Photo-a-Day  (Monday, 1st May, 2023)

I am an ocean sailing yachtsman, and I would love to line up alongside !

Privacy Mick tu tu.

Chippy tea and a glass of sherry on a boat cruise, sounds great.

I love it.
It's nice to see old barges converted into another life and this one looks a great idea.

We once spent a week on a boat on the Thames,I loved every minute..if someone gave me an option to live on one now instead of a house,it would definitely be the boat.

Do they have a chip fryer on board ?

We get our chippy dinners from the Wallgate chippy

A few years ago some friends were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and what a night we all had on a boat travelling along the canal at the side of Botany Bay in Chorley.

Sandra - it's a new-build, not a conversion from an old barge.
Maureen - it's okay if you're moored up permanently in a marina, where there'll be electricity, wifi, showers and toilets for you to use - but it's a bit different if you're out on the canal. You can only stay in one place for 14 days, and you have to move about to find somewhere to take on water, or empty your loo - not always easy if the canal ices over.... I've been narrow boating for 40 years, and it's really just a superior form of camping - with the added advantage of not having to walk home from the pub.
But back to the picture - it's good to see that the kittiwakes, or some of their cousins, have left their mark on the boat....

Thank you RevDavid Long, great education.

I think the boat’s name ‘Kittywake’ is spelt with the ‘y’ rather than an ‘i’ in honour of Mrs Kitty Isherwood:

“Thomas Isherwood JP was Mayor of Wigan Borough between 1983-1984. He was married to Mrs Kitty Isherwood who served as Mayoress in 1983-1984.

“Kitty Isherwood was awarded five medals for her service during the Second World War in caring for soldiers and casualties in North Africa and Italy, including Queen Alexandra's medal. Tom and Kitty met whilst she was sister in charge of the Ministry of Pensions Hospital in Worcester, after he was injured during active service with the Royal Artillery. They married in 1952 and Kitty Isherwood continued to work as a nurse at Wigan Infirmary She died in 1997.”

From: https://archives.wigan.gov.uk/archive/civic-histories/civic-hindley/isherwood-thomas

Rev,I know the pitfalls of living on a boat can be rough but it wouldn't change my mind..I remember the first day of our hols on the Thames..my Dad asked a woman on the boat behind us if she would take a photo of us Mam Dad and children,he asked if she was looking forward to the week ahead..she replied " No I've just told my hubby to cancel it all and take me and the children home,I'm not used to all this roughing it, ablutions and everything else, she had three boys and they looked they could cry..I've never forgot how selfish she was...if you live on a boat it's a whole new way of life. but it's all worth it..to me anyway.the feeling of freedom makes up for any conveniences.

Maureen - I know the saying is 'Don't knock it until you've tried it' - but it might as well also be 'Don't praise it until you've tried it'. I love being out on our boat - but I've seen enough live-aboards to know it's no bed of roses. Families didn't start living afloat on working boats until it became economically necessary with the competition from the railways - and most live-aboards now live afloat because they have been priced out of the housing market.
Joanne - that would be a nice thought, if it's so. Unfortunately there's not a lot online about the boat's history. There's a pic of it in the Album from 1985, at Trencherfield Mill - so it would fit with her being Mayoress in 83-4. Perhaps Ron has a newspaper cutting about it all....

You would think somebody would have cleaned the bird muck marks off before they set sail, with it being a floating cafe.

If the name of that boat was split into two, because it looks like it is named after a Cat's Wake, so if it was Kitty Wake and then you applied a Spoonerism to it, and joined the two words back together, then the boat would be called Wittykake.

Maureen, I have to say it wouldn't suit me, as it didn't suit the lady you saw. You are either the "camper" sort or you're not, but I wouldn't have spoiled my children's holiday and would have persevered for the rest of the holiday if it made them happy....she WAS "selfish" if she cut the holiday short but I can see her point of view. We have had a few "touring" caravans and I detested them, even the last one, which was brand-new and was on a permanent site....it's either "you" or it isn't. We now have a static caravan on the same site .....it is an old one and is old-fashioned, with only a couple of years to go, but is more of a "little house" with a proper flush toilet and I am relaxed there. My husband loved the touring caravans, as MANY people do, but you have to be of the right frame of mind for a tourer OR a boat, and I'm afraid I'm not! A holiday is only a holiday if you are enjoying it, otherwise it's a trial.

Many new touring caravans have flush toilets and are connected to pipe waste outlets on modern camp sites. But yes I understand and agree you like camping or you don't and boating is the same.
Static caravans could get boring after a few years being on the same site and have seen it all.
The Rev sums it up perfectly, don't knock it until you've tried it, well I have tried it and have knocked it. Not for me and my family agreed. We now have caravan holidays at different sites like Haven or other well known breaks with lots going on. Touring caravan can be a nightmare this day and age with traffic chaos and kids stuck in the car for hours at a time. It gets very frustrating. So we don't own our caravan anymore, we hire one at different sites, that way we dont have the annoyance of parking it up for storage and the maintenence of it.

Sorry folks,but I would find being stuck in a caravan far too restricting...I love freedom too much.

Joanne,Mrs Kitty Isherwood used to live quite near to where I live,I believe she was born in Ireland.

Rev,I think I ought to say ..if you'd seen our boat it wouldn't be classed as camping.