The Cambridge University Boat Club had two boatmen over a period of one hundred years. It had Cooee Phillips from 1880-1930, then he was succeeded by his apprentice, young Alf Twinn, from 1930-1980. Like hundreds of oarsmen from the CUBC, I’d heard all the legendary stories about Alf, a man who was deeply respected and feared in almost equal measure. He would always call the oarsmen...
Read MoreWe have only very occasionally stayed in nondescript towns with hotels that aspire to mediocrity. Almost all the others have been peopled by the type of folk that only seem to exist in the mid-west, exuding goodwill and kinship. Very occasionally we unearth a diamond in the rough and one such benchmark town is Alma, Wisconsin (pop 782). Located by the banks of the Mississippi, it is full of...
Read MoreMy unimproveable wife, Julie, has a cousin Kim, who is married to a truly great guy called Shad. Shad’s family has fished Lake Pepin commercially for decades and as soon as I mentioned that I was contemplating the Mississippi project, he said “that means you will be crossing Lake Pepin, right?” I said that was the case and that the skiffs were very durable boats that could...
Read MoreNow, I would not like you to commence this enormously important blog laboring under the misunderstanding that it is a discourse on the often egregious 1970’s band of the same name, guilty as they were with saccharin classics such as “Mull of Kintyre”. Such was the appalling quality of that song that I have known drunken Scots ask for it to be turned off in pubs. No, this blog is about the one...
Read MoreIt was as bad as we feared.We have become obsessed with watching the weather forecasts here, arguing about which is best. Accuweather, shouts one. Weather.com shouts another. We have all now agreed that a) hourly breakdowns are key and b) several sources are better than one. After two fabulous days in the Twin Cities, but very little rest and one or two too many Jim Beams, we had been watching...
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