Back in Bugsworth !

Elaine here ...

We havn't blogged for a few days as we have not had any internet connection or any phone reception since we reached Bugsworth !  We have, however, had tele. reception - so you will be relieved to hear that I have had my Home and Away fix !!

We left Macc. on Thursday lunch time and only got as far as Higher Poynton before we stopped for the day !  On Friday we headed off towards Bugsworth Basin again (or as Paul's brother, Russ, calls it ... our hidey hole !).  On the way here another boater (going in the opposite direction) told Paul that 'it was bad up there' ... which left us wondering what sort of 'bad' it was and where 'up there' was !!!  We found out on our approach to Bugsworth - as the rain lashed down and the wind howled around us !!  Paul donned his full wet weather gear - and assured me he was perfectly happy (wierd !). 

You wouldn't miss him anyway !

I stayed firmly indoors apart from my swing and lift bridge duties; I took the opportunity to give the dogs a shower, as they were pretty grubby after our walk through the puddles earlier in the day !  I wrapped them up in their blankets after their baths - my brother reckons our dogs are 'soft' ... how could that be?

Sam and Bombo all wrapped up after their bath !

The weather carried on all night and our boat was rocking and rolling!  By the morning the wind had stopped but the rain .... sooooo much rain !  However, we heard on the radio that the W3 festival was going ahead in Whaley Bridge, so we donned our gear and away we went to see what was going on !  Everyone seemed to be eyeing us with suspicion on our walk along the towpath to Whaley - we found out later from someone that we looked like Environmental Protection people (or maybe just a pair of nutters ?!).  Anyway, we were dry in the pouring, pouring rain !

Should we call Trinny and Suzannah?

 There was a fair bit going on at Whaley Bridge - we found a little funfair and a few stalls, some strange looking Morris dancers (with black faces), plus a stage !

Beautiful old Carousel ...

Border Morris Dancers - loved them !

I really want to be a Morris Dancer when I grow up !

    

There was a petting zoo, so we went and stroked a skunk (de-scented) ... it was really soft and cute ...

Cute skunk

 They were running canal boat rides from Whaley to Bugsworth - quite a few people turned out regardless of the weather ...

Comet doing boat rides

The New Horizons boat doing trips

Couple of off-duty Morris Dancers!

  Our fave rave, George Borowski, was playing on stage - he did a little acoustic set at 1 pm and then another set with his little band at 4 pm - excellent as usual - playing to a rainy crowd !  My brother, Trev, came and joined us to watch him too ...

 

A few stalls braved it !

I went to talk to the ladies in the Well-Dressing tent - but will write more about that in my own little blog - which I am going to get to after this!

It was a great afternoon - it was actually fun in the rain !!  We went back to the boat for a couple of hours and went back to Whaley Bridge to watch the evening bands on the stage - and then onto the Railway pub to watch another band - 'Galley Beggar' - a folk-rock band, with a bit of diddly - diddly too!  It was fun - we didn't get home 'til midnight (Trev dropped us back to the boat, cos he didnt want us walking along the canal towpath back to Bugsworth in the dark !)

Sunday brought us a much better day - the sun even made an appearance and it was pretty warm!  Paul got his head in the engine, so the dogs and I made a quick escape - back to check out the festival !  There were loads of people about, so we had a look at the stalls and listened to a band and then headed back to the boat and kept out of Paul's way !  Trev popped back in the arvo for a cuppa (and to try and sort out our reception problems for us .... turned out to be some dodgy 3 Transmitters)!  Well, that's my take on the weekend, let's see what Paul has to say for himself ...


Paul here ...

Here we are back at Bugsworth, Elaine has covered the social side so I will cover the boat maintenance side.

Now my tools have now arrived from Australia I can do a few odd jobs on Caxton. I serviced the Hurricane  heater last week, it had just clocked over 1000 hours which is the service interval. It is a very simple unit to service, so I changed the fuel and air filter, cleaned out the cumbustion chamber and replaced the igniter, so that's it for another 1000 hours!

Yesterday it was the powerhouse Beta 43hp's turn. I changed the oil and filter, changed the gearbox oil, replaced the fuel filter, air filter plus replaced all 3 drive belts. Also refilled the stern gland greaser.

Today I started removing the varnish from the cratch, as its looking a bit grubby; I think it's going to be a long job!

I knocked off at 4.30 to watch the the footy but couldn't get a satellite signal ...bugger!  Never mind, the Navigation pub is a minute away and they also put on free food....result!

When I got back to the boat I got a good signal and the tele was working fine....funny that!

Today we were joined at Bugsworth by Barn Owl No 6  "TA-JO" 
I had a chat with the owner and compared notes...nice guy :)
 

PS:  Elaine again --- we discovered today that that there is an Elsan here - after all our stressing about our next deposits!  There are no signs to it - it is like a little secret !  So now - Bugsworth Basin is truly our little bit of paradise !!!!