Winter? Bring it on.

[Ricco1]

Overall I prefer winter, but in small measures. Come mid January I've had enough of it going dark before 5, and bugger off to the southern hemisphere for a couple of months. Come mid March, day getting longer, nice. Works for me.

[Naughty Cal]

Overall I prefer winter, but in small measures. Come mid January I've had enough of it going dark before 5, and bugger off to the southern hemisphere for a couple of months. Come mid March, day getting longer, nice. Works for me.

And that's when we will relaunch our boat and reap the benefits of all the hard graft we have put in over the winter months..................in theory anyway .

[Emerald Fox]

I don't mind the cold (so much), but I hate the dark.

 

see current thread about Harecastle Boggart

Not really, I prefer the reduced effort and expense of not having to buy and hump bags of coal.

 

Can't you leave that poor coal alone and just put it in the cratch like we do?

As a serious addition, if anyone is going through (or stopping at) Hebden Bridge, there's a pleasant coal merchant beside the railway station. We got coal, logs and kindling from him, and intend to visit again to get more logs & kindling. His gate is on the right hand side just as you get to the station from the town centre. 2 minutes' walk from the canal. He lent us a wheelbarrow.

[Wanted]

Sorry could not resist a bit of editing

 

Never a truer word spoken in jest!

[Phil Ambrose]

Does it get cold on those boats?

 

HeHe, if I had a pound........

 

?

Phil

[Theo]

Misty start this morning and a bit 'nippy'. Made me start thinking of winter.

 

Fire alight, kettle on the top of the stove, some sort of slow cooking pot of food as well.

 

Boat nice and cosy, less boat traffic.

 

Most trees have lost their leaves so better views.

 

Quite looking forward to it.

 

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this?

 

Rob....

Me, Sir!

 

I like winter. Free wood for the stove. Off grid so no power cuts. Moor up in the middle of nowhere.

 

N

[Bettie Boo]

First 20 bags of coal have been ordered

[b0atman]

Hopefully we will have an Indian summer this Autumn (am I allowed to call it that ?)September and October can be lovely months .

[Phil Ambrose]

Hopefully we will have an Indian summer this Autumn (am I allowed to call it that ?)September and October can be lovely months .

I'll drink to that, though last year we lit our stove in September.

Phil

[Naughty Cal]

Hopefully we will have an Indian summer this Autumn (am I allowed to call it that ?)September and October can be lovely months .

Hoping so as we have the first week in October off work and are planning a week away on the boat.

[Bordergirl]

Having been chosen by a career which means I'm mad busy all summer I find I'm really looking forward to getting out and about on the boat in the winter now. Also I do love fiddling around with the fire.

[craftycarper]

Misty start this morning and a bit 'nippy'. Made me start thinking of winter.

 

Fire alight, kettle on the top of the stove, some sort of slow cooking pot of food as well.

 

Boat nice and cosy, less boat traffic.

 

Most trees have lost their leaves so better views.

 

Quite looking forward to it.

 

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like this?

 

Rob....

. Look what you,ve done, wished away summer and brought us winter in August,

[ROBDEN]

Yep! It worked.

 

Fire alight, curry cooking on the top......luuuverly!

[blackrose]

Overall I prefer winter, but in small measures. Come mid January I've had enough of it going dark before 5, and bugger off to the southern hemisphere for a couple of months. Come mid March, day getting longer, nice. Works for me.

Overall you prefer winter so you miss the worst half of it and fly off to summer on the other side of the world?

 

Ok...

Edited August 28, 2015 by blackrose

[Naughty Cal]

As the mornings are starting to become a little chillier I have decided to take the fleece blanket back to the boat.

 

Doesn't seem like two minutes ago that I was taking it home.

[Guest]

As the mornings are starting to become a little chillier I have decided to take the fleece blanket back to the boat.

 

Doesn't seem like two minutes ago that I was taking it home.

Indeed they are. We have noticed that during this summer there was a persistent cool breeze that never quite went away. I can recall no other year when we lit the log burner in July.

Rubbish Blackberries etc this year too. I am bereft of blackberry crumble

[system 4-50]

Good haul of backberries this morning, obtained by dinghy on the river Deben in Suffolk.

[craftycarper]

Good haul of backberries this morning, obtained by dinghy on the river Deben in Suffolk.

 

blackberry,s and most other berry types seem to be abundant near me and quite early, I will be going out to pick rose hips this weekend then sloes the following one,enjoy your crumble

[mark99]

blackberry,s and most other berry types seem to be abundant near me and quite early, I will be going out to pick rose hips this weekend then sloes the following one,enjoy your crumble

What do you use the hips for?

[bizzard]

Hula hoop.

[craftycarper]

What do you use the hips for?

sorry about the delay, but the hips are for making rose hip syrup, it's really good for joint pains, rich in vitamin C and helps protect cartilage, and after nearly forty years a plasterer I need all the help I can get, also not a big fan of popping pills, preferring more natural stuff

[patty-ann]

We used to pick rose hips and take them to school where they were weighed in for money and then mum would get the cash...we all went and spent all day collecting.

[Peter X]

The blackberries in my garden have done fairly well this year, but are now just about finished. I collected enough for a decent portion today but there won't be many more.

When in season (basically August) there are usually unlimited supplies of blackberries out there for anyone who wants them, any rough area of common land should have an abundant supply. I haven't bothered going on Mitcham Common for any this year because I have some of my own and plenty of fruit from my plum tree, plus pears from next door almost ripe now.

 

I've sometimes made rosehip syrup before, which as has been said is an excellent source of vitamin C; in fact people were heavily encouraged to make it for this reason during WW2 when little or no fruit was imported. An alternative I've also made is rosehip and apple jelly, in which crab or cooking apples are added so that the strained juice can be used to make a jelly; the apples contain pectin which enables it to set.

 

However I wouldn't be picking rosehips just yet, early October is generally best because they should be more ripe and juicy then, and the crab apples will be at their best at the same time if you want to make the jelly. For serious collection of rosehips (or hawthorn berries which can also be used in hedgerow jelly), a berry picker is a good thing to have to save time; it's a metal scoop thing with a serrated edge.

[wreckferret]

We like the winter especially the crisp clear mornings ? Only downside is that when the sun is low in the sky I don't get any solar due to the location of my mooring but you can't have everything ?

Holding off lighting the stove as it's a bubble oil burner and it tends to stay in for the duration once lit (can't fault it) and as a bonus this year we have been taking advantage of the drop in fuel prices ???

[junior]

Hula hoop.

Chortle chortle