We've had a disaster on board
There's egg all over the floor
The omelette pan took a dive
When a boat went past full bore

We thought our ropes secure
And that we couldn't possibly move
But said pan was on the middle ring
And it didn't stay in the groove

We've all got that ring on our hob
That's really not fit for purpose
Like trying to balance a saucer
On the back of a moving tortoise

It's a lot like living in a jelly
Stuff slides and shifts about
If someone goes past too fast
Cupboards open and things fly out

Now many shout at the boaters
that seem like they are in a race
And those that are not on tickover
Risk getting my egg on their face

If you're a boater with the zoomies
And behind you there is a wake
Lay off the throttle at moored boats
To reduce the chance of a culinary mishap.
For heavens sake

Fifty five years ago, construction of the Westway forced relocation of hundreds of North Kensington families, earning it a place in history as one of London’s Most Notorious Highways. Today it’s a cautionary tale for Planners and Engineers in how NOT to build public infrastructure … and also how to mitigate its impacts.

Skateboard parks, exercise facilities, shops and offices were eventually added to Westway undercrofts, integrating the highway into neighbourhoods along its length.

Except for a bit that swerves over the canal near Westbourne Park, which stayed notorious, and lately has gotten worse. Burnt, sunken vessels — relics of a remarkable conflagration a year and a half go — still block mooring on one side of the overpass. On the other side a patch of rubbish and construction debris swells and shrinks depending on how recently CRT has evicted the
responsible entity.

How does this cycle end? How does the community take possession of a unique public place? The only rainproof stretch of canal in all of London? Allowing it to fulfill its promise as a weatherproof showcase for commerce and performance? Something London needs more than ever in the post-Covid age?

With the 300+ mixed unit Taxi House development rising within view of the blight, Cheyne Capital has a stake in it, but no clear obligation; their primary obligation is to shareholders and tenants. The Canal and River Trust is obliged to maintain their towpath, but lacks enforcement power and funding. Borough government is the only one with the financial means to address the problem. It is their residents, after all, who benefit most from a beautiful towpath; and their residents who suffer from its absence.

So the City of Westminster must be applauded for developing London’s latest borough-wide strategy to improve the canal in service to constituents.

The ambitious plan, launched after Labour took over for the first time in borough history, details three ongoing projects and seven future ones. The Flyover is listed as high priority.

With borough funding, Your Canal Boat is getting a jump start. Beginning Sunday Feb 23, we present 30 free workshops at the site to demonstrate a different vision for the space, and to grow support for its use as a point of outreach addressing the NHS's new priority, an epidemic of loneliness and isolation estimated to account for 20% GP office visits.

Sessions run the gamut, from drama therapy and teaching your toddler to make music, to journalling, crocheting, mindfulness and cooking. Gerard Williams, the Running Mayor of RBKC, leads running and walking sessions every morning that use our host boat, “Bibo”, as bag drop and refreshment station.

The full program can be viewed here: One of London's most notorious highways

Our partners are “social prescription” advocates Golborne Medical Centre, who believe that doctors should dispense more than pills, including recommendations for time on the water. That’s consistent with something that boaters learned long ago, that the canal boat experience is its own tonic.

Dr. Yasmin Razak leads a lunchtime discussion on the 25th of February on the topic of the canal as a tool for social prescription. A second lunch forum on the 26th features Dr. Greg Cowan, architect, boater and lecturer at University of Westminster, giving a boater’s history of the Westway. Imperial College’s Luke Muscutt moderates a panel of architects dissecting various proposals for the Westway’s future.

Attendance for both discussions is free, but limited to 10. Write to admin@yourcanalboat.com if you’d like to be part of either one.

It’s the time of year when we have more time to think about what we are going to eat, maybe plan a little more and enjoy the thought and preparation that goes into our meals, especially over the festive period.

Food gifts and decorations hand made with love are so much more personal and meaningful than those shop bought ones which involve a lot of packaging and plastic. Although, my guilty confession during November was buying and consuming (I did share) two of boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates, purely to keep the boxes to give my home made chocolate truffles as gifts later on!

The smell of orange peel drying over the warm stove top and clove studded orange decorations mingling with cinnamon and star anise are a favourite. Dried orange zest is a wonderful addition to casseroles and bakes. Add the peel of a tangerine with a few cloves, star anise and a cinnamon stick to a small pan of water and leave to simmer over the stove to give your boat a lovely hint of Christmas.

CRANBERRIES Although I always like to keep dried ones in for baking etc. I have in years gone by bought fresh or frozen and done little with them, the convenience of a shop bought jar of cranberry sauce is simple and easy. There are lots of ways to use these plump little colourful berries and they marry so well with orange, walnuts, sausage, soft cheese and of course poultry. Add them to a salad of roasted squash, sprouts, red cabbage slowly simmered over the stove top with apple, orange, brown sugar and mixed spice. They are also a tasty addition to homemade bread and stuffing, even if you don’t make your own stuffing from scratch, just add them to shop bought along with some extra herbs and nuts such as walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts.

SAUSAGE ROLLS are so rewarding to make and can have much more flavour than shop bought. A pack of shop bought puff pastry can go a long way. You could split the pack and do half and half with savoury sausage rolls and a sweet mince pie roll. As long as you have a rectangular shape, brush down one edge with beaten egg, place the filling down the middle in a sausage shape, fold over, seal and brush the top with the rest of the egg (or milk) before baking. Remember to make a few slits in each one after cutting into individual rolls, sprinkle the top with a little sugar if doing the mince pie version, or finely grated cheese, sesame or poppy seeds if savoury. Instead of cranberry sauce you could use mango chutney or any other fruit chutney with the sausage meat, add a bit of dried stuffing for extra texture if you like. A vegetarian version would be to use very finely chopped onion, peppers and mushroom fried with lentils, sweet potato and Moroccan spices with which dried apricots or prunes work well.

Bay, sage and rosemary are the woody herbs we love to use at this time of year. They marry perfectly with tray roasted potatoes and vegetables, compliment meats and stuffings and add a wonderful flavour when infused in milk for any white sauce or gratin recipe. The spices of nutmeg, star anise and cinnamon are equally wonderful.

I’m sharing a few one pot fuss free festive dishes, which may be cooked over the stove (instead of in the oven) on those cold days when the fire is in all day. I’ve also got with some little extras and tips along with some sweet delights.

TURKEY ONE POT WITH RED CABBAGE AND APPLE This would serve four and will freeze or keep in the fridge for a few days, the quantities can easily be halved for less. This recipe would also work with pork steaks.

6 tsp vegetable oil
2tsp balsamic vinegar
4 turkey breast steaks
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove crushed
500g red cabbage, finely shredded
225g raw baby beetroot, peeled and cut into wedges
2 red apples, thinly sliced
finely grated, zest and juice of 1 orange
1½ tsp light muscovado sugar
400g tin green lentils, drained
4tbsp chicken or vegetable stock
1tsp wholegrain mustard pinch salt and black pepper

Mix 2 tsp of the oil with 1tsp of the vinegar and lightly brush over the turkey steaks, season with the salt and pepper, set aside to marinate while you make the braised red cabbage. Heat 3 tsp of the oil in a flameproof casserole dish (approx. 3 litre capacity) and gently fry the onion for a couple of minutes, add the garlic. Remove from the heat and add the cabbage, beetroot, apple, orange zest and juice, remaining vinegar and sugar. Lightly season and stir everything together. Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook in a moderate (170/gas3) oven (or over the stove) until the cabbage is just tender, stirring half way through.

Pat the turkey steaks dry with kitchen paper, heat a frying pan with the remaining oil. Add the turkey steaks and cook on one side only for a minute or so until browned. Stir the lentils into the red cabbage, then place the steaks on top, browned side up. Combine the mustard with the stock and pour over the top. Cover and return to the oven or stove for a further 20 minutes until the cabbage is tender and the turkey is cooked through.

SPICED SAUSAGE ROLLS

1 tbsp oil ½ onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp each chilli powder, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric
100ml red wine
squeeze of lemon juice
400g sausage-meat
pack puff pastry (approx 320g)
1 egg beaten

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, cook for a couple of minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a couple more minutes until soft. Add the spices and cook for a minute or two to release the flavours. Pour in the red wine and let it bubble for a few minutes to reduce, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice, then allow to cool. Combine the sausage-meat with the spice mixture and mix well.

Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface, cut into two rectangular oblongs. Brush one long edge with the beaten egg. Then with floured hands make a long sausage shape with the mixture and place over the pastry. Pull the pastry over the filling to seal the edges over the beaten egg side by pressing firmly together, carefully roll over to make sure the edges are stuck together. Cut into individual sausage rolls and place onto a lined baking sheet. Make two slits in each roll using scissors to snip v shapes out of the pastry. Brush with the rest of the beaten egg and cook in the preheated oven for about 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. Transfer to a wire rack, this helps keep the bottom of the roll crispy.

SWEET POTATO AND CHICK PEA HARISSA ROLLS (Makes 16)

1 pack ready made puff pastry
2 small sweet potatoes, very finely diced
1 tin chick peas, reserve the liquid
½ red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 heaped tsp harissa spice mix
½ tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp poppy or sesame seeds

Toss the potatoes in a little olive oil and salt and pepper, then roast in the oven for about 15 minutes. Gently fry the onion with the garlic and spices, add the tomato puree, sweet potato and chick peas. Combine everything together. Add a little of the chick pea liquid and then use a potato masher or fork to squash the mixture a little. Roll out the ready-made puff pastry on a floured surface and cut into two large rectangles, place the filling mixture in a sausage down the middle about 2cm from the edge, roll over and seal the edges. Brush the top with the chick pea water and sprinkle with the seeds. Bake in a 180 oven for about 20 mins until golden brown on top.

FESTIVE SIDES

• For glazed root vegetables, use equal quantities of (about 2 tbsp) of vegetable oil or light olive oil with honey or maple syrup.
• Roasted sprouts and shallots marry well with finely paired orange zest and juice with oil and a sprig of thyme. Use 2 tbsp oil, 2 tbsp honey and the juice of 1 orange. Or use balsamic vinegar instead of orange.
• For any tray roast veggies, ensure they are cut into equal sized pieces to ensure even cooking.
• Add a few finely chopped rosemary or sage leaves to your Yorkshire pudding mix for extra flavour.
• When seasoning your roasties, ditch the table salt for Malden sea salt flakes, they are the best and make all the difference! Use freshly ground black pepper.
• Crispy roast potatoes give better results when par boiled, dry the moisture and steam off wrapped in a t towel, then make sure the roasting tray is hot before they are tossed in oil, herbs and seasoning to roast in the oven. It’s not essential to par boil and sometimes can make one pan too many, but it will give nice rough edges to your roasties and they will be crispy on the outside yet fluffy in the middle. We know not to waste the water and re use it for other veggies, soup or stock.
• Carrots and parsnips cut length-ways and roasted with 2 tbsp honey, 1tbsp oil and 1tbsp wholegrain mustard combine well together for a tasty twist. Swap the mustard for fennel seeds for another alternative. It’s not necessary to par boil carrots and parsnips, for best results toss in the oil and roast until just tender then mix the honey, orange, fennel, mustard or whatever you’re using and toss through the vegetables to glaze and cook for a further 10 minutes. They can be cooked in advance up to the last step.

ONE POT BRAISED DUCK BREASTS WITH POTATO CELERY AND ORANGE

Pork steaks would work instead of duck and the dish can be cooked over the stove or in the oven.
3 oranges
2 duck breasts, skinless and boneless
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 celery sticks, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, crushed
250g new potatoes, halved
75ml vegetable stock
1 star anise
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

Finely grate the zest from two of the oranges. Arrange the duck breasts in a single layer in a dish and sprinkle over the zest, then squeeze the juice from the two oranges over the duck. Turn them over a few times and then cover and leave in the fridge to marinate for at least an hour or overnight. Allow to come to room temperature before cooking and preheat the oven to about 180/gas4. Peel the remaining orange and cut into 8 segments.

Heat the oil in a flameproof casserole and add the onion and celery, fry for a few minutes and add the garlic and star anise, continue to fry for a minute until the onions are soft but not brown. Remove the onions and celery from the pan and set aside. Lift the duck breasts out of the marinade and place in the casserole, spoon the onions and celery mix over them and then pour over the marinade. Add the potatoes and half the orange segments, scattering them around the duck breasts. Pour over the stock and add the chilli and bring to the boil. Cover and cook for about 35/40 minutes until the duck and potatoes are tender, season to taste. Remove the duck breasts from the casserole and slice them. Spoon the other ingredients into a bowl and top with the sliced duck, then spoon the juices over. Garnish with the few reserved orange slices.

CRANBERRY BREAD PUDDING

This is a deliciously satisfying pudding, full of chocolate fruitiness with a hint of spice and quick and easy to make.

6 thick slices of white bread, cubed
½ cup fresh cranberries
10 squares of dark chocolate
¼ cup toasted almond flakes
¼ cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
4 cups milk
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 small stick cinnamon
3 whole cardamon pods, bruised
3 eggs, beaten

For the topping beat together ½ cup melted butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract ¼ cup cream

Preheat the oven to 180/gas 4.

Cover the bottom of a shallow tart or pie dish with the bread. Scatter the cranberries, chocolate and almonds among the bread cubes and sprinkle the sugar on top. In a saucepan, heat the butter milk and coconut oil with the vanilla, cinnamon and cardamon, heat to lukewarm until the butter has melted. Remove the cardamon pods and cinnamon stick. Whisk the eggs into the milk mixture and pour over the bread allowing to soak in. Bake for about 40 minutes until cooked and slightly set. For the topping, beat the ingredients together and spread evenly over the pudding as soon as it comes out of the oven, return to the oven for a further 20 to 25 minutes until nicely browned. Serve with a good thick custard or ice cream.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING TRIFLE This recipe uses warmed up left over Christmas pudding and cold custard and cream for a quick and simple rich dessert. These quantities make two and can easily be doubled for more.

150g leftover Christmas pudding
200g tinned prunes in syrup
1½ tbsp sherry (optional)
250g ready made custard
150ml double cream
whole nutmeg for grating

Warm the Christmas pudding up in the oven with a splash of water for ten minutes or so to heat through. Meanwhile, drain the prunes and reserve the syrup. Remove the stones from about 8 prunes (if not pitted), the others will keep in the fridge in the syrup for another day.

Roughly chop and combine with the sherry and about a tablespoon of the syrup. Break the warm pudding and arrange over the bottom of a dish (or individual tumblers), add the prunes to each one, pushing them down into the pudding, spoon over a little of the boozy syrup to moisten the pudding then spoon over the custard. Whip up the cream until forms soft peaks and spoon over the custard layer. Finish with a finely grated dusting of fresh nutmeg and serve with any remaining syrup.

CHOCOLATE ORANGE AND CRANBERRY ETON MESS

This is quick and easy to prepare, combine all the ingredients and top with whole pieces of chocolate orange and a fresh orange segment. Use whatever quantities you prefer, whether you like more cream, meringue or fruit, you can’t go wrong.
Ready bought meringue nests A handful of fresh or frozen cranberries Tinned and drained orange segments (or fresh orange) Freshly whipped cream Broken chocolate orange pieces and whole segments to top
For a little extra festive indulgence add a splash of brandy!

MINCEMEAT LOAF CAKE

225g self-raising flour
150g light brown soft sugar
150g butter or margarine
425g mincemeat
2 eggs
50g blanched almonds
A small handful of glacé cherries

Lightly grease and line two small loaf tins and preheat the oven to 160/gas 2. Combine the flour and sugar, add the eggs, butter and mincemeat. Beat together until everything is mixed well. Divide between the two tins and arrange the halved blanched almonds and glacé cherries over the top. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 mins, cool on a wire.
Finish by brushing with warm marmalade melted in a pan and a sprinkling of sieved icing sugar.

Hopefully we will all enjoy this season of goodwill and look forward to bright and promising 2025.

The season of Family Gatherings is upon us and as the clock ticks closer to Christmas, many people will find themselves among relatives who they don’t see all that often. And sometimes with good reason; a few sherries in and old Aunty Martha starts trotting out the family stories, “Back when I was a child, my grandfather used to tell me we came off the barges…”

But this is actually a very good time to start researching your family history and sorting out whether Aunty Martha is on to something or talking a load of baubles. With Black Friday adverts still ringing in your ears, you might find yourself clicking buy-it-now on a bargain genealogy subscription and a few clicks later you’re astonished to find that your ancestor does indeed appear to be a boatman. But now what?

Boaters are notoriously difficult to track, so here's a few tips and tricks to help you navigate the murky waters of canal genealogy.

Start with the basics:

1) Talk to people
Still got some older folk in the family? Go ask them for details. Them, their parents, their siblings, their spouse, their in-laws, their grandparents, their cousins, everyone they can recall. Get names, birthdays, places, weddings, occupations, deaths and (this one can be vital so don’t skip it) nicknames. Write it all down, and consider this your shoe-box full of clues, a clue-box if you will.

2) Check for old paperwork.
In a perfect world, you’re looking for Birth, Marriage or Death certificates. These are goldmines of information, as they’ll give you names, dates, places and occupations. They’ll also tell you whether or not your ancestor was literate, and in some cases can give you a specific boat name, which will open up another line of research.
But other papers can be helpful too; newspaper clippings, insurance papers, even receipts can point you in the right direction.

Birth Marriage and Death certificates ©Bill Pearson

3) Check for bibles.
This one is a rare occurrence in boating families, who were often illiterate, but you may find that a family bible has a section in it wherein the owner has noted down names and dates. Sometimes they’re highly specific; the writer of my family’s bible made a point of noting down times and places as well.

Once you’ve got your basic clue-box, put together a rough family tree. You may find it helpful to have a hard copy that you can carry around with you and scribble notes on, as well as making one online. The main genealogy sites have tree inbuilt, which then allows their own technology to suggest relevant information. This leads me to my first word of caution:
Don’t trust the internet!

Don’t get me wrong, the algorithms these sites use to trawl through records and find potentially useful records is very clever, but it is not foolproof. Always check what it’s telling you before you accept it.

‘Ancestry’ in particular will try to link your family tree to other members trees based on matching information, which is fine if that tree owner has got it right. However, I’ve seen trees where people have clicked “accept-hint” on everything and ended up with an ancestor whose first child was born when they were 6, who was buried in 6 different cemeteries and whose mother had died before they were born. Very messy.

Parish Register

So you’ve got your basic family tree and your boating ancestor is Frederick James Bloggs of Braunston, Northamptonshire, but you can’t find him online. Now what?

1) Think laterally
What diminutives come from the name? Start with the obvious, look for Fred instead of Frederick. Adjust the spelling- Blogs or Blogges for example. Sometimes the extra letter is all that’s needed. Then move to the middle name if there’s still no hits; try James or Jim Bloggs.
This is where the nicknames come in, did granny mention a Great Uncle Jemmy?
Especially the further back you go, the more likely you are to come across boaters using by-names. I once spent weeks trawling through records searching for a chap everyone recorded as Harry, but it turned out his name was actually William; he’d gained the name Harry as a young man because he harried the ladies!

2) Sound it out
When faced with an odd name, be it place or person, try saying it out loud to see what else it could sound like.
Always remember that many boaters wouldn’t have been able to read and write, so rarely would they be able to correct any miss-spellings a clerk may have made in their name; for example a vicar recorded William Stirrup, while William himself spelt his name Strup
By the same token, the writer may not be familiar with the dialect the boater is speaking and have gotten it completely wrong – Hardings Wood becomes Arden Wood, Saint Helens becomes Senelen.

3) Follow the waterways
If your elusive ancestor is a boater, there’s a good chance they’re on the move. Follow the canals where you last found them and widen the search.
When you’re searching the censuses particularly, don’t be too alarmed if your ancestor has been missed entirely- their inclusion relies solely on whether their boat was close enough for the census recorder for the area to get to, and whether both the recorder and the boater wanted to speak to one another.

Some censuses and certificates note the name of the boat your ancestor worked on and even the company name, and this will open up a whole new field of study. Post 1877, you may be able to find your ancestor and their boat in a Canal Boat Register. These are absolute goldmines of information, telling you what the boat was carrying, how many people she carried, her cargo, her master and her owner. Toll books too will flesh out the work (although be suspicious to a degree, many records were falsified!)

Canal Boat Registers ©Yorkshire Waterways Heritage Society

Unfortunately, these records are not digitised as a rule and you’ll have to either go to the archives where they’re held or get the archivist to pull the details up for you. Many of these records are held at Ellesmere Port, but some council archives still hold their own registers.

Narrowboat Magazine is a canal-history specific ‘zine with a vast back catalogue of articles covering many companies and canals, as well as waterways subjects (including genealogy), so you may find more tidbits through there.

The newspaper archives can be a source of information too, but keep a level head if you find a juicy story - journalists haven’t changed much over the years – and always be certain that the subject is your ancestor before you get too excited; one lady was extremely disappointed to realise that the subject of a scandalous article wasn’t actually her ancestor, they just shared the same name. Alas, she had already told all her family, which in turn sowed discord among older relatives!

Social media will also be your friend; there are a number of very good groups on Facebook with immensely knowledgeable members willing to help point a newcomer (and sometimes a cousin, for many boat families were inter-related) in the right direction. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, even if it’s just for reading old writing. As a rule, historians love a challenge and will invariably grab new ones with both hands.

So there you have it, a rough guide to researching your boating ancestors. And that just leaves me to wish you all a very merry Christmas!

Last night brought the first deep frost of the year. With the morning sun, our surroundings shone with an ethereal beauty. Jack Frost had been busy overnight.

Jack Frost has an unclear history. There are numerous stories of his origin, but all agree that he brings the frost and ice of winter. In some he is also responsible for colouring the leaves in autumn. The term ‘jack’ was once used similarly to ‘lad’. ‘Jack the Lad’ was used for a brash young man, a bit of a show-off. A jackanapes was a mischievous, impudent rascal. Jack o’ lanterns were lights flickering over a bog, perhaps to mislead travellers. So, Jack Frost’s name would seem appropriate to the stories told of him.

Although drawn in the shape of a person, the character is always ‘other-worldly’, fairy-like, elvish or a sprite. There are frequent crossovers to other personifications of winter such as Old Man Winter.

The earliest printed reference to Jack Frost is a brief mention in a 1734 leaflet called Round About Our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments.2 The author describes the winter season as “when Jack Frost commonly takes us by the Nose”.

In stories, poems and pictures, his age can be young or old, and his character ranges from fun, through mischievous, to being a prankster and occasionally darker and more mysterious. His portrayal is not generally one of kindness.

The 1875 poem 'Little Jack Frost. A Rhyme for Flossie', by Charles Sangster (3) creates a vivid picture of Jack Frost:

‘Nobody saw him, still he was there.
Nose-biting, prank-playing, everywhere,
All through the houses, out in the street,
Capering wildly through storm and sleet.’

The undated poem 'The Frost' by Hannah Gould (1789-1865) (4) takes him one step further, when, in the last verse, frozen fruit and shattered crockery and glass are seen as revenge.

‘But he did one thing that was hardly fair;
He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there
That all had forgotten for him to prepare –
“Now just to set them a-thinking,
I’ll bite this basket of fruit,” said he,
“This costly pitcher I’ll burst in three,
And glass of water they’ve left for me
Shall ‘tchich!’ to tell them I’m drinking.”’

In the short stories of Jack Frost and Betty Snow; with other tales for wintry nights and rainy days, by John M. Chanter et al. of 1858, (5) Jack Frost and his wife are portrayed as even more impulsive spirits who freeze everything and even kill.

I’m hoping that this year, Jack Frost concentrates on his artwork!

References

1. Maxfield Parrish (1936) Jack Frost. Magazine cover for Collier’s.

2. Anonymous (Earlier editions) (1734) Round About Our Coal Fire, or Christmas Entertainments.

3. Charles Sangster (1875) Little Jack Frost. A Rhyme for Flossie.

4. Hannah Gould (undated) The Frost.

5. John M. Chanter et al. (1858) Jack Frost and Betty Snow; with other tales for wintry nights and rainy days.

6. Margaret Tarrant (1927) Jack Frost illustration from 'The Weather Fairies'.

I have been busy winterising a motorcycle engine. What really kills them is water creeping into the electrics either by rain pouring down on them or worse still, condensation, which eventually causes the copper wire to go green and then suddenly what is supposed to be 12 volts is down to 9 or 10, causing all sorts of anxiety on the side of the road.

I work outside for 7 hours a day in all weathers and have become quite used to dealing with winter.  But reading some of the “prepare your boat for winter" articles, one could be cruel and suggest that they are written by journalists that perhaps don’t!!

OK.  I’ve just covered the outboard (it’s the same as motorcycle engine) - a small tin of silicone grease over all the electrical contacts – spark plug caps, coil etc., goes an awfully long way to stopping problems, as does draining the fuel completely (modern corn ethanol fuel is actually Montana moonshine and extremely good at absorbing water, which doesn’t do fuel systems any good). I often wince when people lay up their bikes for the whole of the winter.  My advice is to start that outboard at least once a month or the oil seals etc. will dry out,  causing problems next year.  And don’t forget to grease the steering gear and control cables, if only because they will dry out without use and become heavy and unresponsive. It's worth using a penetrating cleaning fluid (the one that comes in yellow and blue can) to clean off all the old grease first as it hardens over time. If you have an out-board lift tilt and drain it, then bounce it a few times up and down. This does wonders for clearing the grill over the water intake. Inboards are slightly trickier mainly because of the prop shaft. Everyone is used to giving the greaser two turns in summertime but they duly forget it in wintertime and seeing as this grease is the only thing stopping water entering the shaft, plus a strip of greased soaked leather or rope, the results of neglect can be catastrophic. When Dawntreader was diesel powered, I used to drain the fuel tank in winter because the dreaded diesel bug loves the condensation which naturally forms as air heats and cools. So either drain it or brim it. Anything to stop this.

Bilge pumps!! Who ever thought that relying on an automatic anything was a good idea? I have three and only one is electric- the other two are very much manual. Your battery will naturally discharge in the cold and the chances of a failure are incredibly high. Also, nothing beats sticking your head down below the cockpit floor once a week just to double check. I read with interest that two boats went down on the Kennet and Avon after storm Bert, during which,although I don’t know facts, I can assume that 40mm of rain in 24 hours probably contributed.

Next, the hull. We spend a fortune on car products to give them glossy and protected paintwork and we never translate this to anything else. So my advice is a good waxing of the paintwork whatever the hull construction; anything to stop water sitting on flat surfaces and slowly penetrating the base layers where it will freeze and blow. I’ve used this anti- green cleaner: it leaves behind a residue that stops the algae from forming and is exceptional on the canopy, which also needs a coating of silicone based cleaner to help shed the rain. The boat has to breathe, windsocks over vents allows them to be left open without the fear of rainwater pouring in – although storm Bert disproved that theory! Canopies are my biggest fear- ever been in a tent in a storm and seen it blow in and out? My main issue is the wind trying to lift off the pram folders (metal supports) so I have a cleat on the engine cover and a large mooring rope pulling it all down tight. This seems to work, as last weekend was horrendous. Forget the elastic fasteners in winter, they are ideal in summer for quick removal, but the idea is to stop it shaking about which means bolt rope (it’s a sailing term used for rope of about 10mm that strengthened a sail).

Finally chaffing!! Even if you are in a marina, your boat will move back and forth day in, day out. We all use fair-leads (the holders for ropes in the deck) to reduce this. On many tall ships I was on, they even went as far as sewing in leather protectors. Just check around where your lines cross the deck and especially around a cleat where this can go unnoticed.

The best thing you can do for any machine is to use it! We seem to have an inbuilt psychology which says that after November we must all hide away until March. There are some lovely days in winter, why waste them?

In a bid to reduce the number of cases of sticky fuel, River Canal Rescue is advising boaters to change their winter fuel storage strategies.  Sticky fuel is unrelated to the usual fuel contaminants and causes injection pump racks to seize, fuel injector and filter head plungers to fail, and return lines to block.

RCR says a common denominator in all reported cases is the use of fuel treatments. They in themselves are not at fault; but surmise there may be a link with fuel and chemical breakdown when they’ve been stored for a while.

With fuel suppliers advising diesel only has a shelf life of around six months and chemicals starting to break down after this time, RCR is urging boaters to take notice of this new information and take the following action.

Managing director, Stephanie Horton, comments: ” Over winter, where previously I would advise to fill tanks to prevent condensation build-up, best practice now is to leave them empty and upon return, drain off any water build-up, treat the remaining fuel and then add fresh.
“If using a fuel treatment, given we know chemicals start to breakdown within six months and we believe this is one of the contributing factors, use it within six to 12 months of purchase.”

Identifying sticky fuel

To help boaters identify a sticky fuel problem, Stephanie suggests they take a fuel sample and leave it in a clear glass jar on a window cill in the light. Initially, the fuel will be clear, but after a couple of days, if it is affected, it will go from clear to cloudy.
She continues: “If you are worried about your fuel or have symptoms consistent with sticky fuel, doing this test first may prevent you from having to dump what’s in your tank.”

cloudy sticky fuel (right) next to uncontaminated red and white diesel

Fuel removal

If there is an issue, RCR recommends fuel removal and disposal, using a franchise company that removes the ‘wrong fuel’ from vehicles, such as Fuel Doctor or Wrong Fuel etc. These companies have large containers in vans, long hoses and can attend the same day. The cost is £150-£180, with 20 litres of fuel delivered, and more can be requested. If accessibility is a problem, RCR suggests using a boat yard facility to pump it out.

Stephanie concludes: “Once the tank’s refilled with fresh fuel, leave any treatments for a while as fresh fuel appears to clean any residue in the fuel system. Winns injector cleaner is also good at clearing signs of sticky fuel in the system, however in most cases, the fuel will still need to be removed.”

Background

In December 2020, River Canal Rescue reported a rise in the number of call-outs across the UK for fuel-related issues, unrelated to the usual fuel contaminants.

Engineers found cases of seized injection pump racks with blocked nozzles, fuel injector and filter head plunger failures. The culprit was fuel that had left a syrupy and sticky residue in the fuel system, clogging components.

RCR said it was ‘contamination not seen before’, and fuel samples taken from boats were sent away for analysis. Bafflingly the samples were clear - it appears the only indication of contamination is a smell of turps/paint thinners.  This is due to any residue in the fuel being so small it is not able to be collected. Engine distributor Barrus also confirmed the samples it sent off were returned with no issues.

Over the past four years, RCR has been working to identify solutions to this protracted residue build-up, to prevent it clogging up engine components. RCR engineers have however, seen fuel related call-outs (injectors/pumps/contamination etc) continue to rise and believe it’s directly attributed to sticky fuel related issues.

Be in the know

• Sticky fuel occurs in all types of engines, anywhere in the country and with boaters using a range of different fuel suppliers; local fuel supply is not the problem.
• Do not store fuel for more than six months
• Do not store/use fuel treatments for more than a year
• Leave your tank empty over winter
• If there are issues with the engine running and no clear cause – treat with Winns injector treatment to clear suspected signs of sticky fuel

Sticky fuel v contaminated fuel

Sticky fuel looks clear, has no signs of contamination, the filters are clean but injectors and injection pumps collect a sticky residue that stops them operating correctly, producing similar symptoms to contaminated fuel. It can also affect other elements such as return lines, filter plungers and lift pumps.

Contaminated fuel is typically diesel bug, but also water, rust and debris in the fuel. The fuel will look cloudy and have clear signs of contamination causing filters, pipes and pumps to block, and engines to run rough or cut-out, causing vibration and smoke.

During the last couple of years of my Mum’s life (when she was in her late 70s), I’d sometimes ask if she wanted to go out for lunch or come to us for dinner on a particular day and she’d refuse because she was going to the dentist/doctors/opticians that morning; it used to drive me crazy and I’d say to her ‘you can do more than one thing a day Mum’. I was so caught up in the busyness of my own life that I had little patience for anyone who wasn’t living their life at 100mph.

I so regret my attitude and behaviour now my life has changed so much and I can totally relate to wanting to live life at a different pace. For me, it has little to do with getting older and everything to do with choosing not to see busyness as a badge of honour.

My identity used to revolve around trying to pack in as much as I could each and every day and although being very busy and productive clearly fulfilled a need within me, it didn’t truly make me happy; I definitely wasn’t appreciating the present moment, but looking forward to all manner of planned events in the future.

When we sold our house, we spent 8 months living in our touring caravan whilst our narrow boat was being built. Moving into the caravan coincided with another lockdown in November 2020, so life changed dramatically.

When we sold our house, we spent 8 months living in our touring caravan whilst our narrow boat was being built. Moving into the caravan coincided with another lockdown in November 2020, so life changed dramatically.

Mum died in 2019, I was no longer working, we’d sold the house, we were in the middle of a pandemic and we had a narrow boat under construction despite having no boating experience whatsoever.

Sometimes life gives us opportunities for change that take time to understand, let alone embrace; when we’ve always lived life at breakneck speed, we need to adopt a change of pace before we can relax into a different way of life.

Of course, not everyone would make the choices I’ve made; living on a boat isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, but we loved living in our caravan for those 8 months, so we were confident living on a boat would suit us just fine.

I now understand (and have adopted) my Mum’s ‘one thing a day’ attitude to life. I’m finding removing the need to be productive or to ‘achieve’ allows me to approach each day as it comes and enjoy the day as it unfolds; there are many days when I have no plans at all, yet seem to occupy myself and enjoy the simple things in life. I’m under no illusion that being retired allows me to live the lifestyle I choose, but it is a choice; many people choose to be busy at this age and that suits them too.

This week, we’re on a canal that we love and it’s close to where we lived in the caravan; we know where the best pubs, cafes, farm shops and walks are, so we’ve been able to stop and appreciate everything along the way.

The countryside is beautiful in this area and it’s a joy to walk along local footpaths listening to the sound of crisp newly fallen leaves underfoot. It’s lovely to walk in the afternoon and to see the milky late afternoon light gently envelop the fields as the sun sets…a real joy.

Some of my ‘one things a day’ this week have been a mocha coffee (literally the best mocha anywhere) and a bacon roll in a favourite cafe, several walks through much loved villages, lunch in a local gastropub, yoga (3 times!) on the towpath and chatting with a local lady who we met in lockdown when we were waiting for the boat to be built.

My Mum used to text me sometimes saying ‘I’m enjoying a G & T’ late in the afternoon and I always loved that she said ‘enjoying’ rather than ‘having’ a G & T. Although I had a busy life filled with regular holidays and a job I loved, I wonder how much I allowed myself to ‘enjoy’ those experiences in the moment. My propensity towards performing and perfectionism meant my mind was often tied up in either the past or the future; I was so rarely present.

Life changes for us all and there are opportunities to change direction if we choose to; We’re soon to become great grandparents and the reality of one of our grandchildren becoming a father has been an interesting concept! It’s a leveller when your children start having children, but when your grandchildren start having children, it feels like it’s time to embrace life even more fully.

Despite soon becoming a great grandma, it feels as if I’m only just beginning to know who I am; roles I’ve lived in the past have changed and I’m learning to adapt to the life I’ve chosen now. That’s not to say life is over…far from it! There are places we want to go and things we want to do away from the canals, so we’re making plans for new adventures too.

I’ve felt so grateful this week that I’m in a relationship at this point in my life where we share the same outlook (I won’t say goals as that sounds too ‘driven’); no relationship is perfect, but to be married to someone (for 39 years) who decides to make a loaf of bread and a rice pudding on a Friday morning (that’s 2 things a day!) is a keeper.

Being open to change in later life feels a good thing; I think my Mum would look at my life now and be pleased I’ve adopted her philosophy…after all, Mums do know best.

I don’t stress how I dress👗
because I live on a boat

But my favoured attire is
peaked cap and waist coat 🧢🦺

with sturdy worn boots👢👢
and a bright neckerchief 🧣

I sometimes let slip
those garments underneath 🩲

It’s a shock for gongoozlers📸
Who see more than they ought😱

A bare bottomed boater🍑
Hanging out on their boat

Originally the plan was that we, three couples and two dogs, would take a leisurely cruise on the Canal du Midi in a very comfortable hire cruiser operated by one of France’s premier boat hire companies Nicols, who design, build and operate some 400 cruisers. This plan was much like the cruises on Nicols Boats that some amongst us had done in the past before Covid, but this time we planned to cruise on a section of the Canal that we hadn’t explored previously.

Over the past twenty years or so, given that several amongst us are experienced seafarers, we have undertaken cruises on a number of different models from Nicols’ extensive range of cruisers and have then provided reports both on the boats themselves and on the cruising areas that we explored. On this occasion we planned to start and finish our cruise from Port Lauragais, one of Nicols bases on the Canal du Midi between Toulouse and Carcassonne. As I said, that was the plan!

A day or two prior to our departure from the UK I received a call from Nicols to ask whether we might like to consider a change of plan and rather than starting and finishing in Port Lauragais we could instead take one of their latest and largest cruisers from the Nicols base at Le Somail near Beziers north up the Canal du Midi to its home base at Port Lauragais.

The idea was quite appealing but there were a couple of logistical issues that we needed to address before agreeing on the change of plan. Nicols were very helpful and cooperative as regards these, including allowing us more time to complete what we correctly anticipated could be quite a challenging 120km cruise through no less than sixty locks, fifty-nine of which were “uphill”, to the summit of the Canal at the Seuil de Naurouze 190m above sea level - only the last lock from the summit to Port Lauragais was a less demanding “downhill” one.

So, after a lunchtime meeting in Cholet with a representative of Nicols management team, it was agreed that we would board our boat, one of the latest 15m long Sixto Fly class cruisers, at Le Somail the next afternoon with the aim of delivering her to Port Lauragais the following week-end giving us at least seven full days to complete the voyage which looked quite feasible had everything gone to plan and had the weather not had other ideas!

Despite travelling from different parts of France, all three couples and our two dogs duly arrived on the Saturday afternoon in glorious sunshine at the very attractive port village of Le Somail. Once we had sorted out who was to have which of the three cabins, stowed all our gear and parked our cars in the secure car-park at the base, we welcomed the Nicols engineer aboard to go through the usual procedure of showing us how everything worked including the heating, air-conditioning and on-board 240volt generator. We then completed the necessary paperwork at the office.

However, by this time, it was late afternoon so we made the decision to book a meal at the very popular local Auberge for that evening and to spend the next hour or two exploring the beautiful historic village, including a visit to what is the biggest bookshop any of us had ever seen!

The village of Le Somail is really not much bigger than a hamlet. Long before its development as a tourist centre, it was clearly an important commercial port on the Canal during the 17th - 19th centuries with some 28,000 travellers passing through the village in one year during the 19th century. The buildings themselves, such as the Auberge, the former port office, the chapel and the warehouses are indicative of Le Somail’s past importance. Today it’s not only one of the most popular of Nicols Boats hire cruiser bases it is also a tourist destination in its own right and attracts lots of visitors from far and wide; it boasts a busy and very helpful tourist office too.

We spent a couple of hours during the late afternoon exploring the village, visiting the bookshop and the “provisions barge” that’s moored on the canal to stock up with various supplies, such as fresh milk, that we were likely to need during the early part of our voyage before enjoying a pleasant meal at the Auberge alongside the Canal.

Sunday morning saw us preparing to cast off when we noticed that the fresh water pump appeared to be struggling to supply water at any reasonable pressure. We managed to get hold of the engineer who had given us our briefing the previous afternoon, which was lucky because it seems that the problem had not been reported by the previous hirers. Having to wait whilst a new pump fitted meant that we didn’t actually leave Le Somail until Sunday midday so it was just as well we’d agreed some leeway with Nicols as regards when we needed to get the boat to Port Lauragais.

So, in very pleasant weather but with a forecast of heavy rain and strong winds overnight and the following morning, we made our way through the four locks between Le Somail and the quite large port of Homps where we moored for the night after booking lunch the following day at the nearby restaurant. Homps is an attractive large village with the third biggest port on the Canal, a marina, a supermarket, an excellent wine shop and several restaurants all within easy walking distance.

The large canal basin/marina at Homps was one of the relatively few places where the 29m commercial barges could turn round and enjoyed a prosperous period in the 17th-19th centuries thanks to shipments of the local Minervois wines to Sete, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

The weather forecast proved to be accurate. During the night and the following morning we experienced torrential rain and high winds that, thanks to me having left our cabin window slightly open when my wife Lois and I went to bed, managed to soak all our bedding before our dog Fudge woke us all up at around 2 am. Lois and I ended up spending the rest of the night on the sofa bed in the saloon, and we owe a huge vote of thanks to our friends for lending us extra bedding for what was left of the night, and for helping us to dry out all our bedding, (including the mattress!)in time for us to use the following night.

With an overall length of 15m (the maximum permitted for hire cruisers) the Sixto Fly is one of the most sophisticated and luxurious hire cruisers operating on the French inland waterways but is designed mainly to take advantage of the summer weather conditions, especially those prevailing in the south of France. Hence the “Fly Deck” with its Bimini cover. There are two steering positions; one inside in front of the saloon, the other on a “Fly Bridge” which commands a far better all round view and helps no end as regards manoeuvring in restricted spaces, especially in the locks where there is no room for error! Hence we made a decision to use the fly bridge helm position most of the time rather than the lower inside position.

We enjoyed a very good lunch at the restaurant that we’d moored alongside at Homps. After lunch the rain eased up and we set off immediately to the next nearest port at La Redorte where we moored for the night having managed just a pretty pathetic 5km and only one lock that day. Obviously we were falling well short of our daily target which required us to average at least eight locks every day!

Come the next morning we got away early and managed to cover some 20kms and negotiate a dozen locks during the passage from Le Redorte to the port of Trebes about 10kms east of Carcassonne and its famous Cite. Trebes is a bustling town with a busy port where fortunately we managed to find a mooring with mains electricity and fresh water connections. So, after what had definitely been our busiest day so far, we retired to a nearby Italian restaurant which would you believe also served the local speciality Cassoulet which was enjoyed (I think!) by at least one of us.
The weather during this long day was fair but with a pretty fresh wind and even stronger gusts bordering on gale force. Previously we have had other boats, mainly hire cruisers, some of which were rather obviously crewed by people not used to dealing with strong and gusty winds. This made for some interesting experiences when the lock-keepers understandably wanted to accommodate two, three or even four boats in a lock chamber at the same time; a deliberate policy designed to conserve water.

However we were quite relieved to find ourselves alone after having shared a lock chamber on three occasions with one particular hire cruiser who appeared either to not understand or to simply ignore the lock keeper’s instructions. We finally managed to lose him when he moored so far back from a lock that the lock-keeper closed the gates before we could enter it.

To be fair, locking in the winds we were experiencing wasn’t that easy even for an experienced person on the helm, especially when several locks are only entered through a very low bridge requiring whoever is on the upper helm to duck down or even to kneel down on occasion. In fact the same cautionary ducking was needed for quite a few of the many bridges over the canal too.

Not only was locking quite challenging for the helmsman, it was pretty demanding and hard work for the crew too, one of whom had to be dropped ashore about fifty metres before the lock so he or she could make their way to the correct side of the lock chamber to receive fore and after mooring lines from the members of the crew still aboard. On a 15m long boat the mooring lines need to be pretty long and quite heavy duty which makes them distinctly difficult to throw to the person ashore, especially when the person concerned may often be 5m above the crew member on the boat! With our crew all retirees and three of them ladies it had been a pretty demanding day with the prospect of two more similarly interesting days to follow!

Despite the somewhat adverse wind and weather we were all enjoying ourselves. The two dogs Stanley and Fudge (both Cocker-poos) seemed happy with occasional walks along the old towpaths and longer walks in the evening. All in all we were all having a good time on this beautiful historic canal.

The next day dawned sunny but still with a pretty strong wind so we pushed on through the city of Carcassonne (with some very good views of the Cite) for some 30kms to our next overnight stop not far from the port of Bram. This stretch included no less than sixteen locks but, having left Carcassonne astern, there wasn’t nearly so much traffic on the canal. This meant that we were able to maintain a more consistent speed not only through the manned locks but also through the new automatic unmanned versions installed on the more upstream reaches of the Canal du Midi towards Toulouse.

Given the wind conditions my friend and former Coastguard colleague Malcolm, who like myself, had plenty of boating experience, had been sharing the helm between us. However, neither of us had ever encountered automatic locks before so we agreed to ask our other male crew member Mike, who’d been doing all the work jumping ashore, talking to the lock keepers and securing our mooring lines if he could now master whatever procedure was needed for us to operate these unmanned automatic locks. The procedure is actually pretty straightforward albeit that the instructions are in the form of diagrams alongside push-buttons and it’s not immediately obvious that having closed the locks gates behind you, and watched the lock chamber fill with water via the sluice gates, the exit gate will only open after you push the button again!

Our next stop involved a run of some 20kms and another fifteen locks to the town of Castelnaudary, famous for its Cassoulet of course. We were lucky to find a nice comfortable mooring with a mains electric connection in the inner basin opposite the harbourmaster's office. We spent some time here and took advantage of the harbour facilities that included the mooring, electrical and water connections, posh showers etc. All for €16.00 for 24 hours which compared very favourably to some of the campsites in the south of France!

Unfortunately the same could not be said of our choice of a restaurant for our evening meal that night. It was on the harbourside and, had the weather been warmer that evening, we could have had a table outside. The choice of main courses was very limited indeed (mostly salads) and the quality was not at all what you would normally expect from a bistro in France – very disappointing. We later discovered that the quite a few British privately owned boats, who spend the winter months from November through to March here when the locks are all closed, use a nearby bar/restaurant which is apparently much better than our choice had been.

So to our last day’s run from Castelnaudary to Port Lauragais a distance of about 12km with a number of uphill locks leading to the summit of the Canal du Midi some 190m above sea level at the Seuil de Naurouzeour, where there is a monument to Pierre-Paul Riquet the engineer who directed the building of the Canal du Midi in the 17th Century. The monument, in the form of an obelisk, is situated about ½ km from the canal and if you want to visit it involves a pleasant tree-lined walk, thoroughly enjoyed by Fudge who had her first run of the week off her lead.

Finally we reached our last and 60th lock which, for the first time of course, was a DOWNHILL lock where the ropework is much easier as all that is needed is to take a half-turn around the lock chamber bollards and pay out the rope as the boat drops down as the water is released from the lock chamber.

In no time at all after that last lock we entered the spacious modern canal basin/marina at Port Lauragais, found the appropriate mooring, tied up and reported to the Nicols harbourmaster’s office before enjoying a good meal at the marina restaurant before what was most of our crew’s last night aboard before taking the taxi kindly provided by Nicols the next morning, a Sunday, for the hour and a quarter drive back to Le Somail to collect our cars. We then drove back to Port Lauragais to pack our things, clean the boat and prepare it for inspection the following morning for which Lois and I and Fudge stayed aboard overnight.

Judging from the feedback from our “crew”, everyone seems to have thoroughly enjoyed this cruise despite some pretty indifferent and at times quite challenging weather conditions and the pretty hard work undertaken by all those manning to the ropes. I think by the end of the voyage everyone, not least myself, felt a sense of achievement at having accomplished what we set out to do without any serious mishaps and without any damage at all to the boat apart from my having broken a bedside coat hook in our cabin when removing the bedding that had got wet during the second night’s storm! We all started out as good friends and we all ended up as good friends even though we did have a row one evening!

Would we all want to do it again? Probably, albeit in warmer and less windy weather, and preferably, given that we’re all retirees, on the south-eastern stretch of the canal where there are fewer locks!