Don't eat it!!

As well as the comments on my recent posts about the wild plants growing on the mooring, I have had a couple of emails, both of which identify my photo number 14 as neither watercress nor wild celery (so close yet so very far) but as Hemlock Water Dropwort*, which just happens to be the most poisonous native British plant.

So don't eat it; don't pick it; don't even touch it if you should see it.

I don't think I've seen any along the towpath, but it is growing in profusion around the winding hole. I will keep an eye on it and post photos as it progresses throughout the year.

*Thanks to Izzy for the link.

The first day of summer

The first day of what I would call summer anyway - able to sit outside in shorts all day, come in with a warm glow, slightly browned, and be able to leave the windows and hatches open until 10 pm (well, BST at least).

I think we deserve a bit more of this :-)

Hunting for Nightingales

The best steak pie in the world comes fro 19gales of Bentley, near Atherstone. It was these, back in 2007, that knocked us off the veggie wagon.They used to have a farm shop at the top of Atherstone High Street, which we would visit religiously whenever we passed through, but it closed last year because of a massive rent rise. This seemed to us to be a minor tragedy; the end of an era. Sure, they would still be selling their wares at farmers' markets in Staffordshire and Warwickshire, but what good was that to us, down in Sussex... So we tried to put it out of our minds.

Yesterday, we went to Penkridge Market to get some bedlinen for the impending visit of No. 2 Son and his girlfriend (or Baz 'n' Iz as I shall call them... he doesn't read this anyway). There was a sign up saying that being the third Saturday of the month, it incorporated a 'Fine Foods and Craft Market'. Still didn't click. But while we were enjoying a cup of tea at the market cafe, out of the corner of my eye I spotted a familiar, distinctive, yellow, 19gales carrier bag. Suddenly it all came back to me. We chased the carrier of the bag and asked her where she'd got it... following her directions didn't help however. Then I spotted a man weighed down with pies - two bagfuls. Jim asked him and this time the directions led us to a corner of the food hangar decked out with goods bearing that familiar yellow label.

Oh joy. We came away with a large (ahem, family size) steak pie which we have just had for a very special Sunday dinner, and I can report that they are as good as ever. The third Sunday of each month promises to be a special day from now on.

And now for the leaves...

More mystery foliage coming up - I'm relying on you to tell me what these plants are (and the flowers in yesterday's post).

I'll not post photos of the leafy things I have identified, which include dock, (common?) thistle, stinging nettle and blackberry bramble. But what about these?

10.

11.

12.

13. I've a suspicion this may be rose bay willow herb...

14.

15. The sticky one.

My wild garden

The strip of land alongside our mooring has to be the best garden I've ever had. When we first saw it, thistles and nettles dominated, but since they were chopped down last year, all sorts of other plants have emerged - and the thistles and nettles are making a comeback too.

I went out yesterday and photographed all the different species I could find - when I added up the photos, I was amazed to discover that I had found forty different plants. Plus I am sure there are a lot more I have missed.

The trouble is, I have no idea what most of them are. The stage of life where you learn to identify plants and trees and birds and insects seems to have passed me by completely. So I am going to ask you, dear readers, to tell me what they are - I know there are at least one or two people out there who will be able to do just that. To make it easier, I'll number them; and to keep it manageable I will restrict this post to the ones that are currently in flower.

First of all, the ones I'm pretty sure I do know:

1. Forget-me-not. Truly wild, or a garden escapee?

2. Dandelion. There, I said I knew some of them!

3. Pretty sure this is a white dead nettle...

Now the ones I'm not so sure about:

4. Is this Queen Anne's Lace?

5. Some kind of nettle, but does this one with purple flowers have a special name? I think there is a second variety of stinging nettle here too which isn't in flower - a bit bigger. Does that sound likely?

Finally, the largest group - those I have no idea about. Over to you!

6.

7.

8.

9.

Thank you!

Willow and Charlie

Olympic marathon

The twenty-one narrow locks of the Wolverhampton Flight are OK for a warm up, but for a real work out, you need to head south, as I did on Saturday. My friend Mike (previous owner of Andante, my first narrow boat) has a small trip boat business in London, and as he had rather a long day in prospect, I went down to give him a hand with the locks.

The plan was to take a stag party from Little Venice out to the Olympic site on the River Lee - the towpath is now closed down there, but you can still get a decent view of the ever-changing site from the river, and then to come back with some (unrelated) hens. There and back totalled about seventeen miles, and 22 big locks.

It was a lovely day for it and I was really pleased I went. Boating through London is a completely different experience. Not only are the locks bigger, but they are populated by boaters the ineptitude of whom Midlands navigators could barely dream of.  Come sunset, there seemed to be a barbecue set up at every lock as well. Everyone was very amiable though, and it was useful to have some extra bodies around for some of the bottom gates.

I went down by train and met Mike and Lady A at Hampstead Road lock, co-ordinating our arrival to within five minutes. I'd brought my own windlass, but thought I'd better not get it out on the tube.

I'd only been down the Hertford Union Canal once previously (on Warrior in 2008) so it was nice to revisit it. Once out on the river, we stopped short of Old Ford Lock - the electric lock is out of action for maintenance, and the manual one so hard to operate that BW assistance has to be called in. There was a brief moment of drama when we were told that there was a swan trapped in the empty lock - without a good run up for take off, there was no way it could fly out, and it was getting distressed. Mike made a call to the BW emergency line, and was quickly rung back by a local person who said that they would come and refill the lock so that the swan would be able to get out.

From the river we could see the Olympic stadium, and the top of the 'Orbit', as well as a container development in progress.

We also got a sight of some of the fabled Olympic Water Chariots - originally touted as a waterbus to the Olympic site, these are now being advertised to corporate clients at up to £75,000 a day. The boats are actually quite basic inside - you can see even on Water Chariots' own website that they are not insulated or lined out. Perhaps they are not officially finished - which would justify them displaying trade plate licences.

 It will be interesting too to see what becomes of these behemoths after the brief period of the games. With the best will in the world they could not be described as good looking boats... My money is on some new London hippy houseboats.

After dropping the happy hens off at City Road Lock we boated on into the dusk. It was dark by the time we went through Camden, and there were surprisingly few people around, given that it was such a pleasant evening - surely the mildest of the year so far. We got back to Lady A's fantastic mooring in Little Venice at eleven, having hit every point of the day's itinerary exactly on schedule. It was an excellent day and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon.

And if you're looking for a friendly and informal London canal boat trip for up to twelve people, do give Mike a call.

STOP PRESS: Diamond Geezer has been musing about the Water Chariots today too.