....mostly about boating on NB Jubilee
Oh dear - no blogging for three days. Various reasons, mostly that it got too late in the evening and I was too tired. Now we are on a lock-free stretch and Jan is happy to steer while I try to put some words to the photos I have taken. And it's a good job I have the photos or I would struggle to remember what we did! It seems a long time ago that we were on the River Trent, but it was only…
We continued our journey north on the River Soar, on our own again through Mountsorrel Lock. When we got to Barrow-upon-Soar, however, a man called out to us as we approached the Deep Lock and asked if he could share the lock with us. Of course, we said. Peter was single handing his boat, Odyssey, and was having engine problems. He had also managed to hurt his leg and had broken a step on his…
The forecast thunderstorms last night did not happen, neither did the rain which was supposed to be during the morning. We walked from Castle Gardens to Holy Trinity Leicester for their 1030 service, at which the preacher was an evangelist recently returned from Argentina. John someone - I didn't catch his surname. He spoke engagingly about, well, evangelism, i.e. telling people about Jesus. Back…
We made an earlier start then usual, leaving our mooring at 0815. We made swift progress to Kilby Bridge, all the locks being in our favour for a change. The buttercups added extra brightness to our surroundings. At Kilby Bridge we watered up, then moved across to the 48 hour moorings so I could cycle off to get a paper. The first newsagent up Welford Road didn't have what I wanted, so I cycled on…
This morning we did the two swing bridges and stopped for water in Foxton. At last the boat was the right way round so I could wash off the last bits of pressure washed muck blown onto us a few days ago. The next port of call was Debdale Wharf for diesel (£1.30 base price per litre). Saddington Tunnel followed. No bats visible this time. Before we reached the locks I heard swifts screeching…
Ooh - almost a week has passed since my last post! I have some catching up to do. I painted both tunnel bands and the red bits on the bow. It was the first time I'd used masking tape on the boat (yes, I know) and I think it was remarkably successful. For reference, here is what the bow looked like before. As well as wielding the blacking roller and welding sticks Ollie is the master of the…
Catching up with photos ... Ollie completed the blacking yesterday ... ... and today he welded on four new sacrificial anodes. I was asked if I wanted slim anodes half-way along the sides as well, but I decided against it. Yes, they would give better protection against galvanic corrosion, but they could potentially catch on an obstruction. I measured the width of the base plate as 79" or 6' 7";…
On Tuesday 3rd May we set off for North Kilworth Marina for the booked blacking. We had been given the time of 1045 but I wanted to be early, so we left our countryside mooring two miles away at 0915. I had a vague recollection that the workshops area was on the north side of the marina close to the canal so, once I had turned left into the marina entrance, I navigated my way to the right place…
First thing this morning was the drippy Crick Tunnel, then we tied up so we could walk in to the village. The church was open; inside, on the altar, people had placed pebbles indicating that they had prayed or would pray for Ukraine. When we got back to the boat after a walk round Crick we had lunch, then set off again on the winding route through the Northamptonshire countryside. The oilseed rape…
We left the boat for a few days to go to a (95-year-old) friend's funeral, hence the lack of blogging. But I'm back now, and on the Leicester Section just south of Crick Tunnel. Son-in-law Ben dropped us at Norton Junction at lunchtime - a perfect opportunity to visit the New Inn for Sunday lunch. I had the half roast chicken: lots of meat. Good value (£12.50). Jan had the roast beef, also very…
In the five miles/two hours of the combined Grand Union and Oxford Canals between Napton Junction and Braunston Turn we must have seen as many moving boats as in the whole of the previous seven days from Market Drayton. It was busy! At the turn where we turned right there was a boat turning right from the North Oxford and a boat turning left from the Braunston direction. Not that you can see them…
We had a bit of time before the first locks today, so I tackled the puncture. It didn't take long to find. This must be the longest foreign object I've had in a tyre: a two-inch nail. No wonder the tyre deflated so rapidly. Two patches later - over the entry and exit holes - the repair seems to be holding up. It lasted throughout the Stockton flight, anyway. At a Boaters' Christian Fellowship…
We left Kingswood Junction at around 1000 having made use of the Elsan disposal facility. I didn't mention yesterday that we saw a steam train cross the bridge over the Lapworth Link. It was about 1640 and comprised four old coaches pulled by a black locomotive heading north. No photo, sadly. Just before Shrewley Tunnel was the first widebeam we've seen for a while. About three locks down the…
I lit the fire this morning to keep us toasty while we engaged in Zoom church; before the service started, though, we boated another couple of miles. We got under way again at about midday, eating lunch in shifts. The canal goes through a lot of trees round here, making it often rather gloomy. Today, however, the sun shone through. Once I had spotted one tar drip diverter I was bound to see more.…
We had some things to attend to in the Yardley Wood area this morning so it wasn't until almost 1730 that we left Bridge 5 to continue down the Stratford Canal. Before leaving Ann from Bramble came on board for a cup of tea. She is a fellow BCF member whom we hadn't met before. Ann and her husband are taking their four-year-old Aqualine boat to Worcester for a full repaint - under warranty - to…
I took only two photos today, so I'd better share them. We walked the short distance from Cambrian Wharf into Birmingham's main shopping area looking - unsuccessfully - for trousers for me. After coffee back on board, I went back to sort out some business at a building society and returned to find Jan had got a fry-up under way. Yum! After this early lunch we battled the wind as we left the basin,…
We were the first boat up the Wolverhampton 21 locks today, as evidenced by the fresh black paint someone had carefully applied to the spindles of the lock gear The spindles! We had a fairly uneventful trip up the locks, most of which were in our favour. I did my usual lockwheeling, setting a lock ahead each time. In the two and a half hours or so we took to get to the top, I therefore cycled…
Shortly after we set off from Gnosall this morning a man on the towpath warned us about an obstruction in the water. Some kids, he said, had pushed in a large log. This was what I call potential logs, in that it had not yet been cut up. The piece of tree - thankfully trimmed of all sticking out bits - was about 15 feet long and stretched almost from the moored boats on one side of the canal to the…
I'm back! That is, this blog is back - and I am going to try to keep it updated from now on. I blame the pandemic. Normal life stopped, very little boating was done in 2020 and I just got out of the habit of blogging. Last year we boated more, but I found I had got far too far behind to write up the trips. So here we are, on the Shropshire Union Canal in spring. We left our mooring in Market…
What on earth is the Grand Union Gobio Gobio Society, I hear you ask? What, for that matter, is/are Gobio Gobio? Well, for those - like myself - not acquainted with piscatorial matters, gobio gobio is the classification of the freshwater fish commonly known as the gudgeon. And GUGGS is the name of the society dedicated to this one fish: fishing it, recording it and, of course, throwing it back…
I mentioned in my last blog post that I'd been to Silverstone, so here are a few of the photos I took. Normal boating service will be resumed shortly. The weather for the whole weekend was sunny and hot, just like it was the last time I came three years ago. Friday evening saw the qualifying sessions for Saturday's "sprint qualifying". Yes, qualifying for qualifying. Lewis Hamilton emerged the…
We left Water Eaton on 21st June, moving the boat north to Downhead Park. Ally picked us up to take us to Cranfield, where we borrowed Ben's car and drove home for gardening etc. We were back on the boat on 24th June; we moved on to Giffard Park on 26th. Ally, Josiah and Micah came with us to the pub there, where we waited a very long time for the food to arrive. Not good. For some reason I took a…
Woe is me! For I have not been keeping up to date with this here blog. And the further I get behind, the more difficult it is to remember what I did and when and where. And I just get out of the habit of doing it, which makes it even harder when I return to it. But enough excuses - that's water under the bridge. Here are some photos and words. First, back to the middle of June. Only last month,…
I have some catching up to do as I have neglected this blog for quite a few days - oops! First, did you see the partial eclipse of the sun today? We had enough sunshine in Bletchley for me to project the sun onto a white card using a pair of cheap binoculars. Nothing like as impressive as a total eclipse (which I was fortunate to see in France in 1999), but it's nice to see the moon nibbling away…
After Stowe Hill (was it Flore?) there was work going on around an overspill weir. That's what it looked like, anyway. We had a salad lunch in shifts on the move, and stopped at Blisworth just past Candle Bridge for grandchildren Josiah and Micah to join us, with their parents Ally and Ben. It's a good job we stopped at the first available mooring as there was easy car parking there, whereas…