It feels really different up here on the Fal. The other boats sharing our
pontoon are all liveaboard boats -
including the “Jenny Wrens” who have been in the Med and are now back
here on their 1926 classic wooden yacht – lovely boat, complete with wood
burning stove - and the “Sapphires” , Pete and T, who set off from Scotland to
go down to the Med, but haven’t got much further than Falmouth (other than
summer trips to France)- and I can see why.
There’s a lovely atmosphere up here on the Fal - very laid
back, and relaxed. We sat out the forecast F8/9 with only a light gusty breeze
tucked up in the shelter of the wooded hilly banks. The birds swim and fly around – herons and
egrets and swans, including a half blind swan who has been christened White
Spirit, having stuck his head into a paint brush and had to be cleaned off.
All made better by strains of classical guitar music- the Jenny
Wrens are musicians and artists, and the Sapphires are learning to play
classical guitar- so drifting down on the light breeze is lovely music. Ah well, the peace will be shattered later
this week when my new melodeon arrives!
Yesterday we had genny problems: she coughed and spluttered
and died . A few chats with our neighbours and Pete volunteered to come and
help sort it- payment by bottles of wine - one per call out and one per hour. Done deal!
Susie and I dismembered the genny and I’d got a little way into
diagnosis when Pete turned up and helped (or rather did the difficult bits,
including reseating the rather loose fan belt) ) and taught me how to clear
blockages. She’s now running sweetly. urrah!
Hu Hurrah!
Skye and I are getting adept at leaping in the dinghy to get
him ashore for a walk - yesterday up a lovely estuary from Malpas eastwards,
through woods and by the edge of the water, and today up the edge of the river
to Truro (partly as a reccy for our later adventure).
Our later adventure being of course... ... a
shopping trip to Tescos by dinghy.
Tescos in Truro is right on the river and has a dinghy landing pontoon.
How civilised! We appeared in the car
park not from a car but by river.
I
will bless the Kionis, who last year were instrumental in helping me make a
decision to buy a bigger dinghy and outboard.
“Its your car” they said.
Indeed, today it really felt like our car. Three miles up the river to
Tescos in what seems no time at all, and
back with several bags of shopping.
Meanwhile our
neighbours had left. They said goodbye
as we were preparing to depart to Tescos, telling us they were off to anchor (as
it was free for them, as locals). I
imagined we might see them at some stage when going down river again. To my surprise, I heard the
subtle noises of an eberspacher a couple of hours later and realised that “off
to anchor” meant off to anchor 100yds south of the pontoon!
Speaking of pontoons.. we gather that otters have colonised
the floating platforms underneath the pontoon we are on- maybe just as fishing
venues – I don’t know. I’m going to keep a careful ear out at dawn tomorrow
morning, just in case.
I’m reminded of “The Wind in the willows” – too long to
repeat here, and of Van Morrison/Pink Floyd’s “Piper at the Gates of Dawn”.
The coolness of the
riverbank, and the whispering of the reeds
Daybreak is not so very far away
Enchanted and spellbound, in the silence they lingered
And rowed the boat as the light grew steadily strong
And the birds were silent, as they listened for the heavenly music
And the river played the song
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The song dream happened and the cloven hoofed piper
Played in that holy ground where they felt the awe and wonder
And they all were unafraid of the great god Pan
And the wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
When the vision vanished they heard a choir of birds singing
In the heavenly silence between the trance and the reeds
And they stood upon the lawn and listened to the silence
Of the wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
It's the wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
The wind in the willows and the piper at the gates of dawn
