Kandahar

We drove over to Lymm today in the pouring with rain. "Just a shower" said NM " it will be dry by the time we park." A few minutes later as we pulled into the car park the sun came out.

The Bridgewater canal passes through the centre of the village and we got into conversation with Paul, the owner of Kandahar. He had it built in 1999 and it comes with all mod cons. Just as well really as he and his wife spend up to 7 months each year cruising the waterways of Britain.

I asked why he had chosen the name Kandahar. He explained that it was named after HMS Kandahar, a Royal Navy K-class destroyer which was built in 1939 and scuttled on 20 Dec 1941 the day after being hit by a mine close to Tripoli. Paul's father had served on that ship.

Following yesterday's blip fellow blipper Cameron asked if pleasure craft sailed on the Manchester Ship Canal. I asked Paul and he said that it was possible but the operators of the ship canal did not encourage it by putting a number of obstacles in the way. These included a fee of £68, a special seaworthiness check and the need to carry ropes three times the length of the vessel. So few people bothered to do it.