIY project of our bed using four pallets and the wood left over is being used to keep us warm!

As the night has drawn in we tend to the fire, hunker down with DVD entertainment and enjoy a delicious homemade stew by Master Chef Le Leigh.