Monday 28 December 2009

Back To Braunston

A trip to Cardiff for Christmas, one tyre change and an Indian rope trick!

We are back.......with enough left over turkey to feed us for a week. I thought the parents took food parcels to the kids, not the other way around.

A quick story:

On the return journey Sams car developed a bit of a wobble on the motorway. Pulling into some handy services it turned out to be the front tyre starting to break up. This then turned into mother and daughter (both stubborn, and determined) wanting to change the wheel for the practice.

I have not been that embarrassed for quite some time.

They would not let me help, not even to get near it. All those people in the other cars parked around us staring at two women changing the wheel with a man standing there just watching. Those eyes were burning into my back.........I can still feel them now.

Onward!

Here's a few pictures from around Mermaid Quay and surrounding areas.



Some very different lock gates,





and a considerably speedier exit.




The old and the new, this old lock house being dwarfed by this strange new build.




Half way through our walk, this water bus was about to leave for a half hour trip around the bay.
Ooo....., shall we go for a ride says D.
Speechless absolutely speechless


Back at the boat, leaving for the water point proved harder than it should have been. Ropes like iron bars and a frozen canal brought us back to our waterborne life with a bump!

Until next time..............................

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know how you feel I had a similar thing happen when a male friend with MS visited us on the boat and we went through the lock at Stratford with two blokes on the boat and one poor lady doing all the work on the locks. I can still hear all the comments.

Anonymous said...

Where are those lock gates? I am confused as I thought Mermaid Quay was the new-ish development at the bottom of Bute Street and those gates look like something out towards Penarth?

The gates are different but you do see quite a few of them round the system eg at Limehouse or Portishead. They are a bit off-putting as there are no paddles, the lock keeper just opens the gates a bit ...

Richard

Chris and Debbie, said...

Hi Richard,

Yes those gates are at Penarth.

We walked quite a long way and I was snapping all the time.
I have seen those gates before at Sovereign Harbour, Pevensy.

At the time they were topping up the marina and had them half way open to the sea. A two to three foot wall of water thundering in was something to see.

Regards Chris & Debbie.