tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17724699465714979312024-03-13T12:48:23.567+00:00Halfie....mostly about boating on NB JubileeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3064125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-57741845554885554672022-05-19T15:31:00.001+01:002022-05-19T15:31:26.261+01:00Meeting friends on the cut; nearly losing an Elsan cassetteOh dear - no blogging for three days. Various reasons, mostly that it got too late in the evening and I was too tired. Now we are on a lock-free stretch and Jan is happy to steer while I try to put some words to the photos I have taken.<div><br /></div><div>And it's a good job I have the photos or I would struggle to remember what we did! It seems a long time ago that we were on the River Trent, but it was only Tuesday. I mistimed our departure from Sawley, with two boats passing before I untied. There they are, in front of us, as we go through Sawley Flood Lock.<br />
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Sitting on a float forming part of a weir barrage was a bird.
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I don't know whatr bird this is.
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It posed obligingly for my camera.
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I'm fairly sure this is a new sign pointing the way to the Trent and Mersey Canal. And the signage on the front of the Clock Warehouse at Shardlow has been redone too.
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I spotted this tortoise (turtle?) swimming along too late to get a decent photo.
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Not long after this was a field of confused-looking geese.
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In a cage at the back of a boat was a pair of owls.
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To my mind the cage seemed far too small.
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As we approached Mercia Marina I spotted a familiar-looking boat. From reading their blog I knew that <a href="https://nbfreespirit.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><i>Free Spirit</i></a>, with Ian and Irene, was heading our way.
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We stopped mid-channel for a chat - it was good to meet up again. Incidentally, this photo clearly shows a problem which has developed with my camera. That is not a great black thundercloud in the sky, it's the lens cover not fully retracting when the camera is switched on.
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So Irene and Ian were the first blogging friends we met on Tuesday; next up was Willington-based Andrew Denny of <a href="https://www.grannybuttons.com/granny_buttons/" target="_blank"><i>Granny Buttons</i></a> fame. We invited him for tea; he declined the food but we shared a chat and a drink. It started to rain as he came on board.
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At Horninglow Basin we stopped for water and Elsan. <s>We</s>I nearly left the emptied cassette behind. When we arrived there was a boat already there, moored correctly at 90 degrees to the line of the canal. We pulled in opposite the towpath to attend to the Elsan. When the other boat had gone we pulled <i>Jubilee</i> round and watered up. It was only after I'd reversed round again to go that I glanced across and saw our empty cassette. Phew!</div><div><br /></div><div>Shortly afterwards we called in to Shobnall Wharf (Marina?) for diesel. Yes, I should have reversed in. There is a nifty means of raising the small footbridge across the former Bond End Canal: an electric motor lifts the bridge into the ceiling.<br />
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Had I been able to buy 50 litres it would have been at the good price of £1.19 per litre. As it happened, we had done only 29 engine hours since the last fill-up at Debdale Wharf Marina and it took just 34 litres.
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That's a consumption rate of less than 1.2 litres per hour. And that is due, in part, to my new practice of running at a cruising speed of 1000 rpm, in the past I used to run at 1100 rpm. Another factor, of course, is that we were coming with the flow of the Soar.
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On the stretch by the noisy A38 a pair came past: the motor was towing <i>Nebulae</i>.
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We hadn't finished with the Trent. Between Wychnor and Alrewas the river becomes the navigation. These cows came down for a paddle ...
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... with their calves.
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At Alrewas we tied up for the night. We went for a walk round the village, bought a reduced pizza from the Co-op and had tea. Not the pizza - that was for the next day's lunch. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-44408511755380823792022-05-16T23:06:00.000+01:002022-05-16T23:06:33.283+01:00Cows and cooling towersWe continued our journey north on the River Soar, on our own again through Mountsorrel Lock. When we got to Barrow-upon-Soar, however, a man called out to us as we approached the Deep Lock and asked if he could share the lock with us. Of course, we said.<div><br /></div><div>Peter was single handing his boat, Odyssey, and was having engine problems. He had also managed to hurt his leg and had broken a step on his boat, so things were not going well.
Peter was stopping by Loughborough Station to meet someone so we went past. We stopped ourselves just after the sharp right where Loughborough Basin is just to the left - and went to Lidl and Tesco. As we were having lunch Odyssey came past, so we said we'd come down more locks with him.</div><div><br /></div><div>This northern end of the Soar is certainly the prettiest. Here's the classic view of the church at Normanton-on-Soar.
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Just beyond the church was a riverside house for sale. Hopefully the upside-down Union flag indicates nothing worse than that the owners are sad to be leaving.
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At one of the locks Peter asked if he could borrow an iPhone charging cable as he had broken his. As I said, things were not going too well for him. We were able to lend him the right cable and he was able to recharge his phone. This is us in Kegworth New (Deep) Lock.
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I think this is my favourite photo from today at Ratcliffe on Soar: cows and cooling towers. (Strictly speaking I think they are heiffers, but the alliteration would fail.)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyj4D6nY1jRDs46p1BNjLDq-hpO-V8PmymJKMFxScxCA6WrAj8Er49UPCpI3hbV2yp6D07n4GRU46vYXKcNPc4cpbOueTi8iV3eJSmH94LV-cbVH4-l0dOx6aZVu-PK529BcBtrZ2tnyGMzJtaHXOqANBeUdC5cmPlVqRmC_M8FLWfcauwPYcSq7yy/s900/P1160562.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyj4D6nY1jRDs46p1BNjLDq-hpO-V8PmymJKMFxScxCA6WrAj8Er49UPCpI3hbV2yp6D07n4GRU46vYXKcNPc4cpbOueTi8iV3eJSmH94LV-cbVH4-l0dOx6aZVu-PK529BcBtrZ2tnyGMzJtaHXOqANBeUdC5cmPlVqRmC_M8FLWfcauwPYcSq7yy/s400/P1160562.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
At Ratcliffe Lock Peter returned my cable and we headed onto the Trent. We wanted to get water, so we squeezed in by the approach to Trent Lock and used the water point on the corner. Thanks to <a href="www.waterwayroutes.co.uk" target="_blank">Waterway Routes</a> we knew exactly where to aim for which made it easier.</div><div><br /></div><div>While the tank was filling I recced the three-day pontoon moorings just the other side of Trent Junction: good, there was one space left. I was just disconnecting the hose when a boat went past upstream, i.e. the direction we were going. Was he heading for the pontoon mooring? Yes. Oh well. There was a space between two boats just back from the water point I thought we might just fit in. We battled the wind and tried - but we were a fender too long. More battle with the wind, and we carried on upstream towards Sawley.
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With Sawley Lock negotiated we tied up finally opposite Sawley Bridge Marina and were serenaded by a song thrush.
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BCF friend Angie, who lives nearby, came for a chat and some apple pie and custard. It was good to see you, Angie, and thanks for the wine and choccies!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-55589038662750727202022-05-15T23:28:00.001+01:002022-05-15T23:28:55.588+01:00Have you ever seen anything like this before? Fish stuck between lock gatesThe forecast thunderstorms last night did not happen, neither did the rain which was supposed to be during the morning. We walked from Castle Gardens to Holy Trinity Leicester for their 1030 service, at which the preacher was an evangelist recently returned from Argentina. John someone - I didn't catch his surname.
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He spoke engagingly about, well, evangelism, i.e. telling people about Jesus.<div><br /></div><div>Back on the boat we had lunch, then set off just as the rain started. It didn't amount to much and soon stopped. We carried on downstream, encountering one lock in particular - North Lock 42 - whose bottom gates were almost impossible to open, such was the amount of water leaking from the top gates. Fortunately a boat was waiting to come up the lock so, with three of us heaving on the balance beam, it succumbed.</div><div><br /></div><div>I saw two things today I had never seen before. One was this swan carrying a couple of cygnets on its back.
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Once we had cleared Leicester much of the journey was through watermeadows.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAXkArjbxZifKZGGuGNmxQjaim-UYf4oQvBYk7CmU0g_fsQBgldtiHDpSrx6j7XrWhjGXWKaYgAlCubd6kezkxJ6seaJnH6BWE1_occWD4TdcOt8WTERwcCnAj57nILB8FZbIy5VZeVtELl6N0FkiufjppKolKwo7vire79BewdVbWgVmn90nObDKV/s900/P1160545.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAXkArjbxZifKZGGuGNmxQjaim-UYf4oQvBYk7CmU0g_fsQBgldtiHDpSrx6j7XrWhjGXWKaYgAlCubd6kezkxJ6seaJnH6BWE1_occWD4TdcOt8WTERwcCnAj57nILB8FZbIy5VZeVtELl6N0FkiufjppKolKwo7vire79BewdVbWgVmn90nObDKV/s400/P1160545.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The other sight not seen before - and I probably never will again - was of a fish caught between the leaky bottom gates of Sileby Lock. <i>Jubilee</i> was in the lock and I had raised the bottom paddles to empty the lock.
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As the water drained from the lock the pressure holding the gates together reduced. The gap widened slightly and the fish fell back into the water and disappeared.
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It can have been stuck like that for only 30 seconds or so, just long enough for me to take these two photos. Would it have survived? Have you ever seen anything like that?<div><br /></div><div>We tied up for the night just below the lock and walked round Sileby after tea. Is it a town or a village? The cricket club thinks it's a town; Nicholson calls it a village.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-42404041609787410292022-05-14T23:06:00.001+01:002022-05-14T23:06:41.584+01:00Buttercups and blossomWe made an earlier start then usual, leaving our mooring at 0815. We made swift progress to Kilby Bridge, all the locks being in our favour for a change. The buttercups added extra brightness to our surroundings.
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At Kilby Bridge we watered up, then moved across to the 48 hour moorings so I could cycle off to get a paper. The first newsagent up Welford Road didn't have what I wanted, so I cycled on into Wigston and ended up cramming my panier with stuff from Sainsbury's and Aldi.<div><br /></div><div>The crane at Kilby Bridge is a local landmark.
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Today has felt like summer. The sun shone all day and it has been warm. Here is <i>Jubilee</i> heading towards yet another lock, now on the River Soar. Since Kilby Bridge I had to turn nearly every lock as we were following two boats. Oh, and I cycled almost the entire distance from Newton Harcourt to Leicester, where we moored at Castle Gardens.
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When I looked closely at some hawthorn blossom I saw how intricately detailed it was.
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At Castle Gardens there is room for three usual-length narrowboats. When we arrived, two boats had moored in such a way as to leave no space for anyone else. Fortunately one agreed to move up a little, and we then tied up successfully.</div><div><br /></div><div>We walked into Leicester city centre and marvelled at how busy with people it was. And how many fast food shops there were!</div><div><br /></div><div>We did a bit more than on the schedule today as rain is forecast for tomorrow. Oh yes - hello to a blog reader on <i>Cleddau</i> whom we passed today.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-41102160214962913562022-05-13T22:55:00.000+01:002022-05-13T22:55:06.095+01:00A Leicester beauty spot?This morning we did the two swing bridges and stopped for water in Foxton. At last the boat was the right way round so I could wash off the last bits of pressure washed muck blown onto us a few days ago.<div><br /></div><div>The next port of call was Debdale Wharf for diesel (£1.30 base price per litre).</div><div><br /></div><div>Saddington Tunnel followed. No bats visible this time.
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Before we reached the locks I heard swifts screeching overhead - my first of the year.
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So to Kibworth Locks. It was good to be doing locks again - even though all five today were against us.
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By Crane's Lock there were horses in a field of buttercups. (The other horses were off to the left.)<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5JTvqXojI6WbqN6QfNJLBYMBvVLUeLkGQPOwyFyu1VGGA8EHf0k8OXnfyLlynZGe_eI-DBP8Djjf1puUBqz6cZIikDz95bhYzVbResN0RSwQ5efdFIOC5PKUIHh8TqHYsNtUFGKPSAwpvKgpP8oL3BQblsL_-BjsNkfkL8FcOvVkkqkixBaJN6ZF/s900/P1160512.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="601" data-original-width="900" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5JTvqXojI6WbqN6QfNJLBYMBvVLUeLkGQPOwyFyu1VGGA8EHf0k8OXnfyLlynZGe_eI-DBP8Djjf1puUBqz6cZIikDz95bhYzVbResN0RSwQ5efdFIOC5PKUIHh8TqHYsNtUFGKPSAwpvKgpP8oL3BQblsL_-BjsNkfkL8FcOvVkkqkixBaJN6ZF/s400/P1160512.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
We stopped for the day at Newton Harcourt to get out of the wind and enjoy the sunshine.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nicholson describes the village as a "well-known Leicester beauty spot, popular on Sunday afternoons". Well, we saw two or three interesting old houses, and the surrounding countryside is pleasant, but I really can't imagine the Leicester hordes piling in on any day of the week, let alone Sundays. From the description I expected at least a village green, perhaps with a duck pond, but we walked the main street from one end to the other and didn't see anything like it.
Perhaps the good people of Leicester visit the canal here if they can't make it all the way to Foxton. I expect the swan family will still be around on Sunday for them.
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Ooh - almost a week has passed since my last post! I have some catching up to do.<div><br /></div><div>I painted both tunnel bands and the red bits on the bow. It was the first time I'd used masking tape on the boat (yes, I know) and I think it was remarkably successful.
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For reference, here is what the bow looked like before.
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As well as wielding the blacking roller and welding sticks Ollie is the master of the boat-lifting crane.
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It certainly looks like a fun toy to play with, although there is a certain amount of responsibility too!
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Once we were put back in the water we set off for Foxton. We must have just missed a "down" slot as we had to wait for four boats to come up. There was a further delay as we waited for a single boat to reach the half-way pound before we could descend the second staircase.
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We tied up for the night outside the Foxton Locks Inn, which was closed. I fancied a pint at the Bridge 61 pub after tea, but when we walked round the bunch of drinkers outside explained that that pub was closed as well. Difficulty in getting staff to work the evenings, apparently. They were a friendly bunch of chaps who encouraged us to get our own drinks and join them, which we did.</div><div><br /></div><div>The next day (Tuesday 10th) we travelled to Market Harborough. You need a good run-up to close the swing footbridge. If you let the momentum drop it comes to a stop and is impossible to get going again without opening it again.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the evening we found the Cherry Tree pub in Little Bowden and met up with two of the drinkers (Steen(?) and Mark) from the previous day. We did not join them in the Bengal Kitchen as we had already eaten.</div><div><br /></div><div>My Railcard was finally delivered to North Kilworth Marina today, so I cycled the 7.5 miles along the A4304 to get it. And 7.5 miles back. The return journey was quicker as it seemed to be more downhill and the wind was in my favour.</div><div><br /></div><div>An unpleasant aspect of our stay in Market Harborough was the outrageous and dangerous behaviour of youths on a quad bike on the narrow towpath both yesterday and today. They were speeding up and down, past our boat, with complete disregard for other - legitimate - users of the towpath.
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Three dog walkers we spoke to said how they had been frightened as the quad bike roared past them at speed without giving way. One said the quad bike swerved round her and almost hit her dog.
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Jan phoned the police, who said they would "send someone to have a look". Of course, the youths had gone and it's very unlikely anything will happen. The police weren't interested in my photos; I can do no more.<div><br /></div><div>We tied up just before Foxton. Nice and peaceful here (although a man did ride past quite fast on an electric bike - not the normal type with pedals, more like a motorbike with electric power - at least it was quiet).</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-15990407200354012592022-05-06T21:53:00.001+01:002022-05-06T21:53:56.889+01:00Anodes and paintingCatching up with photos ... Ollie completed the blacking yesterday ...
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... and today he welded on four new sacrificial anodes. I was asked if I wanted slim anodes half-way along the sides as well, but I decided against it. Yes, they would give better protection against galvanic corrosion, but they could potentially catch on an obstruction. I measured the width of the base plate as 79" or 6' 7"; the base plate protrudes from the hull sides by half an inch each side. The slim anodes are only one inch thick so the overall effect would be to increase the width at the bottom to 6' 8", so not enough to cause a problem at any lock ... but we tend to be cruising for six months of the year and the rest of the time the boat is tied up with no other boats on shoreline within the vicinity. Our isolation transformer on board provides the most effective galvanic protection when we connect up to a shoreline.
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I spent the whole day preparing and painting the gunwales with some Hempel Multicoat semi-gloss black paint I bought from the marina. I was advised to thin it, which I did, but it dried almost as soon as I brushed it on. Thinking about it now, perhaps I used the wrong solvent. I had a bottle of cellulose thinners which I used, but should I have thinned with white spirit? Too late now. Annoyingly, muck from pressure washing of a neighbouring boat blew onto us and I had to wash down the gunwales and elsewhere a second time before painting.<div><br /></div><div>Friends Paul and Kim from <i>Somang</i> came to our temporarily land-based boat for tea; it started to rain lightly as they were leaving. Perhaps it will wash off some of the muck from the boat. </div><div><br /></div><div>One job for tomorrow can be seen from the top photo: repainting the red tunnel band.
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While the red paint is out I'll have a go at redoing the bow flashes. I think masking tape will help.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-86553293311422054622022-05-05T21:57:00.001+01:002022-05-05T21:57:24.282+01:00Blacking begins at North Kilworth MarinaOn Tuesday 3rd May we set off for North Kilworth Marina for the booked blacking. We had been given the time of 1045 but I wanted to be early, so we left our countryside mooring two miles away at 0915.
I had a vague recollection that the workshops area was on the north side of the marina close to the canal so, once I had turned left into the marina entrance, I navigated my way to the right place with the help of <a href="www.waterwayroutes.co.uk">Waterway Routes</a>.
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We were initially directed to the bay beside the lifting bay as a boat had to be taken out of the water for a hull survey.
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As we waited we had a good view of the surveyor making his measurements (presumably of hull thickness) and chalking his results on the boat. But what do the marks mean?
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With <i>Jubilee</i> raised but still mostly over the water Ollie pressure washed the hull. Here's before and after in one shot.
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When the boat needed to be moved more, Ollie drove the crane while Paul positioned the blocks onto which <i>Jubilee</i> was to be lowered.
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Yesterday (Wednesday) was showery; Jan and I spent most of it in the Moorers' Lounge while Ollie finished pressure washing. He managed to black the underneath too. <div><br /></div><div>The facilities here at North Kilworth Marina are excellent. The Moorers' Lounge is under-floor heated and has leather settees and tables and chairs. There is a fully-kitted out kitchen with free tea and coffee (although the milk is long life), spotless loos and showers. We chatted to a couple who had had their boat in the marina for a year and were planning to use it more. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the hardstanding we talked to a young couple called Sam and Alice who had just blacked their boat, <i>Harwood</i>. They were very friendly and "lent" us some Ferrozinc rust treatment. It's a bit like Fertan, apparently, but you can apply it to dry metal and paint it directly. I made a start on attacking some of the rusty bits on our bow and gunwales.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-20811478091449121112022-05-02T21:36:00.001+01:002022-05-02T21:36:55.338+01:00Pebble prayers for Ukraine at St Margaret's Church, CrickFirst thing this morning was the drippy Crick Tunnel, then we tied up so we could walk in to the village. The church was open; inside, on the altar, people had placed pebbles indicating that they had prayed or would pray for Ukraine.
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When we got back to the boat after a walk round Crick we had lunch, then set off again on the winding route through the Northamptonshire countryside. The oilseed rape crops were smelling very strongly.
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We stopped a couple of miles short of North Kilworth so that we could do the last bit tomorrow morning to ensure we had a full tank of hot water. I'm hoping we'll be able to connect a shoreline when we're in the air for blacking, as at Debdale Wharf, but just in case ... <div><br /></div><div>After tea we went for another walk, this time crossing into Leicestershire and taking the direct route from Bridge 40 to North Kilworth, then by the road to South Kilworth, then across the golf course back to the bridge and back to the boat. This pheasant was the most colourful bird we encountered.
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And <i>Jubilee</i> looked nicely tucked into the side of the canal as dusk began to fall.
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On the 48 hour moorings opposite the pub is a sunk wooden boat. This wasn't here the last time we passed, so it can only recently have sunk. Was it being towed somewhere? It's not the best place for it to be.
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At Watford Locks we had to wait for three boats to come down, then we made a reasonably quick ascent.
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The two Calcutt hire boats we were following made a right hash of mooring; we hovered in the channel while they sorted themselves out. Now we have tied up ready for the final stint to North Kilworth tomorrow for blacking.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-87098324092630026572022-04-27T23:59:00.001+01:002022-04-28T12:50:13.585+01:00Woman rescued after falling in at BraunstonIn the five miles/two hours of the combined Grand Union and Oxford Canals between Napton Junction and Braunston Turn we must have seen as many moving boats as in the whole of the previous seven days from Market Drayton. It was busy! At the turn where we turned right there was a boat turning right from the North Oxford and a boat turning left from the Braunston direction. Not that you can see them in my photo.
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The towpath bridge over the entrance to Braunston Marina has sprouted ducks.
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As we approached Braunston Bottom Lock we found ourselves behind a pair waiting to go up. But then an unfortunate episode took place.
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The steerer of the butty was apparently trying to breast up to the motor when she fell in, still holding her stern line, between the two boats.
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I pulled in to the bank for Jan to leap off with a buoyancy aid and run towards the boats. Before she got there a life ring had been found for the woman, who was a non-swimmer. She was not making any progress in her efforts to climb out of the water. Before I could get our rope ladder near, an aluminium ladder had been fetched from the boatyard and the woman was able to climb out.
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She walked, bedraggled but apparently unhurt, to the boatyard to recover while the motor and butty were secured to the lock landing. When we were sure that we had done all we could to help, we went up the locks with another boat, <i>Senior Moments</i>, which had joined us during the half-hour or so of action.
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At a Boaters' Christian Fellowship event last year a member was disposing of a number of boating bits and pieces. I came away with a Dunton Double aluminium windlass. I usually eschew ally windlasses owing to the difficulty of retrieving them if they get dropped in the cut, but the addition of some hose clips should give me at least a fighting chance. <div><br /></div><div>The Dunton Double is a cunning combination of a large eye and a small eye windlass: when using on a small spindle - the more common type - the head of the windlass goes right over the spindle until it engages with the small eye. On a large, square-ended spindle such as on the paddle gear on the locks of the Grand Union between Calcutt and Birmingham, just the first part of the head fits over the spindle. It worked really well on all of yesterday's and today's locks, but I shall probably revert to my iron single small eye windlass from tomorrow for the Braunston locks etc.
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I was surprised to see another CRT man checking lock gates today. He didn't seem to know the person I saw yesterday.
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Ah - the HS2 crossing just west of Welsh Road Lock. It's like a small town is created wherever the new railway goes.
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This temporary bridge over the canal looks like a conveyor bridge.
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It ends oddly in an uplift.
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At quite a few of today's locks I saw that the chains which usually dangle down the lock sides had been pulled up and left on the coping stones. I asked CRT about this (there was a maintenance team about) and they said that people do it to avoid the chains scratching their boats. It shouldn't be done, though. The chains should be left dangling in the lock as hauling them up creates a trip hazard.
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At Lock 6, near the top of the Stockton flight, we came across the first non-working paddle of the whole trip so far. Not bad going, considering we have done something like 90 locks, with each lock having usually four paddles.
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The house at Wigram's Turn (Napton Junction) still has its strange clouds on the wall.
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And now some very poor photos of lapwings.
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We know they were lapwings as Jan's Birdnet app on her phone identified them as such from their calls.
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They make a most unusual electronic gadget-type sound of bleeping and whistling.
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Apparently lapwings are the same as peewits.
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We saw and heard the lapwings where we tied up betweren Lower Shuckburgh and Flecknoe on the Grand Union/Oxford Canal.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-37719767485086340992022-04-25T22:41:00.001+01:002022-04-25T22:42:13.796+01:00Greasy HattonWe left Kingswood Junction at around 1000 having made use of the Elsan disposal facility. I didn't mention yesterday that we saw a steam train cross the bridge over the Lapworth Link. It was about 1640 and comprised four old coaches pulled by a black locomotive heading north. No photo, sadly.
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Just before Shrewley Tunnel was the first widebeam we've seen for a while.
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About three locks down the Hatton flight we caught up with <i>Passing Shot</i>. They waited for us and we progressed efficiently down the locks. Our passage was made even quicker by a volunteer lockie on a bicycle setting ahead for us. Result!
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We immediately got into a routine: the boats would usually leave a lock side-by-side, move along the pound and enter the next lock still together. I would cycle between the locks and work the offside gates.
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One paddle mechanism my side had been rather over-enthusiastically greased.
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With three locks to go there was a loud bang underneath me as I cycled along. It was my back tyre getting a puncture. Oh well - better there than at the top of the flight. Time to complete the flight: 2 hours 45 minutes.
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Our locking partners stopped at the bottom of the flight; we carried on down Cape Locks and to Leamington Spa. At Cape Bottom Lock a CRT man was checking the condition of the gates, making notes on an electronic device.
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We tied up outside Lidl having stopped briefly at Tesco. We had a few drops of rain at about 1630: the first rain (such as it was) of the trip. Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-70212018532369620652022-04-24T23:59:00.003+01:002022-04-25T22:03:47.481+01:00Hireboaters get a helping handI lit the fire this morning to keep us toasty while we engaged in Zoom church; before the service started, though, we boated another couple of miles. We got under way again at about midday, eating lunch in shifts.
The canal goes through a lot of trees round here, making it often rather gloomy. Today, however, the sun shone through.
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Once I had spotted one tar drip diverter I was bound to see more. This is example number two on this trip.
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I could hear the appeals of "Howzat?" as we approached Lapworth Cricket Club right by Lock 4.
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Here we caught up with a novice crew on a hire boat; fortunately, a couple of slow locks later, a volunteer lockie appeared and helped them down the rest of the flight. I think it's between Lock 7 and Lock 8 that there's a tricky bend, made more interesting when boats going in different directions need to pass. Here the lockie directed the hire boat to the right of the lock.
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In the end we made good time down the flight. We went straight on into Lock 21 so we could dispose of rubbish, then made the 90 degree left turn into the Lapworth Link where we tied up. We had invited my former colleague Ian Winter for tea and the F1 race highlights. The tea worked but the TV signal was not stable enough to watch, so we abandoned that side of things (I caught up later on the laptop). It was good to see you, Ian.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-77473600428947778172022-04-23T21:44:00.001+01:002022-04-23T21:44:42.847+01:00Don't call me ShirleyWe had some things to attend to in the Yardley Wood area this morning so it wasn't until almost 1730 that we left Bridge 5 to continue down the Stratford Canal. Before leaving Ann from <i>Bramble</i> came on board for a cup of tea. She is a fellow BCF member whom we hadn't met before. Ann and her husband are taking their four-year-old Aqualine boat to Worcester for a full repaint - under warranty - to rectify what seems to have been a poor batch of paint which affected 17 Aqualine boats. <div><br /></div><div>We picked a good time to arrive at Shirley Drawbridge with no vehicles in sight when I pressed the Open button to start the procedure of red lights, barriers dropping and bridge lifting. When the barriers raised again I was surprised to see a stream of perhaps ten cars cross the bridge from the right before I could rejoin <i>Jubilee</i>.
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A few minutes later we tied up just beyond the railway bridge, had tea and watched the F1 Sprint race highlights (John).
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Here we met up with Chris and Sally on <i>Kairos</i> and had a nice cup of tea and a chat on their boat.
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In Sainsbury's my trousers quest was accomplished. Even better, we walked along the eastern end of the proposed new route of the Dudley (Lapal) Canal. We didn't have time to explore beyond Sainsbury's - perhaps next time we pass.</div><div><br /></div><div>Around the Bournville area this man took a break from serenading his dog to talk to a towpath walker. The sun was in his eyes.
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We made the sharp left turn onto the Stratford Canal and stopped at Bridge 5. This evening we had another fabulous curry at The Sweet Chillies in Yardley Wood Road.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-63556758395647570952022-04-21T22:24:00.000+01:002022-04-21T22:24:13.465+01:00Misleading canal sign?We were the first boat up the Wolverhampton 21 locks today, as evidenced by the fresh black paint someone had carefully applied to the spindles of the lock gear The spindles!
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We had a fairly uneventful trip up the locks, most of which were in our favour. I did my usual lockwheeling, setting a lock ahead each time. In the two and a half hours or so we took to get to the top, I therefore cycled three times the distance Jan covered in the boat.
One lockside was adorned with cowslips.
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At Factory Junction we turned right to keep on the Old Main Line. We passed some interesting creatures beyond Tipton.
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There were plenty of moorhens on their floating nests. There were a few families of moorchicks about too.
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At Tividale an aqueduct carries the Old Main Line over the Netherton Tunnel Branch. There is a canal junction sign ...
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... but you can't simply turn right here. Yes, Netherton Tunnel is in the direction indicated, but to get there you'd have to turn left, left and left again, having gone down Brades Locks in the process.
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High Bridge, which we passed under, is a bridge, certainly, but not what I would call high.
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One more photo from today: a goose watches as Jan approaches Smethwick Locks. The Engine Arm goes off to the left under the towpath bridge (even though the bank looks continuous).
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We tied up at Cambrian Wharf in central Birmingham, where I removed a large quantity of plastic from the blades.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-54143251820768038272022-04-20T21:39:00.000+01:002022-04-20T21:39:01.047+01:00Log? More like a tree trunk!Shortly after we set off from Gnosall this morning a man on the towpath warned us about an obstruction in the water. Some kids, he said, had pushed in a large log. This was what I call potential logs, in that it had not yet been cut up. The piece of tree - thankfully trimmed of all sticking out bits - was about 15 feet long and stretched almost from the moored boats on one side of the canal to the other.
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We carefully nudged it out of the way, conveniently into a space between moored boats. Not, unfortunately, to the offside where our towpath walker was hoping to pull it into his garden.
At High Onn (I think) we passed a boat with a device to catch and dispel the tar dribbling down the chimney.
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A tray fixed around the base of the chimney collects the tar and feeds it into a hose pipe from where it drips into the canal. I think I have seen this arrangement before - or was it this same boat some time ago?
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At Wheaton Aston we pulled in to stop for lunch just as Brian and Diana were winding in order to present the correct side of the boat to the pumpout. After the operation was complete Brian winded again to continue their journey north.
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It was good to chat, albeit briefly.
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The last of my photos today is of a peaceful scene south of Avenue Bridge.
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We have stopped for the night at Autherley Junction ready for the Wolverhampton 21 tomorrow, and then on to Brum via the Old Main Line. That's the plan.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-38304268063984761532022-04-19T21:11:00.001+01:002022-04-19T21:11:55.153+01:00Curious flue arrangement<p> I'm back! That is, this blog is back - and I am going to try to keep it updated from now on. I blame the pandemic. Normal life stopped, very little boating was done in 2020 and I just got out of the habit of blogging. Last year we boated more, but I found I had got far too far behind to write up the trips.</p><p><br /></p>
So here we are, on the Shropshire Union Canal in spring. We left our mooring in Market Drayton at 1045 and headed south.
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Just below Tyrley Locks the tree man was keeping an eye on things, as usual.
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For miles we were in sight of a distinctive hill to the west. It is, I believe, the Wrekin. Correct me if I'm wrong.
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I had planned to get to Wheaton Aston in order to sample a curry at the Momtaj Spice, but it appears they are closed on Tuesdays. The phone number was "not able to connect". We stopped a little earlier, therefore, at Gnosall. On the way we encountered a tiny cruiser tied to the piling.
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Its air draught must be no more than three feet, yet it has an enclosed cabin.
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An unusual bird flew into a tree above us as we travelled along. It looks like a bird of prey - a hawk of some kind? This was the best photo I could get.
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After tea we walked into Gnosall village. One house had a strikingly colourful display of flowers.
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And the curious flue? This was attached to the side of a boat in a very sticky-out way. I wonder what it's for.
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Autherley Junction tomorrow, but we might just nip up the Wolverhampton 21 as well to get slightly ahead.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-51864223790062373782021-11-12T12:36:00.003+00:002021-11-12T22:12:19.322+00:00Grand Union Gobio Gobio SocietyWhat on earth is the Grand Union Gobio Gobio Society, I hear you ask? What, for that matter, is/are Gobio Gobio? Well, for those - like myself - not acquainted with piscatorial matters, gobio gobio is the classification of the freshwater fish commonly known as the gudgeon. And <a href="www.guggs.net">GUGGS</a> is the name of the society dedicated to this one fish: fishing it, recording it and, of course, throwing it back into the water. And they do it just on the canals.
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A couple of days ago Jan and I came across this fisherman, Neil Williams, trying out various locations on the Shropshire Union Canal. I got talking to him as he was fishing opposite our mooring in Market Drayton. He was very happy to tell me about GUGGS, despite my confession that I knew little about the art of angling. I suppose what caught my attention was that he seemed to be using a moderate length pole, dangling the bait just a few feet away from the bank. Not trying to get it to the opposite side, as most seem to do.
As we were talking, he jerked the pole up. Dangling from the line was a small fish, a gudgeon, which pleased Neil greatly. He removed the hook and placed the fish on his scales. It weighed 41.6g - not even two ounces - but Neil was ecstatic.
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Neil caught several fish in the few minutes I was there, including a much more impressive (to me) perch. This was chucked back in with barely a glance.
Our friendly fisherman had travelled from Tring to spend a week on this part of the Shroppie; after his "whopping" catch he said he would extend his stay by an extra day. He sent me two more photos of gudgeon he'd caught in the Woodseaves cutting since meeting me ...
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... including one weighing in at 42.3g.
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To add more interest, I suppose, any gudgeon caught over 30g is termed a specimen fish and can be given a name. If the tenths of a gramme is even it can be "male"; if odd, "female". And for fish caught in 2021 the names have to begin with "S". So Neil's 41.6g catch was "Sloppy". (I am not making this up - look at the <a href="www.guggs.net">website</a>!) <div><br /></div><div>It was good to meet you, Neil, and I wish you good fishing. And thank you for inspiring me to resurrect this blog! I have fallen so far behind that I wondered how I was going to catch up. I don't think I will, quite, but I shall try to be a little more active.</div><div><br /></div><div>All close-up fish photos copyright Neil Williams.</div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;">* According to the GUGGS website the UK record is 140g in any waters</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span>(Updated to clarify information)</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-66053437188635189302021-07-28T22:02:00.001+01:002021-07-28T22:02:43.165+01:00British Grand Prix, SilverstoneI mentioned in my last blog post that I'd been to Silverstone, so here are a few of the photos I took. Normal boating service will be resumed shortly.<div><br /></div><div>The weather for the whole weekend was sunny and hot, just like it was the last time I came three years ago. Friday evening saw the qualifying sessions for Saturday's "sprint qualifying". Yes, qualifying for qualifying. Lewis Hamilton emerged the fastest, with Max Verstappen second and Valteri Bottas third.<br />
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On the Saturday there was plenty of track action. I think this is a "Masters GT Challenge".
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Back with Formula 1, whenever the British drivers Hamilton (of course), Lando Norris ...
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... and George Russell came past the stands they were greeted with cheers and applause.
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Verstappen won the sprint qualifying - a half-hour race with no scheduled pitstops - which gave him pole postion for the grand prix proper on the Sunday.
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Before the race on Sunday Russell and Norris clearly enjoyed the fans' adulation.
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For the race itself I was not in the best position as far as seeing action was concerned. There is only one of my photos half worth showing: Hamilton doing a victory lap with a borrowed Union flag after his controversial win (having taken off Verstappen with a collision in the first lap).
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That's it from Silverstone until the next time. Meanwhile we are currently outside the closed Anchor pub at High Offley on the Shroppie.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-67676468107818269912021-07-25T22:09:00.000+01:002021-07-25T22:09:11.787+01:00Why did I photograph this boat?
We left Water Eaton on 21st June, moving the boat north to Downhead Park. Ally picked us up to take us to Cranfield, where we borrowed Ben's car and drove home for gardening etc. We were back on the boat on 24th June; we moved on to Giffard Park on 26th. Ally, Josiah and Micah came with us to the pub there, where we waited a very long time for the food to arrive. Not good.<div><br /></div><div>For some reason I took a photo of this boat. Too long ago for me to remember why,</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>
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By Sunday 4th July we had moved to our favourite spot just north of The Galleon in Old Wolverton. Over the next few days we did a lot more driving: to Essex, to Bedfordshire, to Norfolk, to Essex again and back to the boat on the Bucks/Northants border.<div><br /></div><div>On Thursday 15th July we moved further north, to Grafton Regis. This is so I could cycle to Silverstone for the Grand Prix weekend, as I did three years ago. Photos to follow. For now, though, a quick update on our current location: Fradley, just above Shadehouse Lock on the T&M.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-56811699881059892252021-07-23T22:24:00.003+01:002021-07-23T22:24:40.516+01:00Water (Eaton) under the bridgeWoe is me! For I have not been keeping up to date with this here blog. And the further I get behind, the more difficult it is to remember what I did and when and where. And I just get out of the habit of doing it, which makes it even harder when I return to it. But enough excuses - that's water under the bridge. Here are some photos and words.<div><br /></div><div>First, back to the middle of June. Only last month, but it feels like half a year ago. Here is a group of members of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship.. We had gathered at Water Eaton on the Grand Union Canal in south Milton Keynes in preparation for a few days of supporting the nearby churches in their work with local people.<br />
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This was to be a Covid-curtailed "dry run" for next year, when the idea would be for there to be much more publicity and greater involvement with the local community. Similar events in past years have seen schools invited for tours of boats, free short boat trips for members of the public, cream teas and so on. This year all our meetings were outside and socially distanced.</div><div><br /></div><div>We were, however, able to offer boat trips for families or "bubbles"; I went as crew to help move the boat being used for this from Marsworth Junction to Water Eaton. Here is a different John steering <i>Beacon </i>down Soulbury Three Locks.<br />
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The weather at the start of the week was perfect: warm with wall-to-wall sunshine.
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Some of the eight BCF boats put up banners and bunting.
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Eric steered <i>Beacon</i> for some of the boat trips.
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Fuel boats <i>Bletchley</i> and <i>Bideford</i> passed through.
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It was great to see our friends Steve and Sue who came for a cup of tea on board <i>Jubilee</i> one afternoon. I have known Steve all my life. Literally. His mother and my mother were in the same maternity ward; Steve and I were born two days apart.
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I will try to be a good boy and compress five or six weeks into a few days, continuing tomorrow. We are currently at Marston Junction on the Coventry Canal heading north.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-23879114747282646202021-06-10T19:37:00.002+01:002021-06-10T19:37:54.608+01:00Partial solar eclipse and an old lock at CosgroveI have some catching up to do as I have neglected this blog for quite a few days - oops! First, did you see the partial eclipse of the sun today? We had enough sunshine in Bletchley for me to project the sun onto a white card using a pair of cheap binoculars.
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Nothing like as impressive as a total eclipse (which I was fortunate to see in France in 1999), but it's nice to see the moon nibbling away at the sun. There was no discernible darkening of the surroundings - that only happened when the odd cloud passed in front of the sun.
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Now back to the business of catching up.<div><br /></div><div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Thursday 3rd June 2021</h3><div><br /></div><div>Josiah was raring to go, having put on his lifejacket, so we set off immediately after breakfast. The canal was covered in places with furry seeds.</div>
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I think they came from willow trees.
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At Cosgrove we stopped to explore the horse tunnel under the canal and looked round the church.
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And here's Josiah in the mouth of the horse tunnel.
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Back on board, we continued down Cosgrove Lock, across the aqueduct and tied up just before the Galleon. Ally came to collect Josiah leaving us to have a quiet evening on our own. We walked through the Ouse Valley Park to the Iron Trunk Aqueduct over the Great Ouse. The footpaths here, as in many parts of Milton Keynes, are of very high quality being smooth and wheelchair-friendly. It felt odd walking on these paths through fields of grazing cattle.</div><div><br /></div><div>There are some nice photos to be had of the aqueduct leaping over the river. But here are mine.</div>
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Having walked through the horse tunnel immediately to the south of the aqueduct we looked for evidence of the former locks which led down to a crossing of the Great Ouse on the level. Here's what we found: a gate and a lock chamber, still in remarkably good condition given the length of time since it was last used. The current iron trunk aqueduct was opened in 1811 and I can't imagine anyone wanting to use slow and wasteful locks when they could go straight across, so perhaps the old locks fell into disuse from then. (I suppose they might have been used if the aqueduct was closed for maintenance.)
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Jan noticed a strange phenomenon in the sky while we were at the lock. I don't think I've seen a red rainbow before.
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The sun was setting and turning deep red, hence the apparent lack of other colours in the rainbow.
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After looking at the sunset over the aqueduct we returned to the boat.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1772469946571497931.post-83686868471411312272021-06-02T22:08:00.002+01:002021-06-02T22:08:51.748+01:00He'll make a fine lock boyAfter Stowe Hill (was it Flore?) there was work going on around an overspill weir.
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That's what it looked like, anyway.
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We had a salad lunch in shifts on the move, and stopped at Blisworth just past Candle Bridge for grandchildren Josiah and Micah to join us, with their parents Ally and Ben. It's a good job we stopped at the first available mooring as there was easy car parking there, whereas opposite the mill a new development has blocked access.<div><br /></div><div>We all enjoyed the trip through Blisworth Tunnel and went straight on to the locks, where there were plenty of gongoozlers at the top lock.<br />
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Micah mostly stayed on the boat with Ally ...
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... but five-year-old Josiah got stuck in, helping with opening and closing gates.
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After tying up at the bottom I cycled back to retrieve Ally and Ben's vehicle, then we all ate at the Navigation. Josiah is staying with us overnight; we will rendezvous with his parents at Old Wolverton tomorrow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1