Golden Slumbers

A sunny late autumn day on Saturday gave me the chance to muck out the dinghy. As well as the usual detritus of mud seaweed and stones, I found a pair of trolly wheels and a slightly grubby BBQ left over from Cobnor. All sorted now and she's tucked up for the winter.

Pete and Pam's perfect day out.

Paradox Pate has been out in Pam again. He's taken advantage of a short improvement in the Autumn weather and gone of a paddle  on the Stroudwater Canal.  Its really great to see Pam getting used so much.
You can see Pete's other photos and read his story on the excellent  Song of the Paddle forum. 

CAITLIN

I had an unexpected e-mail on the way to Scotland yesterday. Maarten from Belgium got in touch to say he had just bought Caitlin the Oughtred Whilly Tern I sold away to The Netherlands six years ago.
She seems to be in good nick and its really great to know she's moved on to a family who will enjoy her.

Paddling Past Gormenghast

It is believed that when Mervin Peake wrote his Titus Groan trilogy he used Arundel Castle as a model for  Gormenghast.  It certainly  seems to have had an influence, the town of Arundel appears to climb up the ramparts of the castle, and is that a Tower Of Flints I see?

I'm sure Arundel has its fair share of Bright Carvers,  

Its also the home of a certain boatbuilder, so CW and I took advantage of some rare autumn sunshine and had a trip up the River Arun the other day.

The spring tide was still coming wellying in as we launched, that footpath had been dry a few minutes before.  The current gave us a free ride up stream until the turning of the tide and the call of the pub mysteriously drew us back. 
 After a swift one at the Black Rabbit it was time to float back on the quickly ebbing tide.  Once it goes it goes and the instructions were to head straight for the slipway with no messing around as you could easily end up in Littlehampton or worse still Cherbourg. So all cameras car keys wallets and other valuables were safely tucked away, hence the lack of photos after the pub. 

Here's the inevitable video, the soundtrack by Richard Thompson seemed to be appropriate. 

 I hope you enjoy it.

If you haven't read Gormenghast, give it a try. It really is worth the effort.