Pressing on to Norton Junction

It's been another day that went pretty well to plan. We got going in very good time and were on the Stop House water point before eight. Whilst the tank was filling we had time to eat breakfast and drink a cup of coffee/hot chocolate. Then it was on to the foot of the locks. Union Canal Carriers were busy shuffling boats all over the place (situation normal) but there was still room, just about, for us to tie on the lock landing, so called.

Actually, this meant tying the stern line to a ring and us taking it in turns to hold the centreline, there being no other bollard or ring available. After about 15 minutes, a shortish boat called Phoenix turned up and shared up the locks with us. It was my turn to boat and Sheila's to lock – she had a fairly easy time of it with most of the locks with us. We crossed with a couple of boats coming down into the bargain.

Similarly, we crossed with a couple of boats in the tunnel, neither in the dog leg, fortunately. The first was no problem, but the second had a stupid great tunnel light, pointing directly forward, so that by the time I reached him, I was too dazzled see Sanity Again's bow and we brushed past each other with a bit of a bump. Please, folks, it's not a motorway in there, you only need enough illumination to see the sides of the tunnel maybe twenty feet ahead of the boat.

We've come through the junction and tied on the moorings just a bit up the Leicester Section. This afternoon, we took a walk along to Weltonfield to check what time they open in the morning (10 o'clock) and to collect some more kindling.

Back at the boat, we decided to take our windlasses down the Buckby flight and see if we could see the Braidbar showboat, Mei Long, coming up. Instead, we found that they'd already arrived here and were tied a couple of boats behind us. We've had a very pleasant afternoon drinking coffee with Tony and Margaret and looking through their beautiful boat. It's always a relief to find that you really like the boat you're going to be showing people through!

Tomorrow, we'll go into Weltonfield to get a pump out and fill the diesel tank before carrying on up the Watford flight to tie between Bridges 7 and 8.

Location:Norton Junction

Good planning

Having clocked that the weather was going to start out not too bad and then deteriorate as the day went on, we devised a cunning plan and put it into effect. This involved getting up at six and dressing whilst drinking the first thing tea, then boating round to the Stop House water point to fill the tank and dump rubbish. We ate breakfast whilst there, then carried on to the foot of the locks, arriving just after seven.

There being no sign of any following boat, we decided to carry on up the flight on our own, Sheila steering and your correspondent twirling the windlass. The first two locks were with us. I duly drew the nearside ground paddle first, which in theory should pin the boat against that lock wall. Instead, the bow drifted slowly across until it nudged the offside wall and stayed there until I'd drawn the full paddle, when it drifted back.

We reckon that if the water level is a bit low, the flow from the culvert doesn't pass under the boat and reflect off the opposite wall as it should, instead pushing the bow across.

No matter, it wasn't a big deal. More problematic was the very low state of the pound between 2 and 3, the Nelson Pound named for the Admiral Nelson pub by lock 3. Sheila managed to persuade Sanity Again to get along it, though she said it was like boating through treacle. Once mostly in the lock, I hauled on the centreline to complete the entry. We crossed with another boat between 3 and 4 and were joined by the lockie who was sorting out the levels by running water down from above.

On we went, meeting another boat above 4, who were told to wait until the levels were right. A volockie was in control at the top lock, so altogether an interesting transit of the flight.

Sheila carried on steering as I started the washing machine, pre-loaded yesterday. I didn't quite finish adding hot water before we got to the tunnel mouth, but took over steering just after we entered. We crossed with a couple of boats inside, neither of them in the dog leg for once, and emerged just over thirty minutes later. It was raining a bit, but soon stopped.

We had an uneventful run to the junction, thinking of carrying on a bit as the machine hadn't quite finished rinsing, but the wind was rising and the clouds threatening, so when we saw a space on the towpath just beyond the visitor moorings, we hopped onto it. It's been chucking it down on and off ever since and I've had to light the fire.

Cala with Peter and Gill on board have been past this afternoon; we should see them tomorrow when we get to Crick. I've also had a phone call from Peter Mason, who plans to arrive with hired van and marquee on Thursday morning. I should be able to blog as usual tomorrow, but after that it may be a bit hit and miss, depending on work and social commitments.

After Crick

We got away just after eight this morning and had a good run to the top of Watford, Sheila steering. Winding in the entrance to the marina was interesting as always, mainly because there is only just enough room to do it, but otherwise it was a straightforward business, if a bit damp.

We just missed the tail end of the first convoy down Watford and had to hang about for I guess around 90 minutes before getting into the top of the staircase. There were a good bunch of lockies on, though, and they held back the next boat until we were clear of the problem gates, which otherwise would pour water through the leaking mitres and cills into the engine room.

We've tied just before Norton Junction on a bit of piling before Bridge 3, very quiet and peaceful, just the thing for a post prandial doze recovering from our exertions.

So, "what was the show like?" I hear you ask.

It was great, much better than last year, not least because of the weather, which was amazingly warm and sunny for all three days, but also because the whole mood of the thing was more upbeat. We met lots of followers of this blog, too many to record here I fear (but hi, Neil!), many other old friends, both from the Owners' group and from WRG, and had several very pleasant evenings entertainment on our own and other boats and in The Moorings.

OK, Braidbar didn't win the vote for favourite boat again – but we'll do it one year. The winner, interestingly, was the one Sheila had identified as having the best chance, Emily from the Navigation Company, with distressed/recovered wood fittings and the like and a smart Andy Russell grey paint job. Because it's a popular vote, I reckon you need something a bit eye catching like that, rather than just very high quality fitting and a reputation for good design and flexibility and sensitivity to the owner's requirements.

Other good aspects of the weekend for me were the new layout of the main exhibition area, which was more compact and worked much better than last year, and spending more time in the gazebo having longer talks to potential customers than you can have doing fifteen minute show throughs of the boat.

It's Braidbar's 30th anniversary this year, so at close of business on Saturday evening the team surprised Peter and Susan with a cake in the shape of a narrowboat and some French champagne.

One thing missing, though, was the bottle of whisky promised to us by Mr Ludgate, our prize for winning the Canal Boat Christmas quiz. Never mind, we've not drunk last year's yet, so there's no rush Martin…

/blur

I'm back, if briefly

It was a great show, though not entirely hassle free. We finally left Crick today, and had a good run down Watford to tie just before the Welton Haven marina. It's a lovely spot, that claims to have a good 3 signal, but it's one of those erratic ones that just stops from time to time.

So I'm not going to do a great long blog today, and the blogs will probably be a bit short for the next couple of days (Braunston tomorrow). So, good things about the show:

• We had lots of Braidbars there, 7 on the towpath and two in the marina, plus loads of other owners came and saw us on the stand.
• There was a lot of admiring interest in Bunnies Warren especially from folk interested in reverse layout.
• We came an honourable third in the Favourite Boat in Show.
• The socialising was phenomenal. We had 19 for the pre show party on Sanity Again (still don't know how I did it), and then smaller groups ate together on Saturday and Sunday.
• Monday, Peter and Susan kindly bought us a meal at The Moorings (formerly Edwards), and some of those present presented me with an elegantly tied napkin in lieu of a Commodore's hat. Typically of the Braidbar Owners' Group, it was a very nice gesture done in a humorous way, and I was really quite flattered.

Less good:

• The hassle about the towpath moorings. I'll write about this at more length later this week, I think
• The rain on the Monday
• Martin Ludgate never showed up with the bottle of whisky we won in the Canal Boat christmas quiz, but no surprise there.
• We only managed third in the Favourite Boat in Show

More stuff when we're on a better connection, including some photos of the Washmatik system we've bought for cleaning the outside of the boat. It's simple, and it works!

Towards Crick, by slow degrees

18th & 19th May

Yesterday started out very sunny early, so before anything else, we applied a coat of Black Silk paint to the top bend, the bit of the hull above the full length rubbing strake. (I'm sure that there's a canal specific term for this bit of the boat, but can't think of it offhand.)

Doing this involved me kneeling on the towpath and wielding first a sponge wedge brush on the fiddly bits, then a small, radiator type roller on the rest. Meanwhile, Sheila leant on the side of the boat and pointed out the bits I'd missed.

Actually, that's accurate, but unfair in its impression. It's necessary for the boat to be held off the bank, as you can't leave the fenders in place, so Sheila stands there, pushing at the cabin side for about 30 minutes whilst I edge my way along. From her position, she is better able than I to spot where the new black has failed to cover the old.

Once this job was done, we went up into the village where I bought a load of mince to make chilli on Friday night for all the Braidbar team, and some other stuff to feed us for the rest of this week.

After getting back and putting everything away, we boated round through the Turn, winded in the marina entrance and came back to the water and sanitary point just by the road bridge. There we did a long pump out, having managed to position the boat so that others could still get in to get water.

Whilst doing this, we had a classic conversation with some pleasant folk on a passing Black Prince boat:

BP: Where are we?
Us: Braunston.
BP: Which way are we going?
Us (resisting the temptation to say "Forwards"): Towards London.
BP: Oh, not Ashby Junction then?
Us: No, that was the other way, assuming you mean Hawkesbury Junction and then the Ashby canal.
BP: Oh dear, what shall we do? We don't want to do a lot of locks; we were told that if we went to Ashby Junction there would only be three locks.
Us: You can turn at the marina just round the corner, then turn right when you get back to this junction.
BP: Thanks

They disappeared for quite some time (around 20 minutes), then reappeared looking quite cheerful. The steerer told Sheila "I'm enjoying this... I think!"

I've commented before on the fact that hire companies no longer supply guide books with the boat, so it's really quite remarkable that more hirers don't get lost. I mean I know there's not that many choice points, but the books are invaluable in taking decisions about where to stop for the night and when to turn back.

After we'd pumped out, it was lunch time, so we pulled forward onto the mooring we used the other day, ate lunch and then blacked the other side of the boat. This wasn't quite so straightforward, as it came on to rain, but we managed in the end.

The rest of the afternoon was taken up with pottering about inside, and trying to find out why I can't access the NABO website. Consultation with the canals list demonstrated, by this morning, that it seems to be because I'm using a T-mobile connection.

I've passed the result of the research on to Richard Carpenter, the secretary of that organisation, so that they can see if this situation can be fixed. It's really odd – I'm used to not being able to get any web pages at all in some places, and some spam filters on email block messages from dynamically allocated IP addresses such as you get with dial up and mobile connections, but not being able to access just one site is unusual.

Today, we got up quite early, though I was feeling stiff after the day before, and I did a boot cleaning session before popping up into the village for the paper, a further supply of bread, and some supplies so as to be able to do a cooked breakfast to keep us going whilst working at the show.

Then Sheila winded at the Turn, doing her usual excellent job, despite an unco-operative wind and boats all over the place. We joined a queue at the foot of the flight, and shared up it with fellow continuous cruisers on Twin Sister. There was still a lot of traffic about, so it was slow going, and lunch time before we were in the tunnel. I ate my sandwiches as Sheila steered us through, then took the helm for the stretch to Norton Junction whilst she did the same.

We've found a mooring on the Leicester Arm, just through the junction, the first time we've ever found a space here. I fear Crick may not be as popular or well attended this year, what with the credit crunch and one thing and another.

We've spent the afternoon trying to polish the starboard side, dodging in and out between the showers. The new drill earned its keep straight away – life is indeed much easier with a polishing bonnet.

As I write this, the floor mats are being washed. We'll need to do a good clean through the whole boat, of course, and polish the port side, but we are getting there.

The last couple of years, there's been no real T-mobile signal on the moorings. If that's the case again, I won't be posting here for the next few days. I'll set an automated post to go up on Thursday if we can't get a signal, so folks will know what's going on.