Ok, whose idea was it to move on to a narrowboat just before the coldest winter for 25 years! Don’t get me wrong, we are snug as the proverbial bugs inside the boat (too warm sometimes, when I get carried away with my fire raising skills!) but it would have been nice to have a couple of milder winters to break us in gently to other factors!
Water is the main thing to worry about, as we found out on our trip to Nottingham at Xmas. Carrying a supply of fresh drinking water is a must in case you can’t find an unfrozen water point. Even the one near us here at the boat yard has been freezing up over night, but luckily the sun has been shining on it during the day and it has defrosted by the afternoon. We have been filling up every night after our showers in a slightly paranoid sort of way!
Fortunately the hose in the elsan point has not been out of action here due to freezing, like the one at the marina in Nottingham (which was outside to be fair) so I don’t have to collect water from the canal to rinse away the ………. well you get the picture!
Taking George out, especially late at night, in the dark, for a wee has been somewhat dodgy as the bank has been lethally slippery! Even he has trouble with the gang plank being icy, bless.
My cratch cover has been frozen stiff! I have had great difficulty getting the zip up to get out in the mornings. The things one has to put up with!
But the weather, although cold, has been lovely and I have taken a few pictures, if you’re interested, of the frozen lakes and the frozen us! Brrr!
