It's been a very good couple of days boating, cool and cloudy at first each time, but getting very warm indeed in the afternoon. We had a pleasant run to Whittington, though Sheila, who was steering, found the amount of traffic a bit stressful, what with the narrow bridge holes and the overgrowth on the offside.
No matter, there was a nice mooring at Bridge 80, handy for walking into the village to the Co-op before lunch and later for going to visit Des and Gill for a brilliant evening of good wine, merry talk and brilliant food. Thanks both, it was great.
Two downsides about that mooring, however – lots of train noise from the West Coast Main Line and very poor mobile signal reception. Apparently there's an O2 mast nearby, but all the other signals are either only just useable outside the boat or non-existent.
We decided to move on a bit to Huddlesford today, then changed our minds whilst underway. It was such a pleasant day for pottering along that I didn't want to stop when we got there, so we've come on to just beyond the entrance to the new Kings Orchard marina, just before you get to Streethay going this way.
The new marina is due to open on Monday, with the first boat in arriving tomorrow. About half the pontoons are ready for use and the service block looks finished from the outside. The contractors are very busy working there as I type this, so hopefully they'll have got round to putting some mooring rings on the pontoons by tomorrow…
We walked back to Huddlesford this afternoon to look for a couple of geocaches, but weren't successful with either this time. One was a nano cache (hadn't realised that when we set out or we wouldn't have bothered) and the other was in an area absolutely solid with bramble and nettle. It's the first time I've worn shorts all day this year, and I'm regretting it now.
Ouch.
We'll stay put tomorrow; Elanor and Sally are coming to see us, parking at Huddlesford and walking the towpath to find us.
And finally, welcome to anyone who's reading this for the first time as a result of the plug Damian Kemp gave me on the CRT Facebook page. In case you hadn't realised, the aim of this blog is to give a sense of what living aboard is like for us, both the highs and the lows (not that there's many of the latter) with an admixture of barminess from time to time, especially when Sally takes over my brain.
Woof!
Showing posts with label Huddlesford Junction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Huddlesford Junction. Show all posts
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Another Spring day
It feels a bit like we should be keeping a score of the days which are worthy of the term 'Spring' this year; it's not so much that it's been very wet, but the cold is really tedious. Today, although the air is chill, the sun has been shining warmly from time to time, really making it feel the way that it should at the beginning of May.
We made a moderately early start by our standards, setting off a bit before eight and popping up Junction Lock and round the corner onto the water point on the Coventry. Not having watered since we left Mercia, the tank was very low, down to the last marker on the gauge, so we were there for an hour, by which time we had about three quarters of a tank full (it's a slow tap, though not as bad as the one outside the cafe on the T&M).
Sheila started a washload when there was enough water to supply it and the batteries were beginning to charge up. When the engine is first started for the day, the alternator is working hard doing the bulk charge phase, but once the charge voltage is up around 14.2 or above, I know that there should be enough spare capacity in the alternator output to cope with the washing machine's demands.
We then had a very pleasant chug in the sun to Huddlesford Junction. We met a bit of traffic around Streethay; BW have done a good job recently on the Fradley to Streethay stretch, cutting back the vegetation from the offside, so that passing an oncoming boat is much easier than it was. Streethay itself is still a mass of breasted up boats, however, including one on the service wharf getting in the way of a customer having a pump out.
There had been a good number of the usual lurkers round about Fradley, so we weren't surprised, rather gratified, to find that the Huddlesford moorings were reasonably clear, with just a handful of longer term moorers here.
We've spent the afternoon on two main tasks. We'd thought of a literary theme for one of the rounds for the Owners' Quiz in September, and worked it up into a set of questions. We've also thought of another theme for one of the other rounds, but haven't started actually composing the questions for that yet. As I'm sure I've said before, the trick to a good quiz is to mature it over a number of months like a ripe cheese.
I also added some more pubs to the Owners' Pub Guide, courtesy of Derek Apps on Mi Amigo – now that's a thought, a pub theme for a quiz round…
/hmm
The other big job was to clean through the boat; the cold windy weather makes it hard to clean the cabin properly, as you don't want to leave the doors open and stuff temporarily parked outside, but today was ideal. We've swept the floor, dusted the shelves and furniture and brushed the mats.
Sheila reminds me to pass on a warning about the swan below Common Lock, which attacked her as she was manoeuvring Sanity Again; it's hard enough to cope with the boat trying to go aground on the lock landing without a hissing beak on the end of about a metre of neck pecking at you like something out of Alice in Wonderland.
Tonight, in company with Des and Gill, we're trying out the refurbished Plough here; hopefully there'll be a report on that tomorrow.
We made a moderately early start by our standards, setting off a bit before eight and popping up Junction Lock and round the corner onto the water point on the Coventry. Not having watered since we left Mercia, the tank was very low, down to the last marker on the gauge, so we were there for an hour, by which time we had about three quarters of a tank full (it's a slow tap, though not as bad as the one outside the cafe on the T&M).
Sheila started a washload when there was enough water to supply it and the batteries were beginning to charge up. When the engine is first started for the day, the alternator is working hard doing the bulk charge phase, but once the charge voltage is up around 14.2 or above, I know that there should be enough spare capacity in the alternator output to cope with the washing machine's demands.
We then had a very pleasant chug in the sun to Huddlesford Junction. We met a bit of traffic around Streethay; BW have done a good job recently on the Fradley to Streethay stretch, cutting back the vegetation from the offside, so that passing an oncoming boat is much easier than it was. Streethay itself is still a mass of breasted up boats, however, including one on the service wharf getting in the way of a customer having a pump out.
There had been a good number of the usual lurkers round about Fradley, so we weren't surprised, rather gratified, to find that the Huddlesford moorings were reasonably clear, with just a handful of longer term moorers here.
We've spent the afternoon on two main tasks. We'd thought of a literary theme for one of the rounds for the Owners' Quiz in September, and worked it up into a set of questions. We've also thought of another theme for one of the other rounds, but haven't started actually composing the questions for that yet. As I'm sure I've said before, the trick to a good quiz is to mature it over a number of months like a ripe cheese.
I also added some more pubs to the Owners' Pub Guide, courtesy of Derek Apps on Mi Amigo – now that's a thought, a pub theme for a quiz round…
/hmm
The other big job was to clean through the boat; the cold windy weather makes it hard to clean the cabin properly, as you don't want to leave the doors open and stuff temporarily parked outside, but today was ideal. We've swept the floor, dusted the shelves and furniture and brushed the mats.
Sheila reminds me to pass on a warning about the swan below Common Lock, which attacked her as she was manoeuvring Sanity Again; it's hard enough to cope with the boat trying to go aground on the lock landing without a hissing beak on the end of about a metre of neck pecking at you like something out of Alice in Wonderland.
Tonight, in company with Des and Gill, we're trying out the refurbished Plough here; hopefully there'll be a report on that tomorrow.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction
Wednesday, 29 June 2011
Surprise!
Unless you are reading this via a newsfeed (RSS, Atom or whatever), you'll have noticed that I've changed the design. This is partly because I like a change from time to time, but mainly because I'm starting to take advantage of an added feature of Blogger, namely the permanent pages, and the old template didn't let me put the extra pages as a set of tabs across the top.
I've put up one about the Braidbar Owners' Group, and I'll add others as they occur to me. The one about the BOG was originally on my static website, and I was prompted to transfer it here by the latest post on Shell Bell. Thanks for the mention, Norwyn and Sheila, and for the picture of Sanity.
Since there's not a lot to say about our boating today (lazy start, stopped at Whittington for a loaf of bread, not much choice in the Whittington Co-op, came on to Huddlesford, plenty of room here), I thought I'd talk about the Garmin, as Martin was asking about it in a comment yesterday.
I got mine for my birthday two and a half years ago. After much research, I settled on a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. At the time, Garmin didn't support Macs as well as they do now, so I bought the mapping for it on a micro SD memory card (the x in the model name means that the GPS has a slot for one of these).
It's a high accuracy beast with a colour screen, but no altimeter or proper compass. It cost about the mid range, and has been generally satisfactory. We use it for walking, especially in areas new to us, for geocaching, and for keeping track of where we are when boating. It means that we have an accurate measure of how long we're moving each day (useful if you are using Sheila's diesel calculator), and although there's not much risk of taking a wrong turn on the canal, it still has its uses.
This is because I've added key features like locks, winding holes and boatyards as additional waypoints as we've gone along, so that when we come back that way, you can check just how far it is to the next such item.
Downsides:
As I say, I'm perfectly happy with it, but nowadays would be tempted by the Dakota series of touch screen units, which have a larger screen as a result of not needing space for buttons.
I've put up one about the Braidbar Owners' Group, and I'll add others as they occur to me. The one about the BOG was originally on my static website, and I was prompted to transfer it here by the latest post on Shell Bell. Thanks for the mention, Norwyn and Sheila, and for the picture of Sanity.
Since there's not a lot to say about our boating today (lazy start, stopped at Whittington for a loaf of bread, not much choice in the Whittington Co-op, came on to Huddlesford, plenty of room here), I thought I'd talk about the Garmin, as Martin was asking about it in a comment yesterday.
I got mine for my birthday two and a half years ago. After much research, I settled on a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx. At the time, Garmin didn't support Macs as well as they do now, so I bought the mapping for it on a micro SD memory card (the x in the model name means that the GPS has a slot for one of these).
It's a high accuracy beast with a colour screen, but no altimeter or proper compass. It cost about the mid range, and has been generally satisfactory. We use it for walking, especially in areas new to us, for geocaching, and for keeping track of where we are when boating. It means that we have an accurate measure of how long we're moving each day (useful if you are using Sheila's diesel calculator), and although there's not much risk of taking a wrong turn on the canal, it still has its uses.
This is because I've added key features like locks, winding holes and boatyards as additional waypoints as we've gone along, so that when we come back that way, you can check just how far it is to the next such item.
Downsides:
- Garmin maps are quite expensive (over £50 for the southern UK, for example)
- The sealing band round the unit can start to unstick in hot weather
- The colour screen, whilst perfectly readable, is quite small if you are used to an in car type satnav.
As I say, I'm perfectly happy with it, but nowadays would be tempted by the Dakota series of touch screen units, which have a larger screen as a result of not needing space for buttons.
Labels:
Garmin,
Huddlesford Junction,
Whittington
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Boating in the wind
As planned, we've spent today pottering back to Huddlesford so that Elanor can collect her car and go home for the night, so as to go riding tomorrow. Then she's coming back to us for a further couple of nights, which will give me a chance to restock the larder by being driven to Morrisons.
It's been a funny day, weather wise, very warm and sunny, but quite windy, which made the boating a bit tricky this morning. There's been a fair amount of traffic, but the moorings here in Huddlesford were deserted again. They've filled up quite a bit now, so it must have been down to our timing.
We've been training Sally to be a quieter boat dog; she's generally very good, but has a bit of a thing about a) mallards and b) cyclists. Both have to be barked at, she reckons, so Elanor is working on a retraining regime which is beginning to bear fruit.
Whenever a bark is likely, Elanor shows Sally a treat held in her hand. Sally's preoccupation with this prevents her from giving tongue, so she gets the treat as a reward when the bark eliciting stimulus has passed.
The main job today was washing the roof and starboard side of the boat. Both had got covered in white dust whilst we were at Kingsbury; the port side will be against the towpath when we move the boat to Fradley tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get that side done then.
It's been a funny day, weather wise, very warm and sunny, but quite windy, which made the boating a bit tricky this morning. There's been a fair amount of traffic, but the moorings here in Huddlesford were deserted again. They've filled up quite a bit now, so it must have been down to our timing.
We've been training Sally to be a quieter boat dog; she's generally very good, but has a bit of a thing about a) mallards and b) cyclists. Both have to be barked at, she reckons, so Elanor is working on a retraining regime which is beginning to bear fruit.
Whenever a bark is likely, Elanor shows Sally a treat held in her hand. Sally's preoccupation with this prevents her from giving tongue, so she gets the treat as a reward when the bark eliciting stimulus has passed.
The main job today was washing the roof and starboard side of the boat. Both had got covered in white dust whilst we were at Kingsbury; the port side will be against the towpath when we move the boat to Fradley tomorrow, so hopefully we'll get that side done then.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction
Thursday, 28 April 2011
A long day's boating (by our standards)
Elanor is joining us for a couple of nights, and Huddlesford is the best place to meet her as it has really handy car parking. We therefore had to put in some serious boating hours by our standards today, retracing in a single day the route that took us three days going out.
We got away at eight, on a day of blustery nor'-easterly winds that fairly made my eyes water. An earlier start would have been better, all else being equal, but we needed a pump out, and Fazeley Mill opens at nine. The timing worked out just right, and I'm pleased to report that I managed to reverse Sanity Again into the marina and onto the service wharf without too much hassle or even much under-the-breath imprecation.
We didn't need diesel yet, not at 92 ppl for domestic, so just had the pump out at £15.50. It's neither the best nor the worst in the world, but not as good as it was when Corinne was in charge. You get just the one rinse, and the tank gauge showed that a bit more could have been extracted with a little more trouble. Out we came again, pulling across the bows of a Viking Afloat boat waiting to come in, so I'm glad that the exit was as smooth as the entry.
The tail end of the Birmingham and Fazeley runs under a footbridge linking a housing estate on one side of the cut with Millfield Primary School on the other. As we approached, the entire school started to cross this bridge, waving Union Jacks and generally expressing a high level of glee. They were clearly celebrating tomorrow's wedding, and many of them were in appropriate costume.
To their delight, I gave them a double toot on the klaxon as we passed beneath them, and there was much waving all round.
We stopped on the last bit of mooring on the B&F, so that I could nip round to the Tesco Express for a bit of top up shopping. The whole town seemed to be lining the streets, and by the time I came out, the school procession was on its way down the road. Fazeley was clearly showing a substantial degree of monarchical loyalty, and having a great time in so doing.
We reached Whittington just on 12, so stopped for lunch, then boated on for the final 20 minutes run to Huddlesford. Des Barnard was busy on Farne, and popped round for a cup of coffee and a chat after we'd tied on the visitor moorings. Unlike previous years, these were largely empty, the crowd of lurkers which used to forgather here having moved on to the other side of the junction, where at least they are out of the way of the 48 hour moorings.
We gave Des a hand to move Farne across the cut and under the railway bridge, so that he could work on her offside, then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the bow, the wind having moderated and the sun come out, making for a pleasant if cool spring afternoon.
We got away at eight, on a day of blustery nor'-easterly winds that fairly made my eyes water. An earlier start would have been better, all else being equal, but we needed a pump out, and Fazeley Mill opens at nine. The timing worked out just right, and I'm pleased to report that I managed to reverse Sanity Again into the marina and onto the service wharf without too much hassle or even much under-the-breath imprecation.
We didn't need diesel yet, not at 92 ppl for domestic, so just had the pump out at £15.50. It's neither the best nor the worst in the world, but not as good as it was when Corinne was in charge. You get just the one rinse, and the tank gauge showed that a bit more could have been extracted with a little more trouble. Out we came again, pulling across the bows of a Viking Afloat boat waiting to come in, so I'm glad that the exit was as smooth as the entry.
The tail end of the Birmingham and Fazeley runs under a footbridge linking a housing estate on one side of the cut with Millfield Primary School on the other. As we approached, the entire school started to cross this bridge, waving Union Jacks and generally expressing a high level of glee. They were clearly celebrating tomorrow's wedding, and many of them were in appropriate costume.
To their delight, I gave them a double toot on the klaxon as we passed beneath them, and there was much waving all round.
We stopped on the last bit of mooring on the B&F, so that I could nip round to the Tesco Express for a bit of top up shopping. The whole town seemed to be lining the streets, and by the time I came out, the school procession was on its way down the road. Fazeley was clearly showing a substantial degree of monarchical loyalty, and having a great time in so doing.
We reached Whittington just on 12, so stopped for lunch, then boated on for the final 20 minutes run to Huddlesford. Des Barnard was busy on Farne, and popped round for a cup of coffee and a chat after we'd tied on the visitor moorings. Unlike previous years, these were largely empty, the crowd of lurkers which used to forgather here having moved on to the other side of the junction, where at least they are out of the way of the 48 hour moorings.
We gave Des a hand to move Farne across the cut and under the railway bridge, so that he could work on her offside, then spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the bow, the wind having moderated and the sun come out, making for a pleasant if cool spring afternoon.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction
Friday, 22 April 2011
If we had a rabbit...
... and annoyed it, we'd have a hot cross bun. It's like the height of summer today, and we've been tottering around in polo shirts and shorts all day. It got hot enough after lunch to make hiding in the boat advisable, and it's definitely going to be salad tonight. The hawthorn is now in blossom, so clouts can be cast, say I.
We had a nice run up Fradley, a bit of traffic around first thing, but nothing like as bad as it can be. Then I steered along the familiar pound through Streethay to Huddlesford, where there was plenty of room on the towpath at midday. Most of the regular lurkers seem to be hanging out on the Coventry at Fradley at the moment.
It's really good to see loads of folks enjoying the cut on a day like this, and it looks as if we've got the weather for most of the weekend, hooray.
There'll likely be a return to more normal April conditions after that, but hey, who's complaining?
We're killing time this week, so we'll make a gentle toddle along to Kingsbury Water Park over the next few days, then amble back to Alrewas for a week on Monday.
We had a nice run up Fradley, a bit of traffic around first thing, but nothing like as bad as it can be. Then I steered along the familiar pound through Streethay to Huddlesford, where there was plenty of room on the towpath at midday. Most of the regular lurkers seem to be hanging out on the Coventry at Fradley at the moment.
It's really good to see loads of folks enjoying the cut on a day like this, and it looks as if we've got the weather for most of the weekend, hooray.
There'll likely be a return to more normal April conditions after that, but hey, who's complaining?
We're killing time this week, so we'll make a gentle toddle along to Kingsbury Water Park over the next few days, then amble back to Alrewas for a week on Monday.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction
Monday, 20 July 2009
and back to Alrewas
19th & 20th July
Not stopping to wait for the supermarkets to open on a Sunday morning we set off in good time yesterday and Sheila boated under the A5 and on to the winding hole just before Bonehill Bridge. We'd had some concern that the area might be occupied by fishing persons, but in the event the only (minor) problem was that a privateer (who shall be nameless for two reasons, a) charity and b) I've forgotten it) had moored on the towpath opposite the hole.
Despite this, Sheila performed a master class standard winding, and was returning in the opposite direction before the boat which had set off immediately after us was anywhere near.
There followed an unexceptional but very pleasant morning boating back through Hopwas and Whittington to tie on the visitor moorings on the Fradley side of Huddlesford Junction. On the way we crossed with Peter and Gill on Cala and stopped with the two boats drifting side by side for a hasty exchange of news. This was terminated by the appearance of boats coming in both directions and there was a brief period of mild chaos whilst we all got ourselves sorted out.
After lunch we set off to find a geocache which Sheila had identified from the web site. The cunning plan was to do this before the rain set in, but in the event we spent about as much time sheltering under bridges from seriously heavy showers as we did walking or hunting for the cache.
A micro cache hidden in the middle of a hawthorn hedge, it was quite a challenge to find even though we were very sure we were in the right location. Our combined effort turned it up just as we were about to give it up, so we walked back, still dodging showers, with a great sense of achievement.
The weather now continued wet for most of the rest of the day, which we spent sorting out our nearly final ideas about Sanity Again, and e-mailing them to Peter Mason. I'll do a post on the Building Sanity Again blog just to summarise where we've got to.
Today was one of those when it seemed likely that timing would be moderately critical in whether we found a mooring in Alrewas. The peak holiday season has definitely started, so arriving at popular spots between ten and half eleven is the way to maximise your chances of getting a choice of mooring space.
Fortunately we woke in good time (i.e. before half six) and were under way by half seven. It was a gloriously sunny morning, summer on the cut at its best, and we made steady progress through Streethay to Fradley Junction. There we stopped to water before the swing bridge and did our good turn for the day by lending a tap connector to another boat crew who had just thrown theirs into the water.
Speaking of the swing bridge, it now sports on both sides of the bridge a notice which is either the apogee or the nadir of BW's obsession with signage. It says :
Bridge Operating Instructions
presumably in case the boater has not worked this out for him or herself. I am tempted to suggest that if this is their estimate of boater intelligence they should start putting lock operating instructions at every lock, but will not do so in case they take me seriously, BW senior management not having a good grasp of the concept of irony.
Water tank full and rubbish disposed of, we joined the merry mêlée descending Junction, Keeper's and Hunt's locks, crossing with boats coming up at each one. Similar conditions obtained at Common and Bagnall locks and we got into Alrewas just after half ten to find that there was indeed a good choice of moorings.
We've had a relaxed afternoon. Sheila has progressed the production of eight 15" porthole doilies by one further doily (two down, six to go) and I did some shopping and visited the post office.
We've had a chat with the current owner of Colne, Braidbar 14, which he tells us is now up for sale for family reasons. It's being sold through King's Bromley Marina if anyone is interested.
Tomorrow we stay at Alrewas to partake in the village walk and to celebrate our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary.
Not stopping to wait for the supermarkets to open on a Sunday morning we set off in good time yesterday and Sheila boated under the A5 and on to the winding hole just before Bonehill Bridge. We'd had some concern that the area might be occupied by fishing persons, but in the event the only (minor) problem was that a privateer (who shall be nameless for two reasons, a) charity and b) I've forgotten it) had moored on the towpath opposite the hole.
Despite this, Sheila performed a master class standard winding, and was returning in the opposite direction before the boat which had set off immediately after us was anywhere near.
There followed an unexceptional but very pleasant morning boating back through Hopwas and Whittington to tie on the visitor moorings on the Fradley side of Huddlesford Junction. On the way we crossed with Peter and Gill on Cala and stopped with the two boats drifting side by side for a hasty exchange of news. This was terminated by the appearance of boats coming in both directions and there was a brief period of mild chaos whilst we all got ourselves sorted out.
After lunch we set off to find a geocache which Sheila had identified from the web site. The cunning plan was to do this before the rain set in, but in the event we spent about as much time sheltering under bridges from seriously heavy showers as we did walking or hunting for the cache.
A micro cache hidden in the middle of a hawthorn hedge, it was quite a challenge to find even though we were very sure we were in the right location. Our combined effort turned it up just as we were about to give it up, so we walked back, still dodging showers, with a great sense of achievement.
The weather now continued wet for most of the rest of the day, which we spent sorting out our nearly final ideas about Sanity Again, and e-mailing them to Peter Mason. I'll do a post on the Building Sanity Again blog just to summarise where we've got to.
Today was one of those when it seemed likely that timing would be moderately critical in whether we found a mooring in Alrewas. The peak holiday season has definitely started, so arriving at popular spots between ten and half eleven is the way to maximise your chances of getting a choice of mooring space.
Fortunately we woke in good time (i.e. before half six) and were under way by half seven. It was a gloriously sunny morning, summer on the cut at its best, and we made steady progress through Streethay to Fradley Junction. There we stopped to water before the swing bridge and did our good turn for the day by lending a tap connector to another boat crew who had just thrown theirs into the water.
Speaking of the swing bridge, it now sports on both sides of the bridge a notice which is either the apogee or the nadir of BW's obsession with signage. It says :
Bridge Operating Instructions
- Open bridge fully
- Move boat through
- Close bridge securely
presumably in case the boater has not worked this out for him or herself. I am tempted to suggest that if this is their estimate of boater intelligence they should start putting lock operating instructions at every lock, but will not do so in case they take me seriously, BW senior management not having a good grasp of the concept of irony.
Water tank full and rubbish disposed of, we joined the merry mêlée descending Junction, Keeper's and Hunt's locks, crossing with boats coming up at each one. Similar conditions obtained at Common and Bagnall locks and we got into Alrewas just after half ten to find that there was indeed a good choice of moorings.
We've had a relaxed afternoon. Sheila has progressed the production of eight 15" porthole doilies by one further doily (two down, six to go) and I did some shopping and visited the post office.
We've had a chat with the current owner of Colne, Braidbar 14, which he tells us is now up for sale for family reasons. It's being sold through King's Bromley Marina if anyone is interested.
Tomorrow we stay at Alrewas to partake in the village walk and to celebrate our thirty-eighth wedding anniversary.
Labels:
Alrewas,
Huddlesford Junction
Saturday, 20 December 2008
Yet more shopping, and then heading back to Alrewas
19th & 20th December
I seem to be seriously dopey today, so apologies in advance if this post makes even less sense than usual. For no good reason, I woke at 2.30 this morning, and slept only fitfully thereafter, using the extra time to worry about the water pump, where we'll get a turkey from this year, whether Elanor got home safely last night, and a few other things I don't now recall.
I burden you with these insights not in a sense of whimpering, but just to demonstrate to my non-liveaboard readers that the fact of living in paradise (as we still see and experience it) doesn't free you from the ordinary fears and anxieties of daily living and parenting.
Howsomedever, on with the blog: yesterday we had a relaxed start, lying in bed for quite a while before, according to my notes, "the earth moving started again". No, I don't mean that, this is a family blog, just that after a while the noise of the mega machines working on the new building site started to filter through and we felt obliged to get on with the day.
This was our last chance to do serious shopping for a while, so we did it in two sessions, either side of lunch. By the finish, we'd completed all the present shopping for Christmas, and stocked up in most of the goodies we want for the holiday season.
In the afternoon we printed off the remaining calendars, and Sheila punched them and tied them up with her specially made crocheted string.
During her lunch break, Elanor gave us a call from work and, finding that we weren't too far from her route home, agreed to call in for a chat. This made a very pleasant end to the day, though she couldn't stay for dinner on this occasion.
This morning it was quite damp outside. No earth movers, it being Saturday, so we were able to loaf in bed even longer than before. I'd had this worry session in the night, as I've said, and as a result, decided that as well as getting the newspaper from Sainsbury's before we set off, I'd invest in a ham and a frozen turkey.
In the event, I bought a small Christmas cake and some toothbrush heads as well. On return to the boat, I found Sheila trying to do some money moving before we left the good internet connection zone. Ironically, the connection was seriously playing up, running very slowly. This always makes for a particular problem when trying to deal with one of the banking sites, with their highly secure and error checked connection.
She managed to get half of what she wanted done before my unexpressed (but I'm sure apparent) rising irritation and frustration got the better of her and we set off.
It was her turn to steer, so I spent a bit of time below doing other, routine internet stuff like checking Google Reader for my RSS feeds, and downloading a detailed weather forecast.
The connection had got so slow it wouldn't even achieve either of these, so I disconnected, unplugged the modem and left it all for a bit. On reconnection, it was back to normal speed. I'd assumed that the previous slow behaviour was down to the high levels of voice traffic to be expected on the last Saturday before Christmas – all those calls from the supermarket aisles about what they've got or not got in stock - but it may just have been a chance duff link, I guess.
No matter, I knew what Sheila had been trying to do, with one of my accounts as it happens, so I quickly connected to the relevant bank and made the transfer without any trouble.
Whilst ahead of the game in this way, I also found the Jabsco on line shop site, in case we need to change the water pump (it's a Jabsco ParMax 3). This prompted me to check the state of the accumulator, which, ahaha, had lost all the pressure I'd put in the other day. I've pumped it up again, but it looks like it'll be the accumulator to change first, and then see if the pump needs doing as well. (We're looking at £40 as opposed to around £100, so it makes sense to do the cheaper bit first.)
It being Saturday, there's nothing to be lost by waiting until tomorrow to check the accumulator again – if it's lost pressure in 24 hours, the diaphragm must be leaking, and it'll have to go.
We've tied just short of Huddlesford Junction for a quiet afternoon and night. A text exchange with Elanor established that she'd like to come for dinner tomorrow night, when we should be back in Alrewas, and would like spag bol, so I'll cook the piece of boiling bacon tonight, and then we'll have some to cut cold during the Christmas period.
I seem to be seriously dopey today, so apologies in advance if this post makes even less sense than usual. For no good reason, I woke at 2.30 this morning, and slept only fitfully thereafter, using the extra time to worry about the water pump, where we'll get a turkey from this year, whether Elanor got home safely last night, and a few other things I don't now recall.
I burden you with these insights not in a sense of whimpering, but just to demonstrate to my non-liveaboard readers that the fact of living in paradise (as we still see and experience it) doesn't free you from the ordinary fears and anxieties of daily living and parenting.
Howsomedever, on with the blog: yesterday we had a relaxed start, lying in bed for quite a while before, according to my notes, "the earth moving started again". No, I don't mean that, this is a family blog, just that after a while the noise of the mega machines working on the new building site started to filter through and we felt obliged to get on with the day.
This was our last chance to do serious shopping for a while, so we did it in two sessions, either side of lunch. By the finish, we'd completed all the present shopping for Christmas, and stocked up in most of the goodies we want for the holiday season.
In the afternoon we printed off the remaining calendars, and Sheila punched them and tied them up with her specially made crocheted string.
During her lunch break, Elanor gave us a call from work and, finding that we weren't too far from her route home, agreed to call in for a chat. This made a very pleasant end to the day, though she couldn't stay for dinner on this occasion.
This morning it was quite damp outside. No earth movers, it being Saturday, so we were able to loaf in bed even longer than before. I'd had this worry session in the night, as I've said, and as a result, decided that as well as getting the newspaper from Sainsbury's before we set off, I'd invest in a ham and a frozen turkey.
In the event, I bought a small Christmas cake and some toothbrush heads as well. On return to the boat, I found Sheila trying to do some money moving before we left the good internet connection zone. Ironically, the connection was seriously playing up, running very slowly. This always makes for a particular problem when trying to deal with one of the banking sites, with their highly secure and error checked connection.
She managed to get half of what she wanted done before my unexpressed (but I'm sure apparent) rising irritation and frustration got the better of her and we set off.
It was her turn to steer, so I spent a bit of time below doing other, routine internet stuff like checking Google Reader for my RSS feeds, and downloading a detailed weather forecast.
The connection had got so slow it wouldn't even achieve either of these, so I disconnected, unplugged the modem and left it all for a bit. On reconnection, it was back to normal speed. I'd assumed that the previous slow behaviour was down to the high levels of voice traffic to be expected on the last Saturday before Christmas – all those calls from the supermarket aisles about what they've got or not got in stock - but it may just have been a chance duff link, I guess.
No matter, I knew what Sheila had been trying to do, with one of my accounts as it happens, so I quickly connected to the relevant bank and made the transfer without any trouble.
Whilst ahead of the game in this way, I also found the Jabsco on line shop site, in case we need to change the water pump (it's a Jabsco ParMax 3). This prompted me to check the state of the accumulator, which, ahaha, had lost all the pressure I'd put in the other day. I've pumped it up again, but it looks like it'll be the accumulator to change first, and then see if the pump needs doing as well. (We're looking at £40 as opposed to around £100, so it makes sense to do the cheaper bit first.)
It being Saturday, there's nothing to be lost by waiting until tomorrow to check the accumulator again – if it's lost pressure in 24 hours, the diaphragm must be leaking, and it'll have to go.
We've tied just short of Huddlesford Junction for a quiet afternoon and night. A text exchange with Elanor established that she'd like to come for dinner tomorrow night, when we should be back in Alrewas, and would like spag bol, so I'll cook the piece of boiling bacon tonight, and then we'll have some to cut cold during the Christmas period.
Labels:
Fazeley,
Huddlesford Junction
Sunday, 23 September 2007
A great weekend at Lichfield CC
More about phone connectors:
First off, to carry on from last time on the subject of mobile phone connectors: I emailed Boaters Phone Company with the text of what I said about the Velcro connector, and this is the reply I got this morning:
This is fair enough. I’ve replied to say that we don’t want a refund, but a better bit of Velcro would be good. It’s apparent that the induction coil systems don’t work as well as the plug in connectors, so it’s a great pity that fewer and fewer phones have an aerial socket. I’ll have a go at Nokia about this and the short backlight time (10s), but I’m not holding my breath for the sort of prompt and courteous reply I’ve had from BPC.
22nd & 23rd September
We woke to a misty morning yesterday, and after breakfast went and wandered round the show field. It was just 10 o’clock, so things were still being organised, but it soon came together. Like the Lichfield Cruising Club itself, there was a pleasant mix of informality and organisation that made you feel very welcome. We bought some more paperbacks (we’ve just about finished the ones we bought at the National, and passed them on to Elanor), and were just about to wander back to the boat when Graham and Beryl off Priscilla turned up. That gave us an excuse to go round again and check out the stalls that hadn’t quite been ready last time.
By the time we’d done all that, it was lunchtime, so we popped into the clubhouse for a quick one before getting a burger from the barbeque. Des and Gill from Farne joined us, so we had another quick one, and suddenly it was two o’clock.
There was, however, still quite a queue at the barbie – they hadn’t got a lot of fire going, despite it being a good big brick built job, and a rush of customers seemed to have caught them on the hop.
No matter, whilst waiting, Sheila went off to talk to Barbara of Braunston Pickle, the folk group scheduled to entertain that night. We know Barbara from working with her at Nationals and the Little Venice Canalway Cavalcade; her partner Malcolm is also a long standing volunteer with WRG. Whilst this was going on and the queue was edging its way forward, Elanor and Stuart rocked up. They went off to check out the show field whilst Sheila and I ate our finally obtained burgers and sausages.
After mooching round with them for a bit, we fell back on the boat for a cup of tea and family chat.
Elanor and Stuart went off for an evening on their own, and Sheila and I got ready for the night’s festivities. These consisted of a baked potato and choice of filling, followed by gateau. Then we all went into the marquee and were entertained for about three and a half hours by Braunston Pickle (folk with bits of other stuff) and Bernie Howdle (country and other stuff).
Both were very good. If I wanted to be picky at all, I would have liked more canal folksongs from BP – we were in a cruising club after all, and the two they did were excellent. Bernie was better in his second set than his first, when he did less bubblegum country, and more oldies and humorous stuff. Throughout he was a bit loud for my ageing ears, too.
We finally got back to the boat a bit before midnight, after a good evening with good friends.
This morning we made a leisurely start, and went to the clubhouse at about half eight for breakfast at nine. This was a great communal meal, thirty of us at the table for the first sitting.
After, it was time to leave. We had asked about getting diesel at the club, or rather Des had said he’d ask for us, but it seems the Revenue rules mean that they can only sell to club members, and being a member of an AWCC affiliated club won’t do. No matter, we said, we’ll just have to pay Streethay prices. When we got to Streethay, though, despite their nice new services mooring, it was very hard to see how they expected a visiting boat to get in. They’d got a part fitted boat tied on half the services mooring, a trot of four on our approach to it, and another boat just off the far end. All this on a tight bend and in a fresh cross wind. Added to this, they only show the price per gallon (is this legal these days?) and it’s pretty steep, at 57.2 pence per litre.
We decided that they could do without our custom, and we would either fuel at Fradley if Geoff’s got his diesel supply sorted, or else go down to Barton Turns tomorrow. Andrew Denny always has a good word for Streethay, but to us they seem that bit too interested in getting your money off you rather than providing a good service. Scarweather has just left there to go to a cheaper mooring at Weedon, which considering that’s a good bit nearer London makes you think a bit.
On arrival at Fradley, we moored near the water point on the end of the Coventry. It seems that the diesel supply is sorted here, but they ran out on Friday. There’s a fresh delivery due tomorrow, so we’ll probably sit tight here until it comes.
First off, to carry on from last time on the subject of mobile phone connectors: I emailed Boaters Phone Company with the text of what I said about the Velcro connector, and this is the reply I got this morning:
I don't think we are recommending this as an ' Optimum Buy' its just that it is the only one available for phones without an antenna socket unless one of our Cradle adapters fits.
Regarding signal strength, we have found that customers are assuming that the indicator on their handset is accurate, it is not, especially with inductive adapters. The only true test is to let the phone go out of range, turn it off, connect the antenna adapter ( of whatever sort) and then turn the phone back on, if you can make and receive calls, then the adapter works.
Regarding the Velcro, we will look into that and see if we can source a better quality, we do supply replacement patches Free of Charge. Perhaps you would include my reply on your next entry.
if you want a refund send the adapter back, of the few that have been returned, none have been faulty when we have tested them, its just that they don't work as dramatically as plug in adapters, how about you contacting Nokia, we have been trying for years to get them to listen to our feedback.
Regards
Mark
This is fair enough. I’ve replied to say that we don’t want a refund, but a better bit of Velcro would be good. It’s apparent that the induction coil systems don’t work as well as the plug in connectors, so it’s a great pity that fewer and fewer phones have an aerial socket. I’ll have a go at Nokia about this and the short backlight time (10s), but I’m not holding my breath for the sort of prompt and courteous reply I’ve had from BPC.
22nd & 23rd September
We woke to a misty morning yesterday, and after breakfast went and wandered round the show field. It was just 10 o’clock, so things were still being organised, but it soon came together. Like the Lichfield Cruising Club itself, there was a pleasant mix of informality and organisation that made you feel very welcome. We bought some more paperbacks (we’ve just about finished the ones we bought at the National, and passed them on to Elanor), and were just about to wander back to the boat when Graham and Beryl off Priscilla turned up. That gave us an excuse to go round again and check out the stalls that hadn’t quite been ready last time.
By the time we’d done all that, it was lunchtime, so we popped into the clubhouse for a quick one before getting a burger from the barbeque. Des and Gill from Farne joined us, so we had another quick one, and suddenly it was two o’clock.
There was, however, still quite a queue at the barbie – they hadn’t got a lot of fire going, despite it being a good big brick built job, and a rush of customers seemed to have caught them on the hop.
No matter, whilst waiting, Sheila went off to talk to Barbara of Braunston Pickle, the folk group scheduled to entertain that night. We know Barbara from working with her at Nationals and the Little Venice Canalway Cavalcade; her partner Malcolm is also a long standing volunteer with WRG. Whilst this was going on and the queue was edging its way forward, Elanor and Stuart rocked up. They went off to check out the show field whilst Sheila and I ate our finally obtained burgers and sausages.
After mooching round with them for a bit, we fell back on the boat for a cup of tea and family chat.
Elanor and Stuart went off for an evening on their own, and Sheila and I got ready for the night’s festivities. These consisted of a baked potato and choice of filling, followed by gateau. Then we all went into the marquee and were entertained for about three and a half hours by Braunston Pickle (folk with bits of other stuff) and Bernie Howdle (country and other stuff).
Both were very good. If I wanted to be picky at all, I would have liked more canal folksongs from BP – we were in a cruising club after all, and the two they did were excellent. Bernie was better in his second set than his first, when he did less bubblegum country, and more oldies and humorous stuff. Throughout he was a bit loud for my ageing ears, too.
We finally got back to the boat a bit before midnight, after a good evening with good friends.
This morning we made a leisurely start, and went to the clubhouse at about half eight for breakfast at nine. This was a great communal meal, thirty of us at the table for the first sitting.
After, it was time to leave. We had asked about getting diesel at the club, or rather Des had said he’d ask for us, but it seems the Revenue rules mean that they can only sell to club members, and being a member of an AWCC affiliated club won’t do. No matter, we said, we’ll just have to pay Streethay prices. When we got to Streethay, though, despite their nice new services mooring, it was very hard to see how they expected a visiting boat to get in. They’d got a part fitted boat tied on half the services mooring, a trot of four on our approach to it, and another boat just off the far end. All this on a tight bend and in a fresh cross wind. Added to this, they only show the price per gallon (is this legal these days?) and it’s pretty steep, at 57.2 pence per litre.
We decided that they could do without our custom, and we would either fuel at Fradley if Geoff’s got his diesel supply sorted, or else go down to Barton Turns tomorrow. Andrew Denny always has a good word for Streethay, but to us they seem that bit too interested in getting your money off you rather than providing a good service. Scarweather has just left there to go to a cheaper mooring at Weedon, which considering that’s a good bit nearer London makes you think a bit.
On arrival at Fradley, we moored near the water point on the end of the Coventry. It seems that the diesel supply is sorted here, but they ran out on Friday. There’s a fresh delivery due tomorrow, so we’ll probably sit tight here until it comes.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction
Friday, 21 September 2007
A nice club, and phone connectors
20th & 21st September
We woke to weather that had resumed the classic warm wet westerly pattern, so no need for the stove. After trolling off to the shops to get a paper, a copy of this month’s Waterways World and a few bits and bobs, we set off for Whittington.
On the way we passed Scarweather, Braidbar number 54. She was moored at Streethay, but they are relocating to Weedon.
We tied in the centre of Whittington by lunchtime, and used a bit of time in the drier afternoon to rinse down the starboard side again, and to polish the portholes on that side. Despite washing her at Hartshill, the side had got very dusty again, whether from the limestone BW now uses for towpath surfacing, or from the bonemeal factory nearby, we’re not sure.
In the evening we had a meal with Des and Gill Barnard, who live in Whittington and moor Farne, Braidbar number 82, at Lichfield Cruising Club, Huddlesford, where we are going for the Boat Gathering this weekend.
An excellent evening was had, with good fod, pleasant wine and chat ranging over a lot of shared interests.
Today we had all of half an hours boating to do, so had a very lazy start, eventually chugging round to Huddlesford at 9.30 or so. After tying, we went round to the club. Last night we’d said how nice it would be to be just punters visiting a boating event, but when we got there, there were a couple of marquees to put up, and it was very windy, and they needed all the help they could get...
LCC proves to be a very friendly club, with a lot of moorings on the stump of the Lichfield canal (focus of restoration by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Trust), a clubhouse in the old toll cottages that they rent from BW, and that great atmosphere of a club that relies on its members’ work to maintain itself.
They’ve got plans for a mooring basin when the L&H is restored, and have already bought a field to use for the purpose. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow's event.
Phone Connectors
The other month I said we were trying out a new type of connector from our mobile to the Boaters Phone Company aerial. It’s attached by a Velcro pad to the back of the phone, and works by induction between the connector and the phone’s internal aerial.
I have to say that it’s been a disappointment on our Nokia 6234. The Velcro is very feeble, and falls off at the least excuse, and the gain in signal is poor, much worse than the plug in connectors we use on the old Nokia 6310i (now well past its prime) and the Sony Ericsson K700i (still functional but not such a nice phone as either Nokia).
We’ve gone back to using the Sony as the main boat phone, as the 6234 was just too feeble in poor signal strength areas, so that I had to keep swapping the SIM card out of it into one of the others. It’s a pity, but I don’t think I would recommend the Velcro type connector, and at £20 it’s not cheap.
Probably better would be to buy a phone cradle of the type meant for in-car installations, if you can find one for your phone which takes the FME connector on the downlead from the aerial.
We woke to weather that had resumed the classic warm wet westerly pattern, so no need for the stove. After trolling off to the shops to get a paper, a copy of this month’s Waterways World and a few bits and bobs, we set off for Whittington.
On the way we passed Scarweather, Braidbar number 54. She was moored at Streethay, but they are relocating to Weedon.
We tied in the centre of Whittington by lunchtime, and used a bit of time in the drier afternoon to rinse down the starboard side again, and to polish the portholes on that side. Despite washing her at Hartshill, the side had got very dusty again, whether from the limestone BW now uses for towpath surfacing, or from the bonemeal factory nearby, we’re not sure.
In the evening we had a meal with Des and Gill Barnard, who live in Whittington and moor Farne, Braidbar number 82, at Lichfield Cruising Club, Huddlesford, where we are going for the Boat Gathering this weekend.
An excellent evening was had, with good fod, pleasant wine and chat ranging over a lot of shared interests.
Today we had all of half an hours boating to do, so had a very lazy start, eventually chugging round to Huddlesford at 9.30 or so. After tying, we went round to the club. Last night we’d said how nice it would be to be just punters visiting a boating event, but when we got there, there were a couple of marquees to put up, and it was very windy, and they needed all the help they could get...
LCC proves to be a very friendly club, with a lot of moorings on the stump of the Lichfield canal (focus of restoration by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal Trust), a clubhouse in the old toll cottages that they rent from BW, and that great atmosphere of a club that relies on its members’ work to maintain itself.
They’ve got plans for a mooring basin when the L&H is restored, and have already bought a field to use for the purpose. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow's event.
Phone Connectors
The other month I said we were trying out a new type of connector from our mobile to the Boaters Phone Company aerial. It’s attached by a Velcro pad to the back of the phone, and works by induction between the connector and the phone’s internal aerial.
I have to say that it’s been a disappointment on our Nokia 6234. The Velcro is very feeble, and falls off at the least excuse, and the gain in signal is poor, much worse than the plug in connectors we use on the old Nokia 6310i (now well past its prime) and the Sony Ericsson K700i (still functional but not such a nice phone as either Nokia).
We’ve gone back to using the Sony as the main boat phone, as the 6234 was just too feeble in poor signal strength areas, so that I had to keep swapping the SIM card out of it into one of the others. It’s a pity, but I don’t think I would recommend the Velcro type connector, and at £20 it’s not cheap.
Probably better would be to buy a phone cradle of the type meant for in-car installations, if you can find one for your phone which takes the FME connector on the downlead from the aerial.
Labels:
Huddlesford Junction,
Whittington
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