London and on to Bishops Stortford

More London
Yes we visited Buckingham Palace

Our extended stay down in London we were able to several extra things. One of which was to spend a weekend with Clare, Simon & girls and it coincided with a gig Simon had organised for his group of musician friends. All in aid of the girls’ school, they arranged this bash in the barn of a farmer friend and tied it in with a BBQ. It of course needed helpers, so we came in useful. We were absolutely shattered by the time we got home & Carol had to retreat to her bed. Fortunately it was a great success and raised useful funds for the school. Oh! And it was good to see them & the girls.

I said in my previous blog we were off to Queens, and were fortunate in that it stayed dry all day & we saw some tennis. We were also able to get tickets to Shakespear’s Globe theatre and enjoyed thoroughly “As you like it”. Neither of us knew the play but we were in stitches during the play, it was a most memorable production and the cast and musicians were excellent. We also found Borough Market, which is close by the Globe, and though it was not really open we did discover a most memorable cheese shop. The cheeses in there were amazing and the system they had in place to maintain them in perfect condition was superb.

On our way there from our bus stop at London Bridge station we diverted slightly to The George. It is owned by the National Trust but leased to Green King. It is still a galleried coaching inn and was known to Shakespear, as well as Dickens. The beer was OK.

I saw this near Dicken's house.










We caught another film too and saw Last chance Harvey with Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. It was beautifully acted and clearly showed that the two of them have great empathy. What made is better for us was that it was set in London and we had only recently walked along the bits of South Bank etc where they were filmed. We made a point of going to see the Courtauld Collection on a Monday morning as between 10 & 2 that day it is free. Some incredible works of art.



Somerset House.



The Old Bailey


We saw more of these works of art too when we went to the National Gallery, though I can’t say we thought the same of the Tate Modern! On our way to the National Gallery we popped up to look at St Martins in the Fields which is alongside on Trafalgar Square. We found that there was to be a lunchtime recital an hour later, free but hoping for donations, set around the theme of Spring and given by a German Soprano and Pianist. Having enjoyed a coffee in the crypt waiting for the recital, we selected our seats & Carol got chatting to the couple behind us. They were from NZ and we are planning a trip there next Spring. Suffice to say that they made us promise to go to see hem in Christchurch. The recital was incredible, the girl had a fabulous voice and his phrasing was superb, and we booked to go to the evening concert as well and thoroughly enjoyed that too. The church has recently been refurbished and glistens with gilding above fresh white paint. During these works a wonderful new window behind the altar was installed. It is amazing how you can give shape and expression using just plain glass and leadwork, visit it.
















Carol though we ought to catch The Mousetrap before its run ended. No sign of that yet, it started in 1952! We didn’t know the story and it was well acted and we greatly enjoyed it, we got chatting to a very pleasant couple from Aus whilst there! We were caught in a tube strike and on one of the days we waited till around 11.30 before heading out. After sitting on a bus for a good 20 minutes with it moving barely 200 yards, we got off and wandered around the surroundings of St Pancras.



One of 6 Terrapins at Battlebridge













This pub with it's walls covered in carefully planted growing medium was just near Battlebridge. It will be very interesting to see how it matures.

We can’t recommend strongly enough Battlebridge Moorings if you want to spend a bit of time in London. It is very secure and has great facilities. David & Fiona looked after us very well, so it’s worth giving them as call on to see if there s a berth free. We found out a couple of days before we left that the new building at the end of the wharf is not just the offices of The Guardian, but also houses he Kings Centre. When it opened about 2 years ago it was the first all new concert venue to open in London since the Barbican, and that has got to be over 30 years ago. We popped around, and it is superb. The art in the gallery was not to or taste, some of the sculptures looked like lumps of clay cast in bronze, but some of the other sculptures were good.

We had great weather whilst in London, mostly, but one evening we had a little shower!















Leaving:-
So, on Tuesday 23rd June, I fired up the engine………except the starter battery was no good. It was new last August in Bathampton, so the finger of suspicion points to the alternator. Anyhow an hour of charging & we got under way. I had changed oils and fuel filters whilst in Battlebridge, and after about ½ hour running whist waiting for a lock, the engine stopped. I got it going after bleeding, but it stopped again on two more occasions just as we reached Victoria Park, and we were fortunate in finding something o tie up to. When I looked below deck the next day to bleed the fuel, I also found another alternator belt had been shredded! We stayed there all the next Wednesday whilst I walked to get a new belt and consulted on the fuel problem. I bled he system, ran it & it stopped, repeated it, and repeated it again. In the end I walked with 2 cans to get 8 litres of road fuel. The boat had a good list to starboard as she was aground, and the fuel take off was on the port side, and dipping the tank showed around 120 litres in it.Thursday we set off again.


New architecture you can see from the canal.
EXCEPT when Lily was first delivered we were on the boat over the first Xmas and we had no fuel to our boiler or stove, despite the tank being ¼ full. Mike found that the shell builder had told them wrongly what was fuel take off and fuel return. My guess is that the same applies to the engine fuel supply because when we turned out of Duckets Cut and filled up with fuel at New Era Fuels by Bow Bridge flyover (very cheap, but the Olympic people have bought the site so it may not be here long). Since then, no problem! Mike at Debdale reckons it could be the fuel lift pump getting weak, but unlikely after under 1900 hours I’d have thought. Since adding 200litres of fuel, no problem, but then again there is now a head of fuel above the sedimenter…….we’ll sort this out back at Debdale.

What still has to be sorted is the main alternator drive pulleys. For the last 2 days I have just left one belt working and providing I let it warm up gently when we first start it seems OK, but Mike reckons he might get to us to fit the poly V belt system. My concern is when we belt up the tidal Thames, will the one belt cope?

ENOUGH



We passed the main Olympic stadium, we had no idea the Lee was so close. Can we book a mooring for 2012? Probably not, they are neurotic about people possibly mooring a boat full of explosives near the site even now. The lower Lee is not very picturesque, but it’s not fully industrial either. Interesting question though, why would a company want to reclad a boat loading station in new aluminium cladding? Leggett Logistics have done so in the Tottenham area, but with no sign of freight handling equipment in it. Sorry, didn’t get a pic.

We stopped on Thus night shortly below Lea Bridge in Clapton. We hadn’t gone very far, but I’d bled the fuel system three times, we’d struggled to get to fuel, but we hoped that at last we were OK, so we caught a bus to get a Wetherspoons Curry in Hackney (we love these bus passes you know!) Still fantastic weather.

Friday 26th was an uneventful day, except we collected 2 alternator belts from Lea Valley Marina at Springfield. Pleasant people. We cruised on alone, apart from a couple of boats that passed us before we had breakfasted, I don’t think we saw another boat moving until after we tied up above Enfield lock that day. Just above one lock on the Lee we came across these new floating offices, what was amazing was that they seemed to have fitted proper sails.

















Enfield lock was foul.





It was full of weed, and the upstream approach was solid with weed too. I closed the top gates, started to empty the lock, but the weed was keeping the top gates open at least 6”, so I re-filled it, scrambled along the top beam with the boat hook ( no handrails on the Lee or Stort) and worked hard pulling weed clear. Then I emptied the lock, opened the bottom gates (hydraulic gate opening here) and the ran water through the top paddles till the slug of weed had cleared the lock. When Lily was ready to come out of the lock, I bow hauled her to stop the weed from fouling the prop.
The locks on the Lee have some hydraulic power on them, all of them up to Ramney Marsh have the bottom gates opened by hydraulics, several of the locks further down are fully powered. After Ramney they all have cranked bottom gate beams which do not counterweight the gates and they are heavy. The weather on Friday was lovely too.

Saturday 27th we cruised under a mile till we got to Waltham Abbey, where we stopped and walked into the prettyish town. Carol said her hair was driving her mad and went to have a cut & perm, very brave of her as she has basically only allowed one hairdressers in Leicester to do this these past 30+ years.






We also went to a lovely butchers shop and bought stuff for a BBQ, and I sauntered around, had a pint in a very old pub (The Welsh Harp) my first ever McMullens, and tasty. I walked to the Royal Gunpowder Mills, intending to give it a quick once over, but at £6.20 even with my concession rate I certainly wasn’t going to just whizz round it. The Sealed Knot were doing a re-enactment that day, and they have things going there on every weekend, but are only open from April to Octoberish.


Anyhow, hair done we grabbed a nibble and walked around the market and bought some fruit and were intending returning to the boat via looking over the Abbey………except there was a wedding on so it’ll have to be done on the way back. Back to the boat and off we set, through the next lock where I retrieved a totally loose boat. I gather the owner is a new "continuous moorer", and it looked as if he had not fixed his ropes to his pins. This done we moved on about half a mile more to prepare for the BBQ, except it started to drizzle, and thunder, and eventually tipped down for about 3 hours. This is the first rain we have seen since the deluge in Battlebridge. Sorry everyone, it was my fault it rained. We had no BBQs last summer and none on the boat the year before.

Sunday 28th dawned hazy and warm and we set off through the progressively prettier Lee. Lots of water all around the river in lakes and quite a few boats out enjoying the lovely weather. Cruised for just over 5 hours finishing just above Roydon Lock on the Stort, mooring alongside a managed wildflower meadow and nature reserve. Clouds were forming as we got out the BBQ but we persevered and it was lovely.














We also came through this incredibly floral lock!














The river Lee gets prettier as you cruise upstream and the Stort is lovely, but there are some very low footbridges. Be Aware the sanitary station at the Lee/Stort junction shown in our Nicholsons is no longer there.

Monday 29th Hotter than yesterday and no haze at start. Fabulous river, twisty, narrowish and lovely countryside, except railway is nearby. Moorings few & far between so far. Got a bit busy as boats were returning from a knees up at Harlow. Used new sanitary station just above Burnt Mill Lock before toddling on to tie up at Sawbridgeworth and visit town. It is well worth a visit, interesting buildings and church, many old pubs and useful shops, but again hardly a mooring, we tied up just before the lock landing area of Sheering Mill Lock. Annoying to see loads of mooring bollards and manicured banks just above the lock on the non-towpath side, all festooned with Private No Mooring signs. These buildings are on the site of an old woodworking factory that was busy in WW2 making Mosquito fuselages and wings. Only 5 ½ miles and 6 locks but I was tired, and had a BBQ to cook!.


Tuesday 30th late night last night watching Andy Murray win, and it dawned hazy, but by 8 the sun was out. We had decided to set off early, but 8.40 was later than 2 boats who passed us. We had a lovely cruise into Bishops Stortford. It was all of 5 miles and 6 locks, but it was gorgeous. It is very twisty and not very wide and with several of the bridges if there had been any fresh on the river Carol's troughs would have needed taking off the roof. They have been a great success this year and get tremendous congratulations.








A pretty lock near Bishop's Stortford

We arrived at the end of the navigation after about 4 hours and used the sanitary station. The end of the navigation is the visitor moorings and these are close by the centre of the town with a large Sainsburys & M&S a few yards away. Walked around the place a bit, but not too much to see, but we have fixed to meet Carol's cousin from Aus here on the 7th so I sussed out parking for him, which is not easy, and we have also fixed up to see Carol's old schoolfriend, (& my first girlfriend), here on the 9th as she only lives about 40 miles away. We will also use a train from here on the 10th to get to Hampton Court Flower Show.

Well, pictures added, thank heavens for a fast connection in Hertford. It is lovely up these waters, but it is so very hot!

Staying in London

We stopped on the Paddington Arm for three nights and during that time we met up with my cousin's daughter who was very heavily pregnant, and enjoyed playing with her young son as well as having supper with them at their home near Little Venice. Her husband is a heart surgeon at the St Mary's Hospital in Paddington and he walked past Lily on his way to work.

Wednesday 13th May
We moved on through Regents Park Zoo and on through Camden Locks. Be warned, make sure the shore crew have their BW key with them. I had to call Carol back to the top lock to rescue me as it is now enclosed in railings. It was a cool and blustery day. I noticed our fuel level is lowish so was pleased to see a fuel pump at St Pancras Cruising Club just past Kings Cross Station. Sadly it is only manned at infrequent times, and our moorings at Battlebridge Basin have mains supply so we will not need to run the engine to charge things.

Wildlife in Battlebridge, the Heron stayed on Lily for ages. There are 6 terrapins in the basin, two large pike and the largest carp Carol has ever seen loitering around Lily.

We arrived in early afternoon and Carol shuffled us into our berth, we said our hellos, paid our dues and tied up. It really is a wonderful spot, very secure and with shower, bath, toilet waste and Elsan disposal and a water point by our mooring point. There is a Tesco store abot 10 yards away and we catch a bus to The Angel in Islington to get to a largish Sainsburys. I have also been able to get mail sent to us here, useful in getting my mother's estate wound up. After a couple of days moored bows on we decided it would be better stern on, but that is the extent of our movements from 13th May till today, 7th June.

Just by the gate there is a bus stop that will take us along Oxford Street or to Waterloo, and a walk of a hundred yards or so gets us to Kings Cross Station with buses and tubes everywhere. We wanted to get a good mooring because over the weekend of 16/17 June we went to Brussels by Eurostar from neighbouring St Pancras as the fist part of our Ruby Wedding celebrations. The following Sunday we had both girls & families join us for a "flight" on the Eye, a meal and a cruise on the Thames (not on Lily!!) Weather in Brussels was so-so, the following weekend it was fabulous for our flight and we had superb views.

During our stay we have in addition so far met Victoria's baby the day after her birth, had supper with my cousin & friend, our niece, visited an old friend we haven't seen for 8 years, had our grandson stay for 4 days.

Things we have done, all but one of them for the first time in our lives, have included 2 visits to the British Library (well worth a visit) 3 visits to the British Museum (an absolute must) The Science Museum (incredible), The Grenwich Observatory (wonderful to see Harrison's Chronometers and other things)
The Old Imperial Standards at Grenwich

The view from by the Grenwich Observatory

We have also visited the Tower of London, The Imperial War Museum (not Carol, how appropriate to house it in the original Bedlam mental hospital) St Pauls (amazing, but sadly the golden gallery was closed) Westminster Abbey (nowhere near as good as St Pauls in our opinion) plus we have so far seen "Grease" and "Hairspray" (at vastly reduced prices) a fabulous concert in the Royal Albert Hall and The Beating of the Retreat in Horseguards Parade and so far we have pulled in 2 films on Wednesday where we got in at 2 for 1. On our way to the Retreat we saw half an hour of live screened ballet on a giant screen in Trafalgar Square direct from Covent Garden (ballet leaves me cold & it was cold that night too!).

Admiralty Arch, gate open, Buckingham Palace behind.

This last bit came about as a lucky chance. On Saturday 31st Sam was with us & it was a superb day again & we were intending to walk down Whitehall from Piccadilly to visit Westminster Abbey. The evening before as we were at Piccadilly Carol had told Sam that the centre gate of the Admiralty Arch is only ever used by the Queen, and is therefore the gates are shut. On the Saturday he noticed they were open, and as we walked across to investigate it was obvious that the Police had shut off the Mall. We asked why & were told it was for a rehearsal of Trooping the Colour for June 13th. Needless to say we walked along to get a vantage point and were able to see bits of what was happening on the Parade. The great thing was when the troops marched and rode off they came right past us with trumpets and drums playing. It was an incredible sight, very moving.


We wandered down the back roads to Westminster Abbey from here, only to find that last entry to view the Abbey on a Saturday is at 13.30 and we got there at 14.00. Anyway we meandered around saw other bits and bought tickets for Beating the Retreat in Horseguards on our return up Whitehall.



There are so many other things to see and do, tomorrow we are off to Queens Tennis Club to hopefully see some tennis. We still have some Theatre Vouchers to use up that we were given as anniversary presents. We certainly don't intend to pay full price. Yesterday afternoon we set off on a bus towards Leicester Square to see if we could find anything. Part way there we passed the theatre where "Hairspray" is performed, hopped off the bus and asked about tickets. We were offered cheap tickets for that afternoon's matinee. We sat in the middle of the circle, next to people who had paid £60 a head, we paid £25!! The show started about 15 minutes after we arrived! Great. I would never have thought a musical comedy could have been written about racial prejudice in the USA in 1962, but they have and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

We have just extended our booking here till 22nd June so we can go to see the youngest grandchildren again. Then we have to set off up the Lee and Stort, and hopefully will get our new alternator drive pulleys fitted as the belts get thrown off as soon as we rev up unless I tighten them incredibly hard. Carol's cousin from Australia is going to visit us on 7th/8th July so we have to get to a suitable meeting point, then on the 10th we are off to Hampton Court Flower Show. We tried for tickets to Chelsea but the only ones were at over £100 a pop!!!

Right, I'm going to publish this lot, then I'm going to sort out some pics and add them later. Sorry for the delay, you only got this lot because my brother moaned!

The Second Start

Friday May 1st
We topped up with fuel, put in a new gas bottle and on a lovely morning at 10.20 we were off.

Foxton was great, followed 2 boats up, got our ice creams again ( did I tell you how good they are? ) and were out the flight at 12. We cruised fairly hard, got thro Husbands Bosworth tunnel with me at the tiller, so naturally met a boat, the previous tunnels this year have had Carol on the tiller & meeting no-one! The clouds blew over intermittently, cooling the day significantly, and it started to rain as we reached Crick at around 6. Great to be really off, and we decided to set off early as it is a Bank Holiday weekend. Took more pics of the bluebells for Carol.

Whilst cruising spoke to London Narrowboat Co about a mooring there whilst we are in London, and it looks as if we can have a fully serviced mooring there, hoorah! We intend to spend a month or so in London being tourists, we have never really visited it before except on business.

Saturday 2nd
After tightening the alternator belts & checking things we were off before 8 in bright sun. At Watford we topped up with water whilst waiting for 3 to come up and then whizzed down, getting out at 10.20. By that time there were 6 waiting to go up, but there were about 5 to come down, and as we cruised to Norton Junction we passed another 6 heading for the flight. I reckoned it would be at least a 3 hour wait, glad we got in early.

The new charging regulator is working very well and gets us fully charged in pretty short order.

Buckby flight was descended singly but meeting boats coming up at each lock. Leaving the flight at 1pm I collected some front deck covering material and we cruised on. Fairly slow going but such a lovely day. We had thought about stopping at Gayton but carried on through Blisworth tunnel to moor at Stoke Bruerne. I helmed Lily through so we met 5 boats, including 2 hire boats that didn’t hug the side and bashed us. Tunnel incredibly wet!

Moored halfway between tunnel and top lock at 6pm.

Sunday 3rd
Bill ( the alarm ) arrived at 10.30 with wife Vicki and he set to on setting up the system to communicate. This involved lots of mobile calls and internet communications getting things to have the right settings, but unfortunately things weren’t going too well. After about 3 hours he had to give up and said he might be able to sort it out from home, and if not would get a bit of kit from his distributor and would meet up with us on Friday. Very pleasant couple, they are moving into wider beamed craft with their new shell taking shape at Debdale. Bill is going to fit it out himself, but is a little concerned about where to launch it owing to it being 13 feet wide. The Grand Union is supposedly this wide, but I wouldn’t want to take a newly painted boat of this width along it.

At 2 we set off and lucked into arriving at the top lock a few moments later just as Fire Dragon was about to start. We shared the flight with them, he, an undertaker so naturally of a sunny disposition, had just bought the boat and was going to live aboard. As they came out of the first lock one of his rear cabin doors fell off when a hinge broke. Very suspicious this, of the 4 hinges 3 were old, and it was the new one that broke. Flight went very well, weather was OK but cool, and we met boats coming against us at each lock cutting down the work we had to do. Wanted to use sanitary station at bottom of the locks but it was out of order, so we cruised on till just past bridge 60 and at 5 we tied up.

Monday 4th
had family visit including a great niece who is just 2. Pleasant day with them and with a to & fro trip, but the weather was far from good, cold hard wind so the next day we needed to get moving. Daily belt checking shows that the initial stretch has been taken up and they do not need adjusting. The Adverc is working very well, charging batteries fully in very short order and below the rear deck all looks OK.

But time is passing and we need to be in London by 13th and it’s a lot of locks away, but we still want to see things. On Tuesday we stopped at Gt Linford as Nicholson said it was a good example of a manorial village. Well it is within Milton Keynes, the Manor House looks great (owned now by Pete Waterman & with a studio in it) the church is kept locked, the parkland between the two runs down to the canal and looks great and the pub is pretty. Would we stop again….no.
How often do you see a sunken boat? Not often, we came across this near bridge 88 on Tuesday. We also stopped in MK and I set off to find Sainsburys. Google Earth showed it at about ½ mile away, but it had moved further away so I went to Waitrose. Nicholson said you can get a bus from br 82a but don’t try it as there is no access from canal to road here and certainly no bus stop!! If you must shop, stop the bridge before and walk, much better to go a few hours further and stop in Leighton Buzzard where a reasonable Tesco is open 24 hours canalside. We got there on Wednesday after lunch, the weather the last two days has been fine, but where are all the boats? Nicholson said this town too had merits for a visit plus an interesting church. Well it too was locked and the town is far from great, Newark & Harborough offer far more.

Well, not really, where are all the boats on the move? There must be dozens and dozens permanently moored up on the towpath side through Milton Keynes, and in fact it carries on. The K&A was bad around Bath but the GU is getting like this all the way down. We last cruised it in 2001 and there was nothing like this then. I can’t be certain they don’t move, but the mooring ropes, hooks, pins etc look well fixed, the grass around them uncut, so they were in when the towpath was cut.

On Wednesday
We saw this sad sight,
a sunken narrowboat. BW have put an oil catching around it, but the licence had expired some months earlier, so I’m pretty sure it has been down for months.

This sad boat was seen on Friday. Heaven knows how long it has been under. We also saw another narrowboat with water in it, looking bedraggled. Why don’t BW get then removed and charge the owners?


Thursday 7th
We actually shared locks with a boat!! We came upon “Malvern” a 40 ft boat with a pleasant couple doing the ring from Braunston in 5 weeks. The boat looked familiar, there was no sign writing on it but the colours and nameplate shouted UCC, as indeed it was. Are they trying to disguise their boats? Anyway we shared the Marsworth locks with them before they headed off down the Wendover Arm. We had intended to go into Aylesbury but because of our delays have decided to save that for another day. By the way, my copy of Nicholson says within the text that there are 8 locks into the town in the header, and then numbers them from 1 to 16 on the map! We had a busy day knocking off 17 locks and 10 miles from Leighton Buzzard to Tring. What a feat of engineering this cutting is, over a mile and a half long and up to 30 feet deep, and all dug by hand.

This hungry boater has obviously been starved of something.

Friday 8th
We set off incredibly early (for us) and were at the services at Cowroast by just past 8. Apart from a few showers on Monday our trip had been dry, but as we entered the lock it hammered down. Furthermore before we set off I put on clean socks and stepped off the boat to cast off. As I set my foot down by the hook I had placed on the piling, it went down over a foot. Grass was covering a hole behind the piles, and I had not seen it on the many moves onto and off the boat that evening. Needless to say the hole was muddy and had a good depth of water in it. So much for clean socks! Actually I was lucky I only placed my foot on the grass and went in, if I had jumped onto that spot I would almost certainly have broken my leg.

Anyway having donned waterproofs we spent a hard day working our way down 24 locks in under 9 miles, ending up just past Nash Mill, which is now partly demolished. During the day it brightened, then got hot, then poured, then sunny, then more rain before after about 12 it brightened and stayed that way. We were lucky; one of the few boats we saw moving the opposite way had suffered hailstorms. Carol had got cold mid morning and as we stopped in Berkhamsted at the canalside Waitrose store to get fruit & papers she warmed up with a very pleasant cappuccino.
(A pretty stretch in Berkhamsted)

We actually managed to share one lock this day. Near the end of our trip as we were leaving Hemel Hempstead we saw a boat starting to fill the lock below us just as we entered the lock above. I waved, they saw us and we joined them. It was Lady Eleanor from Debdale, the last time we saw them with the boat was as we crossed on the K&A last year. Incredible. Sad too as they said they were stopping just below the lock and we had several more to do. We met up with two charming girls of possibly 9years age at this lock and they had loads of questions & helped push gates.

We tied up at around 5.40 and reckoned we had done pretty well as we had stopped for probably about an hour during the day. Still lots more locks to London but today we broke the back of the task.

Saturday 9th
Cruising today included arranging to be tied up to watch qualifying for the Spanish GP. The day started bright, strongish wind at first, easing off and warming up through the day. I noted lock 69A was slow to fill, but why is it 69A? Did someone miscount as the locks were being numbered? We shared 3 locks with Days of Elijah around Grove Park, a very pretty bit with some very sharp bends, and of course we met boats coming the other way on these bends. We stopped in Cassiobury Park for the GP & lunch and set off again at the same time as nb Doolittle, a 40ft Sea Otter, they too had been watching. We shared 4 locks until them, and one of these we had a threesome, something we haven’t enjoyed for years.

We stopped at Rickmansworth at
Batchworth lock to fill & empty, and for me to fall in!!!

Mooring at the Sanitary Station was not good, the side was in a concave arch and bollards were not ideally placed. I was kneeling on the side of the front deck to put the hose away, I couldn’t get onto the deck as the washing was set up there on the airer. When I had put the hose away I put my feet down on the side, except the “side” was water and the concrete was 2 feet away! It was not too cold & I’m hoping I got my mobile phone out and dry in time.

We cruised on and I noted that the whole length between Stockers & Springwell was taken up by moored boats. We tied up in a lovely spot a couple of hundred yards below Springwell Lock. It was close to the large, odourless sewage works and just past a boat club. Shortly after mooring we heard the evocative thud of a Bollinder as it passed us. They sound fabulous, I’m sure they are fun and a challenge to work on and with, but we don’t want one, much too much like hard work.

Sunday 10th
Dawned crystal clear blue sky, barely a breeze, fabulous. The day saw the odd cloud blow over but it warmed up and all the pubs had busy “gardens” with people enjoying the weather. We enjoyed the GP tied up in Uxbridge and posted cards & letters as well as getting the papers. Overnight our toilet tank went wrong and could not be closed. It was decidedly whiffy and was taken out and we urgently cleaned it out at Cowley Lock. Our day finished just before the Slough Arm at Cowley Peachy, still in bright sun and with Carol doing an experimental dish using an aubergine. We have done all the locks now on the GU that we have to do, and yet again have been amazed at how pretty the whole run is. Carol says she prefers it to using the Oxford to get to the Thames, I’m not so sure as it is much harder work, but well worthwhile.


Interesting boats abound, just two of them.

Final note, Carol’s experiment was excellent, loads of vegetables etc in it and really tasty, if she can remember how she did it she may well offer it as a dish when friends come to dine.

Monday 11th Another bright day but with a strong and biting wind.

It has been a fabulous year for Clematis an Wisteria.

Roy in Gerald thudded past us at 8 on his way back North before I fitted DryDeck to the front deck before we set off at 11, and we set off in a rush as we saw this approaching.

We had seen the loading point yesterday, sorry, didn’t grab the camera in time to picture the unloading wharf.

We saw few boats moving, but of course s..s law applied as we met the first one at bridge over a tightish bend in the middle of two long straights! The next one was as I was about to turn at Bulls Bridge, amazing timing. Saw this weed collector on the Paddington Arm, perhaps it would have helped to collect floating pennywort on the Soar? Meeting a few more boats we arrived at Little Venice at 4 and moored just into the Paddington Arm in bright sun, but still with that bitter wind.a

Back for repair

Sunday 26th April Another beautiful day but we are stopped waiting a decision about our failed oil seal, still the Grand Prix from Dubai was interesting and I had a pleasant walk to Wilton Locks chandlery to collect Sunday papers. On our wander down there on Saturday we noticed a boat named Encharnted and wondered who the funny spelling. On Sunday I saw the owner and asked, but he had only bought the boat so named and wondered if it was the signwriter’s error, but thought not as both sides are the same, so he thinks the boatyard may have given the wrong spelling to the signwriter. I can’t understand why the owner of the boat paid for the job being done if the spelling was wrong, any ideas?

Other little bits were done to the boat, including laundry and the preparation of the front deck for a repaint, but it was lovely to sit down and read the news and prepare for Monday and decisions. I had already sent an email with photos of the problems to the marina and called first thing to make sure that it was opened & the pictures printed and passed to Mike, who rang me around 10. He said he needed the serial number as stamped on the drive motor, and that he was going to speak to Steve. The number, of course, was on the underside of the unit, but a mirror helped, and I phoned back to get the info to him. Whilst waiting for him to get back to me went onto Peachment’s (the makers) web site, to see if any exploded views were shown (no) and then rang them. They were surprised that the seal had gone in such a relatively short time, and then went through the procedure to get at the part. I asked whether they considered it would be OK for us to cruise the 10 hours back to the marina, and when they said this would be fine, we set off at 1pm.

Monday morning had been wet, but shortly after we set off the rain stopped, but it was far from warm. Our passage up Watford locks was quick, we met no-one in Crick tunnel, which was still very wet, filled with water at Edwards, and then the heavens opened! I sent Carol below as there was no point in 2 of us getting wet, but in fact the umbrella, jacket & hat kept me dry and we cruised on. The weather improved later, though still cool and we cruised on until 7.30 when we stopped in another pretty spot.

Tuesday dawned cool and overcast with rain forecast, but in fact it held off until nightfall where we were. We cruised on steadily, past these lovely bluebells.

We went straight into Foxton flight, Carol with another ice cream ( I was busy working locks so couldn’t lick ) and we arrived back at Debdale by 2pm. I reported into the office, had a few words about pulley sizes, and dived below the deck to start dismantling and found a belt had come adrift again! I got bolts loose and the drive shaft uncoupled before Steve arrived with some larger kit for splitting the drive from the thrust bearing. With it all off and in pieces and cleaned out eventually we felt the thrust bearing because something had caused the grease to overheat, and we do not cruise at great speed. We are not sure but Steve thought the bearing might be a bit rough, so I decided to blow another £100 on a new one, better sure than sorry. Still waiting news on the alternator pulleys and belt problems.

Wednesday Busy day away from the boat, Carol had her hair permed, I visited the doc, then off collecting post plus a piece of clothing Carol needs for later in the month. Can’t recall all we did, but we were out from before 9 till after 5. Got back to find nothing fixed back on the boat, but was told a new drive pulley was being sent. It seems everything fitted was supplied by engine manufacturer, it’s just that they have made few of our engine/alternator package and don’t know what they supplied. The new pulley was being locally sourced but had not arrived.

Thursday another busy day for us, including re-provisioning but first interesting bit at Matilda Blue and her Australian owners were loaded up on a lorry first thing to be-floated in Holland prior to their cruise through Belgium & France. We were interested in this as it is something we hope to do. Set off to get our tasks done and got back to find drive unit fitted but that alternator pulley that came was useless. They refitted the originals & used narrower belts, but have ordered in a set of poly-V pulleys for fitting in the Autumn, or sooner if we ruin these belts. The only thing left now was our alarm system. This was fitted years ago, but no sensors installed. It works thro mobile phone text messaging, but we needed to see the supplier who is a South African who moors in Debdale. We were supposed to meet on the K&A last summer as they were supposedly coming round from Sharpness to Bristol, but never made it. He was due to see us today but…..

Friday A bright sunny morning, suddenly Bill arrived about the alarm. He said he had to get a couple of bits and arranged that he would catch up with us on Sunday…………….So………….

Murder at Debdale: 2009 Cruise commences

As we awaited the completion of repairs and improvements to Lily Pad we were told of a murder that had recently occurred at the wharf. We had noticed and experienced belligerent behaviour by the miscreant ourselves but were shocked to hear that it had reached the ultimate conclusion.

Not content with physically attacking boat crews and boats, and apparently causing the capsize of canoes, he actually killed. It is actually just natural for a soon to be proud father to protect his partner, but the cob that nests annually near the entrance to the marina killed a Canada goose that strayed too near. He is a canny bird, though, quite happy to take bread from Carol's hand one moment and the next to attack my feet as I walk along the side of the boat. We hope they successfully raise their family, we will find out on our return.

Departure

(small aside, I just managed to erase loads of words because I accidentally hit Ctrl button. Given my typing speed this should not be repeated. Sadly the autosave quickly saved the much reduced writing above, silly me!! I think I'll write it in Word & paste it in next time)

Last October when we returned to Debdale I spoke to Mike telling him we had two hydraulic oil leaks from our drive system and wanted an additional charge controlling system (Adverc) fitting as we had to run the engine for a very long time to get the charge level to anywhere near 100%. Mike said he would get these jobs done sooner rather than later during our stay at our winter moorings. We wanted to set off earlier than we had done the year before, but had arranged to go to Orlando with our younger daughter and family, returning on Easter Saturday, so we thought we might get away around the 16th April. Lily was taken into the workshop for the jobs just before Easter & when I looked at the engine on our return I saw the oil leaks had not been looked at!

We are a very easygoing couple; otherwise there might have been another murder! Suffice to say work didn’t go to well on the oil leaks, and the following weekend (18/19) there was still a problem, but it should have been completed on Monday, but a part was wrong, Tuesday morning the part was collected, only to find it too was not right. We got under way eventually at 6pm on Tuesday 21st, cruised to Foxton, I had a pint of Adnams as we chatted to Tony Matts, returned to the boat & checked for oil leaks with my hand, and it came out covered in oil!! I dried it off fully and at just gone 9 the next morning we were back at Debdale. Mike had been poorly the night before, but Gordon arrived just past 10 and pinched it tighter (but I must confess that here was hardly a drip on the clean paper I had put around the joint, the oil I found the night before must have been left over from the fitting work).

At 11am Thursday 23rd we set off, the same date as last year! We didn’t get too far too fast as at Foxton they were filming a boat descending the locks. Later this year they are showing an episode of “Flog it” from Harborough and this was colour for the show. It was a lovely day, so I enjoyed another Adnams and we both enjoyed a sausage baguette and chatted. Carol was filmed feeding ducks, I polished a few bits of brass, and eventually at about 2 we set off up the locks, exiting at 3.15, and not before times as Carol was desperate for an ice cream from the Top Lock Cottage……really excellent Bennetts ice cream, even better on this warm sunny day.

Trees are starting to turn green on the Laughton Hills.

We cruised just over 7 miles and tied up
on the Avon embankment just past the
Welford Arm. A pretty spot and a great
place to work on the boat and as Lily
really was not looking her best we
decided to stay all day Thursday and
Friday morning. She then set off with
well polished paintwork, freshly
painted (still damp) gunwales and back
deck and basically a smart boat again.

Whilst working on her we met a charming couple Eva & David on nb The Tug, and ex Goldsborough show boat. We are off to Brussels in mid May for our wedding anniversary and it turned out they had lived there for many years and had only recently sold their flat over there. They gave us some very useful info and recommended a load of restaurants, though I fear our pockets are not as deep as theirs are! Their boat was originally fitted with a pretend old engine, newly built in Latvia or some such. It seemed to break down most days and whilst those of a more mechanical bent might be able to live with this, they couldn’t. It now has a new Vetus engine & they love it.

We set off from the embankment at 11.30 and cruised 10 miles to Crick where we had arranged to meet friends coming by road to eat at Edwards. We had eaten there several times before, but always whilst it was run by the original owners, but the web site looked interesting and Eva said they had eaten well there. We will not be returning! The menu was not particularly interesting, particularly the desserts, which we avoided, and it was far from inexpensive. A shame.

Well all the week had been fine as we pootled around, now we wanted to start cruising, so Saturday 25th dawned wet! We dressed in waterproofs and set off around 9, did the 200 yards to Crick tunnel in which the waterproofs were useful as it is a very “wet” tunnel. When we emerged it had stopped raining, and we then had a fine day, though the wind was fairly strong & cool. We had little time to wait at the picturesque Watford Locks, and emerged around 11.30, spotting our first kingfisher of the trip. Also there was an intrepid wagtail pair that had decided that half way up a lock gate was the ideal place to raise their brood.

A mile and a half further on I was just having a bite of the very tasty sandwich Carol had made for me as we passed Weltonfield Narrowboats. As Carol increased engine revs there was a horrible noise from it, which disappeared as she throttled back, reappearing as she increased revs again. We tied up & I found that one of the twin alternator drive belts had been thrown off (I knew I should have checked they had tightened them). This was no real problem as I have several spares, but then I noticed a ring of grease splatters around the white painted engine bay. This had come from the main hydraulic drive motor and clearly an oil seal had started to leak, and equally clearly we needed help. I rang Debdale and reported the problem to mechanic Steve. Unfortunately he couldn't help much on the phone as he had nothing to do with the building of Lily as he had not joined Mike’s team then. He had not studied our system, especially as we have not had any problems, save for the oil leak. With Mike away till Monday nothing will happen till then & I reckon the earliest we will be cruising again is late on Tuesday. At least we filled with water today & have empty toilet tanks and we have a lovely mooring, surprisingly quiet despite being close to the M1 and the main railway line to Birmingham, plus we have a Grand Prix to watch tomorrow and I’ve finally sussed out how to set up our satellite TV system.

As you can see we are broken down in a very pretty spot.

Back to Base

We came across this lovely tree as we cruised towards the Foxton locks.

Wednesday 15th October Overnight rain and not a very pleasant day. About half a dozen boats passed us on their way to Watford locks before we cast off, and this was followed by about another 20 boats crossing through the day. I took the tiller and of course met 2 boats as we went through Crick tunnel, Carol seems to avoid meeting boats when she is in charge. The umbrella kept most of the water off us and as we emerged I remarked on the very sad looking boat about 50 yards from the north portal. It is nearly new but covered in green slime and leaves & I'm sure it hasn't moved since we went South in June. Just past it and approaching the bridge I crossed the next 2 boats, before tieing up at the Wharf to fill with water. Exchanged waves with Barry in ABNB, we'll see him back in the marina.

The day carried on much the same, but the canal was incredibly shallow north of bridge 26 for a mile or so and if BW don't do something about the reeds in other places there will be no clear channel, and of course silt will be building up around their stems and forming a load of stuff that will need dredging soon. I reported this to Derek at Foxton when we got there, and he asked how water levels were, there had been a problem over the weekend. We moored up near bridge 47 for our last night out.


Thursday 16th dawned much brighter, but much cooler. We set off much earlier than usual, being under way by 9 as we wanted to collect our post from Sally as we had some urgent stuff to deal with. The sun shone and there was not too much breeze and there were some lovely sights, including a lovely pony & trap passing alongside a nearby road. Unfortunately the gaps between the hedges were very small but I managed this snap.

We also noted that some of the fields had started to get their winter colour and nature, but the cows and sheep seemed pretty content.


We reached the top of Foxton just after 10 and were told we could go straight down. Approaching the top lock there is this lovely new statue that has been erected as part of the new interpretation scheme.

Carol loves the Bennetts ice cream the Top Lock Cottage sells and despite the cool day considered she deserved to lick one as we descended. Ice cream cones and a windlass don't go together too well, so I didn't have one, and anyway it was a bit early and cold for me. Our traverse was pretty quick and we saw Mary & Tony by their home at the bottom lock and exchanged news and views.

We cruised on to Debdale and were securely tied up by 11.30. All I need to do now is work out our total journey details.

As our winter is going to be even more boring that my blog, with me probably going back to work for Blaby District Council part time and Carol being highly social, I don't intend to return to blogging until something interesting arises.

From Birmingham back to Debdale for the Winter

Wednesday 8th October After spending an interesting few days in Birmingham it is time to head back to base and rekindle our social life.

Whilst in Birmingham Carol did a bit of retail therapy, freshening bits of her wardrobe for the coming winter. We also visited the Jewellery Quarter which is quite close to Cambrian Wharf where we moored. I went to see the Museum of Science an Technology which now rejoices in the title "Think Tank" and is about 500 yards from New Street station. I last went to Birmingham's Science Museum about 45 years ago and it was located in a building alongside the Farmer's Bridge locks. It is now in a very new building, the other half of which is part of Birmingham City University. It has lots of interactive displays covering the whole range of subjects. I was very brave and watched a video of a hip replacement without fainting once! I went on Monday, reckoning that it would be busy at weekends.........but forgot there would be school parties! I must say I was disappointed with it. There were dozens of displays where the integral lighting was not working, loads more where the "action" buttons didn't do anything, and a video display of reminiscences of earlier years and in particular the war & rationing was spoiled by the sound being drowned out by sounds outside. I will be writing to them with suggestions, but it is worth a visit. I spent about 4 hours there!!

Much to my surprise, and needing to stock up for our trip home, I found a large Tesco store quite close the Gas St basin. There is a small Sainsburys just up Broad St from the canal, but if you walk on about 1/4 mile just as it intersects with one of the ring roads a Tesco is buried under a multi storey building and it is a quite large one, even running to clothing, electrical goods & pharmacy. So on Tuesday I loaded up for our return journey & then Carol cooked a few dishes that we froze for future use. Then at 7 we went to Symphony Hall to hear Mahler's 3rd symphony. It was not a piece we had heard before, and when we looked at the stage and saw an orchestra of 100, plus Soprano soloist plus about 130 choristers, perhaps that is why it is not often heard. It is different from most symphonies too in that it took about 100 minutes to be performed, with the first movement running to about 35 minutes it alone was as long as most symphonies. We enjoyed it, but it neither of us can remember any of the "tunes" in it now, perhaps we need to get a recording & listen again.

So Wed 9th October the forecast was good & we were to be off in good time to get through the locks & out into the country, but first we needed to put water in. As I got on deck at 9 to back to the water point there was a boat there already. It was well past 9.40 before they moved off and we ran the tap for about 30 minutes before we gave up, I could .......... faster! We set off down the locks in lovely sunlight and it was getting warmer.

Working Farmers Bridge locks

Looking back to the National Indoor Arena

The railway bridge by Snow Hill Station

We finished the first 13 in barely 90 minutes passing two boats in the process. As we reached Aston Junction we tied up as I needed to get new alternator drive belts & Google Earth showed a motor factors based there....... not any more!

So we continued on and made good time through the Ashsted Locks. The short tunnel on this flight is very tight. Handrails for the towpath edge are bolted onto the water side of the concrete towpath, reducing the width by several inches and despite Carol keeping the boat tight to these posts we scraped the top of the boat on one particularly low bit, possibly not helped by the water being a bit high, and the water tank being fairly empty.

As Carol brought Lily into the first of the Camp Hill locks, something was wrong. With great technical detail she told me the boat had broken! She could not engage forward, and in fact she was slowly going backwards. Turning off the engine I hauled Lily into the lock and popped down into the engine bay & found the gear cable had broken. I knocked it into neutral and rang the boatyard where I was advised to haul the boat through the locks and then engage forward and cruise on out of the less than savoury area we were in. We enlisted various people who were around the locks to give a heavy, but the big basin between the third & fourth locks nearly defeated us as we were running out of rope. Carol used the bow thruster to guide Lily into the locks. I rang Stephen Goldsborough at Knowle to see if he kept a stock of these cables and was pleased to hear he did.

We cruised on through the afternoon sunlight reaching Catherine de Barnes around 5 & tied up before popping in to The Boat for a restorative pint. We then had a most enjoyable fish pie Carol had made the other day. The Boat is a Chef & Brewer pub and had a pretty good menu, but not cheap, nor was the "English Restaurant" on the opposite side of the road, but at least they had a 2 courses for £10 offer if you ate before 7. The menu looked interesting.

Reflections at Catherine de Barnes

The next morning dawned bright and clear and we pushed off, I scrambled into the engine, engaged forwards & we were off the the boatyard, arriving around 10.30 and getting horribly stuck on a ledge that runs most of the length of the towpath side from the bridge to the water point. I had removed the old cable earlier & was not relishing trying to thread the new one in, but took the old thing to Goldsboroughs, and duly found they had nothing as long as we needed! Two of their chaps came to help us off the ledge & haul us to the water point, and the new one is due on Friday morning. We then amused ourselves with washing and painting things, it would have been so much better cruising! During the day 3 boats passed us, two going down & one up, and all in the space of about 20 minutes, a busy place!

Autumn colours and side pond gear at Knowle Locks


Friday 10th Another lovely day and boats start passing fairly early on, but not one had wanted to use the water point we were tied up to. At 12 the cable arrived and the struggle to get it to fit started. I must have tried pushing it down the narrow tube it had to go through dozens of times but it kept getting stuck near the bottom. The tube had the other, throttle, cable in it together with two bundles of wires. Keeping amazingly patient I tried and tried again and suddenly it went through, only to get to the next problem due to narrow gaps and thick fingers. After I suppose an hour or so I bolted the pieces in place, started the engine and was delighted that both forward and reverse engaged beautifully.

As I was putting things back in place at about 2 a boat arrived to descend the locks, so we rushed to be ready to share the locks with them. We made reasonable time, not helped by the fact BW had just painted the bottom gate balance beams! We cruised on to moor just above bridge 58. It had got breezy during the day and we were disappointed to see several more large clumps of Floating Pennywort. The mooring was not ideal as the M40 and the railway were close, we had managed 7 miles and 5 locks.

Saturday 11th was a lovely day and we set off entering Hatton Locks at 10.15, exiting 3 hours later.

We crossed several boats on the way and had the help of a family on a walk with the locks, he being a boater and an engine man on President, the steam powered historic boat mentioned at Foxton in June. About 15 locks down Carol rang her sister & I heard her talking & realised it was bother in law Mike on the phone ( See Caen Hill locks in August ). Mike is a gadget freak, and I suddenly thought "CAMERA". At the second lock down the flight I took some pictures, put the camera down to work the lock, a boat came up, I talked to the crew & walked off leaving the camera. This was by now over 1 1/2 hours earlier but with hope I set off up the flight. About halfway to where I'd left it I saw a boater and asked if he had seen it, I was hoping someone would have seen it & possibly given it in to the cafe by the lock. He said I should speak to the couple on the boat just behind and the good folks on Wyndale had recovered my camera. My thanks to them.


Carol had spoken to people she had seen walking down the locks and they asked if I had been successful. When told I had been one couple said I should definitely buy a lottery ticket that day. We cruised on and stopped & shopped at Tesco as we approached Leamington. I was leaving the store when I suddenly remembered Lottery, I'm glad I did, 3 numbers came up, the first time in about 10 years, not that I buy them often, but at the Post Office in Aylestone if I bought any I always asked for Unlucky Dip!

We had stopped briefly at "The Cape of Good Hope" lockside just after the main Hatton flight for a restorative pint, and ended the day at 5 past Leamington and just before our next set of locks in a lovely mooring, the bright sun we had enjoyed all day continued until it set. we has managed 9 miles and 23 locks.

Sunday 12th If Saturday was lovely, Sunday was fabulous. Shorts and Tee shirts were worn and we took a gentle cruised to the Two Locks here we had eaten two weeks earlier, tied up outside again and ate delicious Steak & Kidney pie and a very good treacle sponge. I set to afterwards to repaint the bottom of the gas bottle locker. The steel bottles had bashed the life out of the original paint & rust abounded. I got thoroughly filthy as I used a wire brush on the electric drill before Hammerite completed the job. As I finished it a chap came up asking questions and advice (from me!?!). He is fitting out his own 70 foot boat, having never owned one previously. What he and his wife thought of me as I spoke to them I wondered later when I saw myself in the mirror. Despite using a face mask I was covered in rusty dust!

Monday 13th and the weather has turned, I started off in shorts but changed by lunch. Only slight drizzle for a short while but lots cooler. At Calcut we filled with diesel for only 76p!! On the way up the Stockton flight we picked blackberries again, and lots of delicious apples, all going to waste. We ended the night back on the Oxford Canal just past Napton Junction having covered 4 miles and 13 locks. The mooring was OK but a bit noisy, we made a note in future to carry on a couple of miles further in future.

Tuesday 14th Another day much like Tuesday. We reached Braunston and turned towards the locks, and there were Mo & Vanessa off Balmaha. We had last seen them at Foxton but had kept in touch through blogs & email. Rapid stop and coffee and biscuits (home made of course) and a lovely long chat. They had to go the collect V's mother, and as we headed off to the locks a boat joined us, making the flight quick work. It started to drizzle as we left the locks, but within the hour it had stopped, but it was getting colder. We managed to clear the Watford flight before it closed for the night & moored up where we had done on our return trip last Autumn. 101/2 miles and 13 locks.