NB Zindagi: Lift Off at Last !

Plan? What Plan?

When we started out in 2007, we had a vague idea of the main places we wanted to go first, and then worked out where we might go after that. Our plans have been flexible, to say the least, and we like it that way!

In 2007, though we started up in Lancashire, we headed south and spent spent most of our time exploring some of the waterways in the south of the UK – but not all of them!

In 2008, we headed north and stayed there for most of the year, heading southwards in November to moor up in Blisworth Marina for the first time. After that, it became our usual winter 'home' until early 2013.

2009 found us fitting our cruising around Val's replacement knee joint operations in January and July. They were very successful! In the Spring, we went down the Nene to the River Great Ouse and the Cambridgeshire Fens. After the second op, and more recovery time in Blisworth, we set off for the Kennet and Avon Canal, via Braunston, the southern Oxford Canal, Oxford and the Thames.

An eventful time on the K & A, and a magnificent frosty journey back up the Thames from Reading to Oxford – and we entered 2010.

To start with, largely immobile in Aynho and Blisworth, but then we headed north-east via Leicester and Nottingham to the River Trent, from which we branched off wherever we could, down to Lincoln and Boston and back, then along the Chesterfield Canal and back before leaving the Trent on our way to Rotherham and Sheffield.

Then north and west over the Pennines by the Rochdale Canal, down to Manchester and then via the Macclesfield, Trent & Mersey and Staffs & Worcs Canals south to near Wolverhampton, via Birmingham and on down to the Severn at Worcester. Right down to Sharpness, then back up to Stourport, to head up the Staffs. & Worcs. Canal near to Wolverhampton again.

Blisworth again for the winter, then in the spring of 2011 we took a trip down the Grand Union to London, through and out the other side to the Lee and Stort – and slowly back! Then over to the Stratford Avon and up the Severn to visit the newly re-opened Droitwich Canals.

By boat to London for Jeremy and Laura's wedding in October 2011, then back to our 'second home' in Blisworth for the winter, enjoying a little more involvement with Christian folks there, too.

In 2012 we started by heading north again to see the Caldon Canal in the Spring, then changed our plans and decided to cross the Pennines again - up and down the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and then back over the Leeds & Liverpool to the Bridgewater. Our proposed visit to the 'Shroppie' and the Llangollen followed on after that – beautiful countryside on the way and once we were there.

Then onto the southern section of the 'Shroppie' and from there the Staffs. & Worcs. – we decided not to go down to Stourport but turned north again to Great Haywood, then south via the Trent & Mersey to the River Trent and then the the River Soar – up to Leicester.

From there, we dawdled back towards Blisworth for the winter again. The folks at the marina were expecting us on 5th November 2012, and we just managed to avoid being there early!

January 2013 saw us move back to the land in Lapford, and very little 'boat-related activity' until October 2014, when we moved Zindagi onto the 11-mile long Grand Western Canal near Tiverton in Devon. 3 years there gave us the opportunity to carry out some needed maintenance, but we did very little cruising!

The future? Well, as you can see, we moved Zindagi back onto the main national canal system in early October 2017. Just those couple of days gave us a fresh taste of enjoying life on board – almost like old times!

So, we hope to get out for some more trips, hopefully sometimes with friends, re-exploring some of our old haunts. Looks like there may be some interest from the younger members of the family, too. Lots of different routes to follow from Hatherton! Only about 3 hours drive to get there from Lapford – not too bad!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Lift Off at Last !

Back in Blisworth at the beginning of November, our 'second home' as it has become, it was good to be able to meet up with friends in the village again and settle in to our 'winter routine'. Our little old Peugeot 205 had been sitting safely on our friends' driveway through the summer, so we parked it at the marina again and were more mobile in spite of being moored up – strange paradox!

Before we completely stopped, though, we had a short trip planned. David and Mary had hoped to come with us in September but had been prevented by illness, so we re-scheduled a short excursion for 3½ days, over to Braunston and back. Here's David at the helm with Mary and Whisk. A very pleasant few days with quite reasonable weather!

A very mild November gave us a wide variety of fungi along hedgerows and towpaths.

Then, on 30th November we received another text message from Wickers World, the ballooning company, telling us that there were some last-minute vacancies for a flight the next day. You may remember that we have been trying to book our flight since August 2010!! We booked, and drove up to Adam's the next day before he came with us to see us off. Here's the balloon being filled up with hot air.

Filled up and ready for us to get on, but then a big surprise . . .

. . . especially for Adam! Not all the vacancies had been filled, so he was able to come with us, and away we went, with Val on her video camera.

High above Whitchurch (Shropshire) but amazingly with absolutely NO sense of vertigo. Apparently that's normal!

Firing up for a bit more lift. In between these occasional bursts, the flight was quiet and apparently windless, as we travelled with the breeze.

The Shropshire Union Canal at Audlem, as we have never seen it before. A fairly familiar length of canal from a very unfamiliar viewpoint!

Jon, our pilot, made the whole trip most enjoyable. Confident, friendly and informative, he made us all feel very much at ease. There were 15 passengers altogether . . .

. . . and here we all are! An ingenious arrangement with a remote controlled camera meant that Jon could take a few snaps of us all, and this is the one that was finally selected.

Looking for a landing spot brought us down a bit lower over the trees and then, after one aborted landing,

we touched down! Well, bumped down, really! A couple of sliding bumps before it stopped, then the basket teetered a little before finally flopping gently over – and we crawled rather than climbed out. A very good end to a great flight!