Thank you Tattenhall Marina - Haere Ra (farewell) - we'll be back!

It was rather sad to say goodbye to the friendly folks at the marina yesterday. Our first venture into marina life was a great success, and we're thankful we chose Tattenhall for many reasons, including:

• Clean, well-kept grounds in the beautiful Cheshire countryside.
• Glorious sunrises to behold looking out at the distant hills, with Beeston Castle on the horizon
• Stunning sunsets to watch behind the workshop.
• Plenty of parking (for those with cars, or us when we had a hire car)
• Scott's Bar - open every day for hot drinks and food, and most evenings for drinks and socialising.
• Camaraderie amongst the boaters is very evident, we experienced lots of helping each other out in a myriad of ways (the lovely Mike even took Barry out on a day trip to Wales when I was at my parents recently, photos to follow).
• Chandlery and workshop on site - with a competitive rate for hull blacking.
• Minutes from a bus route to Chester and Whitchurch.
• A short walk to the Cheshire Ice Cream Farm - a fantastic play park, farm shop, farm animals, soft play, ice cream shop and indoor games area.
• A rather precarious walk to a delightful village, with a Post Office, Chinese, Thai, Indian and English restaurants; great cafe, three pubs (one we loved loads and it felt like our 'local'), hairdressers, butcher, library,in fact everything you could wish for really!

I'm sure there's more assets I haven't mentioned, forgive me Scot and co if I've missed out anything important! I did ask Barry what he loved most about the Marina, to see if there was anything I hadn't thought of. His reply? Rather predictable really - "The bar"!

 Sandra's face seems to say "Do we really have to leave the home comforts of the marina?"

 Some of the motley crew lovely people we've met during our stay

A couple of the team who keep the wheels turning, Tom and Scott - 'Dodgy' (not sure why they call him that?) Dave escaped before we could get him in the photo! 

 Crew Areandare outside Scott's Bar

The Chester Day Boat on possibly it's first run of the new season from the marina

Scott's photo of us leaving, copied from the Tattenhall Marina Facebook page

That's it then! We're back on 'the cut'. And it's not too bad - so far! In fact it's quite lovely.

Our plan is to go up to Ellesmere Port this week, and return to Chester by Thursday evening so I can get the bus to my daughter's on Friday. Checking our Nicholson's guide today, we got a fright as it said the National Waterways Museum is only open weekends from November to March which would've scuppered our best laid plans (which hinge around friends and family as well as us!). A phone call later and we're relieved to discover they're open 7 days a week - phew! That's the disadvantage of relying on a 2009 waterways guide!

While we're in the area, we'll get to socialise with a few lovely people. Mike is the husband of a midwife who was my mentor in the late 1980s when I worked in the community. He works in Ellesmere Port and will come to the boat on Wednesday for lunch. Wednesday evening we're hoping Lisa's brother-in-law and nieces are coming to visit. Then on Saturday we're going to Elaine and John's home, right by the canal approaching Chester, for dinner and board games!

What a wonderful life we have.

Loving the calm and serenity back on the canals - first stop overnight at Christleton Saturday

Our first locks since August held no challenges for us today, and the rain was mostly kind - only a few light showers.

Sandra's all wrapped up and back into locking - as if she's never been away!

I'm a little apprehensive about the doing the rather deep staircase locks in Chester tomorrow. We watched a boat descending when we visited last summer, and last Friday evening chatted to a couple with recent experience who explained the concept (they're all slightly different!).  It's like a lot of things in life I expect, so long as we read the instructions first, and follow them, we're unlikely to go wrong. At least that's the theory ...

Launching AreandAre and 'The Home Brew Boat'

It's the time of year when boaters who've moored up cosily in a marina for winter, are about to head back onto the system. Just in time for the snow if we're to believe the media! Yikes!

After 10 days in dry dock, Areandare was re-launched on Wednesday with a shiny new bottom - days before we leave Tattenhall Marina on Saturday. We plan to travel up through Chester and on to Ellesmere Port to visit the National Waterways Museum - we've not been that far up the Shropshire Union before. Following that we were looking forward to meandering along the Llangollen Canal again (it was our first journey aboard Northern Pride in April 2009), before heading further south, but sadly it's closed until 4th April due to preventative measures to stop a potential breach caused by the wet winter.

We're getting a few essential jobs done before we're back out on the cut, and relishing the remainder of our 'hooked up to electricity and water point only centimetres away' time!

Barry's put an extra connection linking the washing machine water tank to the main one, so if when we run out in the wilds of the waterways, miles from a water point, we'll be able to move the water from one tank to the other - rather than running out mid-shower as has been known to happen!

We'll buy another bag of coal so we have sufficient supplies to light the stove at the stern - where we may find ourselves snuggling in the evenings to come. The luxury of having radiators on any time we wish, especially first thing in the morning to lure us out of bed, will soon be a distant memory - a scary thought when they're forecasting frosts for spring! And the electric blanket each night we've grown accustomed to? Not a chance! Ah well, back to the trusty hot water bottle.

What's been the most priceless part of being moored here for six months, is lots of precious time with my eldest daughter and grandsons, as we're just a short bus ride away. What a wondrous blessing. It'll be painful to leave, as travelling back to Malpas from wherever we are won't be easy (or cheap!). Plus with two children under five, driving to us isn't a simple project. But I'm sure we'll find ways to meet up as much as possible. We've been so fortunate to have this time together after previously living in opposite hemispheres for most of 8 years!

And now onto the exciting news …

Launching 'The Home Brew Boat'

After many years of planning and preparation, we can now officially launch The Home Brew Boat' to the blog.

Before giving any more details, let me reassure anyone who may have concerns, we've followed due process (if you think we've missed anything though, please get in touch!).

We have permission from CRT to trade (Home Brew Boat, Facepainting and photography), appropriate business insurance and Public Liability, our official CRT Trading License will arrive shortly and be displayed proudly, and we're members of the Roving Canal Traders Association (RCTA).

We have two fabulous suppliers, and Barry's spent an inordinate amount of time on the website set up (check it out, there's all sorts of useful and interesting information about home brewing, as well as things to whet your appetite if you've never tried it - or did it decades ago and are curious to know how it's changed!).

We've made two sales so far, to people in the marina. And anticipating excitedly our first on-line sale!

We have a Facebook Page, with almost 100 'likes' less than a week after it was set up, and a new Twitter account (for Areandare). We'd love to link up with any readers there if you use such social media.

Where will we be trading?

We'll trade as we travel, while we build up related resources, like Barry's arrived-in-the-post-brand-new-today business cards …

But mostly, we'll trade at canal related festivals.

We were honoured to be 'hand picked' and approached to be one of 50 traders at the Birmingham spring market  The Bond, Fazeley Street, Digbeth on Saturday 12th April. That'll be our first ever trading festival, so if you're in the area do come along and say hello!



Following that, we've these events confirmed so far (click on the links for times):

• 18-21 April - Alvecote Floating Market
• 3-5 May - St Richard's Boat and Car Festival, Droitwich
• 13-15 June - Middlewich FAB (folk and boat) Festival
• 29 June - Lymm Historic Transport Day

There's a few others we're in the process of booking, all in the midlands or the north west.

It's fabulous to be part of a growing community of trading boats, helping to keep people interested in the Inland Waterways, and providing a way of supporting people to live this lifestyle whilst earning an income. It's certainly not for, or available to, everyone, but we're extremely pleased and proud to promote the 'working boat' concept, albeit in a much pleasanter way than in previous centuries.

Areandare has come out!

We've taken the opportunity of getting Areandare's bottom blacked before we leave Tattenhall Marina on 1st March, and Monday was the big day. It's the first time we've seen her hull, or probably anyone for a while, as we chose to have just an in-water survey before we bought her last April.

The speed and proficiency with which a very heavy hunk of steel (Barry reckons around 15 tons) is removed from the water is incredible. We were actually on board while she was being lifted - most surreal!

Last Tuesday I got a phone call from the Marina asking where we were - there'd been some sort of communication mix-up as they had last week booked and we had this week. We're thankful they chose to go with our plans in the end - the difference in weather conditions couldn't be more stark!

Yesterday the gunk was scraped off the hull, along with the remaining surface coating (and the poor fresh water mussels!). Barry scraped the part from the gunnel to the rubbing strake  - for those that don't know, that's the line that takes most of the knocks and runs all around the boat about a foot below the gunnel. Are you impressed I know that? I actually had no idea, and had to ask Barry, and then do a google check for the spelling! The boatyard only scrape and black up to the strake, so it seemed sensible to do the remainder while she's out of the water.

In the meantime, we're living firmly out of the water, on a slight but very noticeable lean as the concrete slopes! It does ensure the water drains from the shower easily - there's a positive in everything!

So we win again!

Barry's been getting to know our neighbours in the Marina over the past few weeks, and yesterday invited them to Scott's Bar for the quiz night. Their response was that they were rather good at quizzes, and they didn't disappoint - thank you Liz and Andy, our current affairs knowledge is rather sparse but you definitely made up for it!

We won the quiz, with 40 and a half points (I think the closest to us was around 35), though admittedly Barry and I probably only contributed less than 4 of those points! When we got the answers, I realised I'd said out loud one of them but not written it down, so I could've contributed another point!

Here's the question, no googling, what film is the pub 'The Slaughtered Lamb' in? Heaven knows where my brain had it hard-wired from, but strangely it knew …

That's three wins on a Saturday night, out of about a dozen - so they're definitely threatening to eject us from the Marina and possibly contacting the visa authorities. But only in jest, they're lovely people and we'll miss the camaraderie of the boating community here.

Many people who we chat to who live 'on land', look at us in astonishment when we say we live on a narrowboat. If you've never done it it can be challenging to understand what the appeal could be. Those of us who have, or do, know that this way of living differently, and more simply, can bring a lot of joy into every day life. But admittedly it's not for everyone.

We do love Tattenhall Marina, and will miss it when we leave - less than four weeks left now of our winter mooring.

A recent calm day at the marina, with Beeston Castle in the background

So many different shapes and sizes of boats

A flock of seagulls recently visited us

How do they not bump into each other? Incredibile

Six weeks left - and counting ...

… well at least Barry is! That's how long we've got left at Tattenhall Marina, sitting (mostly) still, with an electric hook-up, a water point a few feet away, a pump out and diesel across the water, a great bus route a few minutes walk away, weekly events/games night at the Marina Bar, etc. 

So we currently have such luxuries available as:

• diesel heated radiators on whenever we want (sadly no solid field stove in our lounge/dining area, only in the Boatman's Cabin at the moment) 
• the electric cooker and washing machine whenever we need them rather than only when the boats moving or with the engine running
• the luxury of long hot showers anytime (well almost, but I'll come to that!) as we have a calorifier for water heating, and 
• power on tap to charge all our gadgets!

I never imagined I'd like love being in a Marina, rather than moving around the system most days. But I am okay to admit that I do - and shall miss it.

However, much of that may have to do with the cold, dark and damp of a British winter - though admittedly it's not been too bad so far (at least that's what I'm told, it's been pretty yuck compared to what I've been used to in NZ for the past nine years!).

So by the time we leave, the evenings will be lighter, the daffodils will be sprouting, there'll be buds on the leaves of the trees, and people (including me!) will begin to 'feel' happier.

Signs of spring are beginning to appear

Our festive season

It's been a few weeks since I last posted a blog - Xmas Eve in fact - apologies readers! 

We had a busy but fun-filled festive season, travelling almost 900 miles around England visiting family - very different to last year when I was in Bali with my daughter Kim. So blogging hasn't been my top priority - I'm aiming to post more regularly in future so the posts aren't so long.

Here's a selection of a few magical moments ...

Kim saw mummy kissing Santa Claus Barry at Scott's Bar on Xmas Eve

Bucks Fizz for breakfast on Xmas Day? Don't mind if I do

How many cracker hats and reindeer horns can I fit on my head?!

A day trip to Port Issac, Cornwall, where (much to the annoyance of many residents apparently)  they film the UK TV programme Doc Martin, starring Martin Clunes

The Doc's house is to the right of Barry

From Devon and Cornwall to Brighton - strong winds and high seas this year for Kim's birthday in early January

A variety of fabulous venues were visited for Kim's birth day - here Kim and Barry are feeling a little cheeky at a quaint coffee shop called 'Marwood' where they say they do 'Kick Ass Coffee and Life Changing Cake' - love that description!

 And here we are at 'The Office' a Gin Bar, serving a selection of over 30 different types of gin. Barry was in his element, but seems a little overshadowed by Kim and I!

Back to the Marina

We returned to AreandAre on 7th January, and it was a relief to unpack and get sorted after so many different stops. 

Luckily we'd had an upgrade in our hire car. In fact, strange as it may sound, I changed the type of car a couple of weeks before we picked it up, and it cost 70 pounds LESS to get a Class D than a Class B that I'd booked in September - and then they upgraded again for some reason.  I have no idea how it happened. Maybe it's because I booked early initially, and they hadn't had as many bookings as they'd thought they would for Xmas? Or because we've been regular hirers recently. Who knows, but somehow we received a Vauxhall 'Insignia', which had a huge boot that we turned into a mobile wardrobe! 

Our unexpected Xmas present from Enterprise!

Shower challenge and another win

Just before Xmas Barry decided to take our shower apart (not the best timing!), as the seals weren't so fabulous at the bottom, and there'd been some leakage. It meant we had no working shower from a week or so before Xmas, until last week. Fortunately there's a walk in wet room type shower in the Marina, but it's a few minutes walk away, in the cold, so the usual daily shower went awry. Once again, thank goodness for being here.

However, we may be asked to leave before long if we don't watch out. We went to the bar the Saturday we got back, where there was a darts match on a recently fitted board. By some incredible stroke of luck (on my part, not Barry's, his was through sheer skill), the final players were a couple of kiwis which didn't go down too well! So taking the money home was then a forgone conclusion - obviously I had to let him win (!) as I'd already had my first place a few weeks before in 'Play Your Cards Right'.

Barry plays his darts right

Almost ready to launch

We're now just waiting for CRT to agree to our proposal for our businesses before we can apply for a Trading License, and then we can announce what we'll be doing on the blog.

We have a draft travelling route for 2014 on paper, which is still subject to change, but nevertheless feels very exciting - even though it'll mean moving back onto the cut.  I know I'll love it once we're out, it'll just be odd not being close to my daughter and grandchildren for a while again, and all the 'luxurious' amenities.

I'm also seriously re-considering starting a new blog with 'AreandAre' in the url, and moving to 'Wordpress', as we're both using that for our business websites and it seems to have more features and support than Blogger.

So there's lots to keep us out of too much mischief in the coming days, weeks and months ...

Tattenhall take two, more about life in the marina - and credit where credit's due!

In the previous post, I missed a very apt photograph Barry had taken, which shows the measure of risk we take on our walks into Tattenhall. There's a tiny piece of grass on the right hand side that we can jump onto when there's cars/trucks coming either side, to avoid collisions. The hedge is spiky, so there's nothing to hold onto!

It's always worthwhile though. How fortunate are we to live so close to such a gorgeous village, with an engagingly friendly feel, well maintained and obviously loved by its inhabitants.

Life in the marina is peaceful, despite there being quite a few live-aboards around. We're managing to keep cosy with the central heating, the stove in the Boatman's Cabin and a small electric blow heater in the lounge/dining area. Admittedly I'm pining occasionally for the warmth of the New Zealand summer - it's my first British winter for nine years and it hasn't even officially begun yet so I'm remaining stoical whenever possible (Barry will disagree!).

Every Saturday night at Scott's Bar, opposite our mooring, there's some form of entertainment. It seems to be on a rolling plan of quiz night, dominoes knock out, 'Play Your Cards Right', and shuffleboard (see below). We've experienced three of the four, sadly we'll miss Brucie's game this Saturday as I'm off to my parents again whilst Barry is jumping on the train at Birmingham New Street (so long as Enterprise collect us on time in the morning!) to go to Brighton for two nights to see his mate Dickie. We've also heard from Ray of NB Stronghold, that he may finally get to meet Barry in person on one of the evenings as he also knows Dickie. Watch out Brighton!

For a few weeks now, the starlings have been flocking each evening and providing us with the most awe inspiring sights. They fly in at dusk, then seem to get into formation for a while, then break off into groups, and finally they all swoop down and land in a small clearing. It's like they're attending a planning meeting to discuss the best route and destination to escape the cold British winter ...

Our two resident mallards are frequently to be found almost knocking at the kitchen window, and I can imagine them quacking "Please miss, can we have some bread?" 

My Mondays and Fridays recently have been spent supporting my eldest daughter with our now two grandsons - so I hop on the 0815hrs bus, a ten minute walk away from the boat, for the twenty minute journey to Malpas. My prize for leaving the warmth of our bed at such an hour (I realise most people are generally up way before this!), is I get to watch the sunrise on a clear day. 

The sun rising on Friday - into a spectacularly clear blue sky ...

… the same view on Monday, three days later, the sun rising into a sky filled with criss-crossing vapour trails from aircraft - why is that? Different atmospheric pressure? Or is there a rush to fly away on a Monday morning?

Almost finally, here's the article I mentioned in the last post. Imagine my surprise to open up the page and see Barry and me staring back! Not what I was expecting at all. It's a colourful photo we adore, that epitomises our joy of being back on the waterways in April 2013, taken though by the very talented Andy Tidy from NB Wandr'ng Bark. We'd informed Waterways World that this particular shot was Andy's, but they have credited Barry on the side of the image.

On the contents page is a happy shot of Pam and Terry from NB Rooster's Rest, and we're reliably informed that there'll be another couple of pictures in the January issue. I'm not revealing who may appear then - as although we know which photos we supplied, we don't know WW choice yet, lol!

It's an interesting article about 'retiring afloat', although this edition mostly provided details of different boats to buy, rather than any interactions and/or instances of people's lived experiences of such a life. And you're right to be thinking we haven't retired - in fact we're not sure we'll ever 'officially' retire, and we're certainly not waiting to live until that man-made time and age.

Barry's been plugging away getting his new website up and running over the past couple of weeks, putting up shelves on board and making a top box; and we're just waiting to hear about a few set-up details before we can launch the details of his new business on the blog. And I may even reveal my plans for another small income stream which will work very well alongside his, during the summer months.

Watch this space ...

Photography by Barry - getting to know Tattenhall

Staying in one place for a while has the distinct advantage of being able to get to know the local area. You'll all be very happy to hear I've managed to get Barry to give me some of his recent photos from our explorations, which coming posts will feature.

Today it's Tattenhall's turn, our closest village. It's a thirty minute walk away from Tattenhall Marina, or a five minute, two stops, bus ride. Sadly the walk is marred by the fact that there's no footpath, so we take our lives in our hands each time we choose the exercise route (and the buses aren't terribly frequent), dodging speeding cars and trucks by jumping up on the tiny piece of turf on one side of the road. We've been told, by the barman at The Letters Inn, that a pavement is planned to be built at some stage. Maybe by next winter?

Tattenhall is quite a small place, with a population of around 2,000 people, but still manages to have three pubs and so far I've counted three hairdressers too! Apparently it also contains 27 listed buildings, designated by English Heritage. What a joy to be 'parked' nearby.

Tomorrow we'll be back at The Letters Inn to watch The All Blacks thrash England at Rugby - I'm hoping Richie will be playing, it's a while since I've seen him ...

 St Alban's church

Little Morton Hall, one of the listed buildings, which can be seen from the footpath next to the church

There's also a small library at the back of the primary school which Barry and I have joined, so we can keep up a supply of reading material for the cold, dark months ahead. It's the place we can book onto the internet and print anything we need, before we invest in one for the boat.

The Barbour Institute holds all sorts of functions, film nights and classes, and yesterday I started 'Zumba Gold' classes there (dancing exercise to Latin American music - for the over 50s!). I'd contacted the instructor not long after Barry went to NZ in August, but there wasn't enough interest at that time. It meant getting up earlier than normal, and walking to Tattenhall in the rain, the day my body decided to start a cold! Fortunately two of the others in the class (of four!) were from Tattenhall Marina so I got a lift back - hurrah!

The Barbour Institute

Lots of delightful  houses in Tattenhall, and still an abundance of flowers blooming in autumn

Barry's photographs in print

A few weeks ago we were contacted by Waterways World seeking photographs of retired couples living aboard narrowboats, for an article they were publishing. Barry looked in his files and found some lovely shots. The piece is in the December issue, though we haven't had a chance to see it yet, so keep a look out for them! There may be a few familiar faces ...