Creeping out of hibernation

December, characterised by artificial sparkly lights,

was followed by sunny January!At least in the east January was a record-breaking dry and bright month…Unvisited since November Cleddau has remained in Cheshire, tied up on her winter mooring.  She’s afloat, according to Techno Son-in-Law, who spied her from the towpath opposite, observing that she’s been a target for over-flying gulls… For a boat-deprived Boatwif a sighting of any vessel on water is a wonderful thing, a sort of visual consolation prize.  It’s good to have a destination when strolling locally, whether it’s to walk past the horses at the paddocks or go up to the woods or to stroke the bark of the fine oak tree or to check the little boat perched on the edge of a farm pond.    Has anyone ever sat in this tiny tub and propelled it across the minute stretch of water? A thought - might it have been a boat bought for a teddy bear, to row across the eyedrop pond for a picnic on the other side…?The nearest point of the River Great Ouse isn’t far away (a 40 minute walk). Rising in Northamptonshire the river wends 230 km/143 miles north and east through five counties to drain into the Wash near King’s Lynn. Inland waterways fans will be aware of the project to link the Grand Union Canal near Milton Keynes with the River Great Ouse at Kempston, just a mile or so short of Bedford.Kempston Mill is the Great Ouse’s current head of navigation.  Locals have been frustrated by the slow progress to repair and reopen a footbridge by the Mill over the river,  the bridge linking Kempston on the south bank with Great Denham on the north. The repairs to the planking are now under way – but oh, wouldn’t it have been great if money and resources could have been found to raise the bridge’s height so as to allow narrowboats and cruisers underneath.A few metres from the footbridge is the newly constructed landing stage,    designed for the John Bunyan trip boat.  Local rumour has it that the John Bunyan has grounded there. “That’s why we call it the Shallows,” one angler has claimed. Making a river properly navigable is not a straightforward business…At a local country park in early January hardy sailors tacked to and fro across a lake, the sails bright splashes of colour against the dull shades of trees in winter.   The river Great Ouse skirts the lake – half a mile from the sailing club Cardington Lock was empty. Remember that New Year (2017/18) when the water levels were so high the Environment Agency had secured both top and bottom gates open to allow the high river levels upstream to drop. Next but one lock downstream is Willington;  it’s a pretty spot with a fine overflow weir.   Cleddau and crew aspire to pass through this lock in a few months’ time, en route to the 2022 Bedford River Festival. Here’s hoping safe navigation will be possible then… But the early weeks of the New Year have provided new sightings too. There’s a very large field nearby, roughly square-shaped with a rectangular addition on the eastern side. It’s Crown Estate land, apparently. To the west it connects to three other fields and the beer gardens of a village pub. The area is criss-crossed by paths. Head directly across it northwards and you’ll see a white painted house, ablaze in autumn with berries on its pyracantha hedging and reddening leaves on the veranda creeper.     Head south west across the field towards the church spire and you cannot help but think of Hardyesque milkmaids,   tripping across the ancient ridge and furrow landscape in their Sunday best bonnets and long dresses. A solitary walk here, grass beneath boots, often does wonders for the spirits. There's ample space, plenty of sky and bracing fresh air… What then, one Sunday afternoon, was this? An army emerging from behind the eastern hedge line. Forward it came, a straggly line of people, rows of them…And there were dogs too.Several bounded up to circle and sniff the oncoming solitary walker.As Boatwif drew abreast with the rear of the platoon she could not help but enquire whether this was a dog club outing.“Well, yes,” came the reply, “we’re the Wootton Woofers… we meet on Wednesdays and Sundays at 3pm.”Presumably such a large gathering wouldn’t be amassed just by word of mouth - social media must have played a part…Just less than half a mile away across the fields an interesting event took place on 22^nd January.   A patch of Crown Estate Land adjoining parish council land at the cemetery had been identified for the planting of a Green Canopy, 70 native trees to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Village residents, families and council dignitaries gathered to witness the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire unveil a plaque    – and plant the first tree.  Instruction was given by Marston Vale’s Chief Forester   and then another 68 trees were planted.    The happy sound of encouraging advice and mallet bashing made it a very heartening event. “Imagine what these trees will be like in a hundred years’ time,” the Lord Lieutenant had said in her address…Imagination has run wild at another copse about six miles away. Down at Bromham Mill, another mill by the river, this is the entrance to a small wooded area. Fairies and woodland creatures have taken up residence here! You know, it’s worth coming out of hibernation now and again - to see reminders of pre-pandemic life and to glimpse the new and future world…!