Getting Away From the Tree

"Captain Ahab" on Wand'ring Bark passed through Norbury Junction recently and posted this photo of Starcross on his blog.




I like it when people do that: its good to know she's still there when I'm not around.

What the picture didn't show was that Starcross is no longer moored "under the Tree". When I first bought her, back in 2004, she was moored at Lowsonford on the Stratford Canal on a very pleasant mooring that I managed to inherit (against all the rules it has to be said). It only had one drawback (apart, that is, from being in the middle of a flight of very slow and awkward locks) and that was being situated underneath a willow tree. I got bird sh!t on the roof all summer, dead leaves in the Autumn and every winter gale had me worrying that the damned thing would be blown down on top of the boat.

After a while we moved to Norbury Junction. Far better from the locking point of view (there aren't any for miles) but my heart fell when the yard manager told me that my new mooring was "Up there, by the tree!" "The Tree" turned out to be an oak, so in addition to the other problems the roof was bombarded with acorns every Autumn.

The old mooring

As a new boy on the site I had to accept what was offered, but eventually I felt established enough to ask for a different spot and, much later, one did eventually come free. Last time I visited Norbury Junction, David (yard manager) had, as promised, moved Starcross down to its new spot. Not only is it away from the tree, its much nearer the wharf, car park and the Junction Inn, so a better spot all round (although I'll be sorry to miss the neighbours, especially Chris and Bea on "Poppy" who I know occasionally read this rubbish! )

The new mooring (note absence of tree) View from the mooring towards the Junction Inn (on the right behind the bridge).

The main aim now, of course, is having got myself a new mooring, to spend as little time on it as possible over the coming summer!