Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

Well it's the last day of September and we are still averaging 22/23C with almost everyday being incredibly warm and sunny....I keep banging on about it cos it's sooo different from the weary inclement weather in the north of England. It makes a real difference. Things are starting to 'green' up again. And a bit of winter veg is planted and growing nicely in the 'Orto'. It's a fantastic temperature for working outside, getting the garden sorted, getting the grass cut and having a hour or two of solitude every now and then with the strimmer. Admittedly Iv had to visit 'Trenti's' a couple of times just lately so that Maximillion, the main beardy fixing man round here, could put new bearings in the rear mower when it ceased and also fit some new drive belts but he's only in the next village and always very helpful with a smile. Proper rural service by proper rural fixing men! Iv also been spending a bit of time up in th...

Iv always thought that it's a strange word....foraging! To forage:   a wide search over an area in order to obtain something, especially food or provisions. synonyms: scavenge ,  hunt ,  search ,  look ,  exploration ,  quest ,  scout ,  probe "a nightly forage for food" Basically you are nicking stuff from Mother Earth...or is she is providing it for you to nick? Well, I'm guilty as charged....and I'm having great fun doing it. This is a great time of year for it and Iv been out in the mornings, carrying a brew and having a good scavenge. The local markets are currently full of 'Porcini', retailing at about €20 euros a kilo which is a 100% profit if you been out and got them for nowt on a walk. Iv not been as lucky as to find porcini but i do seem to do ok most mornings for the run of the mill fresh fungi that pokes up in abundance in yonder front field. There's loads of st...

It's never ceases to surprise me when I find out who's reading my blog and it's quite obvious to me that Teresa May must also be tuning in. I'm thinking that she must've read my quick guide to 'Florence' last week and booked herself on the next flight out. I just hope she didn't book Ryanair or she might be needing a lift home! It's been a funny old week.....(Christ, I sound like Ronnie Barker in Open All Hours!) Autumn has arrived and I have per..per..pp'progressed up into the woodland to have a clear out of the old trees and creeping brash and working to get the ditches and drains ready for the onslaught of winter and the anticipated heavy rainfall. Armed with machete, a strimmer, a chainsaw, a rotavator and a mattock I have been tackling the terraced woodland areas. It's kinda nice just being able to work on the land, just being outside and able to get on with practical things with no constraints or timescales to adhere to. ...

September is a great time to start to visit places like Florence. They get far, far too busy during the scorching summer months and you can't move for selfy-sticks fastened to idiots with paper maps. Today, the weather is perfect so I'm off on the train to the big city! Going from the little local station of Terontola it takes about an hour and a half until you get off at the end of the line at Santa Maria Novello(SMN),bang in the centre of Firenze. I know that there are days and days worth of museums and art galleries but today is just a stroll around my new nearest city of culture, just to get my bearings and I can tell from the start that its going to be slightly better than the previous city of culture I visited......Hull! Five minutes from SMN I head up through the busy Central Market, a foodies paradise and then passing through the Piazza Di San Lorenzo I suddenly turn a corner and look up.  You can't help but be impressed as you take in the sight of the huge 'Cat...