Wednesday 1 April 2015

As mad as a box of frogs...

Tuesday 31st March 2015

The wind was up today well and truly - very gusty and very strong.

We watched as boats were going past, really questioning the rationale of venturing out in these conditions.

It wasn't as though they were hire craft that were moving past us, although we suspect that they also would have been moving.

We saw a couple of boats coming down from the tunnel direction - one forward and one in reverse.
The latter was being hauled so it probably had broken down and couldn't moor up near the tunnel as the towpath is being upgraded (see yesterday's blog).

The other boat pulled in about 100 metres before reaching us - the man (looked in his late 60's/early 70's) held the the boat whilst his wife got off (same age) and then she held in the wind (very much struggling) whilst he came down, presumably looking for mooring spots.
Another person came along to help hold the boat until the man returned and they moved down to finally moor just in front of us.
It really begged the question, why try and hold a boat in these conditions - even just put a single rope and chain on to hold it and not struggle yourself.

Moving in the wind requires special skills on their own; mooring up requires equally special but different skills; thinking about it all requires a different mindset - that couple could have used the latter and made it easier for themselves.

We did venture out for a bit of a walk around the village today - we found a lovely collection of houses - principally built in a lovely soft yellow stone and very few recent houses - it was a pleasant surprise; a stop by the cafe on the way back and then back inside before we were blown away - better to be rocked and buffeted by the wind inside the boat than outside.

The sun was out in strength as well as the wind, the solar panels making use of it all and charging the batteries almost to full - just a short run of the engine to top them up.


No travel today

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