Moored alongside Faversham, Cambria has now taken delivery of our new poly tunnel, our winter cover which will keep the barge snug and safe from the weather while our volunteers get on with jobs such as cleaning and painting, which we are getting few opportunities to do as this succession of powerful anticyclones spiral through; another is due overnight with its predicted lashing of coasts by wind and rain and tidal surges. We are , of course, hunkered down in Standard Quay, miles up the Creek from any of that violent wave action but we still get the wind, rain and scary tides threatening to lift us high enough for us to sneak a chine onto the quayside concrete. Happily the tides have not recently come ‘that’ high – we draw 2-3 feet even when empty, so the tide would need to be 3 feet above the concrete – and also we moor where there are massive baulks of timber leaning up the wall from the Creek bed, we rise gently up these ‘fenders’ and slide back down into the Creek as the tide goes out. That’s the theory, anyway but out here in Ireland, 500 miles away, I am always pleased to know that we have Skipper Ian Ruffles checking our warps and SB Greta’s Steve Norris keeping an eye out from his own barge moored nearby.
The polytunnel is currently being built in situ by Ian Ruffles. Mick Nolan, Basil Brambleby and Maggs Casey Kelly, and it is from Maggs that I have been sent these fine pictures of the work. Thanks you Maggs.
