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Good morning, Pigale!
Camping was pretty rough and ready when I was a lad!
No black out tents!
How is your weather, now, Pigale?

Hello Rusty !

A bit grey and coolish (well to us ! its no more than 22C) yesterday and today - although the recent storms did not affect us, it has affected our weather - all due to get back to normal in a day or so.

I have never felt inclined to go camping mostly because I do not want to share my living space with 'creepy-crawlies' ! I leave them well alone to lead their life in the garden on the understanding that they respect my living quarters too.

One great experience though was when we hired a canal boat and went on a trip for a week with my Parents. We had hired a large enough boat to be comfortable regardless of the generation gap.

It took us a whole week to get to Sancerre and back - now, getting to this town from here by road only takes something like an hour and a half! It really felt like we had gone far away, with no cars around us, just the canal and fields or woods on either side, and plenty of locks to pass through. To be recommended !

During that trip, I took a picture of my Father actually drying up the dishes - quite an event !

My only experience of camping was when my family decided to sell their business and house in Wiltshire and move back to my Dad's roots in Dorset. We spent 6 weeks in two tents in a field in Swanage while we were waiting to move into our new property. Happy memories of a long hot Summer. Scouts in the next field kept us amused with their songs round the camp fire, Geese came wandering into the tents whenever they felt like it, and the wonderful smell of freshly-baked bread every morning from a baker at the foot of the hill was just wonderful.

Pigale, the canal boat sounds great.
I have never tried it.
I fancied a cabin cruiser on Loch Ness but the water can get rough, so I chickened out!
I remember camping one time near Ullapool with my pals and the mackerel were running in the Minch.
The fishermen gave us as much fish as we wanted, free!
I think we lived on mackerel for a fortnight!

Sounds wonderful Jazzgirl, though I am scared of geese!
The blackout tent is not my idea, but I don't argue! However, the blackout may solve the 5 am problem.
This seems to be nostalgia day, you've solved the mystery of "Mellon" for me Rusty, thanks.
My late husband was in a camp washhouse outside Inveraray (sorry f I have misspelt that) and saw a fellow ringer. Who was unfortunately one short for a peal that morning, so, guess who had to strike the tent, pack up everything and drive into the town? And then listen to two women complaining about the noise in the local café! (those bells make very little noise actually).

Fresh mackerel straight from the fishermen sounds great also Rusty!

The beauty of the canal is that it never gets rough - and just as well otherwise the trip would have been a non-goer : I am seasick, I simply go green within 2mns of setting a foot on a sailing boat. I can just about manage a G&T on deck once the yacht is safely anchored in a marina !

Along the Canal, there are still some locks where lock-keepers help you out - they live in a little house bordering the canal and often grow vegs in their garden; thus it is always possible to buy fresh vegs and very fresh eggs from them; good for them and good for us too !

Pigale, I like the sound of canal-boating.
Not too energetic!
I would not know how to operate the locks though.
I don't think there will be free mackerel at Ullapool any more.
It is a few years since I was North, and then Loch Broom was full of "Klondykers".
Boats from Russia, Nigeria, France, from everywhere, after the mackerel.
The local economy was booming.
The boats sailed from Ullapool for home laden with TV sets, all manner of electrical goods, etc, that they could not get at home.
I have never lost my taste for mackerel!

Hi pigale
Like you I am seasick which is odd because I lived by the sea for years and love the water,I was sick on the QE2 and we hadnt actually left the dock!! I did manage a trip down the Pearl river in China but that was on a junk and I even ate lunch,My pears are beginning to look promising they are Conference variety and Freddy and I love them.Hope you had a good weekend

Hello Doglet,

Nice to hear from you. Week-end OK albeit a little chilly for my liking ! My William pears are gorgeous, as usual, but the other kinds seem to be a little late this year - perhaps due to lack of rain.

You know, there are some films about fishermen or the Navy when they show boats in very high seas - at times I find it almost unbearable to watch ! Yet I love being in a speed boat - not the same motion.

Good Evening, Rusty!
The picnic was a great success! The cousins got on really well despite the slight disparity in ages. It isn't often they get the chance to get together so it was treat for them.
We took a couple of old sheets and rigged up a 'tent' for them and they had a wonderful time! The 'tent' ranged from being just that to being a space shuttle!(Imagination is a wonderful thing)
I was interested in what you said about Slaggan. Do you know why it was abandoned?
There is a similar place which we visited in Dorset - a "ghost" village called Tyneham, near Lulworth, on the Isle of Purbeck.
it was evacuated during WW2 and has been deserted ever since.
The village was commandeered in 1943 by the War Office for use as firing ranges for training troops.
It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement but I think the Military took out a compulsory purchase order(or some such) and the village has since remained in the possession of the MoD.
There are exhibitions about its history in the church and school there.