Almost Lockdown Mooring 4 to Marsh Lane Winding Hole to Almost Lockdown Mooring 4
Yesterday I’d checked with the greengrocer about what time they start delivering their veg boxes, luckily for us it wasn’t too early so we didn’t need to set an alarm clock. We had our usual cuppa in bed and then set off back to bridge 95 not quite a mile away.
Here we hunted for the holes in the concrete edge we’d made yesterday. Mick found the one for the stern, but try as I might at the bow it hid from me, only showing itself when we pushed off later! Once our spikes were in we made better note of where they were for next week.
Time for breakfast, we could have been there for half an hour or right into the afternoon, but fortunately it was the former. Around 10:20 I got a phone call to say our box had arrived. Mick got out and waved, our box was laid on the towpath for Mick to pick up so that distances could be maintained. The chap said he does a big delivery to a boater at Venetian Marina which then gets passed on along the Middlewich Branch. This is where I’d got the idea from, the local Covid-19 Boaters group on facebook.
What had we got? I was excited!
I’d requested no cauliflower, but some garlic and a sweet potato. The rest was a mystery, a £15 mystery.
1 lettuce, 1 very long cucumber, a bag of new potatoes, 2 huge parsnips, a bag of carrots, 1 sweet potato, 2 bulbs garlic, 1 aubergine, 1 small butternut squash, a bag of tomatoes, 3 bunches of spinach, 2 onions, 1 red onion and some broccoli. That would certainly keep us going until next week.
Clem’s (or Nantwich Veg Boxes) does different sized boxes, some just veg, some just fruit, some a mixture. I’d gone for £15 veg as that is roughly what I’d spent on their market stall a few weeks ago. Next week I suspect we might still have a few bits left so I’ll try a mixed box of a similar size and see what lies within one of those.
If we could put together a big enough butchers delivery then we’d only have to use the supermarkets for pasta, rice, flour, milk etc. oh and wine boxes! Mick managed to get another Sainsbury’s click and collect at the weekend so any gaps we have will be filled with a bike trip along with getting our Saturday newspaper. Plain gluten free flour however is proving to be impossible to get unless ordered direct from Doves Farm in a 16kg bag!
As we’d be needing to top up with water in a day or two we decided to headed on into Nantwich today, cutting down on our movements. I walked to give me calf muscle a stretch.
All the Blackthorn blossom has gone, but is now being replaced by Hawthorn, weighing down the branches so they almost meet the Cow Parsley reaching up from the towpath. I suspect in a few days time the blossom will be fantastic, Narnia in May. We’ve often been up near Crick and Houdini’s Field at this time of year and some of the stretches are glorious.
Rubbish and water dealt with we pootled on to the winding hole, turned and headed back out of town to Hurleston. We could see a very big black cloud heading our way, would we make it in time without getting wet. Sadly no.
The boat that had been in the spot we’ve started to call home had moved on this morning before we left, but this afternoon had been replaced by another. We knew we’d fit in the gap, so resumed sharing rings.
Time to plan our menu for the next week. Eating up the more perishable veggies first. We don’t tend to eat that much salad, but we may do over the coming weeks. Chicken Curry new style, salmon and spinach pasta will use the spinach up. Just how to shoe horn the glut of potatoes into everything. Well tonight we had fish pie with a mash topping (I normally do a crumble top) with a nice side salad.
During the evening I started sewing the button band onto my treat cardigan. This took quite a few goes to get right to start with, but it just about worked out before bed. I just need to finish the end with a few rows of blue, then just a few finishing touches, find those buttons I bought in Devizes, block it and it will be ready to wear. I seem to have enough yarn left over to possibly make a matching hat too, bonus!
0 locks, 5.5 miles, 2 winds, 2 straights, 1 cruise before breakfast, 1 box of fresh yummyness (see above for item numbers), 1 ray of hope, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 1 big bag of recycling, 1 weeks menus just about planned, 1 cardi nearly done, 3 hours shore leave, 1 new neighbour, 3 pooh buckets on the towpath.
that’s a very fine box of vegetables and something of a bargain. I’d be interested to know what fruit you might get if you do that next time. I’m ordering apples and pears which are really not very good now though I am getting rhubarb as well which is excellent.
Don’t worry I’ll post pictures. We’re not that partial to rhubarb, so if we get some I’ll post it to you. Pip x
Just been preparing our fish pie for tonight. My ‘signature’ topping is to dice the potato and cook until soft but still keeping its shape. Drain and then mix just a little with a fork to rub off the rough corners of the cubes. Spread over the pie contents and then a thin layer of breadcrumbs and some grate cheese.
That sounds very tasty indeed. My crumble topping is butter, flour, oats, parmisan and parsley.
Hope you are both keeping well
Pip
We get Wheat free flour from “Sous Chef” their Gluten free plain Doves Farm flour is out of stock though.
Hi Alfred. Doves Farm flour can be bought direct from them at the moment, only you have to buy it in 16kg bags! Maybe if we could find another two people who wanted some we could split a big bag between us all. I’ll have a look at Sous Chef, thanks for the pointer.
Pip