Thursday 28 June
Having agreed to meet the family at noon at Campbell Park in Milton Keynes, we made an early start for once, and were on our way by 7.15. Eight o’clock saw us at the Tesco mooring in Wolverton, and by quarter to nine we were on our way again, reaching the services point at Giffard Park less than an hour later. We got to Campbell Park at eleven, an hour ahead of ourselves, but it had been good to show that we could do some decent boating when we felt like it.
What with all the hanging around we’ve done recently, it’s felt more like winter than summer boating so far. As we wended our way through the outskirts of MK, I saw a terrapin swimming along in the cut. It was quite large, somewhere between a saucer and a side plate in diameter; presumably one that had been released when it got too big for the vivarium, though I believe that there are breeding colonies in some places now.
While Sheila relieved me on the tiller, I took the opportunity to phone the EA at Peterborough as we went along. There was no problem about changing our booking for the Great Ouse crossing to the first of August. It seems the Nene is unlikely to reopen before the later part of next week at the earliest, so our prudence was commended by the helpful guy at the EA. If we can’t get past the problem at Ely Rail Bridge in time, the EA will give help and advice to people who decide to use the Hundred Foot River alternative.
After we got to MK, I found that the internet was back to normal. It seems that there had been a country wide problem with damage by vandalism to one of the main fibre backbones in Birmingham, thus severing the North of the UK from the South for many ISPs.
Graeme, Cathy and Daniel arrived at half eleven, and we had loads of time to get to know the newest member of the clan, take pictures and all the rest. They all look very healthy and happy, though Graeme and Cathy were complaining of lack of sleep already. I refrained from pointing out that they will have to wait until Daniel is a parent himself before feeling that that score is evened out! This grandparenting lark has unexpected rewards.
We made a trip into the centre of MK for some Daniel related shopping in the form of a baby gym (don’t ask) and a book of fairy stories and similar. Graeme and Cathy have agreed I can buy Daniel the complete boxed set of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series in due course, so that’s another little perk of having a third generation to the family.
They eventually went off at about four, and we quietly collapsed. I made a paella for dinner, and we had an early night.
Friday 29 June
After the exertions of yesterday, we had a bit of a lie in, and got away just before nine. Boating along was an amazing experience today. The air was moist, and just occasionally precipitating a bit, but not enough to be unpleasant. There was a lot of scent from the trees that line the canal through MK, mainly lime and honeysuckle.
We stopped at Fenny Compton briefly to buy a paper from the shop on the main street (up from the bridge and turn left), and then shared up the shallow lock with a boat that turned up just as we were setting off again. They stopped above the lock to water and we chugged on to Stoke Hammond.
Just above Stoke Hammond Lock, and before Bridge 106 that leads to the village, we found some nice looking piling to moor to for lunch, and decided to stop here overnight, since it’s quiet, and the weather was beginning to look threatening. If it still looks bad tomorrow, we may well stay an extra night. We’ve got three weeks in which to wander down to Aylesbury and back as a way of filling in the time before our new schedule needs us to be heading down the Nene, so we’re in no kind of rush.
I set out to print out a picture of Daniel to go on our picture shelf, but the printer, which has always done a good job of colour printing up till now, decided not to cooperate, inserting odd coloured bands across the photo. It looks as if buying refilled Cartridge World print cartridges was a false economy. I did various diagnostic tests, without improving the situation at all. I’ll just have to buy some proper HP carts at the next opportunity, and see if that fixes the problem. If not, we could be looking at having to acquire a new printer.
The evening turned out very nice, but there’s more rain forecast for later in the night. The only downside of the mooring was a set of Wyvern hire boats, recently set off from Leighton Buzzard, which came powering past. Good job we had put a spring on at the stern, or we’d have been chucked about on the mooring quite a bit. A peaceful night followed, punctuated by at least one, or I suspect two, yellowhammers which were singing every time either of us woke to hear it or them.
Saturday, 30 June 2007
Thursday, 28 June 2007
A change of plan
Tuesday 26 June
We made a lazy start on a bright cool morning. I popped to the shop in the caravan park for a paper at nine, and then we took a walk along the line of the Buckingham Arm as far as the A5 crossing. You can see why this canal is such an attractive prospect for restoration – it’s beautifully rural, with views across a classic English countryside. I took some photos, but we didn’t spot anything out of the way as regards bird life.
Back at the boat we did some coffee drinking and loafing, whilst pondering what to do about the continuing high levels of the Nene. We had an email from Graham and Carolann on Autumn Years, who had ventured down the river after Crick, made it as far as Titchmarsh Lock below Thrapston, and had been there for the next twelve days.
We decided that if the prospects look uncertain for next week, we’ll rebook our crossing from Salter’s Lode to Denver, and then go South for a bit. This means we need to consult with Graeme and Cathy about meeting up with them and inspecting our grandson. In any event, we’ll do a manual pump out of the toilet tank here tomorrow, and then go down to Wolverton to shop before returning to Cosgrove on Thursday.
Later in the afternoon, John and Nev turned up on Waimaru. We joined them for a cup of tea, and they invited us for dinner.
They told us of another problem with the route to the National site at St Ives – a gravel train has derailed at a bridge just above Ely, half destroying the bridge, and closing the river. It may be the second or third week of August before the river reopens, which would make a serious problem for the workers’ boats travelling to the National site. There is an alternative route up the 100 Foot Drain, but it means doing much more tidal work than just the short run from Salter’s Lode to Denver.
We had an excellent meal on Waimaru, with much conversation about a lot of boating topics, including but not confined to the care and feeding of toilet pump out tanks.
Wednesday 27 June
Another lazy start (i.e. after 7.30). We worked up the lock, and boated on to the winding hole at the Navigation Inn. Back at Cosgrove we did a pump out using the manual pump, and got a good rinse of the tank. Then we dropped back down the lock and tied on the first section of the visitor moorings. This all went fine, although a BW worker who was doing some bits and bobs around the lock just wandered off when the gate on his side swung open. It’s unusual to find an unhelpful member of the BW bank staff, but they do exist. It meant Sheila had to trek round the lock before she could start it emptying.
After lunch, the restored steamer President and butty Kildare arrived, worked down the lock, winded and worked back up again. Like us, they are hanging about waiting to go down the Nene. Whilst taking some photos, a manic duck turned up and started wandering around on first a boat waiting to go up the lock, and then on Sanity. I got some neat shots of this strange bird.
We set off for a walk after all this excitement, looking to see if it’s possible to get from the path along the old Arm to the Great Ouse Way. We didn’t succeed, but had a pleasant circular walk involving the Arm instead. It came on to rain quite heavily as we got back, so it’s just as well we hadn’t committed to a longer trek.
Trying to check email in the afternoon found some problems – my ISP, Vispa, seems to have disappeared. I rang their help line, and got a recorded announcement that there are some widespread problems involving all BT connections. Perhaps it’s all the rain. I uploaded the photos and movie clips I’d taken, then made a beef curry for dinner.
It rained hard again in the evening, so we are definitely going to rearrange our plans for the next three weeks. Sheila spoke to Cathy and discovered they can meet us at Milton Keynes tomorrow, so we’ll head south tomorrow morning.
I felt very peckish in the late evening, so I made three slices of toast for myself, and two for Sheila, all with butter on. (I include this info for John Campbell’s sake, who tells me he finds it fascinating :-})
We made a lazy start on a bright cool morning. I popped to the shop in the caravan park for a paper at nine, and then we took a walk along the line of the Buckingham Arm as far as the A5 crossing. You can see why this canal is such an attractive prospect for restoration – it’s beautifully rural, with views across a classic English countryside. I took some photos, but we didn’t spot anything out of the way as regards bird life.
Back at the boat we did some coffee drinking and loafing, whilst pondering what to do about the continuing high levels of the Nene. We had an email from Graham and Carolann on Autumn Years, who had ventured down the river after Crick, made it as far as Titchmarsh Lock below Thrapston, and had been there for the next twelve days.
We decided that if the prospects look uncertain for next week, we’ll rebook our crossing from Salter’s Lode to Denver, and then go South for a bit. This means we need to consult with Graeme and Cathy about meeting up with them and inspecting our grandson. In any event, we’ll do a manual pump out of the toilet tank here tomorrow, and then go down to Wolverton to shop before returning to Cosgrove on Thursday.
Later in the afternoon, John and Nev turned up on Waimaru. We joined them for a cup of tea, and they invited us for dinner.
They told us of another problem with the route to the National site at St Ives – a gravel train has derailed at a bridge just above Ely, half destroying the bridge, and closing the river. It may be the second or third week of August before the river reopens, which would make a serious problem for the workers’ boats travelling to the National site. There is an alternative route up the 100 Foot Drain, but it means doing much more tidal work than just the short run from Salter’s Lode to Denver.
We had an excellent meal on Waimaru, with much conversation about a lot of boating topics, including but not confined to the care and feeding of toilet pump out tanks.
Wednesday 27 June
Another lazy start (i.e. after 7.30). We worked up the lock, and boated on to the winding hole at the Navigation Inn. Back at Cosgrove we did a pump out using the manual pump, and got a good rinse of the tank. Then we dropped back down the lock and tied on the first section of the visitor moorings. This all went fine, although a BW worker who was doing some bits and bobs around the lock just wandered off when the gate on his side swung open. It’s unusual to find an unhelpful member of the BW bank staff, but they do exist. It meant Sheila had to trek round the lock before she could start it emptying.
After lunch, the restored steamer President and butty Kildare arrived, worked down the lock, winded and worked back up again. Like us, they are hanging about waiting to go down the Nene. Whilst taking some photos, a manic duck turned up and started wandering around on first a boat waiting to go up the lock, and then on Sanity. I got some neat shots of this strange bird.
We set off for a walk after all this excitement, looking to see if it’s possible to get from the path along the old Arm to the Great Ouse Way. We didn’t succeed, but had a pleasant circular walk involving the Arm instead. It came on to rain quite heavily as we got back, so it’s just as well we hadn’t committed to a longer trek.
Trying to check email in the afternoon found some problems – my ISP, Vispa, seems to have disappeared. I rang their help line, and got a recorded announcement that there are some widespread problems involving all BT connections. Perhaps it’s all the rain. I uploaded the photos and movie clips I’d taken, then made a beef curry for dinner.
It rained hard again in the evening, so we are definitely going to rearrange our plans for the next three weeks. Sheila spoke to Cathy and discovered they can meet us at Milton Keynes tomorrow, so we’ll head south tomorrow morning.
I felt very peckish in the late evening, so I made three slices of toast for myself, and two for Sheila, all with butter on. (I include this info for John Campbell’s sake, who tells me he finds it fascinating :-})
Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Back to Cosgrove for a bit
Sunday 24 June
Sheila told me the morning had been fine at six when she woke up for a bit, but by the time I surfaced, it was raining once more. After checking email, we set off across Campbell Park yet again, this time to visit the Sunday Farmers’ Market as well as Sainsbury’s.
It was a pretty small Farmers’ Market, but we bought some nice looking Cornish pasties, and got some bits and bobs from the supermarket.
Back at the boat we lazed the rest of morning away before having the pasties for lunch. It looked a bit drier afterwards, so we sallied forth to see the Dragon Boat racing on Willen Lake. The lake proved to be a substantial body of water, providing various water sports venues for the good citizens of Milton Keynes.
We’d not seen Dragon Boats raced before, and it proved to be a very serious corporate activity. There were over 50 teams, each with gazebos, barbeques and team T-shirts. There are about 20 bodies to a crew, so there were a lot of people milling around. There were a total of eight boats in use, going in heats of four boats at a time every ten minutes.
It all looked like great fun if you were involved, but as a pure spectator sport it palled rather quickly, especially as it came on to rain quite hard again. We beat a retreat back to Sanity and had a cup of tea. I did the blog whilst roasting some silverside beef we’d bought in the morning, to have cold with salad tonight.
The rain got steadily worse all afternoon and evening, and for the first time in ages we put the porthole covers up in the saloon and galley. Normally in the summer we don’t bother, just covering the portholes in the bathroom and bedroom when we retire, but it looked so horrid out that we felt better for shutting out the night.
Monday 25 June
We made another lazy start today, although we had decided to do some boating. The water tank is getting low, and we’ve been hanging around here for long enough (not to mention running out of stuff to put in the blog). More rain was forecast, but it wasn’t actually coming down when we got up. By 8.45 we were on our way, going back the way we came, firstly to the services block at Giffard Park, where we watered and ran the washing machine. It’s not a desperately fast water point there, so the machine had started its rinse cycle by the time we had a full tank.
Whilst hanging about watching the tank fill, we got into conversation with an old guy who’d been to buy his paper at the little shop nearby. He turned out to be one of the last of the working boaters, in that he could recall working with his parents on their narrowboat pair, taking grain from the Royal Albert Dock on the Thames, up to Gayton Junction and then down the Nene to Wellingborough Mill. He was full of doom laden warnings about the Nene, just to cheer us up. He didn’t offer his name, and I always feel awkward about asking. I know that the old boaters used to be very private people, and resented too much inquisitiveness, so I didn’t like to do the journalistic intrusive bit. Afterwards I realised I should have asked for the names of the boats, which would have at least given me some historical marker.
We were away just after ten, and went on to Wolverton, where there were several boats tied on the new rings by the building site. We did the Tesco trip, getting back to the boat at noon. Accordingly, we stopped and had lunch, with the howl of the Virgin Pendolinos whistling past at 110 mph less than 50 yards away on the other side of the towpath fence.
Afterwards we went on to Cosgrove, and managed to find a 60 foot slot on the 14 day visitor moorings below the lock, though there weren’t many spaces, and Sheila had to do a neat bit of manoeuvring to get Sanity in. We’ve decided to stay here for a few days while we see what happens to the Nene. If necessary, we’ll have to reschedule the booking at Salter’s Lode and go away and come back when things have hopefully calmed down again. Meanwhile, at least we didn’t suffer the awful weather much of the rest of the country did that afternoon and evening.
In fact, it was nice enough to clean the inside of the boat, and Sheila used some potting compost we’d got at Tesco to repot the herbs into the trough we bought some little time ago.
Late in the afternoon, Will and Cath Wilkinson turned up on Sometimes, their Ownerships boat, so we had a good natter with them. They’d been to the Braunston Historic Boat rally last weekend, and were full of chat about it. It seems to have been even more successful than usual. Later in the evening, I learnt on the canals email list that the annual Saul Festival set for next weekend has been cancelled. The car park and camping ground are under four foot of water, so even if it all drains away over the next couple of days, it will still be too soaked to use.
In the evening, after more beef salad, we had a phone call from Graeme. If we reschedule our cruising plans for the next couple of weeks, we’ll have to rearrange our meeting with them, obviously, but he was quite laid back about that. It seems Daniel’s had a couple of car rides already without any fuss. Apparently the Great Ouse is not flooding at all, so if only we can get across there, we shall be fine.
Sheila told me the morning had been fine at six when she woke up for a bit, but by the time I surfaced, it was raining once more. After checking email, we set off across Campbell Park yet again, this time to visit the Sunday Farmers’ Market as well as Sainsbury’s.
It was a pretty small Farmers’ Market, but we bought some nice looking Cornish pasties, and got some bits and bobs from the supermarket.
Back at the boat we lazed the rest of morning away before having the pasties for lunch. It looked a bit drier afterwards, so we sallied forth to see the Dragon Boat racing on Willen Lake. The lake proved to be a substantial body of water, providing various water sports venues for the good citizens of Milton Keynes.
We’d not seen Dragon Boats raced before, and it proved to be a very serious corporate activity. There were over 50 teams, each with gazebos, barbeques and team T-shirts. There are about 20 bodies to a crew, so there were a lot of people milling around. There were a total of eight boats in use, going in heats of four boats at a time every ten minutes.
It all looked like great fun if you were involved, but as a pure spectator sport it palled rather quickly, especially as it came on to rain quite hard again. We beat a retreat back to Sanity and had a cup of tea. I did the blog whilst roasting some silverside beef we’d bought in the morning, to have cold with salad tonight.
The rain got steadily worse all afternoon and evening, and for the first time in ages we put the porthole covers up in the saloon and galley. Normally in the summer we don’t bother, just covering the portholes in the bathroom and bedroom when we retire, but it looked so horrid out that we felt better for shutting out the night.
Monday 25 June
We made another lazy start today, although we had decided to do some boating. The water tank is getting low, and we’ve been hanging around here for long enough (not to mention running out of stuff to put in the blog). More rain was forecast, but it wasn’t actually coming down when we got up. By 8.45 we were on our way, going back the way we came, firstly to the services block at Giffard Park, where we watered and ran the washing machine. It’s not a desperately fast water point there, so the machine had started its rinse cycle by the time we had a full tank.
Whilst hanging about watching the tank fill, we got into conversation with an old guy who’d been to buy his paper at the little shop nearby. He turned out to be one of the last of the working boaters, in that he could recall working with his parents on their narrowboat pair, taking grain from the Royal Albert Dock on the Thames, up to Gayton Junction and then down the Nene to Wellingborough Mill. He was full of doom laden warnings about the Nene, just to cheer us up. He didn’t offer his name, and I always feel awkward about asking. I know that the old boaters used to be very private people, and resented too much inquisitiveness, so I didn’t like to do the journalistic intrusive bit. Afterwards I realised I should have asked for the names of the boats, which would have at least given me some historical marker.
We were away just after ten, and went on to Wolverton, where there were several boats tied on the new rings by the building site. We did the Tesco trip, getting back to the boat at noon. Accordingly, we stopped and had lunch, with the howl of the Virgin Pendolinos whistling past at 110 mph less than 50 yards away on the other side of the towpath fence.
Afterwards we went on to Cosgrove, and managed to find a 60 foot slot on the 14 day visitor moorings below the lock, though there weren’t many spaces, and Sheila had to do a neat bit of manoeuvring to get Sanity in. We’ve decided to stay here for a few days while we see what happens to the Nene. If necessary, we’ll have to reschedule the booking at Salter’s Lode and go away and come back when things have hopefully calmed down again. Meanwhile, at least we didn’t suffer the awful weather much of the rest of the country did that afternoon and evening.
In fact, it was nice enough to clean the inside of the boat, and Sheila used some potting compost we’d got at Tesco to repot the herbs into the trough we bought some little time ago.
Late in the afternoon, Will and Cath Wilkinson turned up on Sometimes, their Ownerships boat, so we had a good natter with them. They’d been to the Braunston Historic Boat rally last weekend, and were full of chat about it. It seems to have been even more successful than usual. Later in the evening, I learnt on the canals email list that the annual Saul Festival set for next weekend has been cancelled. The car park and camping ground are under four foot of water, so even if it all drains away over the next couple of days, it will still be too soaked to use.
In the evening, after more beef salad, we had a phone call from Graeme. If we reschedule our cruising plans for the next couple of weeks, we’ll have to rearrange our meeting with them, obviously, but he was quite laid back about that. It seems Daniel’s had a couple of car rides already without any fuss. Apparently the Great Ouse is not flooding at all, so if only we can get across there, we shall be fine.
Sunday, 24 June 2007
Lurking at Milton Keynes
Friday 22 June
Another wet start, so we had a think about our cruising plans. We’d originally aimed to be going down the Northampton Arm next Tuesday, so as to be at Ferry Meadow near Peterborough by the weekend of 7/8 July to meet up with Graeme, Cathy and Daniel. Since the rain keeps falling and the Nene remains closed, it’s not clear that that is going to be possible. Even after the Nene reopens, we’ll want to give it a few days to settle down before heading on down. Meadow mooring can be tricky on a falling river, as we know from last year’s experience.
The other constraint is our booked crossing from Salter’s Lode to Denver on the Saturday following, the 14th. Working back from that, we need to be at Gayton Junction on Tuesday 2 July, so as to start down the Northampton Arm the following day and so make a steady rather than frantic trip down river. In that sense we have plenty of time in hand. It’s just very frustrating that we haven’t yet had a chance to meet our grandson.
As the rain had eased by the time we’d done this, we set off from the 48 hour mooring, winded the boat at the first winding hole, and moored on the towpath side between bridges 82 and 82A We can sit here for another 12 days if we want, though shortage of water will compel a move long before that.
We had yet another walk into MK Centre, posted two porthole doilies that Sheila had made for a customer, and did some routine shopping at Sainsbury’s. Back at the boat, I checked the email, and we had lunch.
In the afternoon it was still pretty wet out there, so we put the time to good use by sorting out the filing box, which had got over-full. A fair amount of paper could be thrown out, and some was transferred to longer term storage under the side berth. I did the blog, and then made chicken tagine for dinner with the bits and bobs off yesterday’s chicken. This still leaves two portions for eating with salad tomorrow.
Saturday 23 June
The morning was characterised by heavy showers. This is proving to be a very wet June. I mean, I know that Glastonbury and Wimbledon bring out the worst in the British weather, but this is getting ridiculous.
We’d got a lot of recycling built up in the boat. Last year, this bit of canal, from Stoke Bruerne south, had some basic recycling bins made out of oil drums (appropriate) at each sanitary station. This year, possibly because the waste contract has changed to Biffa, they’ve all gone. MK has a recycling facility in one of the Centre car parks, so we lugged several big bags of stuff over there, and popped into Sainsbury’s again while we were there. The boat’s food stocks are now getting quite complete, which will keep us going down the Nene. It’s a lovely river, but the supermarket opportunities are at the ends, at Northampton and Peterborough. There are several nice towns on the way, but very small ones.
Back at the boat we had coffee, and I ran the engine. The inverter/charger started playing silly sods again almost straight away, so we’ll have to do most of our charging from the DC alternator until I can get it looked at.
During the past few trips across Campbell Park we’d seen signs of a fairground and some sound stages being set up. Checking the MK website led to the discovery that it’s a celebration of the city’s fortieth birthday today. They’ve called it “The Big Moo”, presumably because of the famous concrete cows, and it’s a set of subsidised fairground rides, together with some disco and live music stages, three altogether, some of them for local performers. Tomorrow we have dragon boat racing on Willen Lake, which is also not far from where we are moored.
After lunch we walked back into Campbell Park and walked round the show. It was all very good fun for those with kids – tonight will be for the teens and twenties presumably. They had an attempt on a face painting record, lots of slides and seriously scary rides, bouncy castles, all the fun of the fair in fact. One of the many pleasures of this lifestyle are these serendipitous encounters with local events.
Back at the boat the weather was fine enough to sit out on the towpath for a cup of tea, but it didn’t last, and we were soon back on board. We had a lazy afternoon and evening. The highlight was the news that the River Severn has reopened – let’s hope that the Nene will soon follow.
Another wet start, so we had a think about our cruising plans. We’d originally aimed to be going down the Northampton Arm next Tuesday, so as to be at Ferry Meadow near Peterborough by the weekend of 7/8 July to meet up with Graeme, Cathy and Daniel. Since the rain keeps falling and the Nene remains closed, it’s not clear that that is going to be possible. Even after the Nene reopens, we’ll want to give it a few days to settle down before heading on down. Meadow mooring can be tricky on a falling river, as we know from last year’s experience.
The other constraint is our booked crossing from Salter’s Lode to Denver on the Saturday following, the 14th. Working back from that, we need to be at Gayton Junction on Tuesday 2 July, so as to start down the Northampton Arm the following day and so make a steady rather than frantic trip down river. In that sense we have plenty of time in hand. It’s just very frustrating that we haven’t yet had a chance to meet our grandson.
As the rain had eased by the time we’d done this, we set off from the 48 hour mooring, winded the boat at the first winding hole, and moored on the towpath side between bridges 82 and 82A We can sit here for another 12 days if we want, though shortage of water will compel a move long before that.
We had yet another walk into MK Centre, posted two porthole doilies that Sheila had made for a customer, and did some routine shopping at Sainsbury’s. Back at the boat, I checked the email, and we had lunch.
In the afternoon it was still pretty wet out there, so we put the time to good use by sorting out the filing box, which had got over-full. A fair amount of paper could be thrown out, and some was transferred to longer term storage under the side berth. I did the blog, and then made chicken tagine for dinner with the bits and bobs off yesterday’s chicken. This still leaves two portions for eating with salad tomorrow.
Saturday 23 June
The morning was characterised by heavy showers. This is proving to be a very wet June. I mean, I know that Glastonbury and Wimbledon bring out the worst in the British weather, but this is getting ridiculous.
We’d got a lot of recycling built up in the boat. Last year, this bit of canal, from Stoke Bruerne south, had some basic recycling bins made out of oil drums (appropriate) at each sanitary station. This year, possibly because the waste contract has changed to Biffa, they’ve all gone. MK has a recycling facility in one of the Centre car parks, so we lugged several big bags of stuff over there, and popped into Sainsbury’s again while we were there. The boat’s food stocks are now getting quite complete, which will keep us going down the Nene. It’s a lovely river, but the supermarket opportunities are at the ends, at Northampton and Peterborough. There are several nice towns on the way, but very small ones.
Back at the boat we had coffee, and I ran the engine. The inverter/charger started playing silly sods again almost straight away, so we’ll have to do most of our charging from the DC alternator until I can get it looked at.
During the past few trips across Campbell Park we’d seen signs of a fairground and some sound stages being set up. Checking the MK website led to the discovery that it’s a celebration of the city’s fortieth birthday today. They’ve called it “The Big Moo”, presumably because of the famous concrete cows, and it’s a set of subsidised fairground rides, together with some disco and live music stages, three altogether, some of them for local performers. Tomorrow we have dragon boat racing on Willen Lake, which is also not far from where we are moored.
After lunch we walked back into Campbell Park and walked round the show. It was all very good fun for those with kids – tonight will be for the teens and twenties presumably. They had an attempt on a face painting record, lots of slides and seriously scary rides, bouncy castles, all the fun of the fair in fact. One of the many pleasures of this lifestyle are these serendipitous encounters with local events.
Back at the boat the weather was fine enough to sit out on the towpath for a cup of tea, but it didn’t last, and we were soon back on board. We had a lazy afternoon and evening. The highlight was the news that the River Severn has reopened – let’s hope that the Nene will soon follow.
Friday, 22 June 2007
Into Milton Keynes
Wednesday 20 June
The trouble with waking early is you get to listen to Sarah Kennedy; it’s almost enough to drive you to Radio 4. It was a bright and breezy day, quite pleasant for boating. We got away in good time and stopped at Wolverton to do a shop at Tesco. There’s a lot of work going on at Wolverton these days, replacing the old carriage sheds with what looks like office blocks. The access to the road from the towpath is up a long steel staircase. I don’t have too much trouble with it, but Sheila’s vertigo makes it a real challenge for her.
After a good bit of restocking, we went on towards Milton Keynes proper. People make loads of rude remarks about MK, but I quite like it. It has so much green space so near to the centre of things. We stopped at Giffard Park service block to water, and then went on past all the neat estates to moor on the visitor moorings at Campbell Park. From here, it’s a mile walk into the very centre of MK, through a very pleasant park.
Last time we came down here, about a year ago, there were few formal signs about mooring. Some new ones have begun to appear, so that at Campbell Park, at the parkside mooring on the offside that’s a remnant of an IWA National Festival, there is now a length marked as long term, and a length marked as 48 hours only. This is much more satisfactory than the old arrangement, where in theory the whole lot was visitor mooring, but in practice there were some permanent moorers there.
It is however noticeable that there are several boats on the towpath side, where it would normally be 14 days only (the default for unmarked mooring). They’ve been there for a very long time, and are clearly continuous moorers, i.e. people who don’t pay for a permanent mooring, but who do not comply with the continuous cruising guidelines either.
Having got ourselves moored on the 48 hour mooring, I found that we had a very fast internet connection. I took the opportunity to create a webpage for Daniel, using one of the photos Graeme had texted to us.
After lunch we walked into MK Centre. I got a prescription made up, we went to Marks and Spencers, and we bought a toy for Daniel at the Early Learning Centre, no doubt the first of many. It’s this kind of thing that makes grandparenthood seem more real to us.
Back at the boat we had a well deserved cup of tea, and I did the blog and some web surfing. The Nene is still shut, with yet more rain forecast. It begins to look as if we shall have to review our cruising plans.
Thursday 21 June
Here we are at the longest day again. Managed to sleep in a bit, so early morning tea was had listening to Wogan not SK, what a relief. It was a bright morning, with rain forecast later, so we headed into town straight after breakfast. This backfired slightly, as most of the shops don’t open until 9.30, but Smith’s was open to get a paper, and Boots had also opened early, presumably because they sell sandwiches and other daily necessities for those doomed to go to work. Yesterday we’d seen an elbow support that would encourage my bursitis to finally take itself off completely, but they come in different sizes, so we’d postponed the purchase until we had measured my mighty arm (this is a joke).
Perhaps inevitably, they only had medium ones in stock, and I need a large size. Very odd, as I’m really not that well developed. We found a sports shop having a closing down sale, and bought a large one there at half price, so, as so often, the glass was not only not half empty but half full with a free refill on the way. We called at Sainsbury’s on the way back to continue the restocking process.
Back at the boat the sun was still shining so we had coffee on the towpath, but it started to spit with rain as we were finishing it. I did some emailing and we had lunch.
After lunch, I started another chicken roasting to have with salad. The recipe may be of interest; it comes from the Michael Barry cookbook that went with the old style Food and Drink programme, before chefs were celebrities and had to shout at each other all the time.
I grind two bay leaves, a teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon of garlic chips together with some salt and pepper. Placing the chicken on a rack over a roasting tin, I sprinkle it with lemon juice then with the spice mixture. A quick spray with olive oil, and then cover it with baking parchment. (Barry suggests covering it with butter papers butter side down, but we don’t eat solid butter.) After pouring a pint of water into the roasting tin, the chick goes in the oven at gas mark 5 for a total of an hour and a half. At 40 minutes I take it out and turn it round – the boat oven is quite small, and doesn’t cook as evenly as a larger one. After another forty minutes, I take it out again, remove the remains of the baking parchment and turn the bird over so that it’s breast side down. Back in the oven for ten minutes to finish, and then out onto a carving dish.
If you were having it hot, it would just need resting for ten minutes. The liquid in the tray is now a delicious stock, which can be made into gravy. In the summer, as I say, we’ve been letting the bird cool down and having chunks of it with salad and new potatoes or crusty bread. The stock gets used to make risotto or tagine with the bits pulled off the carcass after the main parts have been eaten. In this way one chicken will provide three generous meals for the two of us. It is, of course, well worth buying a decent, free range organic bird for this sort of cooking.
Whilst all this was going on, the sun had come out, so we did some brass polishing, me wearing the elbow support, which does seem to be very effective. I finished the afternoon by doing a webpage which shows off the crochet porthole doilies Sheila makes for Sanity, and anyone else who’s prepared to pay for them.
The trouble with waking early is you get to listen to Sarah Kennedy; it’s almost enough to drive you to Radio 4. It was a bright and breezy day, quite pleasant for boating. We got away in good time and stopped at Wolverton to do a shop at Tesco. There’s a lot of work going on at Wolverton these days, replacing the old carriage sheds with what looks like office blocks. The access to the road from the towpath is up a long steel staircase. I don’t have too much trouble with it, but Sheila’s vertigo makes it a real challenge for her.
After a good bit of restocking, we went on towards Milton Keynes proper. People make loads of rude remarks about MK, but I quite like it. It has so much green space so near to the centre of things. We stopped at Giffard Park service block to water, and then went on past all the neat estates to moor on the visitor moorings at Campbell Park. From here, it’s a mile walk into the very centre of MK, through a very pleasant park.
Last time we came down here, about a year ago, there were few formal signs about mooring. Some new ones have begun to appear, so that at Campbell Park, at the parkside mooring on the offside that’s a remnant of an IWA National Festival, there is now a length marked as long term, and a length marked as 48 hours only. This is much more satisfactory than the old arrangement, where in theory the whole lot was visitor mooring, but in practice there were some permanent moorers there.
It is however noticeable that there are several boats on the towpath side, where it would normally be 14 days only (the default for unmarked mooring). They’ve been there for a very long time, and are clearly continuous moorers, i.e. people who don’t pay for a permanent mooring, but who do not comply with the continuous cruising guidelines either.
Having got ourselves moored on the 48 hour mooring, I found that we had a very fast internet connection. I took the opportunity to create a webpage for Daniel, using one of the photos Graeme had texted to us.
After lunch we walked into MK Centre. I got a prescription made up, we went to Marks and Spencers, and we bought a toy for Daniel at the Early Learning Centre, no doubt the first of many. It’s this kind of thing that makes grandparenthood seem more real to us.
Back at the boat we had a well deserved cup of tea, and I did the blog and some web surfing. The Nene is still shut, with yet more rain forecast. It begins to look as if we shall have to review our cruising plans.
Thursday 21 June
Here we are at the longest day again. Managed to sleep in a bit, so early morning tea was had listening to Wogan not SK, what a relief. It was a bright morning, with rain forecast later, so we headed into town straight after breakfast. This backfired slightly, as most of the shops don’t open until 9.30, but Smith’s was open to get a paper, and Boots had also opened early, presumably because they sell sandwiches and other daily necessities for those doomed to go to work. Yesterday we’d seen an elbow support that would encourage my bursitis to finally take itself off completely, but they come in different sizes, so we’d postponed the purchase until we had measured my mighty arm (this is a joke).
Perhaps inevitably, they only had medium ones in stock, and I need a large size. Very odd, as I’m really not that well developed. We found a sports shop having a closing down sale, and bought a large one there at half price, so, as so often, the glass was not only not half empty but half full with a free refill on the way. We called at Sainsbury’s on the way back to continue the restocking process.
Back at the boat the sun was still shining so we had coffee on the towpath, but it started to spit with rain as we were finishing it. I did some emailing and we had lunch.
After lunch, I started another chicken roasting to have with salad. The recipe may be of interest; it comes from the Michael Barry cookbook that went with the old style Food and Drink programme, before chefs were celebrities and had to shout at each other all the time.
I grind two bay leaves, a teaspoon of paprika and a teaspoon of garlic chips together with some salt and pepper. Placing the chicken on a rack over a roasting tin, I sprinkle it with lemon juice then with the spice mixture. A quick spray with olive oil, and then cover it with baking parchment. (Barry suggests covering it with butter papers butter side down, but we don’t eat solid butter.) After pouring a pint of water into the roasting tin, the chick goes in the oven at gas mark 5 for a total of an hour and a half. At 40 minutes I take it out and turn it round – the boat oven is quite small, and doesn’t cook as evenly as a larger one. After another forty minutes, I take it out again, remove the remains of the baking parchment and turn the bird over so that it’s breast side down. Back in the oven for ten minutes to finish, and then out onto a carving dish.
If you were having it hot, it would just need resting for ten minutes. The liquid in the tray is now a delicious stock, which can be made into gravy. In the summer, as I say, we’ve been letting the bird cool down and having chunks of it with salad and new potatoes or crusty bread. The stock gets used to make risotto or tagine with the bits pulled off the carcass after the main parts have been eaten. In this way one chicken will provide three generous meals for the two of us. It is, of course, well worth buying a decent, free range organic bird for this sort of cooking.
Whilst all this was going on, the sun had come out, so we did some brass polishing, me wearing the elbow support, which does seem to be very effective. I finished the afternoon by doing a webpage which shows off the crochet porthole doilies Sheila makes for Sanity, and anyone else who’s prepared to pay for them.
Wednesday, 20 June 2007
Boating Grandparents
Monday 18 June
It was a phenomenally wet night, enough to make sleeping a bit difficult, and then to cap it all, we had a duck on the roof at five in the morning. After breakfast, I trotted into the village for basic supplies. The new “deli” is actually a quite smart sandwich shop, but didn’t seem to offer a lot of actual deli stuff bar some pate and rolls and the like.
We boated round to the water point at Stowe Hill, getting away from there just after nine. The whole day was a bit on edge – we knew that if Cathy hadn’t started her labour overnight she was to be induced today, so despite trying not to think about it too much, there was the inevitable mental calculation. ‘If they induced at ten, say, about five to eight hours for a normal labour, we could expect a phone call about...’ Completely silly, of course, as there could be any number of things to throw such a timetable out, but it’s hard not to think about it.
We found the boating quite challenging for once, on what is normally a pleasant but undemanding stretch. There were a lot of working boats heading the other way, having been at a rally at Stoke Bruerne last weekend and due to be at another at Braunston next weekend. It seemed as if every bridge hole had a huge bow coming through it, especially if the approach was a bit blind. Sheila spent a fair bit of time on the bow acting as lookout.
In due course we went through Gayton Junction, where the Northampton Arm heads down to the Nene. All being well, we should be back here in about a week’s time to start the Fens bit of this year’s cruising, though the amount of rain we’ve had means that the river is presently closed. Hopefully the weather will relent over the next few days, and allow navigation to recommence.
With the amount of traffic about, there never was any chance of getting through Blisworth Tunnel without passing someone coming the other way, but in the event it wasn’t too bad. There was one boat about half way through, and another at about the three quarter mark, both of them modern leisure boats, not massive great ex-working boats. As we got to the end, a GRP cruiser lined up to come through, saw us coming and backed out again, which was a relief to me, as I didn’t fancy trying to avoid crushing him against the tunnel wall.
When we emerged, there were, in fact, several boats lining up. The towpath was still very crowded with boats, some breasted up. I headed for a gap, Sheila jumped off the bow, but then saw a notice saying that the moorings were suspended until the end of the week. Accordingly, I pulled Sanity out again, thinking we’d have to work down the first two locks to the moorings on the long pound below. As I came level with the notice, I read the rest of it, and realised that it referred to the event which had just finished. Since whoever had been occupying the empty slot had clearly gone, there was no reason not to take the space. By now, Sanity was well clear of it, so a bit of reversing was called for. We ended up moored quite snugly by 12.30.
First attempts at an internet connection were quite slow, at the GPRS level, but in a little while the modem changed its mind and speeded up, first to 3G and then to the new super 3G, which is comparable to broadband speeds. It didn’t keep it up all the time, but there was enough fast connection for me to do some more software updating and to do the blog.
At 8.45 we got the call we’d been waiting for. Graeme rang to say that Daniel had arrived and that all was well. We didn’t have any champagne on board, but opened a bottle of Fitou, which we drank after Sheila had called her brother to pass on the news.
Tuesday 19 June
Despite the Fitou, we woke early and in good spirits. In fact, by eight o’clock we had breakfasted and moved onto the lock mooring to see if a partner would turn up. The lock was against us, so a bit of patience seemed called for. After a bit, someone off the Kate Boat Samuel James, tied just ahead of where we’d been overnight, came by. He said that they weren’t coming down the lock, but were planning to wind in the turning space normally used by the trip boat Indian Chief.
By now we’d been waiting about 15 minutes, so we decided to turn the lock and go in it to be out of their way. We thought that it would be quite tricky to wind Samuel James there, as she’s 65 feet long, and the Indian Chief was tied just about where they needed to be.
In fact it proved impossible to get her round, so they decided to come down to the first few locks with us to the winding hole further down. I got the bike out, and we set off, working well together. It turned out that the Samuel James crew were experienced hirers, and, as so often, were at least as capable as many privateers. After the first few locks, the Samuel James people had a further change of heart, and said that since they were most of the way down, they would come all the way and go on to Cosgrove to wind and lunch in the pub there. This was good news to us, since it meant we had a partner all the way down. At the bottom, Samuel James stopped to water, and we had a very pleasant run to Cosgrove, arriving just before ten past eleven.
There was another fast internet connection here, so after lunch we spent some time emailing friends and relatives with the good news. The afternoon was made complete with some brass polishing. Sheila did the lion’s share still, but my elbow is sufficiently recovered to let me try to do some at last. I did the tunnel light, and went on to do some of the mushrooms over the ventilators.
Inevitably, this brought on the rain in the late afternoon and evening. We didn’t feel too gloomy though, being cheered up by firstly a phone call from Graeme to say that Cathy and Daniel were home already, and then a couple of texts came in from him with photos of Daniel.
It was a phenomenally wet night, enough to make sleeping a bit difficult, and then to cap it all, we had a duck on the roof at five in the morning. After breakfast, I trotted into the village for basic supplies. The new “deli” is actually a quite smart sandwich shop, but didn’t seem to offer a lot of actual deli stuff bar some pate and rolls and the like.
We boated round to the water point at Stowe Hill, getting away from there just after nine. The whole day was a bit on edge – we knew that if Cathy hadn’t started her labour overnight she was to be induced today, so despite trying not to think about it too much, there was the inevitable mental calculation. ‘If they induced at ten, say, about five to eight hours for a normal labour, we could expect a phone call about...’ Completely silly, of course, as there could be any number of things to throw such a timetable out, but it’s hard not to think about it.
We found the boating quite challenging for once, on what is normally a pleasant but undemanding stretch. There were a lot of working boats heading the other way, having been at a rally at Stoke Bruerne last weekend and due to be at another at Braunston next weekend. It seemed as if every bridge hole had a huge bow coming through it, especially if the approach was a bit blind. Sheila spent a fair bit of time on the bow acting as lookout.
In due course we went through Gayton Junction, where the Northampton Arm heads down to the Nene. All being well, we should be back here in about a week’s time to start the Fens bit of this year’s cruising, though the amount of rain we’ve had means that the river is presently closed. Hopefully the weather will relent over the next few days, and allow navigation to recommence.
With the amount of traffic about, there never was any chance of getting through Blisworth Tunnel without passing someone coming the other way, but in the event it wasn’t too bad. There was one boat about half way through, and another at about the three quarter mark, both of them modern leisure boats, not massive great ex-working boats. As we got to the end, a GRP cruiser lined up to come through, saw us coming and backed out again, which was a relief to me, as I didn’t fancy trying to avoid crushing him against the tunnel wall.
When we emerged, there were, in fact, several boats lining up. The towpath was still very crowded with boats, some breasted up. I headed for a gap, Sheila jumped off the bow, but then saw a notice saying that the moorings were suspended until the end of the week. Accordingly, I pulled Sanity out again, thinking we’d have to work down the first two locks to the moorings on the long pound below. As I came level with the notice, I read the rest of it, and realised that it referred to the event which had just finished. Since whoever had been occupying the empty slot had clearly gone, there was no reason not to take the space. By now, Sanity was well clear of it, so a bit of reversing was called for. We ended up moored quite snugly by 12.30.
First attempts at an internet connection were quite slow, at the GPRS level, but in a little while the modem changed its mind and speeded up, first to 3G and then to the new super 3G, which is comparable to broadband speeds. It didn’t keep it up all the time, but there was enough fast connection for me to do some more software updating and to do the blog.
At 8.45 we got the call we’d been waiting for. Graeme rang to say that Daniel had arrived and that all was well. We didn’t have any champagne on board, but opened a bottle of Fitou, which we drank after Sheila had called her brother to pass on the news.
Tuesday 19 June
Despite the Fitou, we woke early and in good spirits. In fact, by eight o’clock we had breakfasted and moved onto the lock mooring to see if a partner would turn up. The lock was against us, so a bit of patience seemed called for. After a bit, someone off the Kate Boat Samuel James, tied just ahead of where we’d been overnight, came by. He said that they weren’t coming down the lock, but were planning to wind in the turning space normally used by the trip boat Indian Chief.
By now we’d been waiting about 15 minutes, so we decided to turn the lock and go in it to be out of their way. We thought that it would be quite tricky to wind Samuel James there, as she’s 65 feet long, and the Indian Chief was tied just about where they needed to be.
In fact it proved impossible to get her round, so they decided to come down to the first few locks with us to the winding hole further down. I got the bike out, and we set off, working well together. It turned out that the Samuel James crew were experienced hirers, and, as so often, were at least as capable as many privateers. After the first few locks, the Samuel James people had a further change of heart, and said that since they were most of the way down, they would come all the way and go on to Cosgrove to wind and lunch in the pub there. This was good news to us, since it meant we had a partner all the way down. At the bottom, Samuel James stopped to water, and we had a very pleasant run to Cosgrove, arriving just before ten past eleven.
There was another fast internet connection here, so after lunch we spent some time emailing friends and relatives with the good news. The afternoon was made complete with some brass polishing. Sheila did the lion’s share still, but my elbow is sufficiently recovered to let me try to do some at last. I did the tunnel light, and went on to do some of the mushrooms over the ventilators.
Inevitably, this brought on the rain in the late afternoon and evening. We didn’t feel too gloomy though, being cheered up by firstly a phone call from Graeme to say that Cathy and Daniel were home already, and then a couple of texts came in from him with photos of Daniel.
Tuesday, 19 June 2007
New arrival
We have some good news - Daniel Scott Napier arrived at 7.40 last night, weighing 7 lb 11 oz. Daughter-in-law Cathy had to be induced in the end, but the rest of her labour was natural, and both mum and babe are fine. Graeme was able to be there, thanks to an understanding Chief Instructor (don't know what the Army's coming to!)
Don't have any pictures yet. We plan to meet up with them when we are at Peterborough, assuming the Nene ever comes back to normal flows after all this rain, that is.
Should be a regular blog from Milton Keynes tomorrow.
Don't have any pictures yet. We plan to meet up with them when we are at Peterborough, assuming the Nene ever comes back to normal flows after all this rain, that is.
Should be a regular blog from Milton Keynes tomorrow.
Monday, 18 June 2007
Back on the mainline and heading South
Saturday 16 June
Having got up in good time, we were boating by eight, and at the top of Watford by 8.30. We had to wait for a boat to go down and another to come up, and then had a quick trip down ourselves, completing the descent in 30 minutes. In contrast to all the other lockies we’ve encountered at Watford and Crick, today’s was very laid back, and didn’t even check with Sheila whether she knew what she was doing.
It should be explained that at both these staircases, the locks are linked by side ponds, and there is one paddle to drain each lock into the sidepond, and another to fill it from the pond above. The paddles are colour coded, white for the emptying ones and red for the filling ones. To avoid wasting water, it’s important to start the lower lock of a given pair filling before emptying the upper one. Hence the rhyme:
Red before white,
You’ll be all right,
White before red,
You’ll wish you were dead
and I’ve known some lockies who could make the last part true.
After leaving the flight, we passed behind Watford Gap Services on the M1. There’s a bit of broken fence between the towpath and the lorry park, and I hopped over it to get my newspaper from the shop there. The guy behind the till wished me a safe journey as he handed me my change, but I didn’t stop to enlighten him. It was a nice thought anyway.
We got to the top of Buckby by 10.45. We had planned to work down the first lock and moor in the pound below, as the moorings above the lock are usually full, but on this occasion there was loads of space so we stopped, thus avoiding a rain shower.
Just after we’d had lunch, Shimshams turned up, the Braidbar belonging to Chris and Lizzie Burks with whom we’d shared the work at Crick. The moorings had filled up by now, so they tied alongside us briefly before the space in front became free and they pulled forward.
They were out for a family trip, and after we’d caught up on news, they went off to the pub for lunch. Meanwhile, we walked down the flight to visit the chandlery and the garden centre at the bottom. There we bought toilet tank fluid, deionised water and a bit of rope at the one, and a trough for the herbs at the other.
Arriving back at the boat, rather hot and out of breath, we had a cup of tea. Sheila sorted the herbs, though she’ll need a bit more compost to finish the job, whilst I did the blog.
Sunday 17 June
Today was bright and sunny first thing, just what we want for a day whose main task is to work down seven broad locks. First of all we pulled forward onto the water point just above the top lock. It proved to be very slow; the pressure was so poor that at first I thought it wasn’t going to manage to inflate the roll flat hose. We sat there with the tank slowly filling, and agreed that if a partner turned up to share the locks we’d abandon it. As it happened, two boats came up the lock first, so we decided that that would do as well. We put the hose away, and just as the ascending two emerged from the lock, another boat appeared round the corner heading our way.
This proved to be Gecko with Pete and Margaret, and we shared with them down the flight. I’d got the bike out, so a rhythm was soon established of me biking ahead to set the next lock, then staying with Margaret to work the boats down before nipping on to the next. The flight was in any event with us all the way, so it wasn’t exactly hard graft, apart from the odd heavy gate or hard to draw paddle. In fact the main difficulty was the sheer amount of water trying to get down the flight with us, so that when the lock was full, it was cascading over the bottom gates (“running weir”), so that the top gates could be difficult to open.
At the foot of the flight we found Streamline, the OwnerShips boat on which we used to have a share, waiting to come up.
We got to Weedon in good time for lunch, and moored without difficulty on the visitor moorings on the offside by the church. The church in Weedon sits in a man made valley, as the canal is on an embankment on one side, and the West Coast Mainline railway on the other. Weedon has a small supermarket, and had acquired a deli since we were last here, though it wasn’t open today. It also has a pharmacy and a Post Office, so is quite a metropolis by local standards.
The only downside of our position, apart from a slow GPRS internet connection, is that the moorings have a ledge just below the water surface. Combined with bollards positioned so that Sanity’s ropes end up at right angles to the bank, and the tendency for local boaters to come charging past at quite some speed, it can make for an uncomfortable berth.
The weather being a mixture now of sunshine and showers, we did some outside work when we could. We measured the bow and stern decks for covering with rubber matting, and I used the rope I bought at the chandlery to make a replacement strop to hold up the bow fender. Regular readers will recall this had snapped on the way up Watford before Crick, and this is the first chance I’ve had to get my act together to sort it.
During the day both Elanor and Graeme rang to wish me a happy Father’s Day, which was very nice. Still no action on the Cathy front, but she’s due to be induced tomorrow if no progress overnight. Elanor has finally bought her new car, a Honda Civic ES, and is very pleased with it.
Having got up in good time, we were boating by eight, and at the top of Watford by 8.30. We had to wait for a boat to go down and another to come up, and then had a quick trip down ourselves, completing the descent in 30 minutes. In contrast to all the other lockies we’ve encountered at Watford and Crick, today’s was very laid back, and didn’t even check with Sheila whether she knew what she was doing.
It should be explained that at both these staircases, the locks are linked by side ponds, and there is one paddle to drain each lock into the sidepond, and another to fill it from the pond above. The paddles are colour coded, white for the emptying ones and red for the filling ones. To avoid wasting water, it’s important to start the lower lock of a given pair filling before emptying the upper one. Hence the rhyme:
Red before white,
You’ll be all right,
White before red,
You’ll wish you were dead
and I’ve known some lockies who could make the last part true.
After leaving the flight, we passed behind Watford Gap Services on the M1. There’s a bit of broken fence between the towpath and the lorry park, and I hopped over it to get my newspaper from the shop there. The guy behind the till wished me a safe journey as he handed me my change, but I didn’t stop to enlighten him. It was a nice thought anyway.
We got to the top of Buckby by 10.45. We had planned to work down the first lock and moor in the pound below, as the moorings above the lock are usually full, but on this occasion there was loads of space so we stopped, thus avoiding a rain shower.
Just after we’d had lunch, Shimshams turned up, the Braidbar belonging to Chris and Lizzie Burks with whom we’d shared the work at Crick. The moorings had filled up by now, so they tied alongside us briefly before the space in front became free and they pulled forward.
They were out for a family trip, and after we’d caught up on news, they went off to the pub for lunch. Meanwhile, we walked down the flight to visit the chandlery and the garden centre at the bottom. There we bought toilet tank fluid, deionised water and a bit of rope at the one, and a trough for the herbs at the other.
Arriving back at the boat, rather hot and out of breath, we had a cup of tea. Sheila sorted the herbs, though she’ll need a bit more compost to finish the job, whilst I did the blog.
Sunday 17 June
Today was bright and sunny first thing, just what we want for a day whose main task is to work down seven broad locks. First of all we pulled forward onto the water point just above the top lock. It proved to be very slow; the pressure was so poor that at first I thought it wasn’t going to manage to inflate the roll flat hose. We sat there with the tank slowly filling, and agreed that if a partner turned up to share the locks we’d abandon it. As it happened, two boats came up the lock first, so we decided that that would do as well. We put the hose away, and just as the ascending two emerged from the lock, another boat appeared round the corner heading our way.
This proved to be Gecko with Pete and Margaret, and we shared with them down the flight. I’d got the bike out, so a rhythm was soon established of me biking ahead to set the next lock, then staying with Margaret to work the boats down before nipping on to the next. The flight was in any event with us all the way, so it wasn’t exactly hard graft, apart from the odd heavy gate or hard to draw paddle. In fact the main difficulty was the sheer amount of water trying to get down the flight with us, so that when the lock was full, it was cascading over the bottom gates (“running weir”), so that the top gates could be difficult to open.
At the foot of the flight we found Streamline, the OwnerShips boat on which we used to have a share, waiting to come up.
We got to Weedon in good time for lunch, and moored without difficulty on the visitor moorings on the offside by the church. The church in Weedon sits in a man made valley, as the canal is on an embankment on one side, and the West Coast Mainline railway on the other. Weedon has a small supermarket, and had acquired a deli since we were last here, though it wasn’t open today. It also has a pharmacy and a Post Office, so is quite a metropolis by local standards.
The only downside of our position, apart from a slow GPRS internet connection, is that the moorings have a ledge just below the water surface. Combined with bollards positioned so that Sanity’s ropes end up at right angles to the bank, and the tendency for local boaters to come charging past at quite some speed, it can make for an uncomfortable berth.
The weather being a mixture now of sunshine and showers, we did some outside work when we could. We measured the bow and stern decks for covering with rubber matting, and I used the rope I bought at the chandlery to make a replacement strop to hold up the bow fender. Regular readers will recall this had snapped on the way up Watford before Crick, and this is the first chance I’ve had to get my act together to sort it.
During the day both Elanor and Graeme rang to wish me a happy Father’s Day, which was very nice. Still no action on the Cathy front, but she’s due to be induced tomorrow if no progress overnight. Elanor has finally bought her new car, a Honda Civic ES, and is very pleased with it.
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Stocking up in the rain
Wednesday 13 June
Another quite prompt start to the day saw me pop up to the village to buy a paper at eight o’clock, and we set off as soon as I got back. We had originally planned to back onto the water point, but decided we had enough in the tank to get us through the day. We can water at Yelvertoft when we set off tomorrow morning.
We followed a Viking hire boat, Romulus, down the lock, and with Sheila steering chugged steadily down the arm towards the main line. At the last bridge before we got there, one approached round a bend, we saw the bow of a Canaltime just in the bridge hole. Sheila went astern to let him through, but the guy steering either panicked or had only a limited grasp of the inertia of his boat. Instead of going astern as well, to make the space and time for us to avoid each other, he revved up, and tried to clear the bridge hole before we got there.
Despite Sheila going hard astern, with clouds of black smoke emerging from the exhaust, we hit the other boat a resounding thump on her port bow with our fender. No damage was done, but the guy on the other boat made it clear that he thought it was all our fault for not getting out of his way. I may not have helped his mood by suggesting that he chill out a bit, since no one was hurt and no damage had been done, but he sat there slewed across the cut, with his engine turned off while we backed up to let him swing round and get clear.
This was the most exciting thing to happen on a very pleasant morning. On the way to Yelvertoft I checked the behaviour of the Victron charger. It seems to be sensitive to loads appearing on the 230 v circuit, dropping back to a float state whenever the fridge cuts in.
We got to Yelvertoft in time to walk to the village to get salad stuff to go with the lunchtime sandwiches. After lunch we went back there, visiting the butchers and the general shop to stock up on all the stuff that had run low while we were at Welford.
The afternoon was spent relaxing on board, drinking tea and catching up with the blog. It came on to rain a bit, so it looks as if the fine spell is over for a while. Last thing at night we heard a bird that I couldn’t recognise straight away, but eventually the penny dropped that it was your actual nightingale. It’s a bit far North for one to be around, but cross checking with the CD of bird song we had transferred to the iPod, it was quite unmistakable. Sheila says she heard it again at 3.30 the next morning, but kindly didn’t wake me to share the experience.
Thursday 14 June
We woke to a wet morning. I walked down to the village to get the paper in a muggy sort of rain, then we moved onto the water point to fill up. After that it was on to Crick, arriving in time for coffee. Crick has a bigger general store (but no butcher) so after coffee we walked in there, calling at the Post Office on the way to collect my repeat prescription, and then did some more stocking up type shopping.
After lunch we went round to the garden centre next to the marina to look for a replacement tap fitting. The one we bought in Wilkinson’s isn’t very good, in fact it’s almost useless, as any decent pressure blows the hose bit of the fitting off the tap bit. The garden centre came up with another set which should solve the problem. Sheila is also still looking for a better container for the herbs, but they didn’t have anything we fancied. There’s another garden centre on the way down Buckby Locks, so we’ll check that out in due course.
The afternoon and night were quite spectacularly wet. We snuggled down in the boat to listen to the sound of the rain impotently lashing at the roof, and took a bit of time to plan our cruising for the next ten days, before we need to be heading down the Nene.
Friday 15 June
After a night rather disturbed by the sound of the rain, I got up quite early and staggered about making tea and putting some newspaper under the ventilator holes – the rain had been hard enough to splash up under the mushrooms that cover the vents on the outside, so perhaps not quite so impotent after all.
At eight o’clock we went shopping again, and got underway by about nine. By 9.30 we were out of the tunnel, which surprisingly had been no wetter than usual, apart from a lot of water pouring down across the entrance arches.
We didn’t go far, mooring by Bridge 9 in a spot which is popular for those wanting a quiet night. Someone had been having a bonfire on the towpath, and had left a mess of ashes, charred wood and an enormous number of nails and screws. It seemed to us that these presented a bit of a hazard to bike tyres and dog paws, so I got out the Sea Searcher magnet and picked all of them up – they made quite a bag full. Then we shovelled the rest of the mess into the bottom of the hedge to sink down into the earth there.
Starting up the laptop, I found I had an internet connection which was originally an iffy GPRS one, but then switched over to fast 3G. We must have been on the edge of two mobile cells. The fast connection lasted long enough to do some maintenance downloads of the ClamXav antivirus checker that I use, and to update the OS itself, but later on it went back to the slow GPRS signal.
I therefore did the interim blog of our cruising plans, and left the main blog until today. I did manage to get off a letter to Waterways World about excessive safety concerns, which got a nice response from Chris Daniels who looks after the letters page, so we may see me in print in due course.
I’d bought a chicken at the butchers at Yelvertoft, which I roasted during the afternoon to have cold with salad and new potatoes tonight.
Another quite prompt start to the day saw me pop up to the village to buy a paper at eight o’clock, and we set off as soon as I got back. We had originally planned to back onto the water point, but decided we had enough in the tank to get us through the day. We can water at Yelvertoft when we set off tomorrow morning.
We followed a Viking hire boat, Romulus, down the lock, and with Sheila steering chugged steadily down the arm towards the main line. At the last bridge before we got there, one approached round a bend, we saw the bow of a Canaltime just in the bridge hole. Sheila went astern to let him through, but the guy steering either panicked or had only a limited grasp of the inertia of his boat. Instead of going astern as well, to make the space and time for us to avoid each other, he revved up, and tried to clear the bridge hole before we got there.
Despite Sheila going hard astern, with clouds of black smoke emerging from the exhaust, we hit the other boat a resounding thump on her port bow with our fender. No damage was done, but the guy on the other boat made it clear that he thought it was all our fault for not getting out of his way. I may not have helped his mood by suggesting that he chill out a bit, since no one was hurt and no damage had been done, but he sat there slewed across the cut, with his engine turned off while we backed up to let him swing round and get clear.
This was the most exciting thing to happen on a very pleasant morning. On the way to Yelvertoft I checked the behaviour of the Victron charger. It seems to be sensitive to loads appearing on the 230 v circuit, dropping back to a float state whenever the fridge cuts in.
We got to Yelvertoft in time to walk to the village to get salad stuff to go with the lunchtime sandwiches. After lunch we went back there, visiting the butchers and the general shop to stock up on all the stuff that had run low while we were at Welford.
The afternoon was spent relaxing on board, drinking tea and catching up with the blog. It came on to rain a bit, so it looks as if the fine spell is over for a while. Last thing at night we heard a bird that I couldn’t recognise straight away, but eventually the penny dropped that it was your actual nightingale. It’s a bit far North for one to be around, but cross checking with the CD of bird song we had transferred to the iPod, it was quite unmistakable. Sheila says she heard it again at 3.30 the next morning, but kindly didn’t wake me to share the experience.
Thursday 14 June
We woke to a wet morning. I walked down to the village to get the paper in a muggy sort of rain, then we moved onto the water point to fill up. After that it was on to Crick, arriving in time for coffee. Crick has a bigger general store (but no butcher) so after coffee we walked in there, calling at the Post Office on the way to collect my repeat prescription, and then did some more stocking up type shopping.
After lunch we went round to the garden centre next to the marina to look for a replacement tap fitting. The one we bought in Wilkinson’s isn’t very good, in fact it’s almost useless, as any decent pressure blows the hose bit of the fitting off the tap bit. The garden centre came up with another set which should solve the problem. Sheila is also still looking for a better container for the herbs, but they didn’t have anything we fancied. There’s another garden centre on the way down Buckby Locks, so we’ll check that out in due course.
The afternoon and night were quite spectacularly wet. We snuggled down in the boat to listen to the sound of the rain impotently lashing at the roof, and took a bit of time to plan our cruising for the next ten days, before we need to be heading down the Nene.
Friday 15 June
After a night rather disturbed by the sound of the rain, I got up quite early and staggered about making tea and putting some newspaper under the ventilator holes – the rain had been hard enough to splash up under the mushrooms that cover the vents on the outside, so perhaps not quite so impotent after all.
At eight o’clock we went shopping again, and got underway by about nine. By 9.30 we were out of the tunnel, which surprisingly had been no wetter than usual, apart from a lot of water pouring down across the entrance arches.
We didn’t go far, mooring by Bridge 9 in a spot which is popular for those wanting a quiet night. Someone had been having a bonfire on the towpath, and had left a mess of ashes, charred wood and an enormous number of nails and screws. It seemed to us that these presented a bit of a hazard to bike tyres and dog paws, so I got out the Sea Searcher magnet and picked all of them up – they made quite a bag full. Then we shovelled the rest of the mess into the bottom of the hedge to sink down into the earth there.
Starting up the laptop, I found I had an internet connection which was originally an iffy GPRS one, but then switched over to fast 3G. We must have been on the edge of two mobile cells. The fast connection lasted long enough to do some maintenance downloads of the ClamXav antivirus checker that I use, and to update the OS itself, but later on it went back to the slow GPRS signal.
I therefore did the interim blog of our cruising plans, and left the main blog until today. I did manage to get off a letter to Waterways World about excessive safety concerns, which got a nice response from Chris Daniels who looks after the letters page, so we may see me in print in due course.
I’d bought a chicken at the butchers at Yelvertoft, which I roasted during the afternoon to have cold with salad and new potatoes tonight.
Friday, 15 June 2007
Interim Bulletin
We've got an odd internet connection here just on the other side of the tunnel from Crick - sometimes fast 3G, sometimes a rather slow GPRS. We must be on the boundary between two cells. I'll try and do my regular post this afternoon, but it may have to wait until tomorrow.
Meantime, our cruising plans for the next week or so are as follows:
Today, Friday, Bridge 9 on the Leicester Line
Saturday Top of Buckby flight
Sunday Weedon
Monday Stoke Bruerne
Tuesday Cosgrove
Wednesday Milton Keynes
Then slowly back to Gayton Junction to start down the Northampton Arm on Tuesday 26 June.
Meantime, our cruising plans for the next week or so are as follows:
Today, Friday, Bridge 9 on the Leicester Line
Saturday Top of Buckby flight
Sunday Weedon
Monday Stoke Bruerne
Tuesday Cosgrove
Wednesday Milton Keynes
Then slowly back to Gayton Junction to start down the Northampton Arm on Tuesday 26 June.
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
Walking at Welford
Monday 11 June
Waking to a misty but pleasant morning, we made an early start and were at Husbands Bosworth Tunnel by nine. By 9.15 we were out the other side and boating gently round to the junction with the Welford Arm. The arm is just a mile and three-quarters long, and ends with a small lock with a rise of three feet or so.
When you get to the end, there’s a choice of moorings and winding holes, and indeed marinas, not that either of these latter are very big. The first marina is in a lagoon with an entry under a steep ladder bridge, but has the best winding hole outside it, and there are 14 day moorings just before it. The other marina is a wide part at the end of the arm, followed by a tricky triangular winding hole outside a dry dock, with 48 hour moorings along the towpath past it. There are services available at the end, but as we didn’t need any of them, we chose the early option. This just means a slightly longer walk to the village, which is up the road off the end of the arm, but as we’ve come here to walk anyway, that’s hardly an issue.
I had forgotten just how limited the shop is here in Welford. It’s a Post Office which also sells milk, bread and newspapers, together with some tinned goods, but they have no fresh stuff at all.
After lunch, we decided on a short walk to fill the afternoon. One of the good things about this village is that it has a set of well waymarked routes of varying lengths (two to eight miles), all of which are shown on a set of notice boards at the end of the arm. There’s also a nice pub, call the Wharf Inn. We chose to do part of the reservoir walk, which takes you to two of the three reservoirs, Welford and Sulby, which feed the canal. The third, Naseby (as in the Civil War battle) is about three miles away.
We just went as far as the reservoirs, not doing the rest of the long walk to Sulby village. I got some shots of some impressively horned cattle, and of some greylag geese, but there wasn’t much in the way of less common birdlife around.
Arriving back at the wharf, we found that the Floating Bookshop had arrived, and as we were browsing the stock, Mehalahland turned up. We bought a total of six books, and had a good natter with Dave and Anna before going back to Sanity for a cup of tea. Also at the wharf, in fact filling most of the visitor moorings, were five hire boats containing one Canadian family, from a 91 year old great granny in a wheelchair to two toddlers in life jackets.
Tuesday 12 June
After yesterday’s exercise, we positively slept in by our standards, not coming to until 7.45. I went to the shop and bought a paper and some pork pies, and then we set off for a longer walk, about six miles or so, back along the canal to the junction, then along the mainline to a choice of bridges leading to footpaths going up a ridge and so back to the village. We opted for an intermediate path, but had to accept an alternate route along a road to avoid a heavily overgrown bit. As we were in shorts, the sight of waist high nettles was not encouraging.
There is supposed to be a leaflet showing all these walks, but the shop had run out of them. In the end, I used the camera on the phone to take shots of the two routes we were considering, and uploaded them to the laptop and then printed them out. Pleasingly, this produced perfectly useable maps. We’d taken lunch with us, but in fact got back to the boat just on twelve, so we ate on board, then ran the engine. I was somewhat perplexed about dinner tonight – we were out of veg, and had just a little salad stuff left. In the end, I decided to open a tin of corned beef, and with the remains of the salad stuff and bread we had an adequate meal.
Running the engine and the washing machine in the afternoon showed that the charging system is still not quite as it should be. The inverter/charger is inclined to stop charging prematurely. Either the new brushes haven’t fully bedded in yet (seems unlikely) or there’s some incompatibility building up between the TravelPower and the Victron. This will need pondering, and perhaps some mods to the system to get more stable charging. Consultation with those of an electrical bent on the canals list is indicated, methinks.
Incidentally, Sheila commented the other day that my cryptic remarks about rogue boat builders could perhaps have been more helpful. There’s website about the particular case we were discussing here. Publications from both Waterways World and Canal Boat give a lot of helpful advice to those contemplating buying a boat, as does reading those two magazines, of course.
On the basis of our own experience, all I’ll say is that the BMF contract or its equivalent is vital, as is visiting the yard regularly to check on progress. All decent builders will welcome your visits (we turned up about every fortnight). If for whatever reason you can’t visit regularly, then you should think hard about briefing a surveyor to monitor progress for you.
Whatever happens, remember that by and large you get what you pay for, and if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. If a builder asks you for a stage payment early, or to buy materials, cut your losses and get out; don’t give him a second chance, take the boat as it is and run for it. People have lost 40, 50, 60 thousand pounds (I kid you not) because they kept going with a builder who was clearly on the skids. Apart from the actual hull, engine and whatever fitting out has been done, which should belong to you beyond doubt under the BMF contract, you are just an unsecured creditor, and after the Revenue and the banks have had their cut, there’ll be precious little left for the rest.
Do not be too alarmed by this! Most builders are honest and in good shape, and do a very good job within whatever budget they work, but it makes sense to show caution and common sense in making what’s probably the second biggest purchase of your life.
Waking to a misty but pleasant morning, we made an early start and were at Husbands Bosworth Tunnel by nine. By 9.15 we were out the other side and boating gently round to the junction with the Welford Arm. The arm is just a mile and three-quarters long, and ends with a small lock with a rise of three feet or so.
When you get to the end, there’s a choice of moorings and winding holes, and indeed marinas, not that either of these latter are very big. The first marina is in a lagoon with an entry under a steep ladder bridge, but has the best winding hole outside it, and there are 14 day moorings just before it. The other marina is a wide part at the end of the arm, followed by a tricky triangular winding hole outside a dry dock, with 48 hour moorings along the towpath past it. There are services available at the end, but as we didn’t need any of them, we chose the early option. This just means a slightly longer walk to the village, which is up the road off the end of the arm, but as we’ve come here to walk anyway, that’s hardly an issue.
I had forgotten just how limited the shop is here in Welford. It’s a Post Office which also sells milk, bread and newspapers, together with some tinned goods, but they have no fresh stuff at all.
After lunch, we decided on a short walk to fill the afternoon. One of the good things about this village is that it has a set of well waymarked routes of varying lengths (two to eight miles), all of which are shown on a set of notice boards at the end of the arm. There’s also a nice pub, call the Wharf Inn. We chose to do part of the reservoir walk, which takes you to two of the three reservoirs, Welford and Sulby, which feed the canal. The third, Naseby (as in the Civil War battle) is about three miles away.
We just went as far as the reservoirs, not doing the rest of the long walk to Sulby village. I got some shots of some impressively horned cattle, and of some greylag geese, but there wasn’t much in the way of less common birdlife around.
Arriving back at the wharf, we found that the Floating Bookshop had arrived, and as we were browsing the stock, Mehalahland turned up. We bought a total of six books, and had a good natter with Dave and Anna before going back to Sanity for a cup of tea. Also at the wharf, in fact filling most of the visitor moorings, were five hire boats containing one Canadian family, from a 91 year old great granny in a wheelchair to two toddlers in life jackets.
Tuesday 12 June
After yesterday’s exercise, we positively slept in by our standards, not coming to until 7.45. I went to the shop and bought a paper and some pork pies, and then we set off for a longer walk, about six miles or so, back along the canal to the junction, then along the mainline to a choice of bridges leading to footpaths going up a ridge and so back to the village. We opted for an intermediate path, but had to accept an alternate route along a road to avoid a heavily overgrown bit. As we were in shorts, the sight of waist high nettles was not encouraging.
There is supposed to be a leaflet showing all these walks, but the shop had run out of them. In the end, I used the camera on the phone to take shots of the two routes we were considering, and uploaded them to the laptop and then printed them out. Pleasingly, this produced perfectly useable maps. We’d taken lunch with us, but in fact got back to the boat just on twelve, so we ate on board, then ran the engine. I was somewhat perplexed about dinner tonight – we were out of veg, and had just a little salad stuff left. In the end, I decided to open a tin of corned beef, and with the remains of the salad stuff and bread we had an adequate meal.
Running the engine and the washing machine in the afternoon showed that the charging system is still not quite as it should be. The inverter/charger is inclined to stop charging prematurely. Either the new brushes haven’t fully bedded in yet (seems unlikely) or there’s some incompatibility building up between the TravelPower and the Victron. This will need pondering, and perhaps some mods to the system to get more stable charging. Consultation with those of an electrical bent on the canals list is indicated, methinks.
Incidentally, Sheila commented the other day that my cryptic remarks about rogue boat builders could perhaps have been more helpful. There’s website about the particular case we were discussing here. Publications from both Waterways World and Canal Boat give a lot of helpful advice to those contemplating buying a boat, as does reading those two magazines, of course.
On the basis of our own experience, all I’ll say is that the BMF contract or its equivalent is vital, as is visiting the yard regularly to check on progress. All decent builders will welcome your visits (we turned up about every fortnight). If for whatever reason you can’t visit regularly, then you should think hard about briefing a surveyor to monitor progress for you.
Whatever happens, remember that by and large you get what you pay for, and if the deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. If a builder asks you for a stage payment early, or to buy materials, cut your losses and get out; don’t give him a second chance, take the boat as it is and run for it. People have lost 40, 50, 60 thousand pounds (I kid you not) because they kept going with a builder who was clearly on the skids. Apart from the actual hull, engine and whatever fitting out has been done, which should belong to you beyond doubt under the BMF contract, you are just an unsecured creditor, and after the Revenue and the banks have had their cut, there’ll be precious little left for the rest.
Do not be too alarmed by this! Most builders are honest and in good shape, and do a very good job within whatever budget they work, but it makes sense to show caution and common sense in making what’s probably the second biggest purchase of your life.
Monday, 11 June 2007
Back up Foxton
Saturday 9 June
It was a promising start to the day – we got up early and the sun was shining. After a quick trip to the local newsagent we set off to go back to Foxton at ten past eight, arriving at Foxton at a quarter to ten. I was full of the joys of summer as we moored on the same visitor moorings we’d used before. So much so that I wasn’t even too twitched when I dropped the piling hook we use at the back to set up the spring, and it bounced once on the grass and shot into the cut.
To deal with these episodes we have a thing called the Sea Searcher. It’s an immensely powerful magnet which I’ve fixed on a length of main halyard line. A few trawls near the point of entry and up came the hook.
Just as we were finishing mooring, Dave and Anna from Mehalahland, which was tied in front of us, came back for a chat. In fact we were chatting off and on, about the sad history of some boat builders mainly, almost to lunchtime.
I nipped along to the little shop at the foot of the locks to buy bread, and found the latest issue of Waterways World there as well. There’s a two page spread about Braidbar winning best in show at Crick in there, with a couple of nice shots of the Brycelands.
After lunch we took some recycling round to the sanitary station, then retired to the boat – it was almost too hot to do anything very much, but Sheila managed some brass polishing while I did the blog, and I then addressed a minor problem of slow leaks in two of the roof prisms by taking out their fixing screws one at a time and resealing them with SikaFlex.
I cooked some new potatoes and boiled some eggs ready for a salad, and we went round to the Bridge 61 pub at the foot of the locks for a couple of restorative pints before returning to the boat and making and eating the salad.
The Bridge 61 now offers a striking alternative to the chain pub quality of the Foxton Locks Inn, where we had a meal the other night. There used to be just the one pub on this site, the Bridge 61, run by Tony Matts of the boatyard and located where the Foxton Locks Inn is now. It was a place of great character but limited scope. The beer was great, and good but basic pub food could be had.
British Waterways felt that Tony wasn’t fully exploiting the opportunities of a tourist honeypot, so when his lease ended, they threw him out to his present split site, half of it at the foot of the locks and the other half along the Harborough Arm. Then they opened the Foxton Locks Inn as part of the BW partnership with Scottish and Newcastle. Tony has now opened the new Bridge 61, at the foot of the locks. It’s even more basic than before, but has much more personality than the new shiny food pub across the way.
Sunday 10 June
Waking to a cloudy and misty day, we boated through the junction to the foot of the locks at eight o’clock. I went and found the keeper, who was right at the top, of course, and he said we could start up when the Canaltime which was working down had cleared the flight. It took them a while to do that, so it was about half eight before we started up. We made good time after that, and were on the water point at the top by 9.45. I walked back down the flight to get bread and a pre-ordered paper. We were boating again by 10.15
We didn’t go far today, just to some towpath moorings at Bridge 56. There’s nothing much there, but a nice view across the Leicestershire countryside, and it’s very peaceful after the hurly burly of Foxton. The main phone, on a Vodafone contract, had no signal at all, but our Orange PAYG beast, that we keep mainly for backup internet access, had a decent connection, so we texted the kids to let them know we were on a different number for the night. It being Sunday we were half expecting calls, especially as Cathy is now almost overdue to produce.
After lunch I decided that a trial run of the new AC powered pump out pump would be a good idea, not to say fun, so we rigged it up to pump canal water into the canal. Unfortunately we were doomed to disappointment. It’s a 550 watt pump, so is well within the capabilities of the 3.5 kWatt TravelPower, but its start up current is just too great for the system to accept, and the Victron inverter/charger that oversees the whole system just kept going into overload. Looks like we’ll have to wait until we are back at Braidbar in the late Autumn to see if there’s a way round the problem.
Fortunately, as we’ll be on the Fens for most of the next few months, where pump outs are free, this isn’t too much of a problem.
To cheer ourselves up with some small achievements, we gave the inside of the boat a good clean, and I swept the roof which was covered in bits of tree from last night. We then had a quiet afternoon, reading and stuff, and had a beef curry from the freezer, to which I added a brown rice pullao.
Both Graeme and Elanor duly rang in the course of the evening. No sign of action from Cathy yet, despite various measures by Graeme like cooking her a strong chilli con carne, and making her eat huge amounts of pineapple. Reassured him that these things normally happen when they are ready to, but I do understand their frustration.
It was a promising start to the day – we got up early and the sun was shining. After a quick trip to the local newsagent we set off to go back to Foxton at ten past eight, arriving at Foxton at a quarter to ten. I was full of the joys of summer as we moored on the same visitor moorings we’d used before. So much so that I wasn’t even too twitched when I dropped the piling hook we use at the back to set up the spring, and it bounced once on the grass and shot into the cut.
To deal with these episodes we have a thing called the Sea Searcher. It’s an immensely powerful magnet which I’ve fixed on a length of main halyard line. A few trawls near the point of entry and up came the hook.
Just as we were finishing mooring, Dave and Anna from Mehalahland, which was tied in front of us, came back for a chat. In fact we were chatting off and on, about the sad history of some boat builders mainly, almost to lunchtime.
I nipped along to the little shop at the foot of the locks to buy bread, and found the latest issue of Waterways World there as well. There’s a two page spread about Braidbar winning best in show at Crick in there, with a couple of nice shots of the Brycelands.
After lunch we took some recycling round to the sanitary station, then retired to the boat – it was almost too hot to do anything very much, but Sheila managed some brass polishing while I did the blog, and I then addressed a minor problem of slow leaks in two of the roof prisms by taking out their fixing screws one at a time and resealing them with SikaFlex.
I cooked some new potatoes and boiled some eggs ready for a salad, and we went round to the Bridge 61 pub at the foot of the locks for a couple of restorative pints before returning to the boat and making and eating the salad.
The Bridge 61 now offers a striking alternative to the chain pub quality of the Foxton Locks Inn, where we had a meal the other night. There used to be just the one pub on this site, the Bridge 61, run by Tony Matts of the boatyard and located where the Foxton Locks Inn is now. It was a place of great character but limited scope. The beer was great, and good but basic pub food could be had.
British Waterways felt that Tony wasn’t fully exploiting the opportunities of a tourist honeypot, so when his lease ended, they threw him out to his present split site, half of it at the foot of the locks and the other half along the Harborough Arm. Then they opened the Foxton Locks Inn as part of the BW partnership with Scottish and Newcastle. Tony has now opened the new Bridge 61, at the foot of the locks. It’s even more basic than before, but has much more personality than the new shiny food pub across the way.
Sunday 10 June
Waking to a cloudy and misty day, we boated through the junction to the foot of the locks at eight o’clock. I went and found the keeper, who was right at the top, of course, and he said we could start up when the Canaltime which was working down had cleared the flight. It took them a while to do that, so it was about half eight before we started up. We made good time after that, and were on the water point at the top by 9.45. I walked back down the flight to get bread and a pre-ordered paper. We were boating again by 10.15
We didn’t go far today, just to some towpath moorings at Bridge 56. There’s nothing much there, but a nice view across the Leicestershire countryside, and it’s very peaceful after the hurly burly of Foxton. The main phone, on a Vodafone contract, had no signal at all, but our Orange PAYG beast, that we keep mainly for backup internet access, had a decent connection, so we texted the kids to let them know we were on a different number for the night. It being Sunday we were half expecting calls, especially as Cathy is now almost overdue to produce.
After lunch I decided that a trial run of the new AC powered pump out pump would be a good idea, not to say fun, so we rigged it up to pump canal water into the canal. Unfortunately we were doomed to disappointment. It’s a 550 watt pump, so is well within the capabilities of the 3.5 kWatt TravelPower, but its start up current is just too great for the system to accept, and the Victron inverter/charger that oversees the whole system just kept going into overload. Looks like we’ll have to wait until we are back at Braidbar in the late Autumn to see if there’s a way round the problem.
Fortunately, as we’ll be on the Fens for most of the next few months, where pump outs are free, this isn’t too much of a problem.
To cheer ourselves up with some small achievements, we gave the inside of the boat a good clean, and I swept the roof which was covered in bits of tree from last night. We then had a quiet afternoon, reading and stuff, and had a beef curry from the freezer, to which I added a brown rice pullao.
Both Graeme and Elanor duly rang in the course of the evening. No sign of action from Cathy yet, despite various measures by Graeme like cooking her a strong chilli con carne, and making her eat huge amounts of pineapple. Reassured him that these things normally happen when they are ready to, but I do understand their frustration.
Saturday, 9 June 2007
Shopping ping ping
Thursday 7 June
We’d heard of some problems with the run into Market Harborough, in the shape of kids chucking rocks off Bridge 13 onto the boats below. That is, there had been two incidents reported, so not exactly a mega crime wave, but still enough to suggest that travelling early (while they’re still in bed) rather than later would be a good idea.
In the past, this stretch of canal has been very slow to navigate, being shallow, and with reed beds growing out from both sides. Indeed, two years ago after the last time we travelled it, I had an exchange of emails with Robin Evans, the Chief Exec of BW, on the subject. He rejected my claim that the whole thing was so reminiscent of the swamp scene in the African Queen that the main anxiety became looking out for a First World War German gunboat coming the other way, but agreed that it wasn’t up to standard.
With all this in mind, we made an early start for an anticipated two and a half hour trip. We were gratified to find that the canal had been dredged to such good effect that progress was as quick as anywhere else on the system, and we arrived in Harborough by 8.45. There was no sign of hooligans at Bridge 13, but then one wouldn’t expect there to be at that time of the morning.
Having moored on the free visitor moorings outside the terminal basin, we went into the office of the Canaltime base here to ask about getting a pump out. They were in the middle of their busiest turn round day, but said that we could get one done after one o’clock. We carried on into town – it’s a 15 minute walk downhill from the basin to the centre of Harborough’s modest but very pleasant shopping centre. Since it’s quite some time since we were at Rugby, the last chance for a supermarket shop, we need to take a couple of days to restock
Coming back we stopped for a long chat with Dave and Anna on Mehalaland, who were tied in the basin – you can buy a mooring there for £6 per night, including electric hook up, which is not a bad price these days. Then we went on towards the VM, where we stopped again to chat to the folks on Marimpa. Regular readers will recall my last experience of this gent was not wholly pleasant, as he was complaining in no uncertain terms about me running my engine at Yelvertoft. This time, things were very different, and he apologised for his bad mood on that occasion. Having established friendly relations, we then had a long rabbit about various aspects of living aboard. They are in their first year of so doing, having been hirers for many years before that.
One of the lessons from this affair is that it is necessary firstly to be as tolerant as possible towards your fellow boaters, and secondly not to miss an opportunity of clearing the air if you have been at cross purposes. Otherwise, Sod’s Law says you’ll find yourself sharing a broad lock with the folks you had a blazing row with last night, probably all the way down a long flight, which is embarrassing to say the least.
After lunch we went into the basin and pumped out the toilet tank, then Sheila gave a demonstration of turning the boat in a triangular basin without touching the sides and we went back onto the mooring we’d just left. Then we went back into town to do some more shopping, mostly at Wilkinson’s and Sainsbury’s again.
After tea, Sheila did some brass polishing and I cooked chicken legs for salad and caught up with the blog. We’d found a copy of this month’s Canalboat magazine, but there was nothing in it about Crick Show yet.
Friday 8 June
After a good night’s kip, we walked into town again, arriving at Sainsbury’s (again) by 8 o’clock. Back at the boat by nine, we had an early coffee and then set to to clean the roof and the portside. This was interrupted by the need to talk to various passing locals about our lifestyle, why the boat is called Sanity, and no, I don’t want to come and clean your car after I’ve done this boat. (Sigh)
Sheila had been rearranging our plants on the roof, getting ready for them to look at their best at the end of August when we are at the National. We now have a large container of surfinia, two pots ditto, and a pot containing a trailing geranium, in addition to the box of herbs and the miniature bay tree.
After lunch it was heigh ho back to town (no wonder we’re sleeping well) for a last go at the shops. On the way past the Union Inn Hotel, I saw an unusual culinary practice. Someone had clearly ordered crème brulée, as chef had two sundae glasses full of stuff stood on the bare stone of the kitchen door step in the car park He then lit his blow torch and caramelised the tops of them.
Getting back to the boat we had a cup of tea sitting out on the bow and fed bread to the fishes, no ducks or moorhens being about to benefit. Then it was salmon and asparagus penne for dinner and an early night.
We’d heard of some problems with the run into Market Harborough, in the shape of kids chucking rocks off Bridge 13 onto the boats below. That is, there had been two incidents reported, so not exactly a mega crime wave, but still enough to suggest that travelling early (while they’re still in bed) rather than later would be a good idea.
In the past, this stretch of canal has been very slow to navigate, being shallow, and with reed beds growing out from both sides. Indeed, two years ago after the last time we travelled it, I had an exchange of emails with Robin Evans, the Chief Exec of BW, on the subject. He rejected my claim that the whole thing was so reminiscent of the swamp scene in the African Queen that the main anxiety became looking out for a First World War German gunboat coming the other way, but agreed that it wasn’t up to standard.
With all this in mind, we made an early start for an anticipated two and a half hour trip. We were gratified to find that the canal had been dredged to such good effect that progress was as quick as anywhere else on the system, and we arrived in Harborough by 8.45. There was no sign of hooligans at Bridge 13, but then one wouldn’t expect there to be at that time of the morning.
Having moored on the free visitor moorings outside the terminal basin, we went into the office of the Canaltime base here to ask about getting a pump out. They were in the middle of their busiest turn round day, but said that we could get one done after one o’clock. We carried on into town – it’s a 15 minute walk downhill from the basin to the centre of Harborough’s modest but very pleasant shopping centre. Since it’s quite some time since we were at Rugby, the last chance for a supermarket shop, we need to take a couple of days to restock
Coming back we stopped for a long chat with Dave and Anna on Mehalaland, who were tied in the basin – you can buy a mooring there for £6 per night, including electric hook up, which is not a bad price these days. Then we went on towards the VM, where we stopped again to chat to the folks on Marimpa. Regular readers will recall my last experience of this gent was not wholly pleasant, as he was complaining in no uncertain terms about me running my engine at Yelvertoft. This time, things were very different, and he apologised for his bad mood on that occasion. Having established friendly relations, we then had a long rabbit about various aspects of living aboard. They are in their first year of so doing, having been hirers for many years before that.
One of the lessons from this affair is that it is necessary firstly to be as tolerant as possible towards your fellow boaters, and secondly not to miss an opportunity of clearing the air if you have been at cross purposes. Otherwise, Sod’s Law says you’ll find yourself sharing a broad lock with the folks you had a blazing row with last night, probably all the way down a long flight, which is embarrassing to say the least.
After lunch we went into the basin and pumped out the toilet tank, then Sheila gave a demonstration of turning the boat in a triangular basin without touching the sides and we went back onto the mooring we’d just left. Then we went back into town to do some more shopping, mostly at Wilkinson’s and Sainsbury’s again.
After tea, Sheila did some brass polishing and I cooked chicken legs for salad and caught up with the blog. We’d found a copy of this month’s Canalboat magazine, but there was nothing in it about Crick Show yet.
Friday 8 June
After a good night’s kip, we walked into town again, arriving at Sainsbury’s (again) by 8 o’clock. Back at the boat by nine, we had an early coffee and then set to to clean the roof and the portside. This was interrupted by the need to talk to various passing locals about our lifestyle, why the boat is called Sanity, and no, I don’t want to come and clean your car after I’ve done this boat. (Sigh)
Sheila had been rearranging our plants on the roof, getting ready for them to look at their best at the end of August when we are at the National. We now have a large container of surfinia, two pots ditto, and a pot containing a trailing geranium, in addition to the box of herbs and the miniature bay tree.
After lunch it was heigh ho back to town (no wonder we’re sleeping well) for a last go at the shops. On the way past the Union Inn Hotel, I saw an unusual culinary practice. Someone had clearly ordered crème brulée, as chef had two sundae glasses full of stuff stood on the bare stone of the kitchen door step in the car park He then lit his blow torch and caramelised the tops of them.
Getting back to the boat we had a cup of tea sitting out on the bow and fed bread to the fishes, no ducks or moorhens being about to benefit. Then it was salmon and asparagus penne for dinner and an early night.
Thursday, 7 June 2007
Power at last!
Tuesday 5 June
We were up in good time to greet another day that looked like it might improve later. There were two Canaltimes moored on the water points at the top of the flight, but we were able to get round them to get within reach of the tap. By 8.15 we were watering, only to discover we’d left the hose connector on the tap last time – this happens about once a year, and we’ve stopped even trying to work out whose fault it is. We keep a spare one in the toolbox for when it happens.
Half an hour later we were on our way down the staircase, Sheila locking and me steering. For those who don’t know it, Foxton is a steep drop down two five-lock staircases in succession, with a passing pound half way down. Boating into the top lock at Foxton is like boating off the edge of the world. As you go into the lock, you can’t see anything of the canal ahead, just a distant horizon.
We made good time down the flight, aided by the lockie, who lives on a Braidbar, Finisterre, moored on the offside at the top. Well before ten o’clock we were down, and stopped on the services point at Foxton Boat Services for diesel at a reasonably priced 50p per litre. This is where we are due to meet Sam Matts tomorrow to get the TravelPower fixed, we hope. Sam wasn’t around today, so couldn’t confirm the arrangement.
After filling up, we pulled a bit further on to some visitor moorings for the night. In the afternoon, Sheila carried on with her crochet, sitting out on the towpath in the sun which had managed to break through. I improved the shining hour by blacking the Squirrel stove with special stove paint. Over the three years, the stove has gradually got to look a bit grey, with some rusty scratches on the top where I put kettles and saucepans.
I even blacked our new stainless steel chimney, so that it looks a bit more authentic. The really trad thing to do it to keep the brass bands polished on the chimney, but we’ve never managed to find the knack for that.
Having finished painting everything, the stove needed to be lit, as its heat will cure the paint. It gave an opportunity for some secure destruction of stuff like letters which might be used for identity theft if we just put them in the recycling.
Whilst doing this, I also caught up with the blog and cooked some chicken legs in the oven to have with salad tonight. Who says men can’t multitask?
Wednesday 6 June
I was sufficiently anxious about the outcome of today’s assault on the TravelPower that I didn’t sleep that well last night. At about 8.30 I trekked around to the boatyard to look for Sam, but he hadn’t yet turned up. I hung about for a bit, then realised that there were recycling bins by the nice new sanitary block, so I went back to the boat to get out stuff for recycling. Sheila and I then walked back round (it’s about a five minute walk from the moorings to the yard. BW have put in a new swing bridge, reinstating one that was there many years ago, but for a variety of reasons, it’s kept locked open during the day.) Having dumped the recycling we managed to meet up with Sam. The reason for hanging around until today was that a guy from the manufacturer, Electrolux, was supposed to be visiting, but guess what, he’s not coming.
Anyway, Sam told us to pull back and tie outside two other boats outside the yard, leaving just about room for other boats to get past. We did this, but by that time Sam had been called away to deal with something else in the yard. This is not unusual in boatyards in my experience – you can spend a lot of time hanging about waiting for the relevant bloke to be available.
Meanwhile, Sam’s dad, the yard owner Tony Matts, decided to crane in a boat right where we were all moored. So the whole trot of three was pushed across to the other side of the cut, completely blocking it, while the crane was started up and a huge tractor slowly backed a trailer containing a small restored Springer into position.
Eventually all was ready and the Springer was hoisted into the air, the trailer pulled out of the way, and the boat lowered into the water. Then one of the yard’s own hire boats was pulled into position and lifted out onto stands. By now Sam was back, and he came and started work on the TravelPower. I’d always heard good things about Sam from others who’d used him, and I can see why. He was that ideal fitter – not only did he involve you in the work, but also explained what he was doing as he went along, so that the whole thing became a learning experience.
After about 45 minutes of testing and telephone consultation with the guy from Electrolux, it became apparent that the problem was indeed the brushes, as forecast by Beta Marine a week ago. Sam popped in a new set (it’s not difficult) and off we went. In future I’ll get in a replacement set when these ones have done about 4000 hours, and change them myself. Sam also gave me a free lesson in tensioning the domestic alternator belt – he’s that kind of guy, who enjoys nattering about engines and passing on those hints, tips and wrinkles which make all the difference to the ease with which you can look after them.
After all this we pulled forward onto the visitor moorings again and had a latish lunch. In the afternoon we ran a wash load, demonstrating that the system was back to normal, and I added the cruising plan box to the side of this blog. A certain amount of dozing followed, and in the evening we walked round to the smartened/tarted up Foxton Locks Inn for a meal – it’s a while since we’ve eaten out, and this seemed a good excuse for doing so.
It’s a chain pub, of course, but a good example of the type, with decent beer and well cooked and reasonably priced food.
Coming next... Marimpa again, and not at all grumpy this time
We were up in good time to greet another day that looked like it might improve later. There were two Canaltimes moored on the water points at the top of the flight, but we were able to get round them to get within reach of the tap. By 8.15 we were watering, only to discover we’d left the hose connector on the tap last time – this happens about once a year, and we’ve stopped even trying to work out whose fault it is. We keep a spare one in the toolbox for when it happens.
Half an hour later we were on our way down the staircase, Sheila locking and me steering. For those who don’t know it, Foxton is a steep drop down two five-lock staircases in succession, with a passing pound half way down. Boating into the top lock at Foxton is like boating off the edge of the world. As you go into the lock, you can’t see anything of the canal ahead, just a distant horizon.
We made good time down the flight, aided by the lockie, who lives on a Braidbar, Finisterre, moored on the offside at the top. Well before ten o’clock we were down, and stopped on the services point at Foxton Boat Services for diesel at a reasonably priced 50p per litre. This is where we are due to meet Sam Matts tomorrow to get the TravelPower fixed, we hope. Sam wasn’t around today, so couldn’t confirm the arrangement.
After filling up, we pulled a bit further on to some visitor moorings for the night. In the afternoon, Sheila carried on with her crochet, sitting out on the towpath in the sun which had managed to break through. I improved the shining hour by blacking the Squirrel stove with special stove paint. Over the three years, the stove has gradually got to look a bit grey, with some rusty scratches on the top where I put kettles and saucepans.
I even blacked our new stainless steel chimney, so that it looks a bit more authentic. The really trad thing to do it to keep the brass bands polished on the chimney, but we’ve never managed to find the knack for that.
Having finished painting everything, the stove needed to be lit, as its heat will cure the paint. It gave an opportunity for some secure destruction of stuff like letters which might be used for identity theft if we just put them in the recycling.
Whilst doing this, I also caught up with the blog and cooked some chicken legs in the oven to have with salad tonight. Who says men can’t multitask?
Wednesday 6 June
I was sufficiently anxious about the outcome of today’s assault on the TravelPower that I didn’t sleep that well last night. At about 8.30 I trekked around to the boatyard to look for Sam, but he hadn’t yet turned up. I hung about for a bit, then realised that there were recycling bins by the nice new sanitary block, so I went back to the boat to get out stuff for recycling. Sheila and I then walked back round (it’s about a five minute walk from the moorings to the yard. BW have put in a new swing bridge, reinstating one that was there many years ago, but for a variety of reasons, it’s kept locked open during the day.) Having dumped the recycling we managed to meet up with Sam. The reason for hanging around until today was that a guy from the manufacturer, Electrolux, was supposed to be visiting, but guess what, he’s not coming.
Anyway, Sam told us to pull back and tie outside two other boats outside the yard, leaving just about room for other boats to get past. We did this, but by that time Sam had been called away to deal with something else in the yard. This is not unusual in boatyards in my experience – you can spend a lot of time hanging about waiting for the relevant bloke to be available.
Meanwhile, Sam’s dad, the yard owner Tony Matts, decided to crane in a boat right where we were all moored. So the whole trot of three was pushed across to the other side of the cut, completely blocking it, while the crane was started up and a huge tractor slowly backed a trailer containing a small restored Springer into position.
Eventually all was ready and the Springer was hoisted into the air, the trailer pulled out of the way, and the boat lowered into the water. Then one of the yard’s own hire boats was pulled into position and lifted out onto stands. By now Sam was back, and he came and started work on the TravelPower. I’d always heard good things about Sam from others who’d used him, and I can see why. He was that ideal fitter – not only did he involve you in the work, but also explained what he was doing as he went along, so that the whole thing became a learning experience.
After about 45 minutes of testing and telephone consultation with the guy from Electrolux, it became apparent that the problem was indeed the brushes, as forecast by Beta Marine a week ago. Sam popped in a new set (it’s not difficult) and off we went. In future I’ll get in a replacement set when these ones have done about 4000 hours, and change them myself. Sam also gave me a free lesson in tensioning the domestic alternator belt – he’s that kind of guy, who enjoys nattering about engines and passing on those hints, tips and wrinkles which make all the difference to the ease with which you can look after them.
After all this we pulled forward onto the visitor moorings again and had a latish lunch. In the afternoon we ran a wash load, demonstrating that the system was back to normal, and I added the cruising plan box to the side of this blog. A certain amount of dozing followed, and in the evening we walked round to the smartened/tarted up Foxton Locks Inn for a meal – it’s a while since we’ve eaten out, and this seemed a good excuse for doing so.
It’s a chain pub, of course, but a good example of the type, with decent beer and well cooked and reasonably priced food.
Coming next... Marimpa again, and not at all grumpy this time
Labels:
Foxton
Tuesday, 5 June 2007
Onwards to Foxton
Sunday 3 June
It was another beautiful morning, a glorious day, in fact. After breakfast and a walk into the village for the paper, at 9.30 we were ready to go and reversed onto the water point. By 10 we were filled up and on our way. We’d half planned to go as far as the junction with the Welford Arm, but decided to see how far we’d got by lunchtime. There are a number of places along this section where a combination of Armco piling and a decent depth make them popular for casual overnight mooring.
By 12.30 we were at Bridge 36, with at least another half hour to the Welford Arm, so we stopped. There were a number of other boats tied on this length, so it felt friendly without being crowded.
After lunch, a certain amount of dedicated towpath sitting was indicated. Actually, this means that Sheila sits and crochets, whilst I read the paper. A couple of Americans from the Canaltime some way behind us came past after my guilt had driven me inside to do the blog. They were after two pieces of information. Firstly they wanted to know why their boat was called Wendy of Freeth – answer, it’s a Canaltime. Secondly, they wanted to walk to the nearest village. Sheila dug out the Philips Navigator atlas that gives more widespread coverage than any of the canal guides. She showed them how to get to South Kilworth, but couldn’t guarantee that there would be a shop there.
After I’d done the email and blog, we changed places (not that I did any crochet), so that Sheila could do the monthly check on the finances. The Americans came back, well pleased with their walk. They’d found a pub, but no shop in the village.
It being a sunny afternoon, tea was taken on the towpath. We had a salad for dinner, then I watched an episode of Blakes 7 in the study while Sheila read in the saloon. If we’d both wanted to watch the video, I’d have moved the laptop and screen into the saloon – two people sitting on the side berth to watch in the study is a bit uncomfortable.
Monday 4 June
The weather didn’t look so good today, with a cloudy, almost milky sky that was either low cloud or high mist. The radio forecast was quite promising, however, so we set off at 9, hoping it would burn off.
Wendy of Freeth passed us just before this, explaining that they had a date with the Canaltime engineer to sort out a slipping drive belt. Sure enough, there he was waiting at the next bridge – Canaltime do seem to give good support to their novice boaters.
We made a steady chug to Foxton, along a beautiful bit of canal, though it’s become more overgrown and reedy since last year. The weather stayed frustratingly cloudy, occasionally beginning to brighten up, then going rather chilly again.
At 11.50 we arrived at Foxton Top. I’ll give an account of the Foxton Locks next time, when we actually go down them. Meanwhile, it’s enough to say that they are one of the more remarkable spots on the system, and a honeypot for local tourists, especially at the weekends. BW have recently been undertaking a number of changes designed to improve the tourists’ experience, with the usual concerns being expressed by those more interested in preserving the heritage of an unusual place.
We bought bread in the little shop at the bottom of the flight, and had lunch. Afterwards we did the tourist bit, walking round the site to see the remains of the inclined plane which worked here just 100 years ago, including a visit to the small but charming museum. I took some photos, and we went back to the boat.
Sheila then improved the shining hour by shining the brass, or some of it – my elbow is much better, but still not quite right, so a premature return to polishing duties would risk a relapse. At least that’s what Sheila says, and I’m not going to argue. Well, not much, anyway.
It was another beautiful morning, a glorious day, in fact. After breakfast and a walk into the village for the paper, at 9.30 we were ready to go and reversed onto the water point. By 10 we were filled up and on our way. We’d half planned to go as far as the junction with the Welford Arm, but decided to see how far we’d got by lunchtime. There are a number of places along this section where a combination of Armco piling and a decent depth make them popular for casual overnight mooring.
By 12.30 we were at Bridge 36, with at least another half hour to the Welford Arm, so we stopped. There were a number of other boats tied on this length, so it felt friendly without being crowded.
After lunch, a certain amount of dedicated towpath sitting was indicated. Actually, this means that Sheila sits and crochets, whilst I read the paper. A couple of Americans from the Canaltime some way behind us came past after my guilt had driven me inside to do the blog. They were after two pieces of information. Firstly they wanted to know why their boat was called Wendy of Freeth – answer, it’s a Canaltime. Secondly, they wanted to walk to the nearest village. Sheila dug out the Philips Navigator atlas that gives more widespread coverage than any of the canal guides. She showed them how to get to South Kilworth, but couldn’t guarantee that there would be a shop there.
After I’d done the email and blog, we changed places (not that I did any crochet), so that Sheila could do the monthly check on the finances. The Americans came back, well pleased with their walk. They’d found a pub, but no shop in the village.
It being a sunny afternoon, tea was taken on the towpath. We had a salad for dinner, then I watched an episode of Blakes 7 in the study while Sheila read in the saloon. If we’d both wanted to watch the video, I’d have moved the laptop and screen into the saloon – two people sitting on the side berth to watch in the study is a bit uncomfortable.
Monday 4 June
The weather didn’t look so good today, with a cloudy, almost milky sky that was either low cloud or high mist. The radio forecast was quite promising, however, so we set off at 9, hoping it would burn off.
Wendy of Freeth passed us just before this, explaining that they had a date with the Canaltime engineer to sort out a slipping drive belt. Sure enough, there he was waiting at the next bridge – Canaltime do seem to give good support to their novice boaters.
We made a steady chug to Foxton, along a beautiful bit of canal, though it’s become more overgrown and reedy since last year. The weather stayed frustratingly cloudy, occasionally beginning to brighten up, then going rather chilly again.
At 11.50 we arrived at Foxton Top. I’ll give an account of the Foxton Locks next time, when we actually go down them. Meanwhile, it’s enough to say that they are one of the more remarkable spots on the system, and a honeypot for local tourists, especially at the weekends. BW have recently been undertaking a number of changes designed to improve the tourists’ experience, with the usual concerns being expressed by those more interested in preserving the heritage of an unusual place.
We bought bread in the little shop at the bottom of the flight, and had lunch. Afterwards we did the tourist bit, walking round the site to see the remains of the inclined plane which worked here just 100 years ago, including a visit to the small but charming museum. I took some photos, and we went back to the boat.
Sheila then improved the shining hour by shining the brass, or some of it – my elbow is much better, but still not quite right, so a premature return to polishing duties would risk a relapse. At least that’s what Sheila says, and I’m not going to argue. Well, not much, anyway.
Labels:
Foxton
Sunday, 3 June 2007
Sheila back, and grumpy boater
Friday 1 June
After a rather erratic night’s kip, I made a lazy start to a beautiful day. I took a wander into the village for a paper and stuff, then back to the boat to check email.
There’s a debate going on the canals list at the moment about the recurrent issue of continuous cruisers who have local commitments. I should explain that if you don’t have a paid for mooring, then before you can licence your boat with BW, you have to accept the rules which apply to continuous cruisers. These are that you have to be engaged in a “genuine journey around the system or a major part of it”, and that you can’t stay in one place for more than 14 days at a time.
I think that this blog demonstrates that we largely comply with these requirements, although the winter stoppages mean that it requires some finessing on occasions. On the other hand, these rules are BW’s interpretation of a quite complex legal situation, and I have to ask what they achieve. Obviously, if someone has a job at a fixed location, or kids in school, they are inclined to stay in one vicinity, if not actually in one “place” for quite long periods of time, and it’s questionable if they are engaged in the genuine journey bit, though some do indeed manage this.
As I said in a post to the list:
I caught up with the blog whilst running a wash load, and then had lunch sitting out on the bow in the sun. I started to doze off, so took my self for a walk up Crack’s Hill, the local prominence which overlooks Crick village and marina. It’s about 20 minutes walk from Yelvertoft along the towpath to Bridge 17, and then up a gravelled bridle path to the foot of the hill.
I took some photos of the view, and then ambled back to the boat for a cup of tea and to run the engine again. It had not been running long when there was a triple knock on the roof, and a rather aggressive man asked “Do we have to put up with this for three hours?”
He was off Marimpa, the boat which had tied behind Sanity last night. It seems they were sitting out on the bow of their boat and getting the benefit of Sanity’s exhaust. I said I only needed to run it for another hour, and would be happy to turn off now and start again at a time to suit him. With no very good grace he indicated that six o’clock would be OK.
I pottered about for a while, and at 6.15 went back to Marimpa to ask permission to start up again (that’s how it felt, anyway). A woman on the bow was perfectly pleasant and said they were about to go in to have tea.
I started up, had my own tea and then watched yet another episode of Blakes 7.
Saturday 2 June
Waking to a beautiful morning, my mood was lightened further by the thought that Sheila was coming back today. Breakfast supplies were running low, so I put some EasiYo yogurt on to make during the day, and stewed some more fruit. I made my usual walk to the village to get the paper – Marimpa, which is a bright shiny new Stowe Hill boat, was still all closed up – better not run the engine just yet then.
At 11 or so I noticed they were running their own engine, so I started up too. Cathy, Graeme and Sheila turned up at 11.30, and we had lunch sitting out on the towpath. I stopped the engine for a while.
Graeme announced after lunch that he had a lawn to mow, so off they went – hopefully when next we see them there will be three of them – Cathy is very near her due date.
Marimpa’s crew had gone off somewhere, so I restarted the engine at about 2. We spent a mixed afternoon, partly lazing around, and partly cleaning the boat. When Marimpa’s crew came back and sat out on the towpath, I did the decent thing and went and asked if the engine was bothering them, explaining that it only needed about another 30 minutes. The guy was still grumpy (though she was a mixture of apologetic and anxious), so I turned it off. We’ll manage on what we’ve got, as we have a long run in the morning which should make up for yesterday and today. Looks like Mr Marimpa has a severe case of new-boatitis – hopefully he’ll recover from it, or I fear he’s not going to get much fun from his boating.
We finished the day with a cold sausage and egg salad and some white wine, still sitting out on the towpath.
After a rather erratic night’s kip, I made a lazy start to a beautiful day. I took a wander into the village for a paper and stuff, then back to the boat to check email.
There’s a debate going on the canals list at the moment about the recurrent issue of continuous cruisers who have local commitments. I should explain that if you don’t have a paid for mooring, then before you can licence your boat with BW, you have to accept the rules which apply to continuous cruisers. These are that you have to be engaged in a “genuine journey around the system or a major part of it”, and that you can’t stay in one place for more than 14 days at a time.
I think that this blog demonstrates that we largely comply with these requirements, although the winter stoppages mean that it requires some finessing on occasions. On the other hand, these rules are BW’s interpretation of a quite complex legal situation, and I have to ask what they achieve. Obviously, if someone has a job at a fixed location, or kids in school, they are inclined to stay in one vicinity, if not actually in one “place” for quite long periods of time, and it’s questionable if they are engaged in the genuine journey bit, though some do indeed manage this.
As I said in a post to the list:
It seems to me that the crucial issue is not about the minutiae of BW's imposed interpretation of CCing, but whether people who do have local commitments are spoiling it for the rest of us. That mainly comes down to blocking VMs [visitor moorings] and creating extra lengths of on-line mooring.
There's a trickier bit about the loss of amenity for the rest of us if mooring sites become cluttered with junk, like the section beyond the puddle banks at Braunston, because that's an aesthetic judgement...
It seems that from BW's point of view, there's a de jure situation which would make compliance with the CC rules *almost* impossible for those with local commitments (being engaged in a genuine journey round the system or a substantial part of it, for example) though again some members of this list manage to achieve that. And there's a de facto situation where local BW staff use their judgement about the blocking and amenity issues, balancing that against the utility of some of these people. In turn, that means that where the utility is the fact that they are employees or contractors of BW, the local manager is open to accusations of cronyism.
I caught up with the blog whilst running a wash load, and then had lunch sitting out on the bow in the sun. I started to doze off, so took my self for a walk up Crack’s Hill, the local prominence which overlooks Crick village and marina. It’s about 20 minutes walk from Yelvertoft along the towpath to Bridge 17, and then up a gravelled bridle path to the foot of the hill.
I took some photos of the view, and then ambled back to the boat for a cup of tea and to run the engine again. It had not been running long when there was a triple knock on the roof, and a rather aggressive man asked “Do we have to put up with this for three hours?”
He was off Marimpa, the boat which had tied behind Sanity last night. It seems they were sitting out on the bow of their boat and getting the benefit of Sanity’s exhaust. I said I only needed to run it for another hour, and would be happy to turn off now and start again at a time to suit him. With no very good grace he indicated that six o’clock would be OK.
I pottered about for a while, and at 6.15 went back to Marimpa to ask permission to start up again (that’s how it felt, anyway). A woman on the bow was perfectly pleasant and said they were about to go in to have tea.
I started up, had my own tea and then watched yet another episode of Blakes 7.
Saturday 2 June
Waking to a beautiful morning, my mood was lightened further by the thought that Sheila was coming back today. Breakfast supplies were running low, so I put some EasiYo yogurt on to make during the day, and stewed some more fruit. I made my usual walk to the village to get the paper – Marimpa, which is a bright shiny new Stowe Hill boat, was still all closed up – better not run the engine just yet then.
At 11 or so I noticed they were running their own engine, so I started up too. Cathy, Graeme and Sheila turned up at 11.30, and we had lunch sitting out on the towpath. I stopped the engine for a while.
Graeme announced after lunch that he had a lawn to mow, so off they went – hopefully when next we see them there will be three of them – Cathy is very near her due date.
Marimpa’s crew had gone off somewhere, so I restarted the engine at about 2. We spent a mixed afternoon, partly lazing around, and partly cleaning the boat. When Marimpa’s crew came back and sat out on the towpath, I did the decent thing and went and asked if the engine was bothering them, explaining that it only needed about another 30 minutes. The guy was still grumpy (though she was a mixture of apologetic and anxious), so I turned it off. We’ll manage on what we’ve got, as we have a long run in the morning which should make up for yesterday and today. Looks like Mr Marimpa has a severe case of new-boatitis – hopefully he’ll recover from it, or I fear he’s not going to get much fun from his boating.
We finished the day with a cold sausage and egg salad and some white wine, still sitting out on the towpath.
Friday, 1 June 2007
Coping with problems
Wednesday 30 May
After the excesses of the night before, it was a delicate start – one of those mornings where you ease the brain into gear, and apply gentle pressure to the throttle so as to avoid metaphoric mental wheel spin. The weather continued very wet, which was a pain as I want to go on to Yelvertoft today to fill up with water. The tank is down to less the 10%.
After dumping rubbish at the skips inside in the Andy Burnett Marina, I walked into the village to get a paper. Back at the boat, there was no sign of a change in the weather, so no point in hanging around. Attired in waterproofs, I set off and chugged steadily round to Yelvertoft.
I moored on the water point, and went to switch on the TravelPower AC alternator to run the washing machine. Over the weekend we’d just been topping the batteries up with the DC domestic alternator. The TravelPower didn’t come on. Cursing under my breath (hungover, it’s raining, and now the electrics are playing up) I got out the roll flat hose to at least start filling the tank. The hose reel promptly fell apart.
Some days are diamond, some days are stone.
Water tank finally filling, I called Maria at the Braidbar yard and asked her to ask Iain to call me back from Braidbar the boat, which he and Luisa are now cruising back to the yard. This he did promptly, and then called Beta Marine on my behalf. Seems it may be either an odd failure to energise by the TP, which is fixable by applying 12v across two of its terminals, or it may be the brushes. At Iain’s suggestion, I called Beta myself, and agreed that with 4000 hours on the clock, it may well be the brushes, especially as I’ve been wondering if all was well with the AC supply recently.
There’s a Beta engineer, Sam, not far from here, at the foot of Foxton Locks, so after discovering that my River Canal Rescue cover doesn’t cover this sort of thing, I phoned him directly. He suggested we meet there next Wednesday, as he’s got a guy from Electrolux (who make the TP) coming then.
That’s all fine, especially as Sheila will be back by then so I won’t have to single hand down Foxton Staircase. I can go on charging the batteries from the DC alternator, but I can’t run the washing machine, at least not the bits of the programme that heat the water. And we need a lot of washing doing after the weekend.
I rang Sheila to give her the glad tidings, and to advise her to get as much of her washing done as she can while she’s at Cathy’s, and we worked out a way of doing the washing in the machine without using it to heat the water. It would help if it had a cold wash programme, but by intervening in its cycle, one can achieve the same effect, albeit with a certain amount of having to keep going back to the machine to reset it.
Incidentally, there are two lessons to come from this (or possibly three if preventive maintenance would have avoided the breakdown in the first place of course.) Firstly, redundancy in charging systems. As a liveaboard, it’s not a good idea to have only one means of getting charge into the batteries when away from a shoreline supply. We have the TP plus inverter/charger set up that we normally use, and the DC alternator that otherwise just spins unenergised.
Secondly, more basic washing machines with rotary dial controls are better in this situation than the fancier electronic ones which are harder to over ride in the way that I’m doing now. Also, the fancy electronics don’t always get on well with the TP’s control box – we know of one boat that got through three machines in a year before they found this out.
Anyway, during all this excitement, I’d managed to squeeze onto a just about 60 foot space on the Yelvertoft visitor moorings. They are 14 day ones, so shall stay here at least until Sheila comes back on Saturday. I washed one load of stuff, and, having lit the Squirrel stove, started it drying. (I can’t use the tumble dryer bit of the washing machine, of course). I then put another load in the machine, started a programme that does a hot fill, and then switched it off. Those clothes can soak overnight and be washed tomorrow, when the first lot should be dry.
After all this, I chilled out with an episode of Blakes 7 and a meal from the freezer. I caught up with reading the newspapers that had accumulated over the weekend, and had an early night.
Thursday 31 May
Despite waking early, I loafed in bed, drinking tea and shouting abuse at Sarah Kennedy for a while. After yesterday, it made me feel a lot better. When Wogan came on, I got up, had a shower, and made a leisurely breakfast. The stove having been burning all night, the clothes that I’d left hung around in the saloon were well dry, so I put them away.
The weather being much better today, I walked into Yelvertoft village. It’s about a ten minute stroll down the hill past the church. I got a loaf of bread and the paper. When I got back to the boat, the one in front of me had gone, so I pulled forward. Since I’d squeezed Sanity into her space, her stern had been hard up against the bow of the boat behind, and by moving forward one slot, I shall give them less grief running the engine to do the next wash load.
Whilst I was doing this, moving the boat single handed on the centreline, a couple of other boats (both privateers) came zooming by, only going to tick over as they reached Sanity’s bow, as if that was going to make any difference to the fact that their wash meant I was struggling to hold Sanity steady. Thanks a bunch, chaps.
The weather was now looking very showery, if not thundery indeed, so I carried on working inside the boat, tidying a drawer in the office to make room to store the new external hard drive I got in Rugby. This left a load of stuff we’re not using – a couple of Palm type PDAs and some lengths of audio cable. I shall see if any of the kids want them.
I repeated the wash load strategy and had lunch while it was running.
A phone call from Elanor at lunch time (mainly about one of the cats she lives with) gave me an excuse to do some Internet research on a new laptop and screen for her. I’ve got a T-mobile GPRS signal here, slow but not impossible for web browsing with OnSpeed turned on.
Another lazy afternoon followed, reading and watching yet more Blakes 7. I’ve got to the episode that introduced Servalan and Travis (Seek-Locate-Destroy) for those who know about these things; though I don’t suppose many of you are quite that sad!
After the excesses of the night before, it was a delicate start – one of those mornings where you ease the brain into gear, and apply gentle pressure to the throttle so as to avoid metaphoric mental wheel spin. The weather continued very wet, which was a pain as I want to go on to Yelvertoft today to fill up with water. The tank is down to less the 10%.
After dumping rubbish at the skips inside in the Andy Burnett Marina, I walked into the village to get a paper. Back at the boat, there was no sign of a change in the weather, so no point in hanging around. Attired in waterproofs, I set off and chugged steadily round to Yelvertoft.
I moored on the water point, and went to switch on the TravelPower AC alternator to run the washing machine. Over the weekend we’d just been topping the batteries up with the DC domestic alternator. The TravelPower didn’t come on. Cursing under my breath (hungover, it’s raining, and now the electrics are playing up) I got out the roll flat hose to at least start filling the tank. The hose reel promptly fell apart.
Some days are diamond, some days are stone.
Water tank finally filling, I called Maria at the Braidbar yard and asked her to ask Iain to call me back from Braidbar the boat, which he and Luisa are now cruising back to the yard. This he did promptly, and then called Beta Marine on my behalf. Seems it may be either an odd failure to energise by the TP, which is fixable by applying 12v across two of its terminals, or it may be the brushes. At Iain’s suggestion, I called Beta myself, and agreed that with 4000 hours on the clock, it may well be the brushes, especially as I’ve been wondering if all was well with the AC supply recently.
There’s a Beta engineer, Sam, not far from here, at the foot of Foxton Locks, so after discovering that my River Canal Rescue cover doesn’t cover this sort of thing, I phoned him directly. He suggested we meet there next Wednesday, as he’s got a guy from Electrolux (who make the TP) coming then.
That’s all fine, especially as Sheila will be back by then so I won’t have to single hand down Foxton Staircase. I can go on charging the batteries from the DC alternator, but I can’t run the washing machine, at least not the bits of the programme that heat the water. And we need a lot of washing doing after the weekend.
I rang Sheila to give her the glad tidings, and to advise her to get as much of her washing done as she can while she’s at Cathy’s, and we worked out a way of doing the washing in the machine without using it to heat the water. It would help if it had a cold wash programme, but by intervening in its cycle, one can achieve the same effect, albeit with a certain amount of having to keep going back to the machine to reset it.
Incidentally, there are two lessons to come from this (or possibly three if preventive maintenance would have avoided the breakdown in the first place of course.) Firstly, redundancy in charging systems. As a liveaboard, it’s not a good idea to have only one means of getting charge into the batteries when away from a shoreline supply. We have the TP plus inverter/charger set up that we normally use, and the DC alternator that otherwise just spins unenergised.
Secondly, more basic washing machines with rotary dial controls are better in this situation than the fancier electronic ones which are harder to over ride in the way that I’m doing now. Also, the fancy electronics don’t always get on well with the TP’s control box – we know of one boat that got through three machines in a year before they found this out.
Anyway, during all this excitement, I’d managed to squeeze onto a just about 60 foot space on the Yelvertoft visitor moorings. They are 14 day ones, so shall stay here at least until Sheila comes back on Saturday. I washed one load of stuff, and, having lit the Squirrel stove, started it drying. (I can’t use the tumble dryer bit of the washing machine, of course). I then put another load in the machine, started a programme that does a hot fill, and then switched it off. Those clothes can soak overnight and be washed tomorrow, when the first lot should be dry.
After all this, I chilled out with an episode of Blakes 7 and a meal from the freezer. I caught up with reading the newspapers that had accumulated over the weekend, and had an early night.
Thursday 31 May
Despite waking early, I loafed in bed, drinking tea and shouting abuse at Sarah Kennedy for a while. After yesterday, it made me feel a lot better. When Wogan came on, I got up, had a shower, and made a leisurely breakfast. The stove having been burning all night, the clothes that I’d left hung around in the saloon were well dry, so I put them away.
The weather being much better today, I walked into Yelvertoft village. It’s about a ten minute stroll down the hill past the church. I got a loaf of bread and the paper. When I got back to the boat, the one in front of me had gone, so I pulled forward. Since I’d squeezed Sanity into her space, her stern had been hard up against the bow of the boat behind, and by moving forward one slot, I shall give them less grief running the engine to do the next wash load.
Whilst I was doing this, moving the boat single handed on the centreline, a couple of other boats (both privateers) came zooming by, only going to tick over as they reached Sanity’s bow, as if that was going to make any difference to the fact that their wash meant I was struggling to hold Sanity steady. Thanks a bunch, chaps.
The weather was now looking very showery, if not thundery indeed, so I carried on working inside the boat, tidying a drawer in the office to make room to store the new external hard drive I got in Rugby. This left a load of stuff we’re not using – a couple of Palm type PDAs and some lengths of audio cable. I shall see if any of the kids want them.
I repeated the wash load strategy and had lunch while it was running.
A phone call from Elanor at lunch time (mainly about one of the cats she lives with) gave me an excuse to do some Internet research on a new laptop and screen for her. I’ve got a T-mobile GPRS signal here, slow but not impossible for web browsing with OnSpeed turned on.
Another lazy afternoon followed, reading and watching yet more Blakes 7. I’ve got to the episode that introduced Servalan and Travis (Seek-Locate-Destroy) for those who know about these things; though I don’t suppose many of you are quite that sad!
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