Hunkered down in Cowley

The rain in the night was heavy from time to time and the wind was definitely on the increase.  The boat was swinging against the fenders and rocking.  An empty gravel barge passed at 07:30, but a brief exploratory foray outside confirmed that I had no wish to move on today.  The forecast is for the winds to reach a maximum at midday and then start to abate.   Tomorrow will be fine, for a brief window.   As the gusts of wind had moved some wood on the roof, I thought it wise to secure the plank and weighted it down with a bit of 65lb rail offcut that I had salvaged from the Welsh Highland Railway tracklaying weekend last August.   So - today a bit of tidying, but no maintenance tasks come to mind that I can reasonably do in this weather.  Just watching the barometer. I figure that as the pressure continues to fall, the wind will increase in strength.  This seems to be borne out in practice, as there have been some really severe gusts in the last few minutes as I write this.  On the matter of wind and narrowboating, generally, whilst under way, it is not too much of a problem.  It may mean crabbing along but that's all.  The difficulty arises when you stop with a strong crosswind trying to push you off the bank.   My personal and observed experience is that you are not strong enough to hold a 60 foot narrowboat on the centre rope without a bollard to secure it to and even then getting to the bank slow enough to get off and secure to a bollard with a short enough rope to hold it steady is pretty well impossible single handed.  I saw a chap on the LLangollen Canal in this predicament and his boat ended up on the opposite side.  Fine if you can get to it!   You need a crew member on a bow rope to retain control.  I am sure that there are seasoned working boatmen who know how you do this, but I am not about to experiment now.