NATIONAL NON-FICTION DAY ABOARD THORNTREE, JUNE 18TH.

Climbing the steep hill out of Belper and spotting ‘The Thorntree Inn’ sitting prominently at the corner of two roads, brought back memories of our lovely MFV Thorntree moored on the Blackwater river in Maldon, Essex. It’s over twenty years ago now that we all embarked on our very special adventurous period of living aboard, but it still springs readily to mind with all the ups and downs of an alternative lifestyle. Of course, there is a certain amount of ‘distance lending enchantment’ and this is particularly the case with our three daughters – who at the time must have wondered about the ‘whys and wherefores’, but now look back with affection and some nostalgia for the freedom and off shore perspective it all represented.
On a recent trip to Belper – our first visit to the mills of the Amber Valley – and accompanying our two grandaughters in a paddling swan boat on the river, I did think a little of those days around the Millennium described fully in ‘A Family Afloat’. Naturally the scene on and around the Derwent is vastly different to the comparative silence and unique atmosphere of the Blackwater and the Essex marshes but I expect that has changed too since our stay. Any attractive river frontage now seems to draw people like a magnet and the mystery and magic of a quiet contemplative day is sadly lost…
But it was a happy crowd at Belper on Saturday afternoon, and looking beyond the amusements and ice creams, the river itself with trains passing regularly across the bridge was both relaxing and full of a certain energy and joie de vivre.
I’m attaching photos of the Belper ‘Thorn Tree’, our ‘Thorntree’ and our stately cruise aboard a Derwent swan – all in praise of National Non-Fiction Day June 18th 2022.

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