May weekend - Day Two

The Bridge 88 moorings are very quiet and very dark, so we slept well.  We awoke to a very sunny morning, without a cloud in the sky.  We set off at 8.15.  I got off at Bridge 89 to walk to the junction for some photos, and was surprised to see Chertsey moored up.  I gave Sarah a shout, and we had a quick chat.  She and Jim are at Braunston to have new gunwales put on.

Briar Rose and Chertsey together

At the junction, we turned right onto the shared Grand Union/Oxford Canal.  My favourite piece of canal trivia concerns this section: boats going from Braunston to Napton could be going south on the Oxford, but if they're using the Grand Union, they're going north.

By the winding hole near Bridge 98 is the sad sight of a sunken boat.  It's got a big blue barrel on the roof as a marker.  We continused to Napton Junction where we turned right onto the Grand Union proper.  We moored above the locks, and went to Calcutt Boats to look at the chandlery.  We bought a bag of coal in case tonight is chilly, some stern grease, and two different sorts of LED lights, to see if they fit our light fittings, and whether we like the resulting light.  Briar Rose has spent most of the past few years on shore power, so electricity usage didn't really matter.  But as we'll be using the boat out and about, I'd like to try to reduce the draw of the lights.

It was still before 12 noon, so we winded above Calcutt Top Lock and retraced our steps back to the junction.  As we had plenty of time, we turned right onto the Oxford.  We had two boats in front of us and another behind, who came to within a few feet, then asked to pass.  We explained that it wouldn't do him much good because of the boats in front, but at the next strait-ish section we let him pass -- we planned to moor for lunch near the Bridge Inn anyway.  It turned out that the front boat was winding by the pub, and I suspect we took the space they'd been hoping to return to.  The pushy boater didn't like having to wait, and was button to button with the one in front.

We had beans on toast, as we were quite cold.  Then we went down to the winding hole, turned and headed back past Napton Junction.  We moored just before Bridge 102, in what has turned out to be a very popular spot.  It was still early, so we've done odd jobs, including sweeping the chimney.  The sun has gone in and out all afternoon, but it's been warm enough to have the side hatch open.

An incredible number of boats have been past.  It's not like this in November!

11 miles, 0 locks.

May weekend - Day One

Yesterday was a long day.  I was up at 4.15am, and got Adrian up to drive me to the station to catch the 5.16 train to work.  He then drove to near Heathrow for a day of meetings.  After work, Adrian drove to Shepherd's Bush to pick me up, but the traffic was so horrendous he didn't arrive until almost 7.30pm.  We then headed for Brinklow, stopping at services on the M1 for a bite to eat.  It was almost 10pm by the time we got to Briar Rose, much much later than we'd originally anticipated, so we had a cup of tea and went to bed.

This morning, there was a very sunny start to the day.  After breakfast, we set about changing the roller blinds in the shower room, galley, and over the front doors.  The brackets holding up the old blinds were metal, so we re-used them, rather than the plastic ones which came with the new blinds.

Once that was done it was gone 10am, so we reversed over to the service wharf for diesel.  We filled up -- 160 litres!  Brinklow will only do a 60/40 split, but the blended price is actually quite good, and with the boat being on shore power most of the time, a 60/40 split doesn't seem unreasonable.

All this meant it was almost 11am by the time we pulled out of the marina.  We were surprised to pass several boats going in the opposite direction, given that the North Oxford is closed at Ansty while a weak bridge is taken down.  We were talking to a boater at the diesel point who'd managed to get through yesterday, in between the old bridge being taken down, and a replacement being put in place.  Along this stretch, we saw our first cygnets of the season.

At Rugby, we stopped to go to Tesco.  We moored on the park side of the canal, in front of Brian Jarrett on Kyle (which has had a smart new paint job).  We had lunch before setting off again.  At Hillmorton Locks, we were following a boat up, but the paired locks meant we still didn't have to turn a lock.  There were also several boats coming down, mostly Viking Adrifts (as we call them!)

Just after 3pm, it made a half-hearted attempt to rain, but it didn't amout to much.  Shortly afterwards, a sudden gust of wind took my hat.  Adrian went back with the boat pole to fish it out of the water, while I managed to slew the boat diagonally across the cut.  Fortunately, there was no-one around to see the display!  As we passed the Barby Moorings, there was real work going on.  Just recently, everything seemed to have come to a halt, but progress is visible again.

We moored up for the evening just before Bridge 88, short of Braunston.  After many attempts, we managed to get the satellite dish lined up.  It doesn't help that no compass works properly near the boat, so it's tricky to work out which direction to point the dish in.  Eventually, we found a website where you can put in your location, and it'll tell you where the satellite it.

There was another shower of rain at about 7pm, but the rest of the evening has been quite nice.  Tomorrow's forecast has improved no end, so me might get another day without getting wet.

10 miles, 3 locks.

Sea Otter on test, and the rest

The June edition of Canal Boat is out, and contains three (three!) of my pieces.  First, there's a boat test of a little Sea Otter.

Next, somewhat ironically, is an article about shared ownership.  This was originally written months ago to go alongside the boat test on the BCBM boat, but was held back for some reason that I've now forgotten.

Finally, there's a piece about having a boat survey, based on our experience with Briar Rose.

Inside Briar Rose

Elly and Mick posted a comment on the blog the other day, suggesting some photos of the inside of Briar Rose, now we've started to move our things on board.  So here goes with the saloon.

There's still plenty of empty shelving at the moment, but we were pleased with the stripey armchairs, bought from Tesco Direct and delivered straight to the marina.

And here's the galley, looking towards the dinette beyond.

Clifton

Another beautiful but windy day in Warwickshire.  I had a relaxed start to the day, then packed up the few things that needed to come home with me and drove the few minutes to the Clifton area of Rugby, where I was doing a boat test.  En route, I crossed the canal multiple times.  The North Oxford was really looking at its best today, with blossom, blue skies, and fields of oil seed rape.  Andy the photographer said he took far too many pictures!  Even the wharf, with its pebbles and life rings could have passed for a beach.

Maiden voyage proper - Day Two

We've had another gloriously sunny day, but again with fierce winds.  It took a lot of power to get away from the side first thing, we spent long periods crabbing down the canal, and we both feel very weather beaten (although in a good way!)

We had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, then set off just before 9, head back to Brinklow.  Although the wind make things difficult, you couldn't help but enjoy the scenery.

Near Bridge 74 is a former wharf and stables.  When we used to come this way on hire boats and when Debdale was moored at Stockton Top, I'm sure the stables were pretty much derelict.  Now they seem to have been converted into flats (holiday lets, maybe?), and look lovely, complete with old fashioned signs and adverts, and a vintage lorry.

We were in luck at Hillmorton Locks, as boats were leaving the top and middle locks as we arrived, so we could go straight in.  We had a couple of minutes wait at the bottom lock, but nothing serious.  The Hillmorton Locks are paired, and at the bottom lock we had my favourite combination: a boat going up in one lock, and a boat going down in its neighbour.

There wasn't nearly as much traffic on the cut today (yesterday, we must have coincided with the waves of hire boats heading out or back), but of course you always meet boats in the most awkward places.  The prime example today was at Bridge 58, by the Tesco moorings at Rugby.  Moored boats one side, bushes the other, a bridge, a blind bend, and a boat coming the other way.

We moored up for lunch at Newbold, then took a walk down to the Co-op, principally for cough mixture.  My cold, which yesterday consisted of a sore throat and lots of sneezing, had today morphed into a cough.  The bottle carries todays most helpful instruction:  Dosage - Adults, 5-10ml (one to two 5mm spoonfuls).

It was just a short run from Newbold back to Brinklow.  Once back at the marina, we headed for the service wharf for a pump out.  The wind made life extremely difficult, as it was in exactly the wrong direction, and we ended up diagonally across the space, with the stern on the wharf and the bow on a pontoon.  One of the other moorers came ans helped us pull the boat round - he said he was pleased to see what had happened to us, as he'd been in the same pickle a hour or two earlier.  We have no bow thrusters on BR, but he told us that his bow thrusters weren't any match for the wind anyway.

BR's previous owner, John, who's one of the harbour masters here, came and showed us how to use the pump out machine.  It seems very efficient, and while I'm sure it's no-one's favourite job, a DIY pumpout seems no problem at all.  We bought a token for next time.

We were a bit worried about getting onto our pontoon, as the wind was likely to blow us away from it rather than towards it.  But Adrian did a great job of lining us up correctly, and we were tied up in no time.  We put the satellite dish back on the roof, and got a signal (which is one step better than last night).  Then we had an early dinner, as Adrian had to head for home, and work tomorrow.  I'm staying an extra night, as I have a boat test to do tomorrow just a few miles away in Rugby.  What with having done night shifts, battled the strong winds, and having a cold, I won't be late to bed.  In fact, I may not last much beyond Julia Bradbury's Canal Walks on BBC4 later.

10 miles, 3 locks.

Maiden voyage proper - Day One

Today we have battled the wind, and seen an incredible number of boats.  We're much more used to boating in the winter and the autumn than a bank holiday weekend, so it's come as a bit of a shock.

But back to the start of the day.  I was finishing my night shifts this morning, and managed to get away from work much earlier than expected, at 6.15.  I drove up the M1 from London to Rugby.  The huge long stretch of roadworks at the southern end of the motorway has been finished -- and replaced by miles and miles more, all with 50mph average speed cameras.

Still, I arrived at Brinklow at 8am, and Adrian came and let me in the gate.  Briar Rose already has something of our stamp on her, as we've got lots of our own things on board.  I had a quick shower, and we set off just after 9 in brilliant sunshine but a fiendish wind.  We turned right out of the marina towards Hillmorton and Braunston.  Naturally, the first boat we met was at a blind bridgehole; at the next bridge we had to wait for a convoy of three.  It didn't really matter though, as we were just enjoying being out on our own boat.

Several things quickly became obvious: We were constantly surprised when we saw our reflection in the windows of moored boats (green not blue; Briar Rose not Debdale):  BR is much more manoeuverable than Debdale - she's very responsive, and spins very easily; but the rudder is very heavy (it should self centre, but doesn't) - we suspect this is what the surveyor was talking about when he said it was badly balanced, and should have a few centimetres taken off the forward edge.  When we have the boat blacked, we'll try to get this done at the same time.

At Hillmorton Locks, we were lucky to go past half a dozen moored boats which were just about to set off.  There were about 15 people milling around the bottom pair of locks, from various boats.  We had to wait, for one of the locks to be free, and Adrian had problems getting away from the side: the wind was pinning him to the bank.  The flight was so busy that we didn't have to set any of the locks, and we were impressed as the way BR could turn sharply in the tight pounds.

We started having lunch on the move, but then moored up for half an hour or so near Barby.  We set off again heading for Braunston.  Again we met boats at bridges, but fortunately it was almost always our bridgehole -- just as well, because the wind made hovering impossible.  Many boats ended up stuck to the side.

The light indicating that our loo tank was full had just come on, and not really knowing how full that really meant, we thought we might as well get a pump out at Braunston Marina.  I did a great turn into the marina and came gently alongside the boat already on the service wharf.  But it turned out that the pump out machine was broken -- it was in bits on the ground, while the plastic lid of a milk bottle was removed from the mechanism.  So I reversed out, and spun round to moor just beyond the marina entrance.

We walked into the village to get a few supplies, but then decided to move back out into the country for the night.  We crept back out of Braunston, with boats going in all directions at the junction, and moored about half an hour later just past Bridge 88.  We're currently enjoying Prosecco and nibbles, while a chicken and potatoes roast in the oven.

11 miles, 3 locks.