The family Stone

It was pretty chilly overnight, even though the fire stayed in well. We had a fairly relaxed start to the day, and then got in the car and headed up the M1 and M6 to Stone, where we were meeting my Cheshire family. We were there a bit early, so went for a walk. 

We had a table booked at the Crown Wharf, which overlooks the basin by the Stone hire boat company. We were able to get it early and had coffee and tea before my sister and family arrived, also bringing my dad. It’s a huge pub, but we had a nice booth; the food also turned out to be very good, and excellent value. After lunch we did Christmas presents to my nieces, then went for another look at the canal.

The drive back was pretty foggy, and it was almost dark by the time we were at the marina. It had been a lovely afternoon seeing the family. 

Frosty

We have come up to the boat for a weekend of family things. We drove to London early as I was on the Breakfast shift; Adrian came for a look round the new studios then drove the rest of the way to the marine. He got there about 9am, and it was very frosty!

I came up on the train to Milton Keynes. Adrian had got the fire going and had the Eberspacher on. But the gas locker lid was frozen shut, so he hadn’t been able to put the gas on. We found some de-icer in his car and used that to unstick it. The hosepipe was also frozen, but a boater a bit further down had been filling his tank so we borrowed his. We couldn’t remember when the tank was last filled so we thought we’d better put some water in, but we didn’t want to fill it. 

At lunchtime we met a former colleague of Adrian’s for lunch at the Navigation right by the marina. This evening we are out again, meeting Catherine, Nigel, Grace and Matthew at a different pub. 

Unexpected on test

The February issue of Canal Boat is out, and includes my boat test on Unexpected by Ortomarine. 

Frederick on test, and the C&O canal

The January edition of Canal Boat is out and includes my boat test on Frederick by Braidbar boats. There’s also a piece I wrote about the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, which we stumbled across when we visited Washington DC in October.

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)