The Narrow Way

I've often wondered if it would be a good idea to try to buy a narrowboat to live on.

Today, when you see a pair of them cruising serenely down to the lock, happy groups of people at the wheel of them, it seems like the most idyllic thing in the world. Your home is also a mode of transport. You get to see some of the prettiest sights in the country.

Then on the flip side, there is the maintenance, the fact you still have to pay for mooring, the cold in winter, and all the fun of having to use a Thetford type toilet, or the rather terrifying sounding "mactator" lavatory.

I'm hopeless with my hands, would probably crash the thing if I sailed anywhere, and the idea of having to empty toilets is so gross to me I could probably never do it.

But still, the dream is there.

Si

Butterflies are Out and About

My internet at my flat finally works, so I can write this while listening to "Chop Suey" by System of a Down rather loudly.

A marked contrast with the beautiful and tranquil images I have for you today.

On the river, a tiny little barge has been tied up for a few days now opposite the castle and I want it so much. One this size can't be much more than £15000. Which I don't have.

Si

All text and Images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.07.19

Busy Along the River

So, it was much colder today and with my brother in law to be paying a visit, I had less time to go running than I thought. But I still got myself out there, and did 5km along the River Trent and Devon.

It was all go. A Transit van involved in some sort of crime or other was abandoned on the Mill Llane, by the weir, and the police were busy loading it up to be towed to the station. To go with the youths killing squirrels with a catapult by Balderton Lake, there's been a bit of nastiness going on in town today.

The idea of going out without doing a crime or killing something seems to be a bit beyond a fair few people in this town

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 30.09.18

Cycling in a World of Yellow

Well, I've done around 40km on the bike today. not by design either.

I did want to make the most of the weather and the day off, so in the afternoon I headed off into a ride along the cycle path to Cotham and Thorpe, a nice 20km plus ride in a world that has now turned yellow.

Yes indeed, the oilseed rape is in full flower, and on a sunny hot day like this it looks blazing! The familiar cloying smell is also back, it is almost choking if you are running past a field of the stuff.

Unable to get a lift to cricket nets at Collingham in the evening, I ended up riding out their as well. It was certainly a lovely enough evening for it.

I've been keeping an eye out for swifts, but I haven't seen our Newark birds return yet. They have arrived in other towns in the area, ours are perhaps having a break in the countryside or at the beach.

Si

All  text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 07.05.18

A Beautiful Evening

Found myself down by the river at sunset this evening, where the sand martins were putting on a display of nimble flying over the water, occasionally flying into their nest holes. One such nesthole is right next to "Newark's Famous Barge Pub".

The patrons of the establishment are far more interested in their beers and cocktails than the feathery aerobatics taking place right under their noses. 

The helmetless teenagers on a quad and a cross bike, riding illegally along the far path, weren't terribly interested either. They nearly ran over an elderly barge dweller, his wife and his dog, who remostrated at them with a large stick and then laughed as the kid on the quad stalled his bike while posing. 

The narrowboat lights got brighter as the sky darkened. Venus, the evening star appeared. The air was still warm. 

It was a lovely evening.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 04.05.18

Along the River: Blasted Fishermen

I was wanting to run out to the North Lock in town today to show you the extraordinary little pods someone has put in for fishermen in the old industrial area on Maltkiln Lane, past where Hoval have been making boilers for seemingly hundreds of years.

It's a wonderful little idea, to have eco-pods for anglers to rest up in while waiting for one of the very large carp that do inhabit this stretch of river. What isn't a wonderful idea is that they have now blocked access to this section of waterfront, especially as I'm sure this is a public right of way down to the old concrete bridge. You will have to make do with pictures of other things.

I find the attitude of fishing societies, rather than the anglers themselves, really tiresome. This is yet another waterfront stretch to which public access has been lost in the name of the sport. I can see that folk are wanting to protect their investments, such as they are, and there is a lot of paranoia about poaching by Eastern Europeans although my Polish friends wet themselves laughing when they saw the signs that went up warning them not to eat swans. But I'm not a fan, they seem to sterilise the banks in the name of access, and sections of old paths like the Nottinghamshire Byway have been blocked.

Newark Argonauts used to share the lakes at South Muskham with anglers, and their colourful sails used to be a lovely sight at weekends, as well as their sweeping, veranda'd clubhouse. Then the fishermen decided they wanted them out, flattened the clubhouse, divided the lake up into smaller waters, and now the place looks like a bland hole full of water. Hardly ever seems to be anyone fishing on it either.

London Road Pond has got more and more areas of the lakeside protected by padlocked gates now, which really irritates me. There's no reason anglers and the public can't co-exist, the Blue Lake doesn't block access and manages to be a nice wildlife habitat too.

You can have fishing rights, but why do you need to block public access?

Si

Slow, Painful Running

Not exercising makes me feel very very guilty indeed (had to correct typo on first run through, I wrote "quilty" at first, wonder what feeling quilty is like?) so despite feeling stiff and exhausted and not really wanting to do anything today - no cricket for first time in months - I waited for gaps in the showers and headed out.

It was terrible. My legs are like two blocks of concrete and my buttocks have seized. I was incredibly slow, I would have been outrun by toddlers. Dogs laughed at me.

At least the views were good. Sun coming out while heavy cloud is overhead always paints things in a wonderful light.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 09.09.17

Messing About on the Water

I've always loved the idea of living in a narrowboat.

It just seems the right sort of environment for a nature loving writer to live in, painting a picture of properly bohemian - NOTE NOT "BOHO" - living with a tin cup of hot tea on the go, sailing from pretty riverside pub to pretty riverside pub, having adventures and then tying up in a city marina when you want a spot of more exciting living.

They are far cheaper than house. I'm looking at a lovely little dinky 32 foot narrowboat for £23,000, which is less than the cost of a deposit in many parts of the UK. A lot less, in the South. Scoot it along the water, plug it in to services, put some flower pots on the roof, and you're ready to rock...

...Once you've installed the essential crudely lashed on rickety TV aerial. Which all barges seem to have by law round here.

Alas, it's not as simple as that. Now it's caught on, mooring costs are rocketing up and restrictions increasing, someone as klutzy as me should not be out in charge on anything with an engine, the fear of late night break in by drunken thugs from those riverside pubs, cost of regular maintenance. The fact that at 6 foot 1 I'll probably end up looking like Mr Bump.

Then there is the toilet. It's all getting a bit Alan Partridge and his Dundee cake now. Toilets are fine in themselves, but for Mr OCD extreme, having to do all the, ahem, emptying like a 1970s IRA prisoner is a bit distasteful to say the least.

The Thetford Cassette toilet? What on earth could that be? I don't see an old fashioned C90 being all that absorbent. And as for what I see referred to as a "Mactator toilet", this creates a frankly terrifying image of some kind of satanic chewing maw taking place mere inches below your nether regions.

I don't want all that going on every time I wish to visit the little boys room!!!

So, maybe, the idea of a life on the water should just be regarded as an idle fantasy. But when you see all the lovely boats around here, it does make you wonder.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 26.09.15

Canary yellow

Yuppies at sea

Merlot aboard the Merlot sounds a nice idea

A Dutch barge

A baby barge

Rickety cruiser for sale

Steptoe and Son at sea

Running, Taking in the Sights of Spring

I've been out for 10km today, enjoying the milder temperatures but as yet no prolonged periods of sunshine in the East Midlands. There aren't any cowslips to see on the cycle path; probably fell victim to the council clean up and were thus beheaded in a purge of evil necessity.

The cycle path had become a prime site for fly tipping.

I ran across the Clay Lane grasslands, where the local chiff chaff was singing its heart out again, before hurtling through Beacon Hill Park where a few children were engaging in an easter egg hunt. I'm always hoping to see a few deer here after finding a couple of roe deer a couple of years ago, but none since. I've also got my eyes open for the muntjac that have also moved into town, but no joy yet for them either.

I kept running, through the Forgotten Reserve, through Friary Park and the drag into down where big queen bumblebees were feeding on blossom well out of camera range. The river is now busy with narrowboats, well three or four, and the sight of a beautifully painted green barge made me incredibly envious about living on one.

Living on a barge would be fantastic for me, my floating writer palace, until it sank underneath me due to my cackhanded and clumsy maintenance.

Eventually I made my way through a Sconce Park swept by bonfire smoke, a horrible feeling when you are running believe me, and on to Rumbles where I enjoyed a cup of tea while watching couple of small tortoiseshells in the distance.

Tomorrow is the big spring sprung day here. I can feel it.

Si

Catkins in Beacon Hill Park

Common violet

Currant flowers on the woodland fringes at Beacon Hill

Common speedwell, by B and Q!

Speedwell close up

Celandine putting on a fin display at the forgotten reserve, by the rubbish cluttered ditch

Grape hyacinth

Beautiful pink blossom at its peak, Appletongate

Narrowboats on the water

The green boat

Cormorant!

Jumped on one of the dredger tugs o get this shot

Very sickly sweet frangrance on this stuff, Sconce Park

Not sure this is a honey bee poking its bum out of the gorse