Winter trips to the boat

Due to illness - man flu for me and a cold for Anne we didn't manage to get to the boat between Christmas and New Year. We eventually came up on Sunday 4th January - it was very cold minus5 inside the boat and the marina frozen solid with it going down to minus8 during the night. Didn't take the boat out but did manage a few jobs although we need to do some serious restaining/waxing where condensation has marked the light oak wood.

We went up again last week 12 February when it was not as cold inside the boat only 0 but the marina was still frozen and lots of snow still on the ground.

I will post a few photographs of the frozen surroundings and some of the dewatered Buckby flight which is closed until the beginning of March09.

Mobile cappuccino could be solved

During our three month trip I reported on the number or lack of good cappuccinos that could be found within walking distance of the canal. It showed the very bad state of good coffee around the country. Well our son was given a Bialetti Mukka Expresso (from Amazon) cappuccino maker by his girlfriend that could be the answer to our prayers. It makes 2 cups of superb cappuccino just by placing it on the hob with no messing about with milk steamers at all and only for £47.50., a great bit of Italian engineering to solve a serious problem. This could solve Andrew Denny's issues as well on Granny Buttons. This is going to be a must buy before our next trip for the occasions when I cannot find a land based one!

Mice strike back in unusual place

How about this for a weird event.

I went to top up the screen wash today, in the car that we used to go up to the boat the other week. There is a cup like indent above the shock absorber struts on each side and in one of them were about 30 red berries. They could not have been blown or washed in by wind or rain as there is a bulk head in the way. They are not berries from home, they are like the ones near the car park at the marina. They must have been put there by somebody or something- its about 2ft above ground level and you couldn't reach it with your hand. It must be a winter stock of food for MICE- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Plans did not go to plan

We went up to the boat last Sunday to hopefully go out for a few days during the week - but boating never always goes to plan.
On arrival the temperature inside the boat was -3c, we had mice visiting and our main water pump which supplies the taps and toilet was playing up.

Soon got the fire going and the temperature soon increased and stayed alight for the rest of the week.

We had moored the boat with the stern towards the reeds last time we were up and I noticed that there is a gap at the bottom of the rear doors which is probably how the little perishers got in. Mouse traps were purchased in Southam and set. As I was doing this I disturbed a field mouse that had decided to nest in the bucket hanging up in the electrical cupboard- unfortunately I was not quick enough to catch it. The traps were set and over the next four days we evicted 6 !!!, and turned the boat around so that the bow is now into the reeds -but no further sightings or signs of them during Thursday or Friday night. Hopefully we have seen the last of them but just in case have left the traps in place.

On investigating the pump it was wet around the pump and the floor in the cupboard. My plumbing skills are zero but after talking to the marina manager I decided to have a go and disconnect it. The pipe joints were all ok it was a seal within the pump itself. A common fault it would appear on Shurflow pumps, luckily I had a replacement ( as I had identified it on my critical parts list) so swopped them over. I will try and repair it to use as a spare in future.

With all this excitement we had stayed in the marina and with Wednesday weather not looking so good we decided to do some shopping and therefore over several days visited Banbury, Northampton and Stratford upon Avon. The redevelopment around Stratford basin is really coming on and they have just completed the topping out of the RSC building with landscaping due for completion next summer and the theatre due to open in 2010.

So no trip out but a very pleasant time as always spent on the boat doing boaty things and back home Saturday afternoon.

Autumn weather for jobs

We managed to have a few days on the boat last week to tidy up the scratches on the gunwale during which time the weather was very good with only a few showers on the Thursday. We spent the time in the marina but Friday afternoon's weather was so nice that we had to go out for a short trip to the winding hole near the Napton flight.

On the way back we saw a Kestrel hovering by the canal and I managed to get a reasonable photo of it.


Two rainbows over the marina during one of the showers on Thursday afternoon

The harbour master at the marina is a registered keeper of barn owls and has had this female for the last 18 months. The colouring of the feathers are something else.

Yorkshire Moors and Napton

No long trips recently as Anne's father is in hospital and we have been to a Christening in Lancashire. We did get to the boat on the 24 September for a few days in the week of glorious "summer" weather at last and cruised to Fenny Compton and back to the marina on the Oxford Canal.

One of the things that I get cross about on the cut is the boater that asks you to slow down when you are already on tick over when they have moored their boats with very very slack lines. Why don't they put out a spring line which stops any movement? Photo below shows a spring line at the bow which I use all the time.




A misty morning near Marston Dole with perhaps BW sheep clearing the tow path!!

A large floating "weedberg" presumably cast adrift by cattle drinking from the canal.

An overnight mooring near Br 130 on a glorious summer evening- although the stove was required once the sun went down
The classic photo looking down Napton flight with the windmill in the distance.

The weather in Lancashire for the christening was fantastic and we had the opportunity to go to the Yorkshire Moors. Ribble Head viaduct on The Seatle & Carlisle line on our way to lunch at Hawes. Not directly related to the boat but worth posting as its such glorious scenery.

Weather sends us home

The weather following my last post has been going downhill all the time with heavy rain and wind, all part of the rich tapestry of boating. We had to go back to Welford Wharf so that Les could replace the four engine mounts last Wednesday and therefore we had some time to waste.

Walks around Welford and North Kilworth which produced the following photos.

Although August has been very wet the reservoir that feeds the Leicester Section of the Grand Union at Welford is very low.


We moored for th night on the aquaduct over the River Avon just outside Welford and I walked into North Kilworth about 2 miles away which has some great road names!




And a cottage disappearing under ivy

BB at Market Harborough's Union Wharf, the building behind her is an old warehouse now the Waterfront restaurant- excellent meal was had.

Going back up the Foxton flight one side pond was empty due to few boats coming down the flight. There are a few flights of locks which still use side ponds put in to conserve water in that the water from one lock is taken through the side pond into the next lock so using only one lock of water for each boat passing through the flight- simple but very efficient. The other major flight which uses this principle is the Caen Hill flight near Devizes which hopefully we will visit next year.

You don't see many motorway maintenance vehicles on the canals.

The forecast for this weekend and beyond was awful so we decided that we didn't need to stay on the boat as we can come back anytime. A problem with the Leicester arm is that I could not get an Orange 3G signal so was unable to update the blog whilst out so I am going to look at possible alternatives that appear to be based around "dongles".

The problem continues to be finding good cappuccinos with only Market Harborough providing any respite. How about a mobile coffee shop in a Narrowboat - could be a good business opportunity.