Boatwif
The occasional adventures of the Cleddau crew
About Us
We are ‘The Captain’ and ‘Boatwif’, owners of nb Cleddau.
Cleddau was a five year old youngster when we took her on in 1994. She was built for cruising on the River Trent. Over time Cleddau has had internal and external adjustments but she retains her original hull, propeller, anchor and portholes.
When asked (frequently) “What does Cleddau mean?” our response is usually “In Welsh it means swords but Cleddau is the name of the river that flows into the Milford Haven deep water estuary in Pembrokeshire…”
We both grew up in Pembrokeshire; for some years we have kept a record of what we call ‘Monkton Moments’, those exchanges with boaters and non-boaters who recognise our Pembrokeshire connections.
This blog below is a record of our mainly boating adventures.
RECENT KEN & SUE LOCATION
Running away to sea
“Did you have many adventures then, when you were away on your boat?” asked a friend last week. “Well, there...
In dock – at Milton Keynes
There was a skype session last night with the Californian Clan, they just back from a Florida vacation. There was...
Well groomed...
With no need to rush anywhere today it was a slow start. By the time Cleddau was ready to leave her mooring...
Learning curve for the hen parties
There were three separate Girls’ boats at Stoke Bruerne last night. Of the first (Girls A, the pink-sashed 40 year old...
Jump, jumping; jumper
For a straightforward lock-free stretch of waterway today’s cruise still seemed to involve a fair...
All routes lead to Whilton – don’t they?
A boat named Pandora was moored nearby last night. Her roof was used for storage: apart from poles, hoses...
Ducks, debris and dumb barges
“ Aw rite?”… Cleddau is back in “You alright?” territory, first recorded last summer on the North Oxford Canal.* These...
Flowers, fountains - and a fan
This morning for the first time the battery state of charge read as below 50%. Why? Because yesterday’s cruising...
21 giant watery steps...
The heat yesterday, the weather forecast for today, the presence of the Dutch barge moored just three...
Whose space is it anyway?
By mid-evening on Saturday two Anglo-Welsh hire boats out of Wootton Wawen had moored in front of Cleddau. Their...
Charitable Concerns
After heavy rain yesterday evening and during the night it was bound to be a soggy start today. Just after 9am Cleddau’s engine...
The Stratford Experience – in Three Parts
Decades ago, when still not even a school pupil, Boatwif first fell under the spell of speech radio. At a quarter to two every afternoon, tum...
Midsummer Frolics
Here in a front row mooring on Midsummer’s Evening Stratford is as its most beguiling best. Cleddau is directly opposite the theatre...
Is water liquid gold? (Or the right and the wrong sort of water)
Since being on the Avon boaters coming downstream towards us have complained vociferously about...
And the band played...
Saturday’s blog failed to appear until Sunday morning: if you missed it do check out Adventures on the Avon below before...