Not too warm when we woke this morning, we were in shade from the park trees. However we knew it wouldn’t last.
By 11am the sun was starting to hit the bow of the boat, then crept its way along the roof and cabin side for the next three or four hours before the shade caught back up with it. Mick took the opportunity of the cooler hours to head off into Watford for a newspaper and a loaf of bread for me. The thought of baking a loaf with 30 degree temperatures just wasn’t appealing. So we enjoyed a poached egg and mushrooms on toast for a late breakfast. Sorry Ade and Aileen but I finished it too quickly!
All gone
Most cats in high temperatures tend to stretch out on a cool surface and spend hours doing very very little. Quite wise really.
Tilly however only stopped for two short breaks all day! The doors opened before 9am and were finally shut after 8pm. When I say open, you’d think we had a nice breeze through the boat, well except once Tilly is out the doors get closed to stop her from returning with friends. But with the side hatch facing the canal that could stay open, we also removed one of our windows and risked opening the off side cratch and left the front door open. None of this created a breeze but luckily our crew numbers didn’t increase.
Mick in the shade of the trees
Most of the day was spent reading. I had a script to read, very good it was too. Mick pulled out a file from one of the boxes we’d brought back from Scarborough. Information sent by a relative in Australia about his family. This confirmed what we already knew about Phillip Chignell being born in Leighton Buzzard on Lake Street, but sadly gave him no more information. He has a lot of scanning to do before he hands over the boxes to Kath, his sister, for safe keeping and her research.
New with the old
I’d wanted to do some technical drawings today, but sweaty hands and tracing paper don’t go together. So I remade my portals to new dimensions that they will be built to. Using stock scenery as a base, we’ll be building the curved sections. To make them strong enough, they can’t just be screwed onto the existing flats, especially the bits that meet the floor, so I have extended them. This also gave me chance to have a go at simplifying the painted design on them. In the process I realised I’d missed a trick, so that was well worth doing in the 28 plus heat.
HOT at 15:36
0 locks, 0 miles, 2 hot boaters, 1 very VERY busy cat, 1909 Newport, 1872 Leighton Buzzard, 2 poached eggs, 1 newspaper, 1 loaf bread, 5 moving boats, 1 noisy park, 34.7 in the pram, 28.7 inside.
Mick was up and off early again this morning to return the car. On his journey he picked up a red pepper so that we could have a pasta salad tonight as we hadn’t quite made up our minds what to do today.
Morning view
We could carry on towards London only having used two of our three nights in the marina, meaning we’d arrived that bit sooner.
Or we could stay another night and do our best to use up the £11.09 that had been left on the electric by washing and drying as much as possible. This would also mean I’d be able to do some work.
Drawn by my Dad in 1941 when he was 16
An advantage of being moored bow end in, was that it would give us the ideal opportunity to fix the second bow fender in position. Doing this without touching up the blacking on the (for want of the proper term) bow post first would just be silly. So I risked having the grumpiest of grumpy men for a second day in a row, I delegated the prep to Mick!
In the future this may prove to have been an unwise thing to do, preparation being the most important thing. Scrapping off any loose paint, giving it a sand and then applying some Fertan, how hard can that be?! I learnt in our early days together that decorating and Mick do not mix. He’d been feeling guilty at me decorating our bedroom so had offered to lend a hand. I got him sanding the skirting boards. This was either a total mistake on my part or his plan all along, so as never to be given such a job again!
That just
needs to be
I worked on technical drawings for panto as Mick sanded etc. Tilly was either lending a hand behind my drawing board or shouting at the back door to go out. Here there are too many unexpected cars and far too many places to hunt for her should she fall in, but she doesn’t see it that way.
on the
floor!
An Ocado shop was put in action, they seem to sell most of the gluten free flours that I use and have been running low on, so it made sense to shop with them. We’ll have to stop for a few things on our way though. Sainsburys sells the only odour control cat litter that isn’t obnoxious to our noses, we should be able to moor close enough to stock up with some and a few boxes of wine in a day or twos time.
Portal drawings one on top of the other
With the weather being warmer I risked washing off the Fertan and once it was dry I applied a coat of blacking to the bow post. This should be dry by morning so that the fenders can go on.
One load of washing is left for the morning and the washing drawer will then be empty. Just about everything will be dry having used the tumble drier as much as we could, you’re not allowed to hang washing out in the marina! Will we run out of electric? Tune in tomorrow to find out.
0 locks, 0 miles, 4 sheets drawings, 1 stomping She, 3 pens retrieved from the floor, 1 near grumpy boy, 5 loads washing, 4 loads tumble dried, 6pm day boat, 1 model arrived in Bristol, 1 red pepper, 1 bow ready.
An early start, well for Mick he had a hire car to pick up in Hemel before we could check in at Cowroast Marina. As before the car hire fees were considerably more than for a small van, so that’s what we’d booked. Mick as he entered the office said that we didn’t need it to be a van, a car would be fine. So we got a Black Corsa which was far more comfortable for the same price.
A tight squeeze
Once back at the boat we pushed off and trundled our way to the top of the lock where a single hander was pleased to see us, until we turned into the marina. We’d been allocated a space opposite the entrance which was only just visible, they like to pack them in tightly round here! An awkward place to get into, but with skill, the odd touch to the girlie button and me fending off at the front too we pulled in without touch any other boat.
Mick checked to see how much credit had been left on the electric hook up, £11, we might end up staying the full three nights (minimum stay here) to use it all. Up at the office we were given a fob for the gate and shown round the facilities. Where once there had been a chandlery there is now a lounge with a pool table, book exchange etc.
You are not going anywhere without me!
We decided to put a load of washing on as soon as we’d hooked up. A 60 degree wash for the towels. This was a mistake as it took an extra hour to normal even on a quick wash. There were places to go and things to do!
Eventually we put the cooled ice block (no freezer still) in Tilly’s magic food bowl and opened up her toy box so that she could keep herself occupied whilst we were away. At 12:15 we pulled out of the marina gates and headed northwards to Scarborough.
The tenants in our house have just moved out, we like to visit at such times to check round. It also gives us the opportunity to rootle through our possessions that we left five years ago and pull out things we’d like or need. It was a long grey dreary drive up the country, slightly annoying as our tenant hadn’t informed us of when he was actually vacating the house and it turns out we could have done this trip from Leighton Buzzard instead last week. Oh well!
Now where did I put that?
We’d had an email from the agents who look after the house, informing us of various things that needed doing. We took a couple of hours to look ourselves making a list as we went. Some things will be paid for out of our tenants bond, other things are just general maintenance that need doing. As we haven’t been to the house in at least a couple of years it was nice to be home home, even if other people live there.
A quick look round the top floor where our land possessions live and a good chat with Andy our next door neighbour, we also got to meet Teddy who is our newest neighbour, aged two. Then we were hot footing it across town to reach Capplemans Chippy before they closed.
Vegan and Gluten free available
Capplemans, just off Prospect Road has gluten free and vegan options on their menu. I was eager to try out their haddock. With four boxes of each and one portion of mushy peas steaming in the car we then hot footed it across town to South Cliff where our friends Jaye and Duncan were waiting ready with plates in the oven.
Duncan, Jaye and Mick
We had a lovely evening catching up with all the news whilst defending my haddock from Pebbles before we retired to bed.
and Pebbles eyeing up my haddock
The local seagulls were elsewhere annoying another part of town so we both slept well. Both Jaye and Duncan were at work today which gave us the impetus to get going. Thank you very much for the bed and hopefully see you both soon.
Mixed media
My model was popped in the post, tracked guaranteed delivery by midday tomorrow as soon as the Post Office opened then we crossed the road to Tower Estates, the people who look after our house. A cuppa with Mark and Val was enjoyed as we worked through and compared notes. We’d been pleasantly surprised at how clean the house had been, just a shame the youngest tenant had chosen to do their own decorating in the wallpapered rooms, not the white emulsioned ones.
Everything that I needed
Back at the house I had a rootle through my work boxes. A roller tray, wallpaper brush, paste, scissors, spare wallpaper and some paste ready to mix. I had everything needed to patch up and cover the mixed media creations. Mick ticked a couple of things off the list too, replacing bulbs etc.
Then the hunt through our possessions started. When we’d started packing away our land life we’d been organised and labeled boxes. As time went on things got less so, in the end things just got mounded up on the top floor. I found my paint colour charts within seconds as I’d been sensible an just popped them on a shelf. But family archive things that we both wanted, well just where were they? Mick thought he’d put it in that corner, no. Maybe in the cupboard under the sink, no. Maybe in the roof space. I was looking for my Dad’s old kitbag, it was nowhere to be seen in the rooms.
The roof space it had to be. This was when we’d been organised thankfully. But making space to be able to get at the things we wanted was a bit hard. The bedding came out, then the kitbag, then the boxes Mick wanted. Hooray! We selected what we wanted along with allowing ourselves a little look at things. Then time was ticking there were still curtains to hang and lamp shades to go back up.
Jobs take time and become frustrating when they are not simple. One curtain track didn’t have enough runners on it, this of course was a much bigger track than any others in the house, which all had far too many runners on them! Time had run out along with patience there was no time to go on a hunt in the shops, this would have to be left for someone else to do.
We packed up the car, locked the door and said goodbye to our house again. The next time we visit will be when the next lot of tenants move on to pastures new.
A very late lunch at Morrisons along with a few supplies and we were on our way again, in constant rain back down the country. As I undid the cratch cover two white paws nudged the front curtain out of the way, Tilly was checking to see if it was us.
It’s all gone!
Well it was about bloomin time! My biscuits had run out, then the magic food bowl ran out, twice! I had all but eight tiny biscuits left and I’d been saving them just incase! They brought some interesting smelling boxes onto the boat. They say some of the things in there are over one hunderd years old. Glad they weren’t away for all that time, those meager biscuits wouldn’t have lasted. They didn’t buy me fish and chips like they did Pebbles, PAH!
I’d saved these but only just incase
0 locks, 0.16 miles, 1 left, 1 tight squeeze, 2 eagles, 1 car not van, 1 fob, £11 electric, A 4146, 450 ish miles by road, 19 enter the roundabouts, 38 rows knitted, 0 traffic cones, 4 of each, 1 mushy peas, 1 very good gf fish, 1 seaside cat, 1 lovely evening, 9 mentions of Duncan so far this year (now 10!), 2 parcels posted, 5 patches of paper, 2 colour charts, 2 boxes, 1 folder, 1 lot of letters, 5½d for Mackintosh Rolos, 2 sketch books (1 my grandfathers), 1 cat brought to the front at Tibshelf, 1 very hungry cat, 1 press night missed.
Mick thought it best for us to move today to be closer to Cow Roast for tomorrow morning. This would save us an hour or so cruise time before checking into the marina for a couple of nights.
Winding at the end
After breakfast we winded only disturbing three fisherpeople and made our way back to Bulbourne Junction. A day boat was already out and about, not going quite so speedy as the one yesterday thank goodness. However meeting another boat on such a shallow stretch meant we had to pull right over the bottom of Oleanna scrapping on the bottom and us listing until she found enough water again.
I stayed below to get on with some work. The date for my next meeting has been set and there’s is quite a bit to do along with cruising down to London with constant locks. I’ve also had a request from the Production Manager to send her the model so that she can show it to some builders for quotes.
Tilly!!!!
So today I made sure I put everything together, made notes of what still needs doing, took photos, checked my sketch drawings making note of any changes so that I can work on these whilst the model is away. Then anything I could scan was scanned. If the postal service lets us down I need to have enough information to be able to recreate the model. Maybe it would just be easier to take the model myself to the meeting, but this week has got busy and the meeting is in Bristol.
Mick turned us back onto the main canal at the junction and then cruised us along the summit pound. To me there seemed to be more boats moored up, some breasted up, but maybe that was just a distorted view from below.
A shaded cruise
For a summit pound there isn’t much to look at as the majority of it is along a cutting. Trees blocking out much of the light for most of the way. Mick hoped for a space as close to the marina as possible, but he overshot and ended up having to reverse back for a space.
The towpath is narrow and quite busy here, a vast contrast to the Wendover Arm. This afternoon we must have had every single north London child under the age of eleven come past, there was a constant stream for over an hour. Most were very polite, but we did get a tap on the windows and one lad shouting in at us. Not bad going really.
A cuff for me
0 locks, 4.23 miles, 1 right, 1 shady summit, 1 overshot mooring, 1 shoe box full of panto, 1 feline assistant overstepping the mark, 1 very hot and humid grey day.
Grand Junction Inn to Little Tring Bridge, Wendover Arm, Grand Union Canal
Bye bye Tyseley, see you down the way
A load of washing was set going before we pushed off today. Still heading southwards we cruised through Bulbourne Bridge and pulled up at the water point. Here we filled the tank as the washing machine did it’s thing. Then we winded at the handy ‘Winding Area’ (as they are now known on new blue signs) and headed northwards.
All ready for redevelopment
The old Bulbourne BW yard is fenced off, along the canalside from the road and surrounding area. Here lock gates uses to be made until 2003 when modern mechanised methods and bad vehicle access meant that production moved to Stanley Ferry and Bradley. The yard and it’s surrounding buildings since then have been used by a metal worker, who’s creations used to add interest, large horses and benches filling the canal side of the yard. But now everywhere is boarded up, it looks like some developers are about to move in.
A C&RT document about the future of Bulbourne is here. I’m not sure when it was written but it details the site. H2O Urban has details of a development on the site here. Four buildings will be converted into 25 new homes, a new footbridge and a new yard for C&RT. Works were meant to start last month on site and a website for the development is being set up here.
Left please
We pootled back to the junction where we turned to the left just above the locks. Here the Wendover Arm heads off in a south westerly direction. Back in February 2015 we came down here on Lillian. The navigable section is only around a mile and a half long with a winding hole and 48hr mooring at the end. The going is slow, very slow, most probably slower than it was on Lillian.
Toot Toot
Perfect timing
Originally the arm was built as a feeder for the summit pound, this was then widened to make it navigable. This however leaked and was shut off with stop planks. A hundred years later Phase 1 of the restoration plan was finished giving us what is navigable today. Phase 2 is ongoing with the aim of linking Wendover to the main network.
About to dive
Along the slow mile we were followed closely by Terns. They took it in turns to hover behind us waited to catch a glimpse of a silvery fish in the water. Dropping from the sky to the water they hoped to catch a tasty morsal. Each turned their backs on us, so we couldn’t see if they had been successful of not. Quite a sight.
Hovering
Going down
We pulled in just before the last bend where several fishermen had taken up residency, a day boat having just winded and was heading back waited for us to tie up. There was another boat before the bridge and one right at the end of navigation, but here it felt like we were on our own, all be it with a noisy mower going back and forth in the garden next door.
Which one?
The sun was out, our windows and hatches all open. Tilly spent seven hours exploring and wondering why we weren’t out playing. Well that’s because we’d come down here for some peace and quiet away from the main canal so that I could get some work done over the next couple of days.
Late afternoon Oleanna bumped the side, someone was coming. Ten minutes later a day boat filled with chaps zoomed past us, bumping us into the side, thankfully Tilly wasn’t peering in through the hatch at the time! Very soon afterwards they zoomed back , not quite as fast as before, they hadn’t had long enough since doing a hand break turn to get up to speed again!
0 locks, 1.85 miles, 1 wind, 1 left, 1 load washing dried and put away, 3 terns, 1 heron, 1 canal being topped up, 1 traction engine, 2 more boats, 5 fishermen, K2 or K6? 4 pieces of car, 7 hours, 1 friend rescued, 1 very sunny day, 1st cuff knitted.
This morning we noticed that NB Tyseley was unable to come through Blisworth Tunnel due to a tree blocking the navigation close to the north portal . A rather big tree too! We seem to be having this effect on trees, luckily for us they fall over behind us. That of course is no good if you are on a schedule, maybe we should let NB Tyseley get ahead of us!
With the knowledge of no boats about to appear from the tunnel we headed for the locks. It was nearly dry outside, but we didn’t trust it so put our waterproofs on. Two boats were coming up the top lock with the help of a Volunteer. They had been told to moor up and wait for news, there was concern that the moorings would soon fill up, would there be enough space for them. There was plenty and I’m sure even by the end of the day there would still have been plenty of room.
Stoke Bruerne Top Lock
One of the boats that had followed us yesterday had already headed down the locks, no locking partner would appear from behind so we started down on our own. The volunteer Lockie soon appeared and went ahead setting locks and by the fourth lock we’d caught NB Carpe Diem up.
Just about full to over flowing
They waited for us after a short pound, our locks worth of water adding to theirs and flooding the sides of the lock. By now the sun was trying to come out, waterproofs came off. We chatted as we descended, they are pootling about until they can get back onto the River Nene once the levels have lowered.
That cloud was catching up with us
As we walked down to the last lock a very dark cloud had caught us up, the boats took their time to deliver our coats, but luckily this was before the rain really got started.
The new collar on the bottom gate was only just noticeable, a new weld giving it away.
2 soggy Micks
A new weld on a slender collar
The level below the lock looked much higher than we remembered. The River Tove joins the navigation here before heading off eastwards, so the current rainfall was swelling the canal.
That looks a touch higher then normal
Pulling in at the services we were pleased to see a recycling bin and one for glass. We made good use of this and deposited our collection that had been taking over the cratch and galley for a while. Then a nudge up to the end where there’s a handy water point. The pressure wasn’t great but that suited us, we could run the washing machine and have lunch as the tank filled. It beat us to it though, but with no other boats arriving we stayed put and topped up the tank before leaving.
Shelving all dressed now
Mick moved us along to find a mooring as I retired below. Models take a lot of painting and I seem to have the same problem as last year, I keep changing my mind! Today some kitchen units were painted three different shades of pink before I liked them. Grrr, designers!!
The sun came out and we had blue skies for much of the remainder of the day.
7 locks, 4 shared, 4.66 miles, 1 downpour, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish left (except bits of cardboard tucked behind the knife block), 1 load washing, 1 pooh bucket changed, 4 hours, 0 fire, 1st blue sky for ages.
Another very wet morning. We weren’t going to be going anywhere! Tilly however was encouraged to take a morning nap as the weather app suggested that it might dry up later on, then we could at least get to Blisworth where we might find a shop for a few bits.
As I sat down to breakfast and to catch up on the latest blogs I picked my computer glasses up. These are old prescription reading glasses that are just perfect to view the lap top with. They are quite old and a lense has a tendency to fall out. Today however it wasn’t the screw that had come loose, it was still there, just where it connected to the other side of the frame had snapped off! Darn and blast!
Broken!
Mended
My bifocals are not good for the computer, I’d have to do something about this. Father Christmas had been a jolly good chap this year and bought me a tube of super glue. This alone would hold things together but some reinforcing would be wise. With some black button thread and Mick to help hold things in place, I tied the joint together then applied some glue, letting it soak into the cotton and hopefully the joint. After a minute I tied a few more knots around the joint sealing it all with more super glue. The end result is a fully operational pair of glasses once again. may now have to dig out the other old pair that have a loose lense and see if I can mend those also.
Our spritzer bottle for the composting toilet has recently lost it’s spritz. We use this with diluted vinegar in it to spray the urine separator on our toilet with the hope that the vinegar will help to keep the pipes clear. However the spray was starting to be a bit feeble. Mick took it apart. The spring that makes it spritz fell into four pieces. We’d been warned not to have a steel urine tank as gradually the vinegar would work it’s way through this, it looks like it had eroded the spring.
A spare spring was found in an empty hand wash container. Now our spritzer spritzes again. Not bad for £1 from the handyman shop in Ellesmere eighteen months ago.
Which way?
Brentford!
By 11:45 the rain was easing, we needed to find a shop, mostly for some cat food, a variety and flavour that Tilly would actually eat rather than be put in the bin after a day. The wine cellar is currently half full of rejected boxes of cat food and very little wine! Mick doned his waterproofs and pushed off, leaving me indoors adding detail to my Boozer model bits.
Gayton Junction
At Gayton Junction a boat had just pulled up and positioned itself right in the middle of the service moorings. Mick couldn’t be bothered to ask them to nudge up so we could off load our rubbish so he carried straight on, the mountains of rubbish having to wait a while longer.
Round the bend towards the tunnel
The moorings at Blisworth had space for us so he pulled in. A walk into the village proved fruitful for cat food, but little else. After lunch there wasn’t sufficient time for us to go through Blisworth Tunnel and to reach the top of Stoke Bruerne locks before the last boat in at 3:15, so we didn’t rush.
North Portal
The boat was put into full tunnel mode, I came up on deck having suggested an early afternoon nap to Tilly and we pushed off. Blisworth Tunnel is just short of 3km long and is the third longest navigable tunnel in the UK, ninth in the world. It is straight, very straight therefore you can see all the way through. The interior goes from arched brickwork to a long section of concrete hoops in the central section, back to brick again towards the southern portal. The tunnel suffered over the years altering shape, it became unnavigable. In the 1980s major works were done to rebuild it, the method used was a try out for the Channel Tunnel.
The other end
Nearly there
Just before halfway through we could see another boat had entered at the south portal. Was this the trip boat that sticks it’s bow into the tunnel then reverses out? Or were they coming towards us, if they were they were going very very slowly. The tunnel was wetter than usual, no surprise there and we gradually came to meet the on coming boat. The speed they were going at it would take them an hour to go through!
The South portal
We had risked arriving at Stoke Bruerne where there might not have been any moorings left, but it turned out there were no queues waiting for the locks in the morning. We had a choice of where to moor and later on we were joined by three more boats, one having reversed past us at 22:45.
Mikron van hiding at Blisworth, wonder if it has a name?
We could hang around for a couple of days and share the locks southwards with NB Tyseley the Mikron boat, but that wouldn’t get us a Saturday newspaper or our wine stocks replenished. Hopefully the weather will improve, Mikron are loosing donations due to the bad weather. They had to perform a ‘radio’ version of their show the other night at The Admiral Nelson due to lack of space indoors for the full show.
0 locks, 4.4 miles, 1 straight on, 1 spring sprung, 1 pair glasses mended, 1 boozer exterior finished, 10 hanging baskets, 2nd sock new and improved version started, 9 pouches of edible food again.
Another miserable day in the making. At least it started off dry, for a while. All the boats around us moved off and carried on their journey and it was soon time for us to do the same. With Stoke Bruerne flight closed we decided to move along to before Gayton, mooring up where Tilly could go off and explore.
Get that door open!
I helped push off and then left Mick to it whilst I did some work below. I’d been putting off checking a few things out on my ground plan for panto. So I started the day with the drawing board out. I made a list of potential problems and then worked my way through them. Details of the trap in the stage had only just been confirmed, the size and position having changed a touch since last year! It didn’t matter for Aladdin, but this year it does. A bit of problem solving and I have a couple of options.
Mick moved us on, far less traffic on the cut than in the last few days, most probably due to the broken lock ahead. He pulled us in after almost three miles cruising at the last big M on our map before Gayton Junction. Here there is armco to make it easier to moor, but the trains are quite close. Trains are a feature of the Grand Union Canal that you have to get used to. The line does move away at times but hugs the canal the remainder of the way to London.
I’m busy!
Seven Hours! Blimey! What could I do with all that time?! No need for it to rain as the grass was good and soaking which got me very wet too. Marvellous.
More of my model got painted this afternoon and Mick went for a walk up to the junction to see what he could see and give me a bit more room to work. He returned just after it started to rain again, I made him some room on the table in return for him not nudging it too much as I painted thin lines of turquoise and dark red.
Boozer and The Nick
If you are looking for something to help fill these rather wet times avoiding being outside, can I point you in the direction of a friends blog. Jan is a story teller based in Edinburgh (Link to her blog). She is also a Theatre Designer, textile artist and curator. Last July Jan joined the crew of tall ship Tenacious as a volunteer, hauling sails, climbing the rigging, hearing and telling stories. This year she is aiming to tell tales on ten tall ships and will be joining the crew on board The Lord Nelson sailing up the Norwegian Coast as part of the tall ships race. The first posts on her blog take her to the Falkirk Wheel and the Kelpies, she featured on Ramblings on Radio 4.
Jan on Tenacious last summer
Stay dry. Oh, this afternoon there was an update on Stoke Bruerne (on the website not an email) saying that the locks are open again, so dependant on how much water is falling from the sky I will either be working or we’ll be heading to descend the locks. Fingers crossed.
0 locks, 2.72 miles, 1 dry start, 1 very wet end, 62 trains, 1 tail held high, 6 hours of soggy moggy, 1 hour of exhaustion, 1 set of new tenants, 1 hat (of mine) headed for the high seas this summer, 10 tall ships, many tales, 900mm wide not 700, 1 trap a touch bigger than planned.
The forecast was for rain, followed by more rain and then…. yep you’ve guessed it, more rain until about 4pm.
The blog took an annoying amount of time to sort, the internet being so intermittent. Just when you thought it was all sorted and eventually uploaded, I’d put it into preview mode and not only did the photos not appear but half of what I’d written had too! After a lot of frustration I gave up, I didn’t want today just to be about the blog, a rainy day meant I should be getting on with some work.
Dunchurch Pools Marina in the rain
I headed off into the woods. Once the trees had been climbed, I’d done quite a lot of that yesterday, Then some pouncing, I wandered that little bit further. There was a big brick wall. I prefer stone canal walls as they are climbable after some calculations. But this wall had very little claw factor (C) 0.1, Height (H) 1.3 trees high, Friendly cover (FC) 0, Angle (A) 90, Breakfast (B) 15 biscuits, wetness (W) 7.4, Tilly (T) 100%.
Drying off before my next adventure outside
I did my calculations (B x C $} T/W ~ FC x 0.7>A^H+C = :(abort attempt. Back to putting my arms down holes and climbing trees. After an hour or so the wetness rose to 8.2 time to dry off!
I drew out my scenery, everything starting from one point on the whole set means it takes a bit of marking up, but I got there in the end. It will be me painting this part of the scenery, I need to either simplify the floor design or manage to find a very quick way of marking it out.
A mound of scenery
We waited for the rain to ease. NB Chertsey braved the rain as did several hire boats. Every now and then the patter of rain stopped on the roof, Mick would look out of the windows, but by the time he’d stood up the rain had started again. At around 4:30 he decided to move. The annoying internet could not be lived with for any longer and we both knew what happened to Douglas Bader. Getting closer to Braunston would be good for tomorrow and hopefully improve the signal.
Seasonal wool decorations
We cruised only a couple of miles, to be within eye and ear shot of the Banger Spire of Braunston. Internet signal was checked, good, so we pulled in. Tilly went out and explored again, Mick got the stove going and we enjoyed the last of the pancake batter from the freezer.
BANGERS!!! Our mooring for this evening
With only one thing left in the icy box that went into the fridge for tomorrow night and the power was turned off at last. Just how long has it taken to empty the freezer!? But now that mission was accomplished. It will defrost over night have a clean, then be lifted out of the drawer to see if we can improve it’s ventilation anymore. Fingers crossed our combined skills can come up with something.
A rather lovely mooring
0 locks, 1.99 miles, 1 very wet day, 1 very wet cat, she may as well have fallen in! 664 inmates not the 625 it was built for, 2 hours wasted, 3 portals, 1 floor, 1 back cloth started, 2 much grey paint mixed, 2 savoury, 2 sweat pancakes each, 1 instep on its way.
Power Station Footbridge to Broughton Road Bridge 59
There are advantages of working whilst we cruise on the flat. Today that advantage was that I stayed dry, well most of the time.
Quite a soggy day really. Mick prepared well with coat and a brolly. Normally on days like today we’d not bother moving, but we needed to be in Rugby by the end of the day. We pushed off a little after 10am then I retired below to get on with work.
Trains with cars!
First the M6 sits along side the canal, then after a few minor wiggles the West Coast Main line joins and sits right along side for several miles. Mick was treated to quite a lot of trains wizzing by. I popped out on deck in case my assistance was needed to get through the swing bridge at Rose Narrowboats. At first it was across the cut, but then it swung out of the way. No need for me to step off.
Swing Bridge ahead
A boat was coming towards us but we were already through the narrow section before they had negotiated the bridge ahead. Mick pulled us into the side and let them and a second hire boat pass before we carried on.
She doesn’t mind the rain, she just keeps on smiling
Down below I decided to start again on my over all paint scheme for panto. So I redrew out a sample piece, based it in and then started a fresh. My design is based on some photos of the underground that took my fancy, yesterday I’d got carried away and possibly veered bit too far away from what I liked about the images. Today I stuck to the bits that I liked the most and adapted them to what I was after.
Mark 2
Of course halfway through the penny dropped and I knew which way I should take the main setting, this was no longer possible on the sample I was doing, but if I’d not done it then the penny wouldn’t have dropped.
There was a space at All Oaks Wood, so we pulled up for lunch. We’ve never seen a space here before and have often carried on a touch further to where there is a view overlooking a farm and a great field to play in for Tilly. But this was only a brief stop and we were on our way again shortly.
Newbold Tunnel
A boat pulled out from Brinklow Marina and took his time weaving back and forth across the cut slowing our progress somewhat. Below deck at Newbold Tunnel Tilly was awake. She really is flummoxed by them. Despite the cabin lights being on for me to work she quickly notices that the outside lights have been turned out. I’m really perturbed that She didn’t seem too bothered by the situation so tried running around to make her aware of the problem. She still took no notice so only one thing for it but to shout to Tom at the back doors! He ignored me too!! Eventually someone turned the lights back on.
Why won’t anybody listen to me!!!
A chap on the towpath asked Mick if he’d seen a boat! He’d popped down to Tescos for some shopping (not on his person) and when he’d come back the boat had gone. Maybe they were on a hire boat, confined spaces and some people just don’t get on, so they’d left him!
We carried on slowly to the water point where the slow boat moored up. Our destination a short distance further on, just as well as just about all the moorings were taken. We found a spot with not too much tree coverage and let Tilly out, lit the stove to help Mick warm up and finally got to eat our barbecue supplies we bought a week ago. All was cooked inside out of the rain and very tasty it was too.
Indoor, but still yummy
0 locks , 12.66 miles, 1 swing bridge swung, 1 rainy day, 2nd go at painting, 3rd idea, 1 slow boat, 1 lost boat, 1 destination reached.
