29th April
There's post by Sheila just below this one, giving an account of our break in the Lakes, which was indeed extremely enjoyable. I can heartily recommend the Burn How Hotel in Bowness on Windermere.
Nonetheless, as Simon and Garfunkel said in 1970, "Gee but it's great to be back home" (I'll come back to the question of keeping your customers satisfied later).
After a good night's kip last night on our lovely, memory foam toppered bed, we made an early start to day. With her bottom free of weed, Sanity fairly zoomed along even in tick over, getting up to 2.5 mph at 850 rpm on the long straight stretch of the Cannock Extension.
I managed the turn onto the Wyrley and Essington without too much hassle. Apparently BW have spent £500,000 dredging the Curly Wyrley in the last couple of years, and it certainly shows. It used to be notorious for shallows and problems with strange objects underwater. Now it's nothing like as bad, though there are still the odd heart stopping rending noises from underneath in some of the bridge holes.
By just after nine we'd arrived at the service block and moorings at Brownhills. There were a couple of Anglo Welsh boats in possession of the services, so we tied a bit further on. We walked back to have a natter with a woman living on a boat in the arm alongside the services, and she confirmed that these are reasonably safe moorings, especially if you pull back onto the services (which are behind a BW locked gate) for the night.
We did a mega shop at Tesco, restocking the fridge and the veg drawer. Must say, after we washed the fridge yesterday before restarting it, it made me think that these self defrosting fridges are all very well, but they don't encourage you to keep them clean. With the old ones, you had to switch them off and clean them from time to time, or else you just couldn't get anything else in past the inches thick layer of frost.
It's a 24 hour Tesco here, but not very big. We got all the needful stuff, but I'm glad that we'll be passing the canal side one at Leamington Spa within the week, to pick up some of the more exotic stuff. We also made a couple of trips to the Wilko's that's here – this demonstrated that it's worth walking past the Tesco onto the main street, which has a range of other shops like a butchers and a bakers.
Finally, some thoughts about Canal Transport Services and Matt Cooper. Let me say straight away that he's a nice guy, aiming to be helpful, and seems to have done a good job of the grit blast and two pack blacking. He's used some stuff called Manor Coatings Promastic 600 CT, which from the descriptions on the website sounds like just the job. It can even be over coated with undercoat and gloss, for example around the tunnel bands.
The problem we had with him was the classic one about timing. I mean I know that Arthur Ransome said that the only boat builder ever to finish the job on time was Noah, who had a special incentive, but in fact some builders (Braidbar, especially now, and Stone Canal Cruising) do manage to keep to schedule.
With Matt, we'd said that we needed the job done in a window between mid April and mid May, because of our other commitments, and he'd made a provisional date for the week beginning 14 April. He then phoned at the start of April to confirm that, and we started looking at hotels for that week. The very afternoon when we'd decided on the Burn How, and were about to book and pay, he rang again to say his work had slipped back because of problems with the one he had on the dock at the time, and could he put us back by a week.
That was fine, in fact, as it got us out of the expensive and busy Easter week, so we booked for the week after. We actually arrived at CTS on the Friday before, after deciding not to do two nights at Anglesey Basin, and Matt then told us that Sanity would now be going on the dock on the Wednesday, but that that would still mean that she'd be all done by the beginning of the next week.
Off we went on holiday, and as I said, had a great time. The only thing was, it was a bit like having your car in for its MoT. You know how you spend the day anxiously eyeing the phone, waiting for the call from the garage with those dread words "I'm afraid we've had a bit of a problem, squire"?
Well this was like that, only it went on all week. In the event, we had a call on Thursday evening: could we put off coming back until Wednesday? Well, no. All right then, how about Tuesday, which I said we could probably cope with. Because things were reasonably quiet in the Burn How during the week, they were able to let us stay on another night, at the price we had paid via Lastminute.com (£114 per night).
When we got back, Sanity was indeed ready. Matt didn't seem to sense that he'd risked seriously inconveniencing us, and that it could have been a real problem. We won't be going back there, partly because of that, and partly because, compared to a lot of other yards around the system, it's just too much hassle getting up here.
If you are a leisure boater, and can give him a four week window during which you leave the boat there to be worked on as and when, I'm sure he's fine, but if you are a liveaboard, and have to make arrangements for somewhere to live whilst the work is done, you need to use a more reliable yard, I reckon.
Heigh ho, enough said. Tomorrow we press on to Longwood, probably stopping at Aldridge Marina for a service, then the day after it will be the long slog from there to Catherine de Barnes and away out of the BCN.
Wednesday, 29 April 2009
What we did on our holidays.
Sheila writes...
Bruce didn't blog while we were away from the boat partly, I suspect, because he wanted a break. But also because he maintains that his is a boating blog and people wouldn't be interested in our activities off the boat. However I thought I would post a brief diary of our holiday and if you're not interested you don't have to read it......
Monday 20
We travelled up to the Lake District by train, not a bad journey from Cannock to Birmingham then up to Oxenholme where we joined a little local train to run down the single track line to Windermere. There was great hilarity when this train set off, as an automatic announcement informed us that we were now travelling to Manchester Airport. Some people became rather alarmed but most of us realised that we were travelling in the opposite direction and it was just a technical glitch. As we approached the next station the announcement informed us that it was Oxenholme. In the event we reached Windermere on time.
We spent the afternoon settling in at the hotel then exploring Bowness in brilliant sunny weather and acquiring a map and guidebooks. The prospects for eating in Bowness looked remarkably good and we thought that we would try and eat a different nationality of cuisine each night. For the first night we ate in the hotel and had excellent local produce so we counted that as English.
Tuesday 21
We decided to break ourselves in gently and did some local geocaching round Bowness and Windermere. From the Steamer Pier we walked out to the Ferry Landing. Then we turned inland and made our way up to Brant Fell which gave us some splendid views over the lake. After lunch we walked back towards Orrest Head, a viewpoint above Windermere station but having found the cache we left the climb for another day as the cloud was so low the views would have been pretty limited. A gentle day of about five miles and four caches. That evening we went for an Italian meal.
Wednesday 22
The morning was not very hopeful with a fairly solid overcast but we set out on a walk to Undermillbeck in pursuit of a couple of further caches. After a very pleasant walk with the weather steadily improving we reached the search area. The first cache was in an old quarry and Bruce had to do all the searching as the cache was at the top. I stood at the bottom and tried to help by looking along the edge with my binoculars. The second cache was near the top of the crag but on a much more rounded upland so I was able to join Bruce and see the spectacular views. A more strenuous day of about seven miles. A very enjoyable Indian curry that night.
Thursday 23
It was just our luck that the day we planned to do a big walk was the day it turned wet. Not heavy rain but the typical Lake District soft penetrating wetness which might be rain or might be low cloud. It certainly wasn't enough to put us off. We caught the bus to Waterhead, the Steamer Landing for Ambleside then walked up the west side of Rydal Water and Grasmere. We ate lunch in a park in Grasmere with the rain dripping off the tree behind us onto the bench on which we sat and people hurrying past clutching umbrellas. From Grasmere we walked out past Dove Cottage and took the delightfully named Coffin Path. Apparently there was a church and consecrated graveyard in Grasmere long before one was established in Ambleside so coffins from Ambleside were carried up and over the headland behind Rydal Mount then down to Grasmere. Along the way there were large flat topped boulders called coffin stones and these were used to rest the coffin while the bearers took a break. I thought they could do with a few more of them! Actually as we started to climb away from Grasmere I asked why they didn't put the coffin on a boat and float it across Rydal Water. As we staggered down off the path at Ambleside I asked why on earth they hadn't just consecrated a graveyard at Ambleside and got the priest to do the travelling from Grasmere. It was quite a heavy day covering eleven miles with quite a bit of up and down before we caught the bus from Ambleside back to Bowness. We gave up trying to be cosmopolitan and settled for the nearest nice looking eatery to the hotel, a pub called The Postillion which did us a very nice English meal very slowly.
Friday 24
After Thursday's active day we took a rest and bought day tickets for the boats on the lake. (Not at all influenced by the fact that the tickets were a third cheaper on Friday than any other day of the week.) After all a week is too long to go without some boating. Although it was overcast the weather was kind to us and did not actually rain. First we caught the Steamer "Swan" from Bowness north to Waterhead then stayed on for the return trip and so down to Lakeside, almost at the southern end of the lake. We disembarked at Lakeside and strolled up into the woods to eat our lunch in peace. A couple we had spoken to on the bus on Wednesday had warned us against planning to lunch at the Lakeside Hotel. They had checked it out on Monday and even the sandwiches cost £16! We were a little disappointed that the next return sailing from Lakeside was on a modern cruiser as we would have liked to travel on the steamer "Tern", the oldest boat in the fleet with beautiful lines. However the run was still most enjoyable and at Bowness we finished by taking the cruiser that was running a trip round the islands in the middle of the Lake. This actually proved to be the trip with the best and most informative commentary. We finished the day with an Indian curry.
Saturday 25
The usual crossing to Ferry House on the west bank of Windermere was not available as the car ferry was out of service for a month having a major, five year overhaul. Instead a launch was running from the steamer piers which made it a twenty minute crossing where it is usually five. Actually it made a very pleasant little trip in its own right but we had another walk in view. From the Ferry House we followed a series of paths to Far Sawrey then turned north to pass Moss Eccles Tarn and Wise Een Tarn then through forestry plantations to return following the ridge that overlooks Windermere coming out above Ferry House. The descent back to the lake was steep and with my bad head for heights not so enjoyable but otherwise it was a lovely walk though the amount of climbing and descent was probably the toughest route we followed. In all about seven miles. We ate Chinese that night.
Sunday 26
By Sunday we were beginning to feel rather well exercised so we took it easy going north out of Bowness to check up on the Steamer Museum (closed for refurbishment) and to climb Queen Adelaide's Hill. We took the path from the car park which zigzagged up the back of the hill so the view of the lake from the top was all the more impressive when we came upon it suddenly. After Bruce had taken his photos we went back the way we had come then walked on to pass round the north side of the hill and found a track leading up more gently! Still a nice walk of not more than five miles. We ate in the hotel again because it was Sunday and we weren't sure how many places would be open. (An unnecessary precaution.)
Monday 27
For our last day we repeated the walk up to Windermere but this time made the climb up to Orrest Head, a tough climb but very rewarding as the views from the top were superb, not just of the lake but of the surrounding peaks. We left the viewpoint to follow a permissive path down the back of the hill and it was only as we reached the last field that we met a sign warning of a bull, cows and calves in the field which might be aggressive. Thankfully there were no cattle in sight and we didn't have to go all the way back but it seemed a bit unsporting not to give warning at the top of the hill. Another gentle day of about five miles.
On Saturday an American Steak House had caught our eye. We had checked the menu and decided to finish our cosmopolitan eating American style. Sadly on Monday evening when we headed for the steak house we couldn't find it. Then we realised that the blank menu board and whitewashed windows were all that remained of the restaurant. There on Saturday gone on Monday – a sign of the times. Further along the road was another steak house which was nearly as good although not really so American but the food was good anyway.
Tuesday 28
A straightforward return journey saw us back on the boat by mid afternoon so now I can hand back to Bruce for his blog.
Bruce didn't blog while we were away from the boat partly, I suspect, because he wanted a break. But also because he maintains that his is a boating blog and people wouldn't be interested in our activities off the boat. However I thought I would post a brief diary of our holiday and if you're not interested you don't have to read it......
Monday 20
We travelled up to the Lake District by train, not a bad journey from Cannock to Birmingham then up to Oxenholme where we joined a little local train to run down the single track line to Windermere. There was great hilarity when this train set off, as an automatic announcement informed us that we were now travelling to Manchester Airport. Some people became rather alarmed but most of us realised that we were travelling in the opposite direction and it was just a technical glitch. As we approached the next station the announcement informed us that it was Oxenholme. In the event we reached Windermere on time.
We spent the afternoon settling in at the hotel then exploring Bowness in brilliant sunny weather and acquiring a map and guidebooks. The prospects for eating in Bowness looked remarkably good and we thought that we would try and eat a different nationality of cuisine each night. For the first night we ate in the hotel and had excellent local produce so we counted that as English.
Tuesday 21
We decided to break ourselves in gently and did some local geocaching round Bowness and Windermere. From the Steamer Pier we walked out to the Ferry Landing. Then we turned inland and made our way up to Brant Fell which gave us some splendid views over the lake. After lunch we walked back towards Orrest Head, a viewpoint above Windermere station but having found the cache we left the climb for another day as the cloud was so low the views would have been pretty limited. A gentle day of about five miles and four caches. That evening we went for an Italian meal.
Wednesday 22
The morning was not very hopeful with a fairly solid overcast but we set out on a walk to Undermillbeck in pursuit of a couple of further caches. After a very pleasant walk with the weather steadily improving we reached the search area. The first cache was in an old quarry and Bruce had to do all the searching as the cache was at the top. I stood at the bottom and tried to help by looking along the edge with my binoculars. The second cache was near the top of the crag but on a much more rounded upland so I was able to join Bruce and see the spectacular views. A more strenuous day of about seven miles. A very enjoyable Indian curry that night.
Thursday 23
It was just our luck that the day we planned to do a big walk was the day it turned wet. Not heavy rain but the typical Lake District soft penetrating wetness which might be rain or might be low cloud. It certainly wasn't enough to put us off. We caught the bus to Waterhead, the Steamer Landing for Ambleside then walked up the west side of Rydal Water and Grasmere. We ate lunch in a park in Grasmere with the rain dripping off the tree behind us onto the bench on which we sat and people hurrying past clutching umbrellas. From Grasmere we walked out past Dove Cottage and took the delightfully named Coffin Path. Apparently there was a church and consecrated graveyard in Grasmere long before one was established in Ambleside so coffins from Ambleside were carried up and over the headland behind Rydal Mount then down to Grasmere. Along the way there were large flat topped boulders called coffin stones and these were used to rest the coffin while the bearers took a break. I thought they could do with a few more of them! Actually as we started to climb away from Grasmere I asked why they didn't put the coffin on a boat and float it across Rydal Water. As we staggered down off the path at Ambleside I asked why on earth they hadn't just consecrated a graveyard at Ambleside and got the priest to do the travelling from Grasmere. It was quite a heavy day covering eleven miles with quite a bit of up and down before we caught the bus from Ambleside back to Bowness. We gave up trying to be cosmopolitan and settled for the nearest nice looking eatery to the hotel, a pub called The Postillion which did us a very nice English meal very slowly.
Friday 24
After Thursday's active day we took a rest and bought day tickets for the boats on the lake. (Not at all influenced by the fact that the tickets were a third cheaper on Friday than any other day of the week.) After all a week is too long to go without some boating. Although it was overcast the weather was kind to us and did not actually rain. First we caught the Steamer "Swan" from Bowness north to Waterhead then stayed on for the return trip and so down to Lakeside, almost at the southern end of the lake. We disembarked at Lakeside and strolled up into the woods to eat our lunch in peace. A couple we had spoken to on the bus on Wednesday had warned us against planning to lunch at the Lakeside Hotel. They had checked it out on Monday and even the sandwiches cost £16! We were a little disappointed that the next return sailing from Lakeside was on a modern cruiser as we would have liked to travel on the steamer "Tern", the oldest boat in the fleet with beautiful lines. However the run was still most enjoyable and at Bowness we finished by taking the cruiser that was running a trip round the islands in the middle of the Lake. This actually proved to be the trip with the best and most informative commentary. We finished the day with an Indian curry.
Saturday 25
The usual crossing to Ferry House on the west bank of Windermere was not available as the car ferry was out of service for a month having a major, five year overhaul. Instead a launch was running from the steamer piers which made it a twenty minute crossing where it is usually five. Actually it made a very pleasant little trip in its own right but we had another walk in view. From the Ferry House we followed a series of paths to Far Sawrey then turned north to pass Moss Eccles Tarn and Wise Een Tarn then through forestry plantations to return following the ridge that overlooks Windermere coming out above Ferry House. The descent back to the lake was steep and with my bad head for heights not so enjoyable but otherwise it was a lovely walk though the amount of climbing and descent was probably the toughest route we followed. In all about seven miles. We ate Chinese that night.
Sunday 26
By Sunday we were beginning to feel rather well exercised so we took it easy going north out of Bowness to check up on the Steamer Museum (closed for refurbishment) and to climb Queen Adelaide's Hill. We took the path from the car park which zigzagged up the back of the hill so the view of the lake from the top was all the more impressive when we came upon it suddenly. After Bruce had taken his photos we went back the way we had come then walked on to pass round the north side of the hill and found a track leading up more gently! Still a nice walk of not more than five miles. We ate in the hotel again because it was Sunday and we weren't sure how many places would be open. (An unnecessary precaution.)
Monday 27
For our last day we repeated the walk up to Windermere but this time made the climb up to Orrest Head, a tough climb but very rewarding as the views from the top were superb, not just of the lake but of the surrounding peaks. We left the viewpoint to follow a permissive path down the back of the hill and it was only as we reached the last field that we met a sign warning of a bull, cows and calves in the field which might be aggressive. Thankfully there were no cattle in sight and we didn't have to go all the way back but it seemed a bit unsporting not to give warning at the top of the hill. Another gentle day of about five miles.
On Saturday an American Steak House had caught our eye. We had checked the menu and decided to finish our cosmopolitan eating American style. Sadly on Monday evening when we headed for the steak house we couldn't find it. Then we realised that the blank menu board and whitewashed windows were all that remained of the restaurant. There on Saturday gone on Monday – a sign of the times. Further along the road was another steak house which was nearly as good although not really so American but the food was good anyway.
Tuesday 28
A straightforward return journey saw us back on the boat by mid afternoon so now I can hand back to Bruce for his blog.
Labels:
The Lake District
Monday, 27 April 2009
An extra day away
27th April
This post was going to be called "Just back today" because we should have been back on Sanity by now. Unfortunately, Matt Cooper at Canal Transport Services rang last Thursday and admitted he was a day behind even his revised, revised timetable. I'll have a bit more to say about that in due course, when I've finished fuming.
Meantime, we now expect to be back tomorrow, Tuesday. I'll get back to full posting mode on Wednesday, once we've escaped from Norton Canes.
Here's what we were up to this time last year.
This post was going to be called "Just back today" because we should have been back on Sanity by now. Unfortunately, Matt Cooper at Canal Transport Services rang last Thursday and admitted he was a day behind even his revised, revised timetable. I'll have a bit more to say about that in due course, when I've finished fuming.
Meantime, we now expect to be back tomorrow, Tuesday. I'll get back to full posting mode on Wednesday, once we've escaped from Norton Canes.
Here's what we were up to this time last year.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Not back yet
25th April
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Still away
23rd April
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
We're on our holidays
21st April
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
We're off the boat this week, walking and geocaching in the Lakes whilst Sanity has her bottom blacked at Canal Transport Services.
If you need a fix of our travels, have a look at what we were doing this time last year.
See you next week
Bruce
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Getting ready for a week away
18th & 19th April
We've had a couple of quietish days here at Norton Canes. Compared to the rest of the Northern BCN, it genuinely is quite rural, but the A5 and the M6 Toll are not far away, so there's a fairly constant background of traffic noise.
Yesterday we walked into Norton Canes itself to check out the local bus situation. Examination of timetables at the stops and discussion with some locals waiting there established that our best bet tomorrow will be to walk right into the village to the bus stop outside the library, from where we can get one of four buses an hour into Cannock, whence we can catch a train to Windermere, changing at Birmingham New Street and Preston.
Back in Sanity we ran the engine and did a last washload. After lunch we set out to find some of the geocaches we'd identified. This involved quite a bit of exploration of an area of ex spoil heap covered with birch forest. Two caches were successfully located, despite the presence of various lads on trail bikes zooming up and down the sides of the hills.
Making our way back to the canal, we walked down to its junction with the Wyreley and Essington to find one last cache before coming home.
Nicely tired out, we had a quiet afternoon.
Today has been given over to preparations for leaving the boat for a week. The fridge freezer was turned off, and the freezer side defrosted and cleaned. We're keeping the fridge bit closed up to preserve the coolth in it until tomorrow. I've just about managed to use all the perishables up in good order – there might be an egg and some lettuce going spare tomorrow.
We've moved the plants onto the roof of an unoccupied boat, and sorted clothes, both for taking away, and as the start of the seasonal change round. Greatly daring, we've put the puffa jackets away in their compression sacks for the summer. When we come back, we'll probably get out the tee shirts and shorts in the hopes of a warm May.
And that's about it for the nonce. As I said last time, I'm taking a break while we're in the Lakes, but thanks to Blogger's scheduling facility, little reminders posts should appear every two days.
We've had a couple of quietish days here at Norton Canes. Compared to the rest of the Northern BCN, it genuinely is quite rural, but the A5 and the M6 Toll are not far away, so there's a fairly constant background of traffic noise.
Yesterday we walked into Norton Canes itself to check out the local bus situation. Examination of timetables at the stops and discussion with some locals waiting there established that our best bet tomorrow will be to walk right into the village to the bus stop outside the library, from where we can get one of four buses an hour into Cannock, whence we can catch a train to Windermere, changing at Birmingham New Street and Preston.
Back in Sanity we ran the engine and did a last washload. After lunch we set out to find some of the geocaches we'd identified. This involved quite a bit of exploration of an area of ex spoil heap covered with birch forest. Two caches were successfully located, despite the presence of various lads on trail bikes zooming up and down the sides of the hills.
Making our way back to the canal, we walked down to its junction with the Wyreley and Essington to find one last cache before coming home.
Nicely tired out, we had a quiet afternoon.
Today has been given over to preparations for leaving the boat for a week. The fridge freezer was turned off, and the freezer side defrosted and cleaned. We're keeping the fridge bit closed up to preserve the coolth in it until tomorrow. I've just about managed to use all the perishables up in good order – there might be an egg and some lettuce going spare tomorrow.
We've moved the plants onto the roof of an unoccupied boat, and sorted clothes, both for taking away, and as the start of the seasonal change round. Greatly daring, we've put the puffa jackets away in their compression sacks for the summer. When we come back, we'll probably get out the tee shirts and shorts in the hopes of a warm May.
And that's about it for the nonce. As I said last time, I'm taking a break while we're in the Lakes, but thanks to Blogger's scheduling facility, little reminders posts should appear every two days.
Labels:
Norton Canes
Friday, 17 April 2009
Joys of the Northern BCN
16th & 17th April
Secure at Longwood, we had a good night's kip the night before last. In the morning, Tom on Vivid III (he who had helped us up the locks the day before) gave me some advice on tying in Anglesey Basin. It seems there can be a problem with drunks wandering past the end of the basin during the evening; the trick is to come back along the canal a little way, to where some power lines cross overhead. There's a good hard edge and depth, presumably where there was a loading staithe originally.
We reversed back to the water point and topped up the tank, then set off onto the Daw End Branch of the Wyreley and Essington. We'd been warned that it would be shallow, and indeed it was. At times we were struggling to make better than 2 mph, with mud and muck swirling up beneath us.
Sanity slogged on – the GPS proved remarkably useful, as you could see what effect different engine revs had on the speed, rather than trying to guess by watching the bank crawl by. It didn't help that the weather deteriorated severely, becoming cold, wet and gusty.
I'd had the impression from enthusiastic accounts that the northern BCN was remarkably rural, not to say bucolic, but was sadly disappointed. From time to time there were some fields, but mostly the scenery was of unremitting suburbia, mixed with light industry.
At Daw End itself we had a little light relief to see one of the pubs, The Boathouse, advertising its "Riverside Patio."
This rather miserable state of affairs carried on all the way to Aldridge, where we pulled in to do a quick shopping trip. Trying to come into the side, I found a reef of silt just off the end of the side weir beyond Aldridge Wharf Bridge, and struggled to extricate Sanity by reversing off. I finally got in further along, guided by Sheila who had hopped off as we came through the bridge.
The light industry was particularly prominent here, not least because of the auto paint shop alongside the plastics moulding firm, so that the nose was assailed by a variety of long chain organic molecules. What with one thing and another, I was strongly reminded of Robert Falcon Scott's reaction when he finally made it to the South Pole:
"Great God! This is an awful place."
On walking up into the centre (about 10 minutes) Aldridge in fact seemed to be quite unexceptional, a typical bit of suburbia going about its business. I'm sure that the weather, the awful state of the cut and a last assault by my head cold, leading to a nose bleed earlier in the day, had biased me just a bit against the whole place.
Shopping done, we slogged on to Catshill Junction, where we turned right for Anglesey Basin. It's an interesting place, and we found Tom's mooring without trouble – indeed, you'd have difficulty tying anywhere else. The other serious option would be to drop a mud weight in the middle of the pool.
After lunch we found a quick cache, and set off to explore the Chasewater Country Park. We'd only made it as far as the reservoir dam when it started to teem down again. The reservoir looks seriously low for this time of year – it can't be the lack of rain, that's for sure.
Back at the boat we huddled down inside. There was a good internet connection, at least, so various bits and pieces could be done. As it got dark it got quite creepy, frankly. There wasn't much to be seen, but odd voices could be heard in the murk, and the absence of other boats made it all a bit edgy.
It's one of those areas which would be transformed by more traffic, and the presence of even a couple of other boats would have made all the difference. Perhaps once the Lichfield and Hatherton Trust has reconnected Huddlesford with Ogley Junction, this basin will see more visitors and become a good deal more welcoming.
As it was, we decided not to risk another night there, and came on to Norton Canes today. By way of recompense, as we left the basin, we spotted an unusual bird flitting about. Checking the guide afterwards showed that it was a Common Sandpiper, suggesting that Chasewater would repay some birding activity.
The water was much deeper for this bit of the trip, and better weather certainly helped. Ironically, we made our first trip down the weed hatch on the way, when I removed a collection of plastic bags and weed from the prop.
Brownhills provides some really good moorings and a Tesco right by the canalside. We're told by Matt Cooper here at NC that they are a safe overnight mooring into the bargain, as is Pelsall Common, just by the junction of the Cannock Extension with the W & E.
We got here just on lunchtime and tied to a trot of boats by the yard. Matt came across during the afternoon and discussed what we are having done. It seems Sanity will go on the dock on Wednesday, and should be all done by Friday. We are leaving her on Monday to go to the Lakes, returning the following Monday, so the timing should be just right.
I'll do a quick post on Sunday, but then take a week off. I've scheduled a reminder post to go out every other day whilst I'm away, with links to what we were doing this time last year, just so folk don't forget we're here.
Secure at Longwood, we had a good night's kip the night before last. In the morning, Tom on Vivid III (he who had helped us up the locks the day before) gave me some advice on tying in Anglesey Basin. It seems there can be a problem with drunks wandering past the end of the basin during the evening; the trick is to come back along the canal a little way, to where some power lines cross overhead. There's a good hard edge and depth, presumably where there was a loading staithe originally.
We reversed back to the water point and topped up the tank, then set off onto the Daw End Branch of the Wyreley and Essington. We'd been warned that it would be shallow, and indeed it was. At times we were struggling to make better than 2 mph, with mud and muck swirling up beneath us.
Sanity slogged on – the GPS proved remarkably useful, as you could see what effect different engine revs had on the speed, rather than trying to guess by watching the bank crawl by. It didn't help that the weather deteriorated severely, becoming cold, wet and gusty.
I'd had the impression from enthusiastic accounts that the northern BCN was remarkably rural, not to say bucolic, but was sadly disappointed. From time to time there were some fields, but mostly the scenery was of unremitting suburbia, mixed with light industry.
At Daw End itself we had a little light relief to see one of the pubs, The Boathouse, advertising its "Riverside Patio."
This rather miserable state of affairs carried on all the way to Aldridge, where we pulled in to do a quick shopping trip. Trying to come into the side, I found a reef of silt just off the end of the side weir beyond Aldridge Wharf Bridge, and struggled to extricate Sanity by reversing off. I finally got in further along, guided by Sheila who had hopped off as we came through the bridge.
The light industry was particularly prominent here, not least because of the auto paint shop alongside the plastics moulding firm, so that the nose was assailed by a variety of long chain organic molecules. What with one thing and another, I was strongly reminded of Robert Falcon Scott's reaction when he finally made it to the South Pole:
"Great God! This is an awful place."
On walking up into the centre (about 10 minutes) Aldridge in fact seemed to be quite unexceptional, a typical bit of suburbia going about its business. I'm sure that the weather, the awful state of the cut and a last assault by my head cold, leading to a nose bleed earlier in the day, had biased me just a bit against the whole place.
Shopping done, we slogged on to Catshill Junction, where we turned right for Anglesey Basin. It's an interesting place, and we found Tom's mooring without trouble – indeed, you'd have difficulty tying anywhere else. The other serious option would be to drop a mud weight in the middle of the pool.
After lunch we found a quick cache, and set off to explore the Chasewater Country Park. We'd only made it as far as the reservoir dam when it started to teem down again. The reservoir looks seriously low for this time of year – it can't be the lack of rain, that's for sure.
Back at the boat we huddled down inside. There was a good internet connection, at least, so various bits and pieces could be done. As it got dark it got quite creepy, frankly. There wasn't much to be seen, but odd voices could be heard in the murk, and the absence of other boats made it all a bit edgy.
It's one of those areas which would be transformed by more traffic, and the presence of even a couple of other boats would have made all the difference. Perhaps once the Lichfield and Hatherton Trust has reconnected Huddlesford with Ogley Junction, this basin will see more visitors and become a good deal more welcoming.
As it was, we decided not to risk another night there, and came on to Norton Canes today. By way of recompense, as we left the basin, we spotted an unusual bird flitting about. Checking the guide afterwards showed that it was a Common Sandpiper, suggesting that Chasewater would repay some birding activity.
The water was much deeper for this bit of the trip, and better weather certainly helped. Ironically, we made our first trip down the weed hatch on the way, when I removed a collection of plastic bags and weed from the prop.
Brownhills provides some really good moorings and a Tesco right by the canalside. We're told by Matt Cooper here at NC that they are a safe overnight mooring into the bargain, as is Pelsall Common, just by the junction of the Cannock Extension with the W & E.
We got here just on lunchtime and tied to a trot of boats by the yard. Matt came across during the afternoon and discussed what we are having done. It seems Sanity will go on the dock on Wednesday, and should be all done by Friday. We are leaving her on Monday to go to the Lakes, returning the following Monday, so the timing should be just right.
I'll do a quick post on Sunday, but then take a week off. I've scheduled a reminder post to go out every other day whilst I'm away, with links to what we were doing this time last year, just so folk don't forget we're here.
Labels:
Anglesey Basin,
Brownhills,
Norton Canes
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
36 locks in two days
14th & 15th April
Yesterday was a prompt start, though not as prompt as today. We locked steadily up the 11 locks of the Curdworth flight, Sheila lockwheeling initially. This gave her the chance to look for a couple of the caches we'd missed yesterday.
The first of these, near the pub, was still nowhere to be seen, but the second was found behind its tree. Half way up was the site of the cache that's been muggled. As I slotted Sanity into the lock, Sheila called down that she thought she'd seen the container from the cache floating in the lock.
When Sanity had reached the top, sure enough, there was the battered remains of the cache container, still with its green geocaching sticker on it. I popped it back where it should have been, and later posted a note to that effect on its webpage, so that its owner can recover it if he wants to see if he can reuse it.
A case of 3M, I fear: Mindless Malicious Muggling.
We had soon realised that we were following another boat up the flight, and could see them leaving the lock above on several occasions. I took over lockwheeling for the second half of the flight, and at the top waited for a boat to lock down before letting Sheila in. To my surprise, it was the boat we'd been following. They'd winded as soon as leaving the top lock, and now were on their way down again.
Apparently they'd decided to do 22 locks just for the sake of it.
There was no one in the rather gloomy cutting at Curdworth, so we pressed on to Wiggins Hill just beyond. There was no one there, either, but it's the last place we like to overnight in before getting into the BCN proper.
We had a pleasant afternoon in mixed weather. I did a Building Sanity Again post on engines, and then we sat down together and went through the Sanity Again specification and quote. By the time we'd finished, we had a set of corrections to email to Peter for his further comments and pricing.
Sheila then had a happy time hunting down more ebooks, downloading them into calibre and transferring some to her reader.
As the afternoon drew to a close, some other boats arrived and tied nearby; we're not the only ones who use this mooring as a jumping off point for Birmingham, clearly. Wanting a seriously early start, we went to bed just after nine, with the alarm set for 5.45.
This meant that we were boating by six. Sheila started whilst I ate breakfast, then I was able to relieve her before we got to the first of the Minworth locks. Initially it was a greyish but pleasant morning. The cut began to be populated with mysterious floating objects, and at Forge Lane Bridge we ran up and over some mysterious sunken objects with much grinding and clattering.
Once clear of the Minworth locks, I went below again to brush my teeth and make a coffee. The sky grew steadily darker, and flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder grew closer and closer. Waterproof trousers were hastily donned, just in time.
As we approached Salford Junction, the one underneath Spaghetti Junction, rain began to deluge down, shortly joined by hail. The lightning struck the structures of the huge electricity substation, not once but several times, so the whole thing was very dramatic.
It had all settled down by the time we reached the bottom of the Perry Barr flight. There are 13 of these, and we were surprised to see Scarweather tied just above the bottom lock. That's a very short pound, and despite the anti vandal devices, the local kids quite often manage to drain it overnight. Still, they seemed to have survived.
Half way up we encountered the BW lockies checking the flight. There had been a youth group on a boat down it the day before, and their locking technique had left a lot to be desired. The lockies were busy closing gates and paddles and resetting the antivandal locks.
No serious damage seemed to have been done, though one or two of the pounds were quite low. From the top it's a plod along a very straight canal to Rushall Junction. This proved a hard turn to make, as there really wasn't a lot of depth, and Sanity just didn't want to go up there.
We got round with the aid of the long shaft, and headed towards the last flight of the day. By now it was a case of just keeping at it. At the top, a nice guy from another boat helped us up the last two, and we were able to tie on the visitor moorings at Longwood Junction by half one, having done 25 locks between 6 am and 1.30 pm.
It's been a quiet afternoon.
Tomorrow we'll go more gently along to Anglesey Basin, stopping to shop at Aldridge on the way.
Yesterday was a prompt start, though not as prompt as today. We locked steadily up the 11 locks of the Curdworth flight, Sheila lockwheeling initially. This gave her the chance to look for a couple of the caches we'd missed yesterday.
The first of these, near the pub, was still nowhere to be seen, but the second was found behind its tree. Half way up was the site of the cache that's been muggled. As I slotted Sanity into the lock, Sheila called down that she thought she'd seen the container from the cache floating in the lock.
When Sanity had reached the top, sure enough, there was the battered remains of the cache container, still with its green geocaching sticker on it. I popped it back where it should have been, and later posted a note to that effect on its webpage, so that its owner can recover it if he wants to see if he can reuse it.
A case of 3M, I fear: Mindless Malicious Muggling.
We had soon realised that we were following another boat up the flight, and could see them leaving the lock above on several occasions. I took over lockwheeling for the second half of the flight, and at the top waited for a boat to lock down before letting Sheila in. To my surprise, it was the boat we'd been following. They'd winded as soon as leaving the top lock, and now were on their way down again.
Apparently they'd decided to do 22 locks just for the sake of it.
There was no one in the rather gloomy cutting at Curdworth, so we pressed on to Wiggins Hill just beyond. There was no one there, either, but it's the last place we like to overnight in before getting into the BCN proper.
We had a pleasant afternoon in mixed weather. I did a Building Sanity Again post on engines, and then we sat down together and went through the Sanity Again specification and quote. By the time we'd finished, we had a set of corrections to email to Peter for his further comments and pricing.
Sheila then had a happy time hunting down more ebooks, downloading them into calibre and transferring some to her reader.
As the afternoon drew to a close, some other boats arrived and tied nearby; we're not the only ones who use this mooring as a jumping off point for Birmingham, clearly. Wanting a seriously early start, we went to bed just after nine, with the alarm set for 5.45.
This meant that we were boating by six. Sheila started whilst I ate breakfast, then I was able to relieve her before we got to the first of the Minworth locks. Initially it was a greyish but pleasant morning. The cut began to be populated with mysterious floating objects, and at Forge Lane Bridge we ran up and over some mysterious sunken objects with much grinding and clattering.
Once clear of the Minworth locks, I went below again to brush my teeth and make a coffee. The sky grew steadily darker, and flashes of lightning and rumbles of thunder grew closer and closer. Waterproof trousers were hastily donned, just in time.
As we approached Salford Junction, the one underneath Spaghetti Junction, rain began to deluge down, shortly joined by hail. The lightning struck the structures of the huge electricity substation, not once but several times, so the whole thing was very dramatic.
It had all settled down by the time we reached the bottom of the Perry Barr flight. There are 13 of these, and we were surprised to see Scarweather tied just above the bottom lock. That's a very short pound, and despite the anti vandal devices, the local kids quite often manage to drain it overnight. Still, they seemed to have survived.
Half way up we encountered the BW lockies checking the flight. There had been a youth group on a boat down it the day before, and their locking technique had left a lot to be desired. The lockies were busy closing gates and paddles and resetting the antivandal locks.
No serious damage seemed to have been done, though one or two of the pounds were quite low. From the top it's a plod along a very straight canal to Rushall Junction. This proved a hard turn to make, as there really wasn't a lot of depth, and Sanity just didn't want to go up there.
We got round with the aid of the long shaft, and headed towards the last flight of the day. By now it was a case of just keeping at it. At the top, a nice guy from another boat helped us up the last two, and we were able to tie on the visitor moorings at Longwood Junction by half one, having done 25 locks between 6 am and 1.30 pm.
It's been a quiet afternoon.
Tomorrow we'll go more gently along to Anglesey Basin, stopping to shop at Aldridge on the way.
Labels:
Curdworth,
Longwood,
Perry Barr,
Rushall,
Wiggins Hill
Monday, 13 April 2009
A couple of good days' boating in fine weather
12th & 13th April
We made a very relaxed start yesterday, after a rather broken night. The weather was fine, and lots of boats about, it being Easter. Approaching Amington, we were on the look out for firewood in the cut, but the piece Sheila found was over the top even by our standards.
It consisted of a couple of 2 metre lengths of 6" x 6" timber (yes, I know, mixing units again), held together by short lengths of decking timber, as if it had been some sort of gangway.
It was far too heavy to get onto the boat, so we manoeuvred across to the towpath, hauled it out and shoved it down the bank on the other side.
We had to queue briefly at Glascote, mainly because the boat in the bottom lock had had the bad luck to get a right blade full, and had to be bow hauled out. We followed another boat down the top lock, then waited for a Wyvern Shipping hire boat to come up before working down the bottom one.
They told Sheila they were doing the Warwick Ring, which means some serious boating if you are starting from Leighton Buzzard. Sheila gathered that they are planning to become liveaboard continuous cruisers next year, so we hope to see them at Crick Show at the end of May.
I managed the turn from the Coventry into the Birmingham and Fazeley at Fazeley without too much hassle for once, though it's a junction that seems to present problems no matter which way you approach it.
We stopped outside Fazeley Mill Marina to top up with water, and spoke briefly to Corinne again as she came out to show some folk around the other side of the marina. Then we did the short chug to the Drayton Footbridge, that monument to Errol Flynn's Hollywood, with two castellated towers leading to a high level bridge.
We let Elanor know where we were, then went out and found the three geocaches in the Drayton Series that we'd not found last time we looked for them.
Back at the boat, there was time for a quick cup of tea before I set to and did the 6600 hours oil and filter change. We seemed to have picked up some more water in the stern bilge, so I tweaked up the stern gland a tad. It's hard to know whether we are getting water in through the gland, or whether some of the boating in torrential rain we've done lately has resulted in it draining into that bilge.
Sheila spent a bit of time on the net, identifying caches in the Windermere area, so that we've got some to look for whilst on our hols up there.
Elanor joined us for dinner and the night. She's acquired a new car, a more recent version of her Honda Civic, this one being a three door, black, type S, very sexy.
Today, she showed it off by giving me a lift to Sainsbury's, then headed off home. We chugged gently along to a towpath mooring not far from the foot of Curdworth flight by Kingsbury Water Park, one of our favourite spots. I checked the stern gland, which after 30 minutes boating hadn't let in any water, and was just gently warm to the touch, implying that it's set about right.
The weather continued glorious, and we filled in time before lunch by strolling up to the bottom lock. Anon was moored there, selling his leather belts and stuff. I bought one from him, at a very reasonable tenner, and Sheila ordered a version of his handcuff key holder in black.
He'd only got brown ones in stock, but said not to worry, he'd have one made by the end of the afternoon.
After lunch, we set off to find another set of caches, hidden up the flight. We managed three out of six. Two of the ones we didn't find were hard to look for, as the towpath was very busy with sauntering muggles, fishing muggles, boating muggles, biking muggles, in fact muggles of all descriptions.
The final failure was more frustrating. We were well up the flight by then, very sure we were in the right place, and had loads of time to look, quite uninterrupted. Nonetheless, we just couldn't spot it. Either it's gone (seems unlikely as someone found it yesterday) or we were missing something about it.
We'll have another go for it tomorrow, as we boat up the flight. On our way back to the boat, we stopped at Anon, only to be told that he'd been down to Sanity and left Sheila's key holder hanging amongst the socks we'd left out drying on the line under the top plank in the cratch.
Sheila also bought a belt from him, with a slightly fancier buckle than mine, so it was eleven quid rather than ten. The key holder was £3.50, so he's much better value than some other leather goods merchants you see round the cut.
Tomorrow, we'll work up the flight and stop at the top, then make a crack of dawn start on Wednesday to get through the iffy bits of the BCN in one go.
We made a very relaxed start yesterday, after a rather broken night. The weather was fine, and lots of boats about, it being Easter. Approaching Amington, we were on the look out for firewood in the cut, but the piece Sheila found was over the top even by our standards.
It consisted of a couple of 2 metre lengths of 6" x 6" timber (yes, I know, mixing units again), held together by short lengths of decking timber, as if it had been some sort of gangway.
It was far too heavy to get onto the boat, so we manoeuvred across to the towpath, hauled it out and shoved it down the bank on the other side.
We had to queue briefly at Glascote, mainly because the boat in the bottom lock had had the bad luck to get a right blade full, and had to be bow hauled out. We followed another boat down the top lock, then waited for a Wyvern Shipping hire boat to come up before working down the bottom one.
They told Sheila they were doing the Warwick Ring, which means some serious boating if you are starting from Leighton Buzzard. Sheila gathered that they are planning to become liveaboard continuous cruisers next year, so we hope to see them at Crick Show at the end of May.
I managed the turn from the Coventry into the Birmingham and Fazeley at Fazeley without too much hassle for once, though it's a junction that seems to present problems no matter which way you approach it.
We stopped outside Fazeley Mill Marina to top up with water, and spoke briefly to Corinne again as she came out to show some folk around the other side of the marina. Then we did the short chug to the Drayton Footbridge, that monument to Errol Flynn's Hollywood, with two castellated towers leading to a high level bridge.
We let Elanor know where we were, then went out and found the three geocaches in the Drayton Series that we'd not found last time we looked for them.
Back at the boat, there was time for a quick cup of tea before I set to and did the 6600 hours oil and filter change. We seemed to have picked up some more water in the stern bilge, so I tweaked up the stern gland a tad. It's hard to know whether we are getting water in through the gland, or whether some of the boating in torrential rain we've done lately has resulted in it draining into that bilge.
Sheila spent a bit of time on the net, identifying caches in the Windermere area, so that we've got some to look for whilst on our hols up there.
Elanor joined us for dinner and the night. She's acquired a new car, a more recent version of her Honda Civic, this one being a three door, black, type S, very sexy.
Today, she showed it off by giving me a lift to Sainsbury's, then headed off home. We chugged gently along to a towpath mooring not far from the foot of Curdworth flight by Kingsbury Water Park, one of our favourite spots. I checked the stern gland, which after 30 minutes boating hadn't let in any water, and was just gently warm to the touch, implying that it's set about right.
The weather continued glorious, and we filled in time before lunch by strolling up to the bottom lock. Anon was moored there, selling his leather belts and stuff. I bought one from him, at a very reasonable tenner, and Sheila ordered a version of his handcuff key holder in black.
He'd only got brown ones in stock, but said not to worry, he'd have one made by the end of the afternoon.
After lunch, we set off to find another set of caches, hidden up the flight. We managed three out of six. Two of the ones we didn't find were hard to look for, as the towpath was very busy with sauntering muggles, fishing muggles, boating muggles, biking muggles, in fact muggles of all descriptions.
The final failure was more frustrating. We were well up the flight by then, very sure we were in the right place, and had loads of time to look, quite uninterrupted. Nonetheless, we just couldn't spot it. Either it's gone (seems unlikely as someone found it yesterday) or we were missing something about it.
We'll have another go for it tomorrow, as we boat up the flight. On our way back to the boat, we stopped at Anon, only to be told that he'd been down to Sanity and left Sheila's key holder hanging amongst the socks we'd left out drying on the line under the top plank in the cratch.
Sheila also bought a belt from him, with a slightly fancier buckle than mine, so it was eleven quid rather than ten. The key holder was £3.50, so he's much better value than some other leather goods merchants you see round the cut.
Tomorrow, we'll work up the flight and stop at the top, then make a crack of dawn start on Wednesday to get through the iffy bits of the BCN in one go.
Labels:
Bodymoor Heath,
Drayton Manor
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Streaming weather and other things
10th & 11th April
So I was going to do a post on the Building Sanity Again blog about engines yesterday, I really was. By five o'clock, I'd got as far as sitting down in front of the keyboard, creating the document and writing the first sentence.
I then sat there in front of it, fourth hanky of the day pressed to my streaming nose, and tried to think of what I wanted to say in the second sentence. The problem was, I wasn't capable of coherent thought about what to have for dinner, much less everything I want to say about motive power in narrowboats.
Until yesterday, I'd thought I was getting away quite lightly with this cold. A fair amount of Co-op Mixture for Tickly Coughs was being consumed, but since the stuff tastes like liquid Victory Vs, to which I once had a brief addiction, that wasn't a real hardship.
Then my nose apparently managed to take in a documentary about the Victoria Falls (National Geographic Channel, I expect), without the rest of me noticing, and decided to let us have an impression of how stunningly dramatic the Smoke That Thunders is by doing it's very own interpretation of it.
I was seriously worried about the risk of dehydration by bedtime last night, but it seems to have come under control as today went on.
Apart from that, we've had a good couple of days. We made a prompt start yesterday, and spent the first 45 minutes going up to the winding hole at Bridge 28, winding with some difficulty (it's very shallow), and coming back past the Hartshill moorings. It rained on and off, and I was glad I'd put the full wet weather gear on.
At Atherstone, we tied immediately below Lock 5, had a coffee, went shopping, then carried on down the flight to tie just above Lock 8. There were a couple of kids on bikes offering to huffle for us, but when I explained that we were only going down two more locks, they decided to help a boat going up hill instead.
(Huffling: offering to help with lock working in the expectation of a small reward. Normally innocuous, but can sometimes become threatening. These ones seemed OK to me. Unlike the story about the bloke parking his Jaguar in Liverpool:
Bunch of kids wanders up: "Look after yer car for a fiver, mister?'
"No thanks, it's all right, I'm leaving my German Shepherd in there, look."
"Oh yeah, good at putting out fires , is he?")
There was a lot of holiday traffic, even though the weather began to deteriorate seriously, until it was raining nearly as hard outside as it was down my nasal passages.
After lunch we had some difficulty in getting a good internet connection, until I rigged the modem in the porthole on the other side of the study, after which it was fine.
I spent some time exploring the Mobil Read forum, which is an excellent source of advice about eReaders and of lists of ebook sites.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we had an email from Peter Mason with the initial quote for building Sanity Again. We read through it, looked at each other silently, and went and sat down quietly for a bit, until our pulses had settled down. It's not a lot more than our worst case expectations, but we're going to have to think hard about which extras we want.
Situation normal, then for this stage of play. The problem for Peter (and so for us) is that, although the price of steel has fallen back a lot in the recession, so that the shell is cheaper than it would have been a year ago, many of the fittings, like the electrical stuff and the heating systems, are priced in euros originally, and as the pound is now close to parity with the euro, the price to us has gone up.
We'll find our way round and through it, but I'm glad that last night was one of the ones on which we allow ourselves a drink...
Today, weather much better, cold getting better, though I'm feeling pretty feeble (and my sense of humour seems to have suffered), and we did some more good boating, ending up between Polesworth and Alvecote near the country park that's been made out of the post industrial wasteland around here.
We cut up a load of bits of wood from the roof, and, on the internet, explored the possibility of a twin tub rather than a fully automatic washing machine. Main difficulty is the extra width – more of this on the other blog in due course. I'll do the engine post since I've started thinking about that, then possibly do a catch up with the way our thinking has changed since I started posting over there.
Tomorrow, we go back through Fazeley, then plan to tie on the Birmingham and Fazeley near Drayton Manor, as Elanor is joining us for the night, and there's a bit of roadside parking there.
So I was going to do a post on the Building Sanity Again blog about engines yesterday, I really was. By five o'clock, I'd got as far as sitting down in front of the keyboard, creating the document and writing the first sentence.
I then sat there in front of it, fourth hanky of the day pressed to my streaming nose, and tried to think of what I wanted to say in the second sentence. The problem was, I wasn't capable of coherent thought about what to have for dinner, much less everything I want to say about motive power in narrowboats.
Until yesterday, I'd thought I was getting away quite lightly with this cold. A fair amount of Co-op Mixture for Tickly Coughs was being consumed, but since the stuff tastes like liquid Victory Vs, to which I once had a brief addiction, that wasn't a real hardship.
Then my nose apparently managed to take in a documentary about the Victoria Falls (National Geographic Channel, I expect), without the rest of me noticing, and decided to let us have an impression of how stunningly dramatic the Smoke That Thunders is by doing it's very own interpretation of it.
I was seriously worried about the risk of dehydration by bedtime last night, but it seems to have come under control as today went on.
Apart from that, we've had a good couple of days. We made a prompt start yesterday, and spent the first 45 minutes going up to the winding hole at Bridge 28, winding with some difficulty (it's very shallow), and coming back past the Hartshill moorings. It rained on and off, and I was glad I'd put the full wet weather gear on.
At Atherstone, we tied immediately below Lock 5, had a coffee, went shopping, then carried on down the flight to tie just above Lock 8. There were a couple of kids on bikes offering to huffle for us, but when I explained that we were only going down two more locks, they decided to help a boat going up hill instead.
(Huffling: offering to help with lock working in the expectation of a small reward. Normally innocuous, but can sometimes become threatening. These ones seemed OK to me. Unlike the story about the bloke parking his Jaguar in Liverpool:
Bunch of kids wanders up: "Look after yer car for a fiver, mister?'
"No thanks, it's all right, I'm leaving my German Shepherd in there, look."
"Oh yeah, good at putting out fires , is he?")
There was a lot of holiday traffic, even though the weather began to deteriorate seriously, until it was raining nearly as hard outside as it was down my nasal passages.
After lunch we had some difficulty in getting a good internet connection, until I rigged the modem in the porthole on the other side of the study, after which it was fine.
I spent some time exploring the Mobil Read forum, which is an excellent source of advice about eReaders and of lists of ebook sites.
Towards the end of the afternoon, we had an email from Peter Mason with the initial quote for building Sanity Again. We read through it, looked at each other silently, and went and sat down quietly for a bit, until our pulses had settled down. It's not a lot more than our worst case expectations, but we're going to have to think hard about which extras we want.
Situation normal, then for this stage of play. The problem for Peter (and so for us) is that, although the price of steel has fallen back a lot in the recession, so that the shell is cheaper than it would have been a year ago, many of the fittings, like the electrical stuff and the heating systems, are priced in euros originally, and as the pound is now close to parity with the euro, the price to us has gone up.
We'll find our way round and through it, but I'm glad that last night was one of the ones on which we allow ourselves a drink...
Today, weather much better, cold getting better, though I'm feeling pretty feeble (and my sense of humour seems to have suffered), and we did some more good boating, ending up between Polesworth and Alvecote near the country park that's been made out of the post industrial wasteland around here.
We cut up a load of bits of wood from the roof, and, on the internet, explored the possibility of a twin tub rather than a fully automatic washing machine. Main difficulty is the extra width – more of this on the other blog in due course. I'll do the engine post since I've started thinking about that, then possibly do a catch up with the way our thinking has changed since I started posting over there.
Tomorrow, we go back through Fazeley, then plan to tie on the Birmingham and Fazeley near Drayton Manor, as Elanor is joining us for the night, and there's a bit of roadside parking there.
Labels:
Alvecote,
Atherstone
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Filling in time at Hartshill
8th & 9th April
It's been wet overnight both nights since I last posted, but still warm enough to start the night with the Houdini propped open on its cork. It just means being alert enough to wake as it starts raining and hop out of bed to close the hatch. There are some advantages to being sufficiently decrepit to sleep lightly.
Yesterday morning was bright and breezy, as forecast. I nipped to the Co-op to get a paper and some bread. When I got back to the canal, Sheila had started up and was heading towards me. I could see that Lock 5 was empty (the bottom gates were just ajar) so I opened them up and waited under the bridge below the lock for the boat.
The canal has already narrowed down to seven foot there, so I was able to swap my shopping bag for my locking gloves and windlass. Sheila explained that she'd heard someone starting to work Lock 6 behind us, and, knowing that the flight should be with us (a "good road" in the jargon), she didn't want to waste it.
We had a good run up the flight as a result. I back set each lock as we left it, so that the guy behind had an easier time of it, until at Lock 2 I could see a boat coming down the top lock, so left it open for them.
As we came into the top lock, Tony the Lockkeeper was nattering on his mobile, but stopped to say hello in a cheery way. Since last time I spoke to him he blanked me with an expression like a bulldog chewing a wasp, I don't figure the guy. Must just be moody, I guess.
As we came up the lock, a Rose narrowboat appeared, but her crew explained that she was going to wind above the flight, as they needed to turn back. She mentioned that Rose no longer provide fenders on their boats. They'd had a broken night the night before, as they'd moored on some Armco, and of course the boat banged against the piling all night.
They planned to make some fenders out of old milk containers, but as we had some scruffy old spare fenders just sat on the roof, I gave them a pair to use. It does seem pretty mean not to provide fenders – Rose aren't the cheapest hire company on the cut by any means.
We then had a nice run to Hartshill, mooring between Bridge 33 and the visitor moorings without trouble. No sooner had we settled inside than Slow Gin came past, so we shot out and had a natter with Colin and Jane, mainly about geocaching, of which they are aficionados too. In fact, I think they were the ones who really sold us on the idea in the first place.
After lunch we made a trip to Dobbies, and bought Sheila her watering can, as well as carrying out a raid in the Julian Graves franchise in there.
Today has been much wetter, though the rain held off long enough to tempt us out. We found a couple of caches, one in Hartshill Castle grounds, and the other in Hartshill Hayes Country Park. That's another place we'd not have stumbled across if we hadn't been after a cache. It's much bigger than we expected, and we had a good wander round, eventually finding our way back to the canal with the aid of the GPS and the waymarks for the Quarryman's Track.
In this context, it's worth recording that there's a footpath from Bridge 33 which avoids the nasty trek up the road from the moorings to the village at the top of the hill.
It was raining steadily by the time we got back to the boat, and we've lurked indoors ever since, having had all the exercise we wanted. We've been exchanging emails on the canals list about washing machines and about battery charging regimes.
The current thinking is about getting a top loading washer, but they are very expensive on water. On the other hand, you can always fill them with hot through the top, thus saving on the heat cycle. More of this in due course on the other blog.
Speaking of which, I know I've not posted anything there this week so far; blame my sore hand. With luck I'll do something tomorrow, after we get back to Atherstone and a fast connection. It's a painfully slow GPRS here, but stable.
It's been wet overnight both nights since I last posted, but still warm enough to start the night with the Houdini propped open on its cork. It just means being alert enough to wake as it starts raining and hop out of bed to close the hatch. There are some advantages to being sufficiently decrepit to sleep lightly.
Yesterday morning was bright and breezy, as forecast. I nipped to the Co-op to get a paper and some bread. When I got back to the canal, Sheila had started up and was heading towards me. I could see that Lock 5 was empty (the bottom gates were just ajar) so I opened them up and waited under the bridge below the lock for the boat.
The canal has already narrowed down to seven foot there, so I was able to swap my shopping bag for my locking gloves and windlass. Sheila explained that she'd heard someone starting to work Lock 6 behind us, and, knowing that the flight should be with us (a "good road" in the jargon), she didn't want to waste it.
We had a good run up the flight as a result. I back set each lock as we left it, so that the guy behind had an easier time of it, until at Lock 2 I could see a boat coming down the top lock, so left it open for them.
As we came into the top lock, Tony the Lockkeeper was nattering on his mobile, but stopped to say hello in a cheery way. Since last time I spoke to him he blanked me with an expression like a bulldog chewing a wasp, I don't figure the guy. Must just be moody, I guess.
As we came up the lock, a Rose narrowboat appeared, but her crew explained that she was going to wind above the flight, as they needed to turn back. She mentioned that Rose no longer provide fenders on their boats. They'd had a broken night the night before, as they'd moored on some Armco, and of course the boat banged against the piling all night.
They planned to make some fenders out of old milk containers, but as we had some scruffy old spare fenders just sat on the roof, I gave them a pair to use. It does seem pretty mean not to provide fenders – Rose aren't the cheapest hire company on the cut by any means.
We then had a nice run to Hartshill, mooring between Bridge 33 and the visitor moorings without trouble. No sooner had we settled inside than Slow Gin came past, so we shot out and had a natter with Colin and Jane, mainly about geocaching, of which they are aficionados too. In fact, I think they were the ones who really sold us on the idea in the first place.
After lunch we made a trip to Dobbies, and bought Sheila her watering can, as well as carrying out a raid in the Julian Graves franchise in there.
Today has been much wetter, though the rain held off long enough to tempt us out. We found a couple of caches, one in Hartshill Castle grounds, and the other in Hartshill Hayes Country Park. That's another place we'd not have stumbled across if we hadn't been after a cache. It's much bigger than we expected, and we had a good wander round, eventually finding our way back to the canal with the aid of the GPS and the waymarks for the Quarryman's Track.
In this context, it's worth recording that there's a footpath from Bridge 33 which avoids the nasty trek up the road from the moorings to the village at the top of the hill.
It was raining steadily by the time we got back to the boat, and we've lurked indoors ever since, having had all the exercise we wanted. We've been exchanging emails on the canals list about washing machines and about battery charging regimes.
The current thinking is about getting a top loading washer, but they are very expensive on water. On the other hand, you can always fill them with hot through the top, thus saving on the heat cycle. More of this in due course on the other blog.
Speaking of which, I know I've not posted anything there this week so far; blame my sore hand. With luck I'll do something tomorrow, after we get back to Atherstone and a fast connection. It's a painfully slow GPRS here, but stable.
Labels:
Atherstone,
Hartshill
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Two days blogger spotting
6th & 7th April
Yesterday morning was cool, but still sunny. The building site had started work at eight, so I didn't fancy the old route past the Simpson's warehouse, which involved cutting across the corner of the working site. Instead, I went onto the road at Sutton Road Bridge, walked down it to the entrance to the Jolly Sailor retail park, and so to Sainsbury's to get a paper and a loaf of bread.
I don't think it was any longer than our previous route, and had the advantage that it didn't involve a close encounter with the hedge, quite apart from dodging amorous earth moving equipment.
We then headed out, firstly for a call at the services point at Peel's Wharf, then to Fazeley Mill Marina for pump out and diesel. There was a boat on the water point at Peel's, so we stopped on the other side of the entrance to the little basin. I got off, carrying our bags of recycling, but was accosted by a woman whose aim in life seemed to be to prove that Norah Batty figures are not confined to Yorkshire. She didn't actually hit me with her broom shouting "Get off me step!", but informed me in no uncertain terms that this was private land, and that I couldn't get through to the BW office and service area.
Right enough, there's a substantial gate in the way, so I retreated to Sanity (and folk wonder why we named our boat what we did). By now, the other boat was finishing up, so we do-si-do'ed with them and unloaded our rubbish. I note that the Elsan point there now says "No self pump out". I'd always thought it was a marginal case, and now we know.
At Fazeley Mill we had our usual long natter with Corinne about boating, Purple Salute and the joys of having relatives in the Armed Forces (Graeme's on deployment at the moment).
Having got Sanity all filled up and ready to go, we headed back to the junction and turned right. We've decided to use the extra week we need to fill in before going to Norton Canes by taking a run up to Hartshill. The official excuse is that we can't find the right size watering can for Sheila to use on the flower pots, so we'll visit Dobbies Garden World at Hartshill to look for one.
We had a good run to Alvecote. Some kids turned up as we approached Glascote, but were extremely helpful both to us and the boat which followed us up the locks. On the way through Amington, we crossed with Gypsy Rover, then, just outside, who should heave into view but Andrew Denny on Granny Buttons.
There was only time for shouted greetings in both cases, but it's always good to see fellow bloggers out and about.
Today we had a relaxed start. It had rained hard overnight, but was now a bright if rather breezy morning. We made a water point stop at the foot of Atherstone, then as usual worked up the first six locks to tie between numbers six and five. It was perfect conditions for this lovely flight: sunny, just a bit of breeze, cumulus clouds drifting about against the cerulean arch above.
After we'd tied, I nipped off to the Co-op for a paper and some onions, and when I came back, there was Sheila chatting up some bloke on the towpath.
Typical, thought I, can't leave her alone for quarter of an hour without she's off. It turned out to be Andy off Khayamanzi, so this has been a couple of days of blogger spotting. He couldn't stop long, but it made another face to put to a blog.
After lunch we had another go at finding the elusive Twining's Micro cache. Between less cover in the absence of leaves on the trees, and my improving skill with the GPS, we went straight to it this time.
Very satisfying to locate one that's been eluding you.
Back at the boat we had a quiet afternoon, reading and doing internet stuff. We've downloaded a few more books from Project Gutenberg, some familiar, others just names we know. The great thing about doing your reading this way is that you can experiment with authors. All you risk is wasting a few minutes download and transfer time.
I've had a go at reading The Last of the Mohicans, for example, but Fennimore Cooper's prose is just too convoluted and flowery for me, so I've abandoned it in favour of one by Josephine Tey, an author I'd never come across until we started reading ebooks. Her style is very similar to Dorothy L Sayers, or the detective novels of Georgette Heyer.
Tomorrow we'll do the last five locks in the Atherstone flight, and toddle on to Hartshill for the night.
Yesterday morning was cool, but still sunny. The building site had started work at eight, so I didn't fancy the old route past the Simpson's warehouse, which involved cutting across the corner of the working site. Instead, I went onto the road at Sutton Road Bridge, walked down it to the entrance to the Jolly Sailor retail park, and so to Sainsbury's to get a paper and a loaf of bread.
I don't think it was any longer than our previous route, and had the advantage that it didn't involve a close encounter with the hedge, quite apart from dodging amorous earth moving equipment.
We then headed out, firstly for a call at the services point at Peel's Wharf, then to Fazeley Mill Marina for pump out and diesel. There was a boat on the water point at Peel's, so we stopped on the other side of the entrance to the little basin. I got off, carrying our bags of recycling, but was accosted by a woman whose aim in life seemed to be to prove that Norah Batty figures are not confined to Yorkshire. She didn't actually hit me with her broom shouting "Get off me step!", but informed me in no uncertain terms that this was private land, and that I couldn't get through to the BW office and service area.
Right enough, there's a substantial gate in the way, so I retreated to Sanity (and folk wonder why we named our boat what we did). By now, the other boat was finishing up, so we do-si-do'ed with them and unloaded our rubbish. I note that the Elsan point there now says "No self pump out". I'd always thought it was a marginal case, and now we know.
At Fazeley Mill we had our usual long natter with Corinne about boating, Purple Salute and the joys of having relatives in the Armed Forces (Graeme's on deployment at the moment).
Having got Sanity all filled up and ready to go, we headed back to the junction and turned right. We've decided to use the extra week we need to fill in before going to Norton Canes by taking a run up to Hartshill. The official excuse is that we can't find the right size watering can for Sheila to use on the flower pots, so we'll visit Dobbies Garden World at Hartshill to look for one.
We had a good run to Alvecote. Some kids turned up as we approached Glascote, but were extremely helpful both to us and the boat which followed us up the locks. On the way through Amington, we crossed with Gypsy Rover, then, just outside, who should heave into view but Andrew Denny on Granny Buttons.
There was only time for shouted greetings in both cases, but it's always good to see fellow bloggers out and about.
Today we had a relaxed start. It had rained hard overnight, but was now a bright if rather breezy morning. We made a water point stop at the foot of Atherstone, then as usual worked up the first six locks to tie between numbers six and five. It was perfect conditions for this lovely flight: sunny, just a bit of breeze, cumulus clouds drifting about against the cerulean arch above.
After we'd tied, I nipped off to the Co-op for a paper and some onions, and when I came back, there was Sheila chatting up some bloke on the towpath.
Typical, thought I, can't leave her alone for quarter of an hour without she's off. It turned out to be Andy off Khayamanzi, so this has been a couple of days of blogger spotting. He couldn't stop long, but it made another face to put to a blog.
After lunch we had another go at finding the elusive Twining's Micro cache. Between less cover in the absence of leaves on the trees, and my improving skill with the GPS, we went straight to it this time.
Very satisfying to locate one that's been eluding you.
Back at the boat we had a quiet afternoon, reading and doing internet stuff. We've downloaded a few more books from Project Gutenberg, some familiar, others just names we know. The great thing about doing your reading this way is that you can experiment with authors. All you risk is wasting a few minutes download and transfer time.
I've had a go at reading The Last of the Mohicans, for example, but Fennimore Cooper's prose is just too convoluted and flowery for me, so I've abandoned it in favour of one by Josephine Tey, an author I'd never come across until we started reading ebooks. Her style is very similar to Dorothy L Sayers, or the detective novels of Georgette Heyer.
Tomorrow we'll do the last five locks in the Atherstone flight, and toddle on to Hartshill for the night.
Labels:
Alvecote,
Atherstone,
Fazeley
Sunday, 5 April 2009
A sociable evening, and then onto Fazeley
4th & 5th April
It's going to be a shorter blog today, for two reasons which will become apparent as I go on.
Yesterday we had a promptish start on a bright and breezy day. Whilst Sheila topped up the water tank, I nipped into the village to get a paper and some final bits and pieces for dinner. I wasn't on my best form, as I'd had a pretty broken night with what felt suspiciously like the onset of Elanor's cold. (First reason – I'm a bit dopey with it.)
Once filled up with water, we made good progress up to Fradley, where we made a brief stop to dump a lot of rubbish and recycling. Then it was the left turn onto the Coventry, and the pleasant cruise to Whittington. If you except the bit near Streethay that's right alongside the A38, this is one of the best parts of the Coventry Canal, we reckon.
On the way, we saw our first ducklings of the year, another sign that Spring is now definitely with us, and some recompense for the racket the amorous ducks are making outside the boat for half the night.
Just before reaching Streethay, we had to pull in to clear the prop. A bit of fishing line had wrapped itself round the propshaft, and was collecting a lot of weed to itself.
We got to Whittington just in nice time for lunch, and then spent part of a brilliant afternoon cleaning up the boat. I've commented before that having folk in for dinner has this handy side effect that we feel prompted to give Sanity a bit more than just a quick lick and promise. The new mini vacuum cleaner continues to be excellent for this, enabling us to get dust and muck out from a load of nooks and crannies.
After having a shower, I set to to prepare our repast. This was going swimmingly – roast chicken fillets in a mushroom and onion sauce with new potatoes and broccoli, followed by fresh fruit salad and crème fraiche.
The sauce was under way, the spuds prepped, and I was working on the broccoli florets when my chronic mix of impatience and cack-handedeness caught up with me again. The broccoli was wrapped in that stupid tough cling film. The first crown came out reasonably easily, but the second resisted arrest valiantly, and when I resorted to trying to slice the film open with the veg prep knife I only succeeded in stabbing myself in the finger.
The palmar side of the middle phalange of my left index finger, to be exact. There was quite a lot of blood almost straight away, but very little pain.
A quick rinse under the tap, and Sheila sprang into action, first with a big plaster, then, when it continued to leak, a firm wrapping with zinc oxide tape over the top. This brought things under control, and Sheila took over cooking the meal, whilst I sat around giving instructions.
Next time, I'll skip the self-mutilation bit, and just announce that it's She's turn to cook, I think. (Second reason – typing's a bit tricky with one of the three fingers I use out of action.)
Despite this little panic, we had a great evening with Des and Gill, with lots of Braidbar and other canal gossip, and roaming off onto bell ringing and other such subjects. Des also leant me his primer about making websites with CSS, so I really must get on with the revamp of the nbsanity site.
Today was another glorious morning. We had a great run to our usual shopping mooring at Sutton Road Bridge. They are busy erecting another retail outlet of some sort just over the hedge, but it's still possible to get through to the existing shopping areas.
Amongst other stuff, we bought some Steristrips in Boots, and the plasters have been replaced with them. The cut is actually healing remarkably well, but it'll do better for being more open to the air.
Tomorrow we'll go to Fazeley Mill Marina for diesel and a pump out. After that we're not sure how we're going to kill the bit of time we have in hand before heading for Norton Canes. But it will not involve me and sharp knives if Sheila has anything to do with it.
It's going to be a shorter blog today, for two reasons which will become apparent as I go on.
Yesterday we had a promptish start on a bright and breezy day. Whilst Sheila topped up the water tank, I nipped into the village to get a paper and some final bits and pieces for dinner. I wasn't on my best form, as I'd had a pretty broken night with what felt suspiciously like the onset of Elanor's cold. (First reason – I'm a bit dopey with it.)
Once filled up with water, we made good progress up to Fradley, where we made a brief stop to dump a lot of rubbish and recycling. Then it was the left turn onto the Coventry, and the pleasant cruise to Whittington. If you except the bit near Streethay that's right alongside the A38, this is one of the best parts of the Coventry Canal, we reckon.
On the way, we saw our first ducklings of the year, another sign that Spring is now definitely with us, and some recompense for the racket the amorous ducks are making outside the boat for half the night.
Just before reaching Streethay, we had to pull in to clear the prop. A bit of fishing line had wrapped itself round the propshaft, and was collecting a lot of weed to itself.
We got to Whittington just in nice time for lunch, and then spent part of a brilliant afternoon cleaning up the boat. I've commented before that having folk in for dinner has this handy side effect that we feel prompted to give Sanity a bit more than just a quick lick and promise. The new mini vacuum cleaner continues to be excellent for this, enabling us to get dust and muck out from a load of nooks and crannies.
After having a shower, I set to to prepare our repast. This was going swimmingly – roast chicken fillets in a mushroom and onion sauce with new potatoes and broccoli, followed by fresh fruit salad and crème fraiche.
The sauce was under way, the spuds prepped, and I was working on the broccoli florets when my chronic mix of impatience and cack-handedeness caught up with me again. The broccoli was wrapped in that stupid tough cling film. The first crown came out reasonably easily, but the second resisted arrest valiantly, and when I resorted to trying to slice the film open with the veg prep knife I only succeeded in stabbing myself in the finger.
The palmar side of the middle phalange of my left index finger, to be exact. There was quite a lot of blood almost straight away, but very little pain.
A quick rinse under the tap, and Sheila sprang into action, first with a big plaster, then, when it continued to leak, a firm wrapping with zinc oxide tape over the top. This brought things under control, and Sheila took over cooking the meal, whilst I sat around giving instructions.
Next time, I'll skip the self-mutilation bit, and just announce that it's She's turn to cook, I think. (Second reason – typing's a bit tricky with one of the three fingers I use out of action.)
Despite this little panic, we had a great evening with Des and Gill, with lots of Braidbar and other canal gossip, and roaming off onto bell ringing and other such subjects. Des also leant me his primer about making websites with CSS, so I really must get on with the revamp of the nbsanity site.
Today was another glorious morning. We had a great run to our usual shopping mooring at Sutton Road Bridge. They are busy erecting another retail outlet of some sort just over the hedge, but it's still possible to get through to the existing shopping areas.
Amongst other stuff, we bought some Steristrips in Boots, and the plasters have been replaced with them. The cut is actually healing remarkably well, but it'll do better for being more open to the air.
Tomorrow we'll go to Fazeley Mill Marina for diesel and a pump out. After that we're not sure how we're going to kill the bit of time we have in hand before heading for Norton Canes. But it will not involve me and sharp knives if Sheila has anything to do with it.
Labels:
Tamworth,
Whittington
Friday, 3 April 2009
Final two days at Alrewas
2nd & 3rd April
We've had a pair of misty murky mornings yesterday and today, the difference between them being that yesterday's went on all day. It made for a cool, rather dull and disappointing day, rather than the great sunshine we've had this afternoon.
Yesterday morning started with me making a trip to the newsagent via the length of the towpath, so as to count how many totems BW had used to impose their 48 hour moorings. There were 5, but all now covered in black plastic bags as a monument to the problems BW gives itself by not keeping its promises about consultation.
Back at the boat I emailed Phil Sharpe, Chairman of Lichfield IWA Branch, both as courtesy to acknowledge his to me of the day before, and to report the new development. A brief email conversation between those of us whom Phil had included in his reply to me showed that there's general agreement. What is needed is a mix of 48 hour and five or seven day restrictions, backed up by sufficient enforcement to make it stick.
Otherwise it was a quiet morning, with Sheila doing finance stuff and myself loafing a bit until she'd finished. I then did a blog post about toilets on Building Sanity Again.
After lunch, a cold stricken Elanor put in an appearance, bearing post for us, and part of our latest present to her which she's returning. The post included a new mouse, to replace the Apple one that's got plastic fatigue internally. It's the Macally BTmini, and works very well.
One of the oddities about Macs is that their mouses still have only one button, and you have to control-click to get the context menu that you'd normally use the right click for. Why they continue to do this I don't know – modern Macs are perfectly capable of utilising a two, or in this case three button plus scroll wheel mouse, so why not supply one?
The present is a sad case; Elanor had asked for a roasting tin as part of her birthday present, and I had found one, with nifty self basting lid, on the Lakeland site. I'd had it delivered directly to Elanor of course, but when it arrived, it turned out to be too large on the outside, but managed to be too small on the inside.
Lakeland as usual made no trouble about taking it back, but will actually have it collected from Elanor. Since she'd left it with us, she's had to come back today to take it away again.
The other problem arising from the mail was our insurance renewal. Towergate Mardon's renewal notice said that they would no longer offer us the contents policy that was the main reason why we went to their predecessor, Michael Stimpson, in the first place.
We've had 24 hours of hunting about on the web for an alternate, before Sheila decided to ring Towergate (on their expensive to us 0870 number) and found that they'd made a mistake, and that there was no problem about our renewal for contents as well as the boat insurance.
Apart from that, it's been another quiet day. We've polished the Houdini again, and I've been to the GP to find that all is well, except my BP refuses to behave in the surgery. It's fine when I take it on the boat, but I suffer from "white coat" hypertension in the surgery.
I blame all the years of looking at a full waiting room and flinching before getting on with a clinic.
Tomorrow we'll set off for the BCN; Whittington at first, so that we can have Des and Gill Barnard round for dinner, then on to Fazeley and subsequently Bodymoor Heath, where we'll probably put in a couple of days birdwatching.
We've had a pair of misty murky mornings yesterday and today, the difference between them being that yesterday's went on all day. It made for a cool, rather dull and disappointing day, rather than the great sunshine we've had this afternoon.
Yesterday morning started with me making a trip to the newsagent via the length of the towpath, so as to count how many totems BW had used to impose their 48 hour moorings. There were 5, but all now covered in black plastic bags as a monument to the problems BW gives itself by not keeping its promises about consultation.
Back at the boat I emailed Phil Sharpe, Chairman of Lichfield IWA Branch, both as courtesy to acknowledge his to me of the day before, and to report the new development. A brief email conversation between those of us whom Phil had included in his reply to me showed that there's general agreement. What is needed is a mix of 48 hour and five or seven day restrictions, backed up by sufficient enforcement to make it stick.
Otherwise it was a quiet morning, with Sheila doing finance stuff and myself loafing a bit until she'd finished. I then did a blog post about toilets on Building Sanity Again.
After lunch, a cold stricken Elanor put in an appearance, bearing post for us, and part of our latest present to her which she's returning. The post included a new mouse, to replace the Apple one that's got plastic fatigue internally. It's the Macally BTmini, and works very well.
One of the oddities about Macs is that their mouses still have only one button, and you have to control-click to get the context menu that you'd normally use the right click for. Why they continue to do this I don't know – modern Macs are perfectly capable of utilising a two, or in this case three button plus scroll wheel mouse, so why not supply one?
The present is a sad case; Elanor had asked for a roasting tin as part of her birthday present, and I had found one, with nifty self basting lid, on the Lakeland site. I'd had it delivered directly to Elanor of course, but when it arrived, it turned out to be too large on the outside, but managed to be too small on the inside.
Lakeland as usual made no trouble about taking it back, but will actually have it collected from Elanor. Since she'd left it with us, she's had to come back today to take it away again.
The other problem arising from the mail was our insurance renewal. Towergate Mardon's renewal notice said that they would no longer offer us the contents policy that was the main reason why we went to their predecessor, Michael Stimpson, in the first place.
We've had 24 hours of hunting about on the web for an alternate, before Sheila decided to ring Towergate (on their expensive to us 0870 number) and found that they'd made a mistake, and that there was no problem about our renewal for contents as well as the boat insurance.
Apart from that, it's been another quiet day. We've polished the Houdini again, and I've been to the GP to find that all is well, except my BP refuses to behave in the surgery. It's fine when I take it on the boat, but I suffer from "white coat" hypertension in the surgery.
I blame all the years of looking at a full waiting room and flinching before getting on with a clinic.
Tomorrow we'll set off for the BCN; Whittington at first, so that we can have Des and Gill Barnard round for dinner, then on to Fazeley and subsequently Bodymoor Heath, where we'll probably put in a couple of days birdwatching.
Labels:
Alrewas
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
Walking in the sun
31st March & 1st April
NB All entries in this blog are true to the best of my knowledge and belief, regardless of date!
The night before last we took Elanor to the Crown for a belated birthday meal. The food was very good, and the service excellent, though the portion sizes of rabbit and pigeon were a bit small.
The main problem they have there is the ambience. The saloon is a barn of a room, quite like an old fashioned schoolroom, and chronically cold. We didn't take our coats off for the entire time we were there.
Nonetheless, good value, and very tasty, and a decent pint of Black Sheep to boot (or drink, rather).
We had a lazy start yesterday on a very fine morning indeed. I wandered into the village first thing to buy a paper, and later we undertook the Village Walk. The fine weather means that a lot of routes which in the winter were impassable in the mud are once more available, and we found ourselves walking past Wychnor Manor and across the fields towards Yoxall.
We got back to the George and Dragon just on one o'clock, and stayed there for some time, eating an excellent lunch and making the most of our chance to natter to Jane and Will and sundry friends.
At around three we finally tore ourselves away and came back to Sanity, if not to Sobriety for a while. The engine was run and a washload processed.
At Will's suggestion I rang BW West Midlands at Fazeley, and spoke to the Customer Support person, one Chris Thompstone. She confirmed that the 48 hour restriction had been lifted, and that there was no reason why we should not stay where we were until after my GP appointment on Friday.
As may be imagined, we had a quiet late afternoon and evening, and an early night.
This morning was so fine, I didn't bother to run the Eberspacher, nor to light the fire, and indeed it has continued sunny and warm through the day. Sadly, the forecast indicates that things may well deteriorate at the weekend, just as we are boating again, but so it goes, I guess. It is only early April, after all.
Since we won't now be moving up to Fradley until we leave to head for Birmingham, we set out to find the other three caches in the series we started the other day. A successful exercise, the main difficulty was taking care not let passing muggles see what we were up to.
This was especially the case on the approach to Hunts Lock, where BW are dredging the moorings at the moment.
Pleased with ourselves, we stopped off at the cafe, it being around half ten, and had a fancy hot chocolate (Sheila) and a decaff coffee (me), together with two pieces of fruit and nut cake: highly to be recommended.
Ambling back to the boat took us up nearly to lunchtime. Just before, I took a call from Matt at Canal Transport Services, to say that they were running a bit late with their work programme, and didn't expect to be able to dock Sanity (for grit blast and blacking) until the 20th of the month.
Fortunately, we'd not booked our planned break in the Lake District yet, so no problem, indeed it's a bit better for us as it takes us out of Easter week. We've decided to stay at the Burn How Garden Hotel in Bowness for a week, doing some walking and caching, and perhaps taking a couple of steamer trips and the like.
This afternoon we've been doing internet type stuff and generally loafing – tomorrow we must get busy on the Houdini, to get it done before the weather breaks. I'll also try and do another post to the Building Sanity Again blog: toilets this time, I think.
Ornithological note: we've been hearing a chiff chaff for the past couple of days, so the summer migrants are starting to arrive.
NB All entries in this blog are true to the best of my knowledge and belief, regardless of date!
The night before last we took Elanor to the Crown for a belated birthday meal. The food was very good, and the service excellent, though the portion sizes of rabbit and pigeon were a bit small.
The main problem they have there is the ambience. The saloon is a barn of a room, quite like an old fashioned schoolroom, and chronically cold. We didn't take our coats off for the entire time we were there.
Nonetheless, good value, and very tasty, and a decent pint of Black Sheep to boot (or drink, rather).
We had a lazy start yesterday on a very fine morning indeed. I wandered into the village first thing to buy a paper, and later we undertook the Village Walk. The fine weather means that a lot of routes which in the winter were impassable in the mud are once more available, and we found ourselves walking past Wychnor Manor and across the fields towards Yoxall.
We got back to the George and Dragon just on one o'clock, and stayed there for some time, eating an excellent lunch and making the most of our chance to natter to Jane and Will and sundry friends.
At around three we finally tore ourselves away and came back to Sanity, if not to Sobriety for a while. The engine was run and a washload processed.
At Will's suggestion I rang BW West Midlands at Fazeley, and spoke to the Customer Support person, one Chris Thompstone. She confirmed that the 48 hour restriction had been lifted, and that there was no reason why we should not stay where we were until after my GP appointment on Friday.
As may be imagined, we had a quiet late afternoon and evening, and an early night.
This morning was so fine, I didn't bother to run the Eberspacher, nor to light the fire, and indeed it has continued sunny and warm through the day. Sadly, the forecast indicates that things may well deteriorate at the weekend, just as we are boating again, but so it goes, I guess. It is only early April, after all.
Since we won't now be moving up to Fradley until we leave to head for Birmingham, we set out to find the other three caches in the series we started the other day. A successful exercise, the main difficulty was taking care not let passing muggles see what we were up to.
This was especially the case on the approach to Hunts Lock, where BW are dredging the moorings at the moment.
Pleased with ourselves, we stopped off at the cafe, it being around half ten, and had a fancy hot chocolate (Sheila) and a decaff coffee (me), together with two pieces of fruit and nut cake: highly to be recommended.
Ambling back to the boat took us up nearly to lunchtime. Just before, I took a call from Matt at Canal Transport Services, to say that they were running a bit late with their work programme, and didn't expect to be able to dock Sanity (for grit blast and blacking) until the 20th of the month.
Fortunately, we'd not booked our planned break in the Lake District yet, so no problem, indeed it's a bit better for us as it takes us out of Easter week. We've decided to stay at the Burn How Garden Hotel in Bowness for a week, doing some walking and caching, and perhaps taking a couple of steamer trips and the like.
This afternoon we've been doing internet type stuff and generally loafing – tomorrow we must get busy on the Houdini, to get it done before the weather breaks. I'll also try and do another post to the Building Sanity Again blog: toilets this time, I think.
Ornithological note: we've been hearing a chiff chaff for the past couple of days, so the summer migrants are starting to arrive.
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