My Canal Boat Trip 2015

[JOhnGw]

Saturday and Sunday

Two textile days travelling by train to Bridgend and back for a friend's 50th birthday party on Saturday evening.
Of course I was naked on the boat until it was time to go and stripped immediately on return.

[nudewalker]

Saturday and Sunday

Two textile days travelling by train to Bridgend and back for a friend's 50th birthday party on Saturday evening.

I can't remember the last time I spent two whole days textile! It has to be at least two plus years and before my retirement. I'm afraid the misses would have to have me committed for symptoms of mental illness.

[JOhnGw]

Saturday and Sunday

Two textile days travelling by train to Bridgend and back for a friend's 50th birthday party on Saturday evening.

I can't remember the last time I spent two whole days textile! It has to be at least two plus years and before my retirement. I'm afraid the misses would have to have me committed for symptoms of mental illness.

Not quite two whole days - we didn't leave the boat until noon on Saturday and were back on board by 7 p.m. on Sunday.

[JOhnGw]

Monday

Started naked boating while breakfast rolls proved but rain was too cold so I did the rest, including moooring up in town wearing waterproof jacket.



The rest of the day was spent clothed boating up "Heartbreak Hill" locks.
We stopped at about 4 o'clock because of the rain so I had a shower and remained naked until after breakfast.
M seems to countenance naked dinner on the boat far more than at home in spite of the fact that our dining is just as formal.


Writing up this blog.


Washing up after dinner.

[nudewalker]

2. Boatmen were a pest to aristocrats when the canal went through the Lord's land.  The boatmen used to poach pheasant off rich men's land by sending their kids ahead of the boat to spread rum soaked grain which attracted the aristocrat's pheasants.  The pheasant would be anaesthetised by the rum and would be easy to catch by hand when the boat and boatman appeared later on.  Hilarious and cunning!

John

I have been looking for a sign I found on social media which read something like;

Warning, Baiting deer is illegal.
This corn pile is for squirrels, chipmunks and other such animals.
Any deer found eating this corn will be shot.

[JOhnGw]

Tuesday
Although we were in a good semi-rural location I didn't any early FRN and the rest of the day was totally textile with shopping at Tesco's and Harecastle Tunnel, finally mooring up at Etruria in the middle of Stoke-on-Trent.
However I was able to remain naked all evening after my shower.

Wednesday
In spite of the limiting nature of our urban environment I was able to empty the ash pan into the hedgerow before getting dressed for the day's boating. Giiven the potential busyness of the towpath and the houses opposite the brass cleaning had to wait until I was dressed.


Emptying the ash pan

The intention was to moor overnight in Stone, which would have been another busy urban mooring but it was so busy that we decided to carry on to the first suitable place to moor. This seems to be an ideal spot for a little outdoor FRN  before we set off and possibly a mile or so of naked boating first thing.

A few pictures from our day of textile boating:


Waiting for a lock to fill before entering it.


Entering a lock


Opening a paddle to let the water out


Climbing down onto the boat.


Under a low railway bridge.

Dinner (naked of course) was to be a pizza which M had bought as an emergency meal and had now reached its use-by date. With her usual brio she conjured this into a full four course meal, plus aperitifs with nibbles and coffee with digestif.
No wonder I show her every consideration (apart from loving her dearly, of course.)

[nudewalker]

Fantastic pictures once again! There was a canal system in Ohio before the railroads, most has been destroyed and relegated to a museum. I did read that there is a working canal in the middle of the state so I may have to go and see for comparison. How long does it take a lock to fill or drain? And how does one determine who locks through as it seems like there is only enough room for one to pass at a time?

[JOhnGw]

Many canals were taken over by railway companies. Some built the railway on the canal line and others closed the canal to eliminate the competition.
Boats go through the locks in order of arrival, although if there are boats going both ways then it's one up and one down. If two boats arrive at the same time from opposite directions the first boat is determined by whether the lock is full or empty. In commercial carrying days certain fast boats called "fly boats" had priority but otherwise the rules were as now. It was not totally unknown for fist fights to break out if one steerer considered that another had stolen his water at a lock.

[JOhnGw]

Thursday

THis morning the weather was not good enough for naked boating soI just did the usual morning boat chores and had breakfast before dressing to set off for an enjoyable day boating.
We had intended to stop in Great Hayward for a restaurant dinner but ended up continuing almost to Rugeley where we are in another good spot for a naked morning.

Friday

It was a perfect spot for naked morning and would have been perfect for some nude boating except for a cold breeze which made standing at the tiller impracticable. However I did do a little nude walking before things started getting busy.


A misty morning with Rugeley power station just visible in the background.

A textile day's boating ending with a splendid meal in the Plough gastropub at Whittington village.
Although the location looks rather urban I hope to get a little naked boating in the morning.

[JOhnGw]

Saturday

It was a rather miserable morning so I didn't stire as soon as I had intended but I was still able to put the button back on after painting the bow last night and boat naked almost all the way to our breakfast stop in Whittington where I cycled into the village to get a newspaper and a few supplies.


Shackling the chains of the button fender.


Retrieving the bow mooring chain.


Taking in the stern rope.


Coiling the stern rope


On my way

After breakfast (clothed for a change as I couldn't be bothered to undress) we had a pleasant day's textile boating mooring up for the night in a rural location with a hardly worn grassy towpath.
This, combined with being a couple of miles from the nearest towns in a fairly open location with a sunny dawn forecast promises well for some morning FRN while the breakfast rolls and croissants prove and chill respectively.
The only fly in the ointment might be early peg setters for an angling contest.


Running the bilge pump after undressing for my evening shower.
You can see how green the towpath is here.
Several trains passed and I have no way of knowing if anybody was looking out of the windows.
After my shower I remained naked all evening.

[nudewalker]

I doubt if anyone saw you from the train and if they did just a glimpse of your nude body. Was Saturday miserable due to cold, fog or rain? We have had a fw foggy mornings but it still has been quite warm. I hope the anglers don't interfere with your FRN much as I enjoy the stories and pictures.

[JOhnGw]

Sunday

The morning turned out to be everything I had hoped for (no peg setters) and I was able to remain naked around the boat for the first three hours cooking the breakfast rolls and croissants (mostly waiting for them to prove or cook) and the weather was good enough for me to have a naked breakfast outside at the cockpit table.
Rather than continue boating, I took advantage of the dry sunny weather to spend the morning painting the red grab rails and roof hatches. They really need another coat but look much better already.
In the afternoon I had another go at the stern tube packing and found that the engine mount bolt which had previously given problems had dropped out again so I had another job to complete. I was going to do that job naked but another boat moored up immediately behind us obliging me to wear a boiler suit again.
That job completed, I had a shower and was naked ofr the rest of the day, cooking and eating our salmon risotto dinner.

To sum up, not a bad day at all. Several worthwhile jobs done on a sunny day wearing nothing but boiler suits while  doing work in public and totally naked for the remainder.

[nuduke]

JOhn,
Just caught up on your boating blog and loved all the pictures!  Just got my PC going which makes reading FRN and responding easier.  So just a short note to say thanks for the chronicles.

I appreciate seeing the background of the pics too as can gauge the attractiveness of potential targets for us if the reawakening of our navigation holidays in the last couple of years continues and so might take us up the same waterways.  Mind you most of our journeys have been in the west of England other than a weekend out of Nottingham, so time to do some eastern midlands canals perhaps.

Your pictures of the interior show Ernest looks comfy and relatively spacious!  More revealed than you can see by peeking in the portholes at Droitwich!  

Questions: In the early morning when you are naked outside doing chores, where is your wife?  Abed?  Doing things inside?  Taking the pics?  And does she do nude at all whilst on the canals?

Keep boating!

John

[JOhnGw]

JOhn,
<snip>
Questions: In the early morning when you are naked outside doing chores, where is your wife?  Abed?  Doing things inside? 

M remains in bed with her morning cup(s) of tea while I have some morning FRN on the boat - much the same as happens at home.

Taking the pics? 

All the pictures are self-shots, mostly by taking frame grabs from video footage.

And does she do nude at all whilst on the canals?

No, M is very much a holiday and swim session naturist.

[nudewalker]

Sounds familiar JOhn, my misses often stays in the RV with coffee and her reading while I enjoy my morning FRN.