Freyja and Christina crossing the English/Welsh border on the Chirk akkiduck

Thursday 21 June 2012

Before they go to brokerage …


It’s worth making a separate mention that the boats will soon be going on brokerage, and when that happens, it’s likely they will be separated.  It will be sad to see them split up but I accept that it’s probably inevitable.  So if you are hesitating about taking them as a pair, do contact us now and I’m sure we can negotiate a favourable rate for them both.  Or if you’re interested in the butty Christina to pair with your own boat, she’s such a unique boat after all, get in touch with us about that too.

tel:  +44 (0)77 8023 9781
email:  catcrept@gmail.com

Working on Water


For anyone contemplating a business afloat, the butty provides a brilliant opportunity.  At only half the licence fee remember.  We were thinking of all the things someone else might use her for and our favourite is:  The Chip Butty;  no, seriously, the workshop could be fitted out as a kitchen and the hold area and greenhouse revamped for table covers.

The workshop would also make a lovely studio.  It has a large opaque glass roof-light, which is excellent to work by, and the hold area has been good as a permanent shop, with the tarps propped out so that customers can view the stock straight from the towpath.  It’s a good viewing area, from either side, unlike cramming stuff in the cratch, and you don’t have to pack everything away at the end of each day, with stock finishing up all over the boat;  you just drop the sides, like shutters on a shop, and go next door, pour yourself a drink and put your deserving feet up.

Or it can be used as intended.  It’s benched and wired, was completely fitted out with bench tools, and kept the Bloke very busy.  And I’ve always appreciated how lucky we are to have that space to store all the paints and paraphernalia and grease and oil and tools and “useful things” that are otherwise crammed into the engine compartment and lockers.  We can work on things and there’s no need to tidy away at the end of the day.

You may like raising plants and selling seedlings:  well, the greenhouse is perfect for that.  We’ve always used it to provide us with our greens and tomatoes, and it houses the Bloke’s cactus collection.  We’ve even got a worm bin up the front and make our own compost;  I made the worm bin, three trays and a sump, from pallet wood and an old cat litter tray, and stocked it with worms from a fishing tackle shop.  That was about 12 years ago and the descendants of that original colony are still working hard for us.

And then there’s Christina’s beautiful boatman’s cabin, it has a peacefulness to it that makes for a restorative complimentary therapy space.  It has also been a boon for family and friends:  they love the novelty of it and the privacy of their own boat (we like that too) and they always remark on the cosiness, we’ve even had people stay in midwinter when we were frozen in.  We did wonder once about taking paying guests but never took it any further.

The opportunities are endless really, pretty much anything you’ve hankered after doing is likely to be possible.
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Incidentally, the boats will be going on brokerage soon and it’s likely they’ll be split up, so if you’re interested in them as a pair, please do get in touch, or if you’re interested in the butty Christina on her own, get in touch about that too, we’ll probably be able to negotiate a favourable price.



Friday 1 June 2012

At Anderton





Since we happen to be here, right by the Anderton boat lift, we’ve decided stay for this bank holiday weekend and enjoy the opportunity to gongoozle the gongoozlers.  And be tourists ourselves.  And why not ?

You may have gathered, we don’t move very fast, and that means we get to actually see the towns and countryside we pass through, and industry and nature at their most astonishing, things that those on a mission to cover as much distance in the shortest possible time must surely miss.  Travelling gently is calming, you know, but moving just short distances can be a problem for us:  there is a minimum distance we must cover in a day for the cat to be able to reset her catnav.