Watch Out!!....Here Be Whales....

Willeymoor Lock - Llangollen Canal

Dad's taken a diversion onto a canal that we've not been down before. The book he's been reading says that it's mostly nice countryside, but, if I've heard him right, after a couple of days we'll be running into whales...............WHALES!!!....are you kidding me???
I've seen the programmes on the telly.........and they are huge; even that Attenborough bloke said that they are the largest animal on the planet, and Dad's cool about running into some, on a narrow canal, in the next couple of days!!

Mum says 'Don't worry, Dad knows what he's doing'....
That might have been true in the past, but he's been putting away the rabbit cider for the past couple of days and I'm not sure that his 'compost' is entirely 'mentis' if you know what I mean.

Whilst we've been cruising headlong towards certain cretacean doom in the shape of the worlds largest animal, I've noticed that other animals around this area are much bigger than normal as well.
Take for instance the size of the local sheepdogs......
Dad took a photo of one the other day and it's absolutely massive......Definitely on different biscuits to the stuff I have in my bowl everyday...(thank heavens).
It would appear that they aren't that clever at remembering where they live either, because nearly all of them have got their house number painted on their bums in case they forget...



A Local Sheepdog with its House Number on its bum....

I'll let you know how we get on with the whales.

xx Beau

 



"Are You off a Boat??"

Audlem Locks - Shropshire Union Canal

I dont like roads......everything seems to happen so fast when you're by a road.

Living on a boat that creeps along slower than Dad can walk back from the Pub means that, when you do come to a road, it's a real culture shock.
For the past few weeks, the fastest thing I've seen is a poodle chasing a pidgeon, which wasn't exactly scintillating; but when we got to a place called Market Drayton, Mum and Dad needed to go to the shops and decided to take me with them so that I could help them find their way back.

Apparently, when they were here last time, they went to the Market Drayton Midweek Market, (try saying that with a mouthful of Wagg Complete Worker Biscuits), and they found a butcher selling rabbits. Now Dad, being an afficianado of anything that can be cooked in beer or cider, decided that they should try and get some more to put into the freezer, (the rabbit, not the cider).

Anyway, it was whilst we were on this quest that we were stopped by a woman of a certain age who demanded to know whether we were 'off a boat'.

How could she know..........was it the nautical bandana which I wear with such a jaunty and carefree elegance?, or was it Dad's rolling walk down the road, reminiscent of sailors back on dry land after months at sea.
Could she have been on one of the boats that Dad has accidentally 'made contact with' in the last few weeks, heaven knows there has been enough of them.

It turned out to be none of the above; the lady had walked past our boat by the canal and had seen pictures of me and my other 'blog' stuff in the back window, and, remembering my stunning good looks, had recognised me in the street!!

Notwithstanding this demonstration of the fame, (but not the fortune) of having a wide-ranging blog audience, the hunting trip itself was a failure and Dad didn't get his rabbit. According to the butcher, we'd had the wrong type of rain, or some such rubbish, over the Winter, and there wasn't a rabbit to be had, anywhere.
But Dad, ever the optimist, bought the cider anyway...........just in case.......

xx Beau 

'Quick!!!  There's another Collie like me in the water!!!!

Bedding Down, Stourbridge Style.....

Wombourne, Stafford & Worcester Canal

Now that he's filled up the boat with beer and bacon, we have left the big shopping place at Merry Hill and Dad says that Birmingham's behind, is behind us.

We went round a place called Stourbridge, and if I wore a hat (which I don't because of my ears), I would take it off to the local people in praise of their consideration towards the canal wildlife.
They have selflessly (and apparently without bothering about the cost), provided the canalside ducks, coots and moorhens with an array of quilts, sleeping-bags and old mattresses so that they can be nice and comfortable at night. I think that they run a sort of food-parcel scheme as well, because the empty plastic boxes and bags, and the shopping trolleys that they were brought in, have all been left out to be picked up by the local good folks the next day.

Dad was quite upset when we accidentaly picked up one of the ducks quilts around the propeller thingy at the back of the boat. He had to stop the engine under a bridge so that he could pull it all out. I can understand his concern at having ruined one of the ducks beds, but looking around, there were plenty more that they could use instead, so I couldn't quite see why he was getting so wound up about it.

Anyway, once we got the engine going again, we finally left the Stourbridge wildlife paradise, and have now turned onto another canal which is going to take us Northwards on the next part of our Spring adventure.

One thing I noticed straight away is that there are no mattresses, quilts, sleeping bags or food boxes round here, so it's hardly surprising that there isn't much wildlife either. On the up-side, it might mean that Dad isn't going to get upset at slicing a ducks bedding to pieces with the boat again, at least for a bit.......

In the meantime, if you are around the Stourbridge canal area and you see someone throwing bedding into the canal, do take the time to have a chat to them about their wildlife conservation work, otherwise they'll think that nobody cares................

xx Beau

If only we had some to spare, this would be a great place to throw in some more bedding for the ducks.....