Thursday, May 28, 2015

Walking Around Bolly

The new Crocs arrived today, as we didn't have any pressing engagements I thought I would run them in with a walk around the village, we only have a couple of weeks left so we better make the most of it.


We started by walking along the canal....Hello Mr Heron.


Then we cut up a lane heading towards Kerridge.


Mum and son having a scratch.


Another mum feeding her young uns.


It still gives us such a buzz that you can walk virtually anywhere in the countryside.


Across more fields.


Before ending up back in the village.


We treated ourselves to a couple of pints in The Spinners......well it is Thursday.

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Busy Busy

We only had one night down south on Monday as we had to be back at base for deliveries, pick ups and dentist appointments.

Before we left our overnight mooring at the pub in Kings Walden (see previous post) we went for a walk around the local fields.

The landlord's dog greeted us outside the van ...

Apparently it's a Canary Island Fighting Dog!!

He was a gentle old boy and way past fighting!



It was a lovely warm morning for a walk around the lanes but by about lunch time we decided we had better head back to Bolly ...


A couple of miles from our idyllic, overnight spot we were driving through the centre of Luton ...


It was certainly a change of scenery ...




Today, 'Lady Deborah' was driving down from North Yorkshire to pick up the wingback chair and footstool she had bought from us on Ebay.

I wasn't expecting her to turn up in a small convertible with her dog (Betty) though!

The stool was jammed in front of the dog and the chair behind it!
She wasn't at all fazed about it ...


All packed up / crammed in and she was off back to North Yorkshire, very happy with her purchase!

She was one crazy lady ... nicely crazy though !



No sooner had she left when our boxes of stuff arrived from Australia ...

These boxes have been in storage in Sydney for the last three years ... now at least we have all our worldly goods in one country!

The dogs inspected the boxes ...


After all that excitement we went to Stockport to check out a storage depot, where we will once again have to put some stuff in storage as we can't fit it all into my mum's place and there isn't much room in the motorhome!

After that, we had to make ourselves scarce again for a while as the Estate Agents were bringing someone around to view the house.  To make best use of our time we made a quick trip down to the motorhome to fit new bedding and then we headed off off to Bosley to empty the motorhome cassette.

The day finished up with Elaine going to the dentist for a check up.  She is not happy as she broke a tooth and has to have the whole thing refilled!

It was one of the busiest days we have had in months but we finally feel like we are making progress towards the next leg in our 'life journey'!!!

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Mother Goes Home

We have had my mother staying with us for 3 weeks, she has thoroughly enjoyed it and we have enjoyed having her, another good reason for being in this country as in to see relos for an extended period rather than a few days every few years.

Before we left we took her to our favourite walking place Alderley Edge.


She was most impressed with the view, as we are every time we go there.



On the way back we had a ice cream break at Higher Poynton which is where the Braidbar Bunch HQ is situated. None of the Braidbat Bunch were there as they were all down at Crick with their leaders Bruce and Sheila. Once again they will be drowning their sorrows and shaking their heads in disbelief  as a Braidbar boat didn't win best of show.   


Moving along the canal, mother fed the ducks.


We walked up to Elms Beds which in my humble opinion is one of the best views on the canal system. Pity about the pylon in the distance.


We took mother back to Milton Keynes in the motorhome as we had loaded it up with a lot of our belongings which she is kindly storing at her house.


We had a nice steady trip down south in the Bank holiday Monday traffic.

We arrived at mothers house in mid afternoon, shortly afterwards brother Russ arrived with wife Tracy. He also bought with him an array of gardening machinery, apparently we were going to get stuck into mothers rather overgrown back yard.

This is Elsa in the jungle.


Brother Russ attacked the brambles whilst I tried to find the lawn.


Two hours later........


We didn't want to leave the motorhome on the street in Milton Keynes, so with the help of the trusty Britstops book we headed off to a pub a couple of miles outside of my old home town Luton.

Here we are moored up at The Plough public house which is in the village of Kings Walden. 


We had a lovely dinner in the pub, it has a very basic menu and everything is £6.50. We had a good chat with some of the locals and left the pub just before 23.00


I took the dogs for a walk this morning, it was just so lovely, and all this just a couple of miles from Luton


Our overnight mooring.


We will head off back up to Bolly shortly as we have people coming to pick up some stuff they bought  from us off Ebay. Plus our last boxes of stuff  from Australia should arrive tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

The Dog Has a Problem!

I have noticed, when we are out on one of our many walks around the village, that young Sammie always drags me to the pub ...

Luckily, yesterday it was shut!


Of late, the weather has been a little ... changeable!  

For example, yesterday we experienced rain, sun, wind and ... lots of hail storms ....


Unfortunately there has been very little sun and heat! 


When we took the dogs for a walk yesterday, we got caught out a couple of times with the weather.  On one such occasion, we kept ourselves busy taking a selfie, while sheltering under a tree!



Today we took my mother off shopping to Manchester.  She does love shopping and did herself proud marching around the shops.

I did find it a bit disturbing shopping for knickers with my 84 year old mum!

We did, however, have a nice Italian lunch in Pizza Express ...


Once back at base Elaine and myself took the boys for a walk around the village.....

Lo and behold, look where the little bugger took us ...

Now get the camera out of my face so I can enjoy a beer !

Saturday, May 16, 2015

New Summer Wardrobe

As summer is here I thought it about time to buy a new wardrobe.

As we are now on a limited income, where better a place to go shopping than the charity shops in Alderley Edge!

The village of Alderley Edge sits below the woods of the edge national park, so we had a walk through there first ...





We arrived at the village and I squeezed the little C3 between a Maserati and Ranger Rover Overfinch.

Robbie Savage was having a coffee in one of the cafes but by the time I got the camera out he ran away!  I just managed to get a pic of the back of his head!

This was my choice of the flash motors on display ...

Nearly forgot....the shopping!

So, I bought 3 shirts, 3 T shirts, 1 pair of boat shoes and a hat for the princely sum of £40.00.

Mum bought a top for Elaine,

I had been looking at new boat shoes and they were all around the £60.00-£100.00 mark, so when I spotted a pair for £12.00 that were virtually new and were the right size I grabbed them.

When we got back to base I checked out how much the Mephisto boat shoes were.......crikey, between £280.00 and £329.00 a pair!

All we need now is for the sun to come out so I can wear the new designer gear!

Alderley Edge really is a great place for checking out the nicer things in life and the charity shops are without a doubt the best we have seen in the UK.

For the narrowboaters, you can get a bus to Alderley Edge from Macclesfield or even Bollington!

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Wedding Anniversary

Eight years today (14th May)  we ran away and got married in Vegas.




I am one lucky bugger to be married to the most gorgeous, generous and bravest girl on the planet.

XXXXXXXXXX