Shiralee Cruise 2011 #25

Friday 19th August (5 pm)

I lied in my earlier blog, we were still climbing up the canal, where I told you we were now going down. My apologies for the wrong info. Not that there’s any improvement to our Internet connection, quite the reverse in fact. I’ve had to tie the dongle to a stick and stand it in our top box on the roof, and I’m still only getting two bars up, so a very weak signal here, at the top of Stockton Locks.

We were rather fortunate today, in that the weather turned out bright and sunny and we had the pleasure of the company of another boat whilst navigating through the 10 locks. These locks are fairly close together, the total length of canal in between being only 1½ miles or so, and we made it through in just two hours. Equally fortunate was the fact that, while we were going up, other boats were coming down, saving us the trouble of emptying the locks and opening gates.

We are now moored just past bridge 21, by the side of which stands a pub called The Boat, so we’ll be staying here until Monday morning. I did manage to send a text out when we arrived, but unless I stand on the back of the boat, I am unable to actually call anyone. This is a very rare situation to find ourselves in thank goodness. We are now hoping for a calm and bright weekend.

Sunday 21st August.

In the event, we decided to leave our moorings by the pub and will settle for a drink in Braunston, when we get there. Instead we have moved on to Bridge 103, which is a pretty quiet spot for spending a couple of days.

Sometimes, if Internet connection fails during the day, it is possible to gain access in the early hours and, since our wee doggie decided she needed a pee at 04.30 this morning, I stood my ‘dongle-on-a-stick’ up by the window as soon as we got back. Sad to say that, unless the dongle is on the roof, we have no connection at all.

Yesterday turned out to be a completely relaxed day, not that most of the days aren’t relaxing anyway, so I decided to get some rubbing down of paintwork done, but even this was not to be because, with water levels being as low as they are the area along the boat that I want to rub down is below the level of the towpath.

The trouble is that I am rather bored with reading, the CD player on the radio is up the Swanee, there’s sweet Fanny Adams worth watching on TV and there’s too much chat on the radio. Apart from a visit to the pub this lunchtime, today will be much the same as yesterday. Still, it could be worse, it could be pouring with rain, and that would prevent us from moving on, which we might well do. But that would present another problem, we would have to stop in the middle of nowhere because we don’t want to be in Braunston until Monday.

Monday 22nd August.

My mum used to sing a song that went, “Oh, it’s nice to get up in the morning, but it’s better to stay in bed”. On a morning like this one, where Shiralee is facing the rising sun, which I could see glimmering over the distant hills, I have to dispute that little ditty. I’ve just returned from walking Rusty and could see a mist rising over nearby fields and hear the lambs bleating in a distant field.

To all intents and purposes we are in complete isolation here although, when we walked around the next bend I spied four more boats moored up. This area at bridge 103 has certainly become very popular as an overnight mooring spot. By the bridge is an A4 sheet, secured inside a plastic cover, advertising a pub that can be reached by crossing some fields. I suppose it is close on a mile away from us, so a wee bit too far for a Sunday drink, a pleasure I had already denied myself.

Yesterday was a most peculiar day weather-wise. When we left the top of Stockton Locks the day had started dry and calm. Later in the day, say around lunchtime, all cloud had vanished and was replaced by very hot sunshine. Several boats passed us in both directions with people sunbathing on top. In fact, once we left the junction with the South Oxford, there seemed to be a constant stream of them, it really was the busiest day we’ve seen since leaving Mercia. Later in the afternoon came the rain, to be followed by clear skies again.

Today we’re off to Braunston, where we need to dispose of our rubbish, top up with water and pay a visit to the local shops. I say local but to reach them we have to climb a pretty steep path upwards from the canal. A visit to the village is always worthwhile because they have a butcher and a mini-market, not to mention two pubs. However, the moorings are somewhat limited, well they are if you turn right towards the water-point, which is where we need to be. And, since we will have to turn around in order to make our way to the new Barby Marina on Wednesday, we’ll have to hope to find a space, which is why we will vacate this spot somewhat later than usual. Braunston is only a couple of miles away and there are no locks to worry about, so we’ll only take an hour or so to get there. Leaving late allows for moorers already there to have breakfast and move on. We hope!

Tuesday 23rd August.

It is only a short run to Braunston, about 1½ hours cruise, so we waited until well after 9 am before leaving bridge 103. Leaving any earlier we would have no hope of finding a mooring spot. We arrived at the first water point at about 10.30 and, whilst disposing of rubbish and topping up with water, we could see a space ahead just before the next water point. Luckily nobody slipped in there during the next 20 minutes.

Before walking off to the local chandlery the boat behind us made preparations to move so we waited and pulled back to the position they vacated. The spot we were on was far too close to the water point for comfort and it was on a bend.

That chore being finally achieved we took off for the chandlery. We were looking for a new chimney stack, but a shorter one than the current one, so that we wouldn’t have to remove it when cruising, especially on those canals with low bridges. We also wanted some silicon adhesive with which to re-afix the tiles that had fallen off the wall behind the fire, and a pot of black paint with which to paint over the grouting. Fortunately they had all three items, with the chimney being the most expensive at £39.95. We struck lucky there, because I’ve not seen them for less than £45 anywhere else.

For most of the day, Monday was dry and bright, but the sky eventually clouded over and we had some rain, but only during the night. Right now, at 6 am, it’s still looking rather menacing and we suspect the forecasters will get their wicked way again.

Later in the afternoon Sheila took a walk into the village for supplies as she didn’t want to do it all this morning. She also phoned Barby Marina to arrange for us to spend a couple of nights there; we really do need to give the batteries a good charge on the landline.

Some time soon after breakfast this morning, we’ll be off to the village for the rest of the stuff. I especially want to call in at the butcher’s for pork pies. Last time through here we tried his meat pies but, sadly, we weren’t impressed. I’m not even sure if he does pork pies and, if not, we’ll have to check the Londis shop.

We’ve heard other boaters complaining about the poor reception for mobiles, TV and Internet but, so far, we are only having difficulty with the mobile. Nowhere along this towpath can I call out on mine. Sheila tried hers in the boat, without success. TV reception is good on this moorings spot, but that’s probably because we have a clear line of sight across the fields. We also have very good Internet reception; I really hate it when we can’t get online.

Before leaving for Barby tomorrow morning, we’ll be calling into the local boatyard for diesel then we can look forward to a couple of days relaxing in a marina.

Thursday 25th August.

Two days relaxing in a marina eh? No chance!

On Monday, as you all know, Sheila phoned Barby Marina and arranged a two night stay for Wednesday and Thursday. On Tuesday, after walking into the village at Braunston, I phoned again and arranged for them to hold a small package for us that Alan would post immediately, paying for Guaranteed Next Day Delivery, which is not cheap I might add.

Yesterday we set out from Braunston at about 8.30 am, with the expectation of taking a couple of hours to cover the six miles to Barby, and that’s just about what happened. Bearing in mind that we had stipulated a connection to mains electricity, because we wanted to give our batteries a boost, we were totally gobsmacked at the sight before us when we arrived at the entrance.

Just inside and to the right was a small bay where about five boats were moored. They weren’t moored on individual pontoons either, but rather tied up together, side by side. This wasn’t looking good, especially when we could not see any pontoons at all, anywhere within our range of vision. What we could see were the support posts sticking up out of the water.

Fortunately, just as we were hovering by the entrance, a couple came along with their dog. Sheila asked them what was going on here, which was when we were given another surprise. They told us that the people who had their boats tied up together in the bay, had about six to eight weeks to wait before their moorings would be ready. What chance of us mooring up anywhere in the marina, we wondered?

Not only did it appear not to have anywhere for us to tie up safely, I would also have to navigate, very gingerly, between all those pontoon supports, to wherever we were directed to. This meant continuing to hover whilst Sheila made a phone call to whoever was in charge there. Despite the fact that Alan had already promised to post my package the day before, we decided not to bother with the marina and headed off to find a mooring spot along the cut. We eventually settled for a spot just past bridge 75, another mile or so away from the marina.

We then had to decide what to do about the package. In the event I decided to contact the marina and tell them we couldn’t stay with them after all and would they be kind enough to return the item to Alan if I sent them a SAE, which they agreed to do. However, since we are still a couple of days away from the nearest post office, I then had to arrange for Alan to do the necessary.

The bald truth is, that Barby Marina is nowhere near ready to accept moorers yet, and they are certainly not ready for overnight visitors, and they were going to charge us £15 per night. The most we have been charged for overnight moorings is £10, and that was in a well established marina, with water and electricity to all pontoons. Barby is still being run from a Portacabin, as far as we could see. We were very disappointed at this state of affairs.

Still, the day brightened up later and, on top of the £30 we saved by passing Barby by, along came our old coal and diesel supplier from our days at Bulbourne, (we didn’t bother topping up at Braunston), who saved us even more on the price of those two items. Peter Hawker is his name and we haven’t seen him for several years now, since he plies his trade mainly along the Grand Union and Oxford canals. We reckon he saved us at least £16 on the diesel alone and, knowing that coal is at least £1 dearer at Mercia, another couple of quid there so, a saving of about £ 48 on the day.

After all the sunshine yesterday we now have rain which, I hope, will clear by the time we are ready to move along to a new mooring spot.

Friday 26th August and judging by the rain falling and the fact that it is still dark at 05.45, it appears that summer is on its way out. While it’s true to say that we need the rain, we don’t seem to have enjoyed quite as much sunshine this year. Still, whatever the weather we really do need to move on today, as our tank needs topping up with water and we need to dispose of our rubbish.

Being in such a good mood, having saved all that money yesterday, we decided to set to and replace the tiles that had fallen from the wall behind the solid fuel burner. Whilst in Braunston we had purchased the necessary icky-goo with which to stick them back on, and the black paint to cover the pink icky-goo.

Initially I only had three to remove old sticky stuff from but, on inspection of the others, I found another four that were loose and removed them for treatment. Fortunately the silicon adhesive comes off quite easily, so it was then left for Wifey to stick them back on the wall. That too didn’t take long and the whole task was done and dusted within about an hour. It now remains for us to find a bright day, where I can bog off away from the boat, so that she can paint over the cracks and around the fire and chimney. Apparently the paint is a bit toxic and would probably affect my poor old lungs. Find a decent pub, I say, and I’ll soon bog off, have no fear!

Our brand new sealed batteries; of which we now only have four, as opposed to the six we had previously; are not up to the job. As late in the evening as possible I run the engine for at least two hours, sometimes 2½, but it never seems enough when it comes to running the heater and inverter/charger first thing in the morning.

I usually take a cuppa in to Sheila at about 6.30, before which the lights are starting to flicker, the heater has gone off and the I/C is making noises of protest. I am now having to run the laptop on its battery alone, until the warning about having only 10 minutes of power left comes up, at which point I can either close down the laptop or switch on the I/C. Yesterday, after my normal 1½ hours on the laptop and with the heater running, by the time I took Sheila her cuppa our battery panel was showing less than 10 volts of charge. So much for new batteries!!

Sitting here now, after over half an hour with the laptop on and no I/C, all is fine and dandy. I’m hopeful that my ploy will keep our batteries happy and will have to charge the laptop up later in the day.

O.K. so far, let’s post this blog.

Cheers for now and have a good weekend.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.