Chimney cover

 

Having quite enjoyed painting my water can, I've turned my attention to our rather grubby galvanised chimney cover.  I've painted it Dovedale Green, with a cream line in the groove near the base.

 

With a bit of luck, there'll eventually be some weather warm enough that we can stow the chimney away, and use the newly painted cover instead.

Atherstone

The weather forecasts have played havoc with the planning for the boat test we wanted to get done.  It was originally meant to have been done last week, but the rain and high winds meant we postponed.

We re-arranged for today, but yesterday the forecast was terrible, so we postponed again - so after work last night I went home rather than staying on board Briar Rose.  But by today, the forecast was much better, and after some to-ing and fro-ing we decided to go for it this afternoon.  We rather sprang it on the owners of the boat, but they were very accommodating.  It meant dropping everything at lunchtime, jumping into the car and heading north.  During the journey, I went through every sort of weather: sunshine, rain, and even hailstones.

We met the boat at Atherstone, and worked it up a few locks for the photos.  Fortunately the sun came out and the clouds were white and fluffy rather than grey and heavy.

I'm spending the night on Briar Rose, in order to break the journey.

Early start

The alarm went off at 4.30 this morning, and a few minutes later I wondered whether the boat next door could hear the water pump and (even louder) the shower pump.

By 5.15 I was in the car and heading for London.  Amazingly, it turned out that a colleague knows Tony and Julie from Muchgigglin, with whom we had such a good time sharing the locks on Friday.  He's even due to see them in London this week.

I got back to the marina at about 4.30 this afternoon, and put a coat of varnish on the cabin porthole liners.  Since I've been back, there's been a series of squally showers and it's turned really cold.

May Cruise -- Day 5

We heard them before we saw them.  We were still in the process of getting up, when we were aware of the sound of anglers stomping down the towpath, towing all their equipment behind them.  When we opened the curtains, there was a fishing match setting up, with one fisherman a few feet in front of the bow and another a few feet off the stern.

We had a cooked breakfast as it was Sunday, then I walked down to Stoke Hammond lock while Adrian brought the boat.

It was quite sunny, and at times felt warm.  But there was also a cold breeze.  When we got to Fenny Stratford lock, two boats were coming up so the bridge was already swung out of the way.  On leaving the lock we saw a family of geese with their goslings.

 

After Simpson, we passed through a huge fishing match, which went on for the best part of a mile.  As we went traversed the long lock-free pound through Milton Keynes, counting off the bridges, we saw two wide beams on the move.  Adrian also started cooking our Sunday roast, and when it was ready at about 1.30, we moored up opposite The Galleron at Wolverton to eat it.

We had just a couple of miles left, and they were done in the rain.  We had to turn Cosgrove lock, the final one of the trip.

It was a bit miserable as we turned back into the marina, but at least it wasn't windy enough to make it difficult to get into our berth.

Adrian then headed home; I'm staying for another couple of days, because the rearranged boat test is due on Wednesday.  Tomorrow and Tuesday I'm at work, so I'll drive to London -- and it's an early start in the morning.

15 miles, 3 locks.  (57 miles, 36 locks)

May Cruise -- Day 4

Yesterday's mystery duck has been identified as a red crested pochard, thanks to comments from Irene, Sheila, and Debby.  It was not, as suggested by my cousin Jonathan on facebook, a river parrot -- although that seems like a good default guess for future mystery birds.

This morning, a boat went past while we were having breakfast, so as we weren't ready to leave we let him get a bit of a head start before we set off.  It was about 8.20 when we headed for the first lock under blue skies.

After the first couple of locks is a longer pound, then I jumped off to open the swing bridge just past Pitstone Wharf.

We met boats coming up at the next lock, the top one of the three Seabrook locks.  They passed on a message that the boat in front would wait for us at the next lock.  It turned out to be a professional boat mover, Richard, and we shared all the way down to Leighton Buzzard.  We got into a good rhythm, and I ended up walking all the way to Slapton Lock, which is three miles or so.  At Slapton Lock, we met the hotel boats, Snipe and Taurus coming up.

Later, we saw another hotel boat, Takara, that we've seen several times over the past couple of days

At Grove Lock, the wind was exceptionally strong, and we struggled to get away from the side and into the lock.  We stopped on the shopping moorings at Leighton Buzzard, and Adrian popped into Tesco while I got lunch ready.  After lunch, we set off again -- the first time on this little trip that we've done more than half a day's boating.  At Wyvern Shipping, the number of hire boats moored up has reduced significantly since yesterday -- down from 30 to 15.

At Leighton Lock it started to rain, and as we passed The Globe, where  Lois Jane was moored up, it became really heavy.  There was a pause in the rain, but as we came down the Soulbury Three Locks there was another downpour combined with strong winds.  The lock keepers were a great help, and the boat we shared with, a Canal Breaks boat from Hillmorton, did a bit of synchronised boating, which was probably wise in the conditions.

We moored up for the night at Stoke Hammond.  While we've been here, there have been squally showers interspersed with sunny spells.  It really can't make up its mind what it wants to do.

12 miles, 15 locks.  (41 miles, 33 locks)

May Cruise - Day 3

Last night, after dinner on board, we braved the elements and walked the hundred yards or so to The Globe, where we had a drink and dessert.  Last time we passed, it was closed for refurbishment; now it's very smart -- probably more of a restaurant than a pub -- but still comfortable and welcoming.  It was also pretty busy, given it was a wet Thursday.

This morning we were off by 8.30, and shared Leighton Lock with a family who were reluctantly returning their Wyvern hire boat after a ten day trip to Market Harborough and back.  At Wyvern, there were about thirty hire boats in, which struck us as rather a lot.

At Grove Lock, we shared the lock with Muchgigglin, which had moored below the lock.  It's a boat we used to see a lot when we had our share in Debdale and were based at Stockton Top.  We got on very well with Tone and Julie, who, it turns out, live not far from us, and also had a share boat at one stage.

We got into a rhythm of sharing locks with them, and chatting as we did so.  It made for a very pleasant and speedy passage through Slapton, Horton, Ivinghoe and Seabrook locks.  The weather, though, didn't show much improvement on yesterday.  In fact, the wind was at times very strong, and made boating a challenge.

At the swing bridge at Pitstone, a single hander had somehow opened the bridge, and left it.  Julie managed to get across onto it from the boat, and closed it.  We helped the single hander up the final two locks, so we could continue sharing.  Coming down were three little boats all sharing one lock.

At our final lock of the day, the sun finally made an appearance.

We stopped at the water point at Marsworth Junction, ans began having lunch while the tank filled.  When it was full, we winded in the junction and began retracing our steps.  We travelled just a couple of hundred yards, and moored on rings just before Bridge 129.

In the afternoon, we walked back to the junction and up the Marsworth flight, along the start of the Wendover Arm, and back through the reservoirs.  Last time we were here, the reservoirs were verging on empty; today things look much more healthy.  There was also quite a lot of wildlife, with a duck I'm struggling to identify, and a clutch of more everyday ducklings.

As we walked, the wind was ridiculously strong at times.  But with the sun out it's been quite warm, and we've even got the side hatch open.

10 miles, 12 locks.  (29 miles, 18 locks)

May Cruise - Day 2

We woke to bright sunshine, and a bit of a breeze. The thinking was that if it wassn't too windy, we'd set off and see how far we got before the weather closed in. It didn't seem too bad, so we left our mooring at a couple of minutes before 8. I saw a tweet from BBC Weather this morning saying enjoy the blossom on the way to work - it may not last the day. So I had to take a photo of some trees in full bloom as we made the long plod through Milton Keynes.

Just before Fenny Stratford it started to rain. As we approached the lock a boat was just coming out, so they left the gates open and the bridge swung out of the way. We we joined in the lock by a couple on a 40ft boat, who'd set off from the moorings at Simpson. We did the lock in the rain, but shortly afterwards the sun came out again and by the time we got to Stoke Hammond lock, it was really quite nice. A boat had just left the lock, so it was empty for us. This is one of the locks which used to have another alongside, hence the double bridge.

Last time we came this way, Adrian took quite a shine to the converted pump house to the left of the lock. Today he decided he still liked it.

We we're making good progress. The wind was very changeable: one minute it would be calm, the next there'd be a huge gust from one side or the other; it was manageable though, and as we had a locking partner we thought we'd go up the Soulbury Three locks while the going was good. Yet again, a couple of boats were just leaving the lock, and two volunteer lock keepers were standing by to help. Consequently, we flew up the locks.

As lunchtime approached, and as the forecast had suggested, the wind really got up. Along the Jackdaw pound it was a real struggle to keep going in a straight line. We had a couple of abortive attempts to get into the side near Old Linslade, but ended up mooring just past the Globe Inn at shortly after 1pm. Last time we came this way the pub was closed for refurbishment, and it certainly looks very smart now.

Adrian has been working all day, just popping out to help with the locks. He had a conference call after lunch, so while he did that I've been doing a few other jobs. Our window cills need revarnishing, so I've made a start. I thought I'd better experiment on something relatively out of the way, to check whether materials and competence were up to the job, so I rubbed down, washed, treated, and varnished the porthole liners in the engine room. They'll need a couple more coats tomorrow, but look good so far. Once I'm happy with them, I can do all the others.

The rain arrived a bit later than forecast, at about 4.30, but I'm glad we stopped at lunchtime. Tomorrow is supped to be dry with less wind.

14 miles, 5 locks.  (19 miles, 6 locks)