Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Cold, grey and cheerless.

That pretty well describes today’s weather. If we hadn’t been meeting friends further down the canal on Friday we’d have stayed put. I’m just glad we only had a a couple of hours to cruise.

It started to rain as soon as we set off, which soon turned to sleet then to snow. It wasn’t as cold as it has been, but it felt it, being damp and sunless.

Leaving the moorings at The Poacher’sIMG_3344

We had about 3 miles to go, finishing up just below the two New Marton Locks. I wanted Mags to stay below while I dropped us down the locks, but she was having none of it. I was secretly glad, the wet ropes, windlass and gate rails were icy cold to the touch, soon numbing my hands. Not a good condition for climbing slimy lock ladders.

It’s pointless wearing gloves; they soon get wet and make things worse. Imagine what it was like in working boat days. They’d have had to put up with these conditions day after day, for probably 10 hours a day at this time of year. Pretty grim.

It looks like it’s going to be drier tomorrow, but cold. I can cope with that.

We decided yesterday that I was starting to look like Grizzly Adams. So this afternoon out came the clippers. Now I look like a convict…

I was hoping to get the latest stash of firewood cut up as well this afternoon, but it was too wet. I’ll do it before we move tomorrow.

Locks 2, miles 3

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