Slow travel

29/8/2017 From the apartment we walk up the hill to the north, past homes, a church and a mixed small farm- goats, chooks, black sheep. The track is topped with even, crazy paving, until a gem of yet another church, simple, white. Then the track narrows to a stone causeway, a zigzag down the hill to the gravel beach. A small cantina behind shady pines, with simple timber stools. Symi for the tourist is heaven on a stick. You can  stroll to a beach, early morning is my preference,  play in the Aegean,  wander home for a siesta. Later as the day cools, the old town, Chorio, built defensively in a maze of narrow alleys  on the high point above the port,  is a  fascinating destination. Locals chatting on doorsteps, young people hanging out in little bars, tourists relaxing in one of the countless restaurants roosting around the mighty stairs of the Kali Strada, or on the squares emerging from the alleys. A medieval gem. From the port local buses deliver you t...

25/8/2017 From my perch in a cafe near the top of the 900 stairs of the Kali Strata, the Mediterranean stretches from the foot of Symi to the Turkish coast. The hills are shockingly bare, a few hardy trees survive the goats, the climate, the limestone, centuries of depradation including by man. Despite this there is a stark beauty, and admiration for the grit and ingenuity  of the people who now wrest a living from tourism.  Industries of sponge diving, fishing, ship building are long gone. We've left Santiago moored at the top of the Bingley 5 rise, while we head to visir friends on their Greek Island. We walk to beaches, along tracks past little white churches, dry stone walls, winding down the steep hills. Pebbled fringes to the cool embrace of the sea, a cantina or taverna behind, with welcome local beer. The sea like the land is almost denuded, with only tiny fish to be seen. By bus along the ridge of the island to its furthest point, and an ancient monastery. From la...

15/8/2017 A last visit to Salt's Mill, to pay our respects to a magnificent restoration effort. Our last mooring was near the mill in the photo.  Lunch in one of the cafes in the mill- leek, parsnip and ginger soup. Yum. Late yesterday, around 8pm, we walked through Salt's recreation grounds, and stopped to admire a local cricket match between sub continental teams ( f rom Bradford) The green fields created by the 19th C philanthropist,  now assisting community enjoyment and integration. We stopped and chatted to some of the onlookers, our conversation interrupted by the locals shouting advice to the players. Then in the afternoon, motoring to our first obstacle, Hirst Lock and swing bridge. The lock gate appears more of a cascade than a functional gate, and it becomes clear there is some obstruction stuck in the gate, causing it to leak- like a waterfall! A queue of boats, delayed by the obstruction, so we seize our windlasses, and work to clear the queue, and take our tur...

12/8/2017 This is a boring sort of blog, written because visitors and correspondents have expressed curiosity about the practical side of boating, and its costs. Our floating home is 58'6" long, 6'8" wide, carries 594L of fresh water, in a stainless steel tank in the bow, 2 gas cylinders, 220L diesel, and a septic tank 364L. All these except the gas, have gauges, so one knows when a fill or empty function is required. A photo of a towpath side water point is attached. With just the 2 of us on board, a tank of water lasts about 2 weeks. Water is 'free', or rather is provided out of our licence fees, which are around £900 pa. Yesterday we returned to a boatyard at Apperley Bridge, to fill up with diesel. This is generally necessary every 4 weeks or so, depending on how much we are travelling. We also run the engine to charge batteries, run the washing machine, and provide hot water. A tank of diesel is around £200. The septic tank also lasts the 2 of us about...

10/&/2017 Having picked up Sybille and Don from Leeds, we set out to the west, making the 14 miles to Saltaire by 7pm. A long day, but a grand trip up the Aire Valley, much more scenic than our memories. 17 locks, several in staircase formation, with the top gate of one being the bottom gate of the next. A photo is attached. Some locks have a ground paddle system. This allows the opening of a sluice into the side of the lock, meaning less of a waterfall effect created when the sluices in the actual gates are opened. Some locks  are quite leaky, including ones with cascades higher than the boat. Fortunately our front doors were closed at one such lock, so only the well deck was flooded and it has 2 floor drains). Our mooring in Saltaire is adjacent to the old mill building, surrounding us in the golden stone used by Sir Titus Salt when he built his model village in the 1860s. The village included a hospital, and alms houses, for retired employees (pictured), long since sold to...

8/8/2017 A city of contrasts, with magnificent imposing 19thC buildings, over run on the weekend evenings with drunks, hens' parties,  beggars- probably no different to any city centre, but rather unappealing. The Sunday Gay Pride event in contrast was great fun, with a parade, music, drums, costumes. Jeffrey's phone took a swim in the canal at our mooring,  and to the amusement and astonishment of onlookers, he stripped to his jocks, and plunged in. The gay crew on the neighbouring boat were highly entertained, and asked if he was going to strip to his undies for a second time, as they couldn't cope with this degree of excitement. And the phone still works! Moored here in the city centre,  at the. Granary Wharf. A massive arched structure supports the central station, with 4 tunnels carrying the thunder of the torrent of the Aire. Tomorrow, with 2 additional Oz crew, we move west towards the Pennines.

4/8/2017 From our mooring at Castleford, previously a centre for coal mining (hence the loading shute), we move into a gusty, changeable day, deep grey clouds more threatening than performing. Only 3 locks, all electrically operated- JJ handling the boat in the erratic wind, me reading instructions ! The locks are enormous, infrastructure from when the canals were a commercial route. A volunteer lock keeper says the old oil storage tanks are being removed, and other bulk imdustries will replace them-and ships will use the Aire once again. Despite being in the industrialised north, the Aire is quiet, wide, green fringed,  many herons. The old coal spoil hillocks have been revegetated, and while the beeches and other trees make for a pleasant woodland, who knows what fertile soils have gone with the coal. We walk late afternoon to the village of Woodlesford, where we find  a good coffee, and some essential supplies,  including shiraz. Our mooring for the  evening i...

2/8/2017 We love York.  Who wouldn't?  Great architecture, history, music, walks, food. But the Ouse, I believe I hate. With Angie and Phil aboard from Naburn Lock, we cruised in the early evening the hour back to York, there to dine and stroll the medieval lanes and alleys. We moored near the Lendal Tower and Bridge, in front of rhe Museum Gardens.  To bed about 11. Around 1.30am, banging on the boat, a warning from another boater, the river is rising! Stumble out of bed, tumble into jumpers, find a torch, step into rising water to untie ropes, JJ starts the engine, and by moon and streetlights, the boat's headlight, we do a U turn, pass under 2 bridges, to moor behind the boater, Clive, who kindly roused us. As the mooring point is above us,  Clive catches the bow rope, Angie dances up and over to grab the stern rope.....and so we fall back imto bed, securely moored against the river spirits. This morning, a sunny day, to the Minster for a dose of Minster magic....

29/7/2017 No complaints, an excellent place to be. The river is running amok, so new best friend lock keeper Kenny,  advises staying put.  So we are moored on a floating pontoon at Naburn Lock (photo), and caught the bus back to York for lunch ( smashed avocado decorated with red  amarynth? flowers).  Still more to see here, so off to the NT property,  the Treasurer's House. Also to lo ok at the river level here, in case we want to return to a mooring in York.