They Say Its Your Birthday.......

.......Happy Birthday to me.........

What a fantastic day we had, it will be a birthday to remember with some fantastic friends.

After a bit of a lie in we all went for lunch at The Old Coastguard Hotel located in Mousehole.

Sue and Andy bought some happy hats back from their recent trip downunder, we looked like a bunch of trolls!

Diane's bazookas were on main beam!

Dot and Gordon.

 Andy, Sue and Elaine. 

Gordon, Ray and Andy.

Me and my best friend.....dont you just love it when you can take your dog to a very nice restaurant.

The full team, we had a very nice lunch with some fab food and wine. 

Sammie is crap at counting money.

We then went for a walk into Mousehole, stopping for a drink at The British Legion.

Spotted in Mousehole.....this dog looking up at...... 

......the neighbours cat.

Back at base it was time for a drink in the hot tub.

It was a truly brilliant day, in actual fact it is still going on, we have just finished the home-made Cornish pasties courtesy of Dot, now we are wrapping up the day with a few drinks.  

Stunning Cornwall

All eight of our group are now in residence at the holiday hideaway.

The most amazing thing that links us all together is not only the narrowboat link but they are also bloggers, which is how we all met up in the first place.

Cup of tea anyone??? Four different types of bloody milk!

Yesterday Elaine and myself went off on our own looking for a dog walking beach (for Bombo).  We found one right next to the siding where they keep the Cornish Night Riviera sleeper train!  They service it here before taking it back to Penzance ready to depart on its late night run up to Paddington. The interesting fact about the loco is that it is 50 years old this March!  It's been rebuilt but pretty good going I reckon ... they have four of these old locos in service, just to  pull the night sleeper ...

A prom shot, with St Michael's Mount in the background ...

We then toddled off to Mousehole, where we sat in the sun enjoying the view for a couple of hours ...

We headed off back to base, stopping off at a pottery where we caught up with the others.

The Pottery cafe was also home to a couple of very friendly cats ...

Our Cornish tour guides, Dot and Gordon (NB Ewn Ha Cul) used their local knowledge and took us to see some ancient stones (2000BC) ...

The four witches girls of the group posed for a shot, it was a bit too chilly for them to go skyclad!

Apparently this is some sort of 4000 year old burial chamber.  I reckon a Pikey must be buried here, check out the ghostly transit van in the background!!!

Today the others headed off to St Ives for the day.  Elaine wasn't feeling the best so we just went for a little drive to Lands End.

It was a stunning day.  We went for a walk along the cliff path, which was a bit hairy at times, then it was time for a bit of omphaloskepsis ...

Cornwall is such a stunning county ...

Elaine crashed out on some incredibly spongy grass ...

The sea was angry today, my friends ...

On the way back to base we stopped off at Porthcurno beach, which is a stunning sandy beach ...

Tonight it's Pancakes for tea!

The Cornish Adventure Begins!

Last Thursday we waved goodbye to Ray and Diane (NB Ferndale) who left Bolly for a short cruise to a marina.  We planned to meet up with them and six other narrowboaters a few days later for a week of debauchery in far west Cornwall.

Diane proudly waving the Aussie flag as they disappear around the bend ...

Friday we left Bolly and headed off to Milton Keynes with my mother safely ensconced in the boot.

On Saturday morning we headed off to Cornwall from Milton Keynes but we were held up for nearly two hours due to the tragic 42 car pile up on the M40.  As there had been a fatality I think we got off lightly.   The television crew were filming the traffic ...

We were welcomed to Cornwall by a beautiful sunset ...

We are staying in a most magical converted barn, which is located on a farm.

This morning the farmers dogs were waiting outside the door for the boys to come out and play ...

The baby Leonberger was in a very playful mood ...

It all went well at first, then ...

.....it ended in tears when the playful pup stood on Sammie and made him squeal!

Bombo doesn't play too well and told the pup to go away in no uncertain terms ...

The other members of our party headed off for the day, kindly taking Bombo and Sammie with them as I had arranged to meet up with an old school friend from Luton who I haven't seen in nearly 40 years!  

Bob picked us up at 11.00 and we headed off to St Ives for a long lunch and a catch up.

St Ives looked superb and the weather was surprisingly mild, there were even some people swimming in the sea ... it wasn't that warm!

We had a great catch up and will now make a better effort to stay in touch!

 We got back to the farmhouse late afternoon.  Elaine and myself  joined Diane in the hot tub, Ray served us drinks whilst Dot and Gordon prepared dinner.  It was a good first day!

Tomorrow morning the last two of the group join us.

Catch Up.

About time I did a quick catch up blog......

We had a lovely night out at a local pub celebrating Elaines birthday, we were joined by Ray and Diane, plus my mum. They also had a quiz,actually we did reasonably well.
   

We also walked up White Nancy, mum didn't make that one, it would have made her keel over. Hmmm perhaps I should have took her!! Just joking........a little!

Elaine has also had a few appointments in Manchester, we are so grateful to Ray and Diane for looking after the boys whilst we have been away, yesterday they took them for a cruise, check it out here, they were soon into their normal cruising positions!

Blogging should improve next week as we are off to Cornwall for a week, we are going with the Aston Marina winter moorers, there are eight of us going to a cottage near Penzance.

It should be a fun week with the old gang, there is a spa on the property so no doubt we will all end up naked skinny dipping and wife swapping! 

I am also catching up with an old school friend who I haven't seen for nearly 40 years, he lives near the cottage we are renting, we will also catch up with some Aussie friends that now live in Cornwall.    

C'mon You Reds!!

 Yesterday we took mother on a scenic walk, the first mile was ok as it was flat.

The second mile was a bit more undulating, I keep forgetting that mum is nearly 84.....she slept well last night! 

It makes a change to see a Heron perched in a tree rather than on the canal bank.

Last night it was off to the theatre of dreams to watch the mighty Man Utd play Cambridge in the FA cup.

Normally it is about a 40 minute trip, but there had been a bad accident on the M60 and it took us one and three quarter hours!! 

Luckily they put back the kickoff time by 20 mins so it all worked out well in the end.

Many thanks to Ray from NB Ferndale who manages to get tickets from Australia because he is a member of Man Utd supporters club, Aussie division.

You cannot beat the atmosphere of being at Old Trafford.

Spot the ball.

The trip back was a lot better, we even managed a couple of beers at the pub across the road, we were the last to leave at 12.30 am

This morning it was up at first light, the reason being I offered to take the NB Ferndale cassettes for a ride to the elsan at Bosley to empty out the nasties.

It was the most beautiful clear cold day.

In the afternoon we took mother for another walk, but this time we walked along the Middlewood Way, which is dead flat. We popped into the windmill pub at Whiteley Green for a swift one and a quick defrost by the fire before heading back to base.

Tomorrow will be another action packed day, we will finish up with dinner at a local pub because it is Elaine's birthday.

Happy Birthday My Gorgeous Girl

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

It Aint Half Cold Mum!

Last night we took mother to a local pub for a very nice Sunday roast, then it was back home and a walk across the road to the Spinners for a nightcap.

The locals were very quiet!

It was a very cold -3 night so we decided to go up to the canal and feed the ducks.

We had to go very careful with me old mum, she has slipped on ice before and broken her leg (She was wearing a pair of Ugg boots I had bought her!!)

Icicles under the bridge.

Later on we took a drive up the hills to show her the snow, then it was down to Macc for a bit of a shop.

Day 1 over 11 to go!!