Dazzling Jewel on test

The December Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Dazzling Jewel by Cain Narrowboats. 

Crick

I came up to the boat yesterday afternoon, as I had a boat test to do today.  This morning was very foggy across the marina.

It was also foggy when we got to Crick for the boat test, so we did all the internal stuff first.  The sun was braking through, so as the boat was heading south, Andy drove to the bridge on the way to Watford while the owners and I came through the tunnel.  South of the tunnel is much better for photos.

From blacking: Day 2

As I was ahead of schedule I had a pretty relaxed start to the day.  I walked up to the village as I’d arranged to meet Kathryn for a cup of tea in the cafe when they opened at 10am.  It’s good value in there, with a pot of tea only being £2.  It was another misty day, with not a breath of wind, but felt colder than yesterday.  Back at the boat I did a few jobs, then had lunch, and set off at about 12.45, just after another boat had arrived down the locks and moored in front.  I assured them I was leaving anyway, it wasn’t because of them!  Despite the murk, there were still some nice autumn colours.

It took the usual hour and a half to get back to the marina.  I could have done with a bit of a breeze down the pontoon to help me line up to reverse in, but I did it ok.  The ducks which take a liking to our jetty when we’re away were most indignant that we were back.

Once the boat was secure I washed the other half of the roof and did the windows.  By then the engine had cooled down enough so I could do an oil change; I wanted to get it done so there was new oil in for the winter.  I also checked the oil im the gear box and that still looks clean so I didn’t change it — which was a relief because draining out the old oil is a bit of a performance.

I’m staying tonight as I have a boat test to do tomorrow.

5 miles, 0 locks.  (17 miles, 7 locks)

From blacking: Day 1

I drove up to Weedon yesterday after an early shift, stopping at Brent Cross Tesco on the way for some shopping, and arriving at about 6.15.  Steve at Grand Union Narrowboats had kindly moved the boat over to the towpath side before he went home.  It was dark by the time I arrived, so I couldn’t really see much of what had been done.  I soon had the hot water on, the fire alight, and a pizza in the oven.

This morning I was up in good time and could have a look at the blacking, the repainted top plank, and the new raddle red on the gunwale tops.  It all looks very smart.  Steve has also fixed the broken hinge on the bow locker lid.

I took the car down to our marina — the traffic was terrible on the A5 so Google took me cross country to the A508, and even that was very slow approaching our turning, and that’s a mile from the A5 roundabout which causes the delays.  I got an Uber back to Weedon, then had a chat across the canal to Steve before setting off.  I’d only been going about 20 minutes when I stopped at Rugby Boats for diesel.  They were preparing to get some boats out of the water, so I had to stop alongside one of them.  I set off again into the rather murky morning, although it was also very still.

The boat seemed to be moving particularly well today; maybe the new blacking means it cuts through the water better.  I saw no moving boats until Bugbrooke, when a boat set off from the pub moorings in front of me.  Then boats started coming the other way too. The old farm building by Banbury Lane Bridge is having lots of work done on it.  It’s not just the scaffolding, where you can see through the doors and windows, there’s major work inside and in the farmyard beyond.

I kept catching up with the boat in front, so I decided I’d stop for a few minutes for lunch.  I was hoping for a space at Gayton Junction where there are rings but it was completely full.  I should have just stopped opposite, on the empty long term moorings like we did on the way up.  I eventually stopped after bridge 49 at Blisworth, and put the kettle on and made some lunch.  I was only there for maybe ten minutes as I ate lunch on the move; I was pretty sure I’d catch up with the boat ahead before the locks anyway.  In the tunnel, I could see the boat ahead of me and I was about 5/6ths of the was through before I saw them get to the other end.  I did the tunnel in 24 minutes.

The boat ahead was at the lock landing as I arrived.  It was a share boat with three people on board; the lady was showing some American tourists how the lock worked, and then got them to help open and close the gates.

I’d planned to stop in the long pound after the top two locks, but the other boat said they were going all the way down so I thought it would be daft not to keep going with them.

We made good progress even though all the locks were against us.  Even the really slow draining one didn’t seem to bad.  I moored at the bottom of the locks; the was only one other boat here, and even that has now left.  The owner came back from work and I thought he was just going to run his engine, but in fact he set off.  There were also only a handful of boats above the locks, and only a couple in the long pound.  As the towpath is on the side that’s away from the pontoon in the marina, I washed that half of the roof, to get the workshop grime off, and also did the windows.

12 miles, 7 locks.

To blacking: Day 2

It was very windy this morning, and we’d had some rain.  We set off about 9am, struggling slightly to get away from the bank against the wind. At least it wasn’t raining.

Most of the two miles has moored boats and had to be done on tickover.  It was particularly tight through Rugby boats.  Not sure whether someone thought it was a good idea to moor opposite breasted up boats, or whether they were there before the breasting up took place — but either way, it wasn’t very sensible.

We have delivered the boat to Weedon for blacking this week.  Today’s journey was less than an hour, so we were on the road back home in good time, and the weather got worse as we headed south.

2 miles, 0 locks.  (17 miles, 7 locks)

To blacking: Day 1

Adrian came up to the boat yesterday, with a holdup on the A34 making it a very slow journey. I came up after an early shift at work. It rained pretty much all night, and the forecast wasn’t good for today either. This morning started with a car shuffle, and on the way back we went to the Gayton car park where we picked up our friends Helen and Andy who were spending the day with us. We drove back to the marina, and set off. It was dry if gloomy, but still with some autumn colours.

At the bottom lock at Stoke Bruerne a couple of lockies emptied the lock for us. A pair of boats was coming down, so we could leave the gates open.

With crew and lock keepers we made good progress up the locks, with the cloud gradually clearing too.

The long pound was very low, which is unusual. At the top the headed straight into the tunnel. We passed two boats, the second of which hardly moved over at all, and gave us a significant whack as it went past. At the Blisworth side of the tunnel, the improvement in the weather was significant. 

We moored at Gayton for lunch — but while checking down the weedhatch, I managed to dunk one leg on the canal!  Not sure exactly what happened as I stepped onto the tow path, but I reckon it would have been worse had Andy not been there to grab hold of me. After lunch, Helen and Andy headed off to their car in the car park by the bridge. It had been a really lovely day with them. We set off again, to make the most of a lovely sunny afternoon. 

At almost 5.30 we were at Nether Heyford, with the sun beginning to disappear behind the hill. We moored up shortly after the narrows where there’s decent piling. 

15 miles, 7 locks. 

Tusitala on test

The November Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Tusitala by Finesse Boats.