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
When the journey’s nearly over
If it weren’t for other matters this final post might be titled: The Tale of Three Bosleys . By mid-afternoon...
Incidents and Breakages
Breakages seem to have been a recurring theme in recent days. Remember that bit in Tales of the Unexpected about the aborted...
Completing…
It was a wet Saturday in Northwich. Mooring at Northwich can be incredibly easy (as on Tuesday morning, 10th August)...
Tail End Charlie...
Would it be right or left on the river at the bottom of the Anderton Lift? The owners of Ruby Ann, the little boat...
Time to go
A three night mooring at the Bridgewater Marina at Boothstown (on the Leigh Branch of the Bridgewater Canal)...
A new garden from an old...
Something had been going on at Worsley when Cleddau passed in 2019 en route to and from Liverpool – but what?...
Tales of the Unexpected
Before leaving the teeming hordes of boats and people in Middlewich on Sunday there...
Back to boating…
Home moorings to Middlewich: 37 miles, 48 locks Cleddau is heading south (down the Macc), then north (down the Trent...
Feasts, treats and reunions
Of all the many Boris announcements these past umpteen months none was greeted with more enthusiasm than this one...
When you can’t help but read it
Conversation during childhood breakfasts was not encouraged: there were four girls to be got out of the door and dispatched...
We thought you’d gone for good…!
“We thought you’d gone for good!” said a mooring neighbour at Victoria Pit the day after Cleddau had returned from her Round..
Familiar places, familiar faces
Sometimes, however early you start, you are not ‘the early bird that gets the worm…’ There were lots of other boats moored...
As is customary…
While moored at Tixall Wide for a couple of days there were some customary things to be done… A stroll through Great Haywood...
Signposts ticked!
These final downhill miles of the Staffs and Worcs Canal have been completed in two hops, first from Penkridge to Stafford...
From Collection to Collectible…
From Cleddau’s mooring near Wightwick Bridge (western outskirts of Wolverhampton) it was but a five-minute walk...