Banbury

A great day for cruising sunshine with a little bit of chill in the air. Still havibg a problem with the PC in that internet explorer will not display the page- but hopefully will get to the bottom soon.

Today Day 3 was 4 locks and 3.5miles and 1 cappuccino in Banbury. I might have to fire up the Bailetti soon as we are heading to the wilderness.

Day 2 we are off

Day 2 cumulative 17 miles , 17 locks and NO cappuccino's

We came up to the boat on Saturday afternoon and by Sunday morning I could find no more jobs left to do so we disconnected the electric and cast off.



Sunday was a fresh day with a bit of wind but good for boating. We moored overnight at the radio most near Fenny Compton and met John and Barbara who have just had their Stowe boat extended by 10ft she looks fantastics and is a credit to her owners and the people that worked on her.



Monday night we are at Cropredy a lovely village with a good 3g connection but the computer keeps locking me out - I don't know way- baaahumbug.

Something I heard yesterday what does Boat mean- Bring Out Another £Thousand!.

I keep watching the Thames conditions which continue to reduce so hopefully we can start the trip down to Reading on Sunday.

The sign post as we left the marina- to the right Oxford and from the left London from which direction we will hopefully return.

I saw the canada goose on its own I thought until I saw the head of his/her mate either in a big hole or sitting on eggs.

Couldn't resist a spring lamb picture of triplets.

Crochet and cappuccino

We went up to the boat last week to get her ready for the start of our trip to the K&A in about 10 days. I have been watching the conditions on the River Thames which have been up and down around the red warning boards (no go state) mark for the last few weeks. We will therefore make our way down the Oxford canal and continue to watch the conditions. We need two days to get down to Reading and reasonable conditions for the start of the K&A as its river for the first part to Hungerford.

One of the things I am going to continue is my quest for good cappuccino coffee as per our last trip- and much to Anne's dismay- but you have to do these things. I am also taking my secret weapon in case of coffee famine. Its a Bialetti Mukka Express vetro coffee machine which makes one good cup of cappuccino once you master it. Picture below shows the great piece of Italian engineering.

We had porthole bungs made to act as curtains for the boat and used commercial lace on the side which face outwards. It was better than the blue of the bungs which showed against the black of the hull. Anne has never really liked them and has therefore started on making her own crochet replacements.

An example of Anne's new porthole crochet work, without the bung, which already gives privacy so we only need to put the bung in at night.

The old commercial lace cover on the porthole bung. Anne has done a fantastic job on the new one with only another 7 to go. With any luck they should be all done by the time we get back from our trip!!! I'll keep you posted as to progress.

Spring must be round the next corner- surely

We have snowdrops and crocuses out at home but no daffodils yet so a trip to the boat was required to get her ready for our spring cruise.

Unfortunately on arrival we found that the canal is still very much in winter mode - frozen over with a cold wind.

Anne and I went up last Sunday as we needed to replace the domestic battery bank.The builder fiitted 4 -Elecsol 125ah batteries 6 years ago. They have performed very well but started to give trouble when we were on the Thames last July in that they required to be charged for 6/7 hours to reach on 97%. The space where they are is above the swim at the stern as is very tight. I therefore decided to keep to the same and hunted around the internet. The cheapest price was direct from Elecsol at £125 each delivered.

The job was done on Monday by Dickie in the marina and the ice cleared from the canal on Tuesday. A window for a shake down cruise - at trip into Braunston with an over night stop at bridge 103 to test out the batteries. Everything was working OK with the new bank only reducing 20% during our 15 hour stop. The canal remained clear of ice until the Thursday morning but we had returned Wednesday afternoon- it had dropped to minus 5 overnight.

We had turned outside Braunston for a lunch stop and warm around the fire and spotted this very interesting narrow boat. Its nb Sickle with a fascinating history. It was built in a batch of 8 pairs ( motor and butty) by W J Yarwood of Northwich in 1935/36 with a V bottom for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co (GUCCC). During the war the Ministry of War shortened 4 of them for use as ice breakers. Sickle has now been restored to her 1950's condition. Full history can be found on her website.

The entrance to Braunston marina with the ex FMC nb Vulcan's bow and the wharf seen through the iron foot bridge.

Teardrop trailer update

There was an article in last Saturday's Telegraph about classic caravans in a new book coming out on the 15 February entitled "My cool caravan" by Jane Field-Lewis. It mentions that original Teardrop caravans ,in good condition,are rarer than hens teeth. They were made in 1940's America. Therefore the one I saw in Braunston must have been a replica but very interesting indeed. I should have had my camera with me- that will teach me.

Boat OK

We made a quick trip to BB last week to make sure that she was OK and survived the cold weather. All was well and we spent a few days on board- it was just on freezing when we arrived but with the stove alight it soon went up to 15c - very comfortable. We had to go into Braunston to buy a new double skin chimney as ours had finally given up the ghost as most of the inner skin decided to fall away when I attempted to lift it up. Whilst walking through Braunston Marina I did see a really cute small caravan- which I have now found out is a Turtle 1200 from theteardroptrailerssouthwest they are very different and can be towed by virtually any vehicle.

No snow at the marina but I did take this one recently at home of our resident Robin which posed on a tree all fluffed up for me.

Winter wonderland

Happy new year and what a start.

We travelled 264 miles and did 166 locks during 2009- a bit low but we did go to NZ and I was out of action for 3 months due to my eye. Our plan for this year is hopefully the Kennet & Avon down to Bristol - so watch this space should hopefully set out sometime in April.

We had planned to go up to the boat for new year but the weather put paid to that idea. The next idea was to go on the 5 January but the forecast was to say the least not good for most of the country(as we didn't have to go on that day we decided to stay put) snow due everywhere-we received over 8 inches overnight! This was topped up with another 7 inches last weekend. We have been stuck for a week as our road being on a hill is impossible to get out onto the main road with only a daily walk into Battle. A combined effort of neighbours finally managed to get a track through the snow and we made a break for freedom today.

The snow provided an opportunity to get some lovely photographs - The entrance to Battle Abbey and the Abbey Green on which they used to hold the annual 5th November bonfire and fireworks until about 15 years ago - when health and safety deemed it to risky. Which in fact was true as they used to get crowds of over 5000 people crammed into the narrow high street. They now still hold the annual bonfire parade with a token bonfire on the green with the big bonfire and fireworks now on the battle field site behind the Abbey - a fantastic night.


A lone tree in the Great Wood at the end of one of the tracks.

One other hobby - which I have been able to do in the cold weather is 7mm narrow gauge modelling in which I have to build everything.

Its based on the Welshpool & Llanfair Railway and the photo below shows a Hunslet 2-6-2 crossing over the canal scene with the engine shed behind its still work in progress.

Another view looking over the lock, based on an actual one on the Southern Stratford Canal-WIP