Signs of spring

I meant to mention yesterday that as I drove back through Alvechurch, I passed a big press gaggle outside the school.  There were three sat trucks with their dishes up, lots of people, and a fair few police.  I heard later on the radio about the teacher from the school who'd died in the coach crash in France.

This morning I got up at a reasonable time, found there was just about enough hot water for a shower, had breakfast, and pottered about.  The shower had started dripping again, so I took the whole bar off the wall to have a look inside.  Nothing looks damaged, so I'm not sure what's going on.

The two boats moored in front of me, a shared boat, Jenny Wren, and the coal boat Gosty Hill, both set off heading towards Hawkesbury.  I also got ready to go, and had a visitation from a couple of swans.

There had been a bit of brightness first thing, but now it was cloudy and quite cold.  There had been some lambs in the field next to the mooring, but they were too far away to see properly; as I came past the farm near Bridge 35, there were moor.  This pair and their mum, number 15, were right by the water's edge.  I hope she was teaching them how to get a drink without falling in.

As I approached the marina, there was a brief shower of very sleety rain.  While it hadn't been at all windy this morning, there was the usual breeze blowing across the marina, but at least it was pushing me onto the pontoon rather than away from it, and I was soon moored up.  I made all the usual preparations for leaving the boat, and set off for home at about 11am.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (4 miles, 0 locks)

Alvechurch and All Oaks

To Alvechurch today for a boat test.  For some reason, the sat nav took me there via the M6 and M42, and back using the M42, the M40, and the A46.  Either way, it's a drive of about 45 minutes.  It was beautifully sunny as I left Brinklow with hardly a cloud in the sky.  But as I approached Alvechurch there were signs that it had been snowing.  It was also a bit more cloudy, although we still had enough sunny spells for the photos.

I don't usually say anything about the boats tested until they appear in the magazine, but someone has already let the cat out of the bag!

After Sunday lunch at The Weighbridge, I headed back to Briar Rose.  It was still lovely and sunny, so I made a quick decision to head out of the marina for the night.  I got some ropes out, disconnected the shoreline, did the engine checks, and was soon reversing off the pontoon.  I felt I was getting a few strange looks from other moorers -- after all, who heads out at 4.15 on a Sunday afternoon?

I wasn't sure which way to go right up until I got out to the canal, when I decided to turn left aiming for All Oaks Wood.  The sun was low in the sky and it was chilly, but it was nice to be out of the marina.  I went past the moorings, turned around at the former Brinklow Arm, and returned to this favourite spot of ours.  There was a nice sunset while I moored up.

I put the dish up and eventually got a satellite signal.  The other good news is that the shower seems to have stopped dripping.  Maybe now the water system is full again, it's sorted itself out.  Whatever's happened, I'm leaving well alone.

2 miles, 0 locks.

Boat check

I came up to Briar Rose last night, as I have a boat test to do later today.  I left work at 10, and arrived just before midnight, slightly apprehensive in case there'd been any frost damage.

Within a few minutes of arrival I'd unpacked the car, put the chimney on and lit the fire, turned the gas on, turned the water and the water pump on, put a couple of hot water bottles in the bed, and made a cup of tea.  I continue to be impressed by the Squirrel stove: it always lights first time and is soon going well -- and it easily stays in all night.

The boat was cold, but we seem to have survived the cold snap.  The shower is drippping a bit -- the "flow control knob", to quote the manual, is a bit loose.  This could have been caused by freezing, I suppose.  I'll take it off later, have a look at the "flow control cartridge" and see whether putting it back together again solves the problem.

The boat was much warmer by this morning.  Visible signs of this included the eco fan spinning fast, and the bottle of olive oil in the galley, which had turned back into liquid.  The main thing is that it's a beautiful sunny day -- ideal boat test weather.

Blue Haze on test

The March edition of Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test of Blue Haze, by Narrowboats of Distinction.

Ice Breaking

This gives some idea how noisy it is when you use a narrowboat to break ice.

January weekend - Day 2

It was another cold night, and we knew there was ice on the water as soon as we started moving about the boat, because we could hear it crunching against the hull.  We had a late start to the day -- it was gone 8.30 before we got up.  With the frost and the sun it was a beautiful day.

After breakfast, we got ready to go.  The ice wasn't very thick -- maybe a quarter of an inch -- but it still makes a termendous noise as the boat crashes through it (and when you're inside the boat it sounds even worse).  You can also see the ice cracking way ahead.

We were aiming for the winding hole about a mile beyond our mooring to turn around, but we knew it would be difficult to turn in, thanks to the ice.  Adrian decided to go past a bit, then reverse up, so we at least had a bit of clear water to swing the stern into.  But just past the winding hole, the engine stopped; we'd got something round the prop.

With so little traffic about and the ice holding is fairly steady, we thought we'd try to clear it where we were in the middle of the cut.  But it soon became clear that whatever was down there was big, and wasn't coming off in a hurry.  I jumped off at the bow, took a rope, and pulled us into the side.  Even this wasn't easy, as some large sheets of ice needed to be moved out of the way.  Adrian went down the weedhatch with the hack saw, while I was on the bank with the boat hook, fishing about under the stern.  I'd got whatever it was with the hook, and Adrian was able to cut it free from the propshaft.  What we'd picked up was the biggest collection of assorted rubbish we'd ever had the misfortune find: there was rope, netting, an aluminium stand of some sort, and two varieties of metal mesh.

The whole operation took quite some time, and we still needed to turn, which meant backing up some way and having a run at the ice.  Once that was done, I steered while Adrian went and washed and warmed up from having his arms in icy water for some considerable time.

At Hillmorton Locks, all three were against us, having leaked empty overnight.  But it was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky.

After the bottom lock the ice was thicker, at maybe half an inch.  But we didn't have to go far before meeting a boat coming the other way.  Of course, this happened in a bridge hole.  But at least we now had a cleared channel to go through, which made life easier.  Not long behind, we passed our second moving boat of the day (and the weekend, in fact).

At Rugby there was virtually no ice, and from there on in, there was no rhyme or reason as to whether the ice was thick, thin, or non existant.  In some places the trees and cuttings seemed to have protected the water from the cold, in other places they seemed to have emphasised it.  In some places the sun, which was quite warm, had had an effect.

We had lunch on the move, and turned into Brinklow marina (where the breeze through the bridge hole had prevented any ice forming).  We were back on our pontoon shortly after 2pm, and were quickly packed up and ready to go.  We commented that even though we'd be out for only a day and a half, it felt much longer, like a proper break.  Perhaps it's because we know we can have weekends like this whenever we like, that a couple of days on board no longer feels like frustratingly short.

8.5 miles, 3 locks.  (15 miles, 6 locks)

January weekend - Day 1

Never let it be said that we don't make enough use of Briar Rose.  The forecast for this weekend was good (cold but sunny), and Adrian's been working very hard the past few weeks, so we thought we'd have a short trip.

We came up to the boat last night.  I was on an early shift, so got home at 8.15pm; we set off ten minutes later and arrived at Brinklow at 10.45pm.  The car said the temperature was -3C, and inside the boat it didn't feel much warmer.  We got the fire alight, moved the oil filled radiator (which is fine for use on shore power) to the cabin, and put the kettle on for tea and hot water bottles.

This morning we woke to a very hard frost, crisp clear blue skies, and not a breath of wind.

After breakfast, we walked round to the other side of the marina to see Doug and James on Chance, where we had tea and coffee, and a full briefing on their January cruise.

Back at Briar Rose we got the boat ready to go, and reversed off the pontoon at 10.45.  Out on the cut, there were patches of thin ice, but nothing to get concerned about.  At Rugby we passed Oakfield and Piston Broke, then a bit further along at the golf course moorings we saw Derwent6, with its highly polished portholes gleaming in the sunshine.  There were no signs of life on any of them.

At Hillmorton, all the locks were in our favour.  At the middle lock, the open one has changed to the offside of the pair, from where you get a much better view of the church.

BW are clearly going to do some work on the other lock, with a workboat and pumping gear moored in front.  This gate leaks like a sieve, but there was no sign of a new one; the flat contained a new balance beam for one of the top locks, No7.

The sky was a perfect blue as we headed for the top of the flight.

The top of the locks was our target for this unambitious day's cruise.  In any case, we were cold and it was lunchtime.  We moored up just though Bridge 72, opposite the masts of the old Rugby Radio Station, which are soon likely to be demolished and replaced by 6000 houses.

We've never stopped here before (it's too close to base for most trips out), but it's a nice spot.  We have the trains as neighbours, but we've already stopped noticing them.  In fact, at this point the Virgin trains are behind the embankment; it's only the London Midland services which are visible.  As befits somewhere with a huge mobile phone mast a couple of hundred metres away, we've got a great mobile and internet signal.  We briefly talked about going for a little walk to have a look at Hillmorton itself, but in fact we've just enjoyed being on board and relaxing.

6.5 miles, 3 locks.