Shiralee: Crick Marina # 11

Saturday 22^nd March to Tuesday 1^st April

 Sunday 23^rd March

 We decided to leave early for the Family Bash and set off just a little after 9am. However, with the amount of traffic on the road; much more than we would have expected for a Sunday morning; we took the scenic route through Milton Keynes, Bedford, Sandy, and on to the A10 and straight down through Ware. This took us much longer than the M1 would have, but our timing was just right, because it gave us time to put the car through the car-wash and grab a cup of coffee at the café in The Stow.

 We arrived at The Fox at about 12.15, after picking Alan and Val up who, much to our surprise, were ready and waiting at the door. Well done you two. Luv Ya!! It was then just down to me to welcome our guests and ply them with drinks, prior to sitting down for our meal and a good old chinwag.

 The event went really well, the meal was good and the chatter kept everything moving quite pleasantly, I thought. After the meal, Bob started organising the photo-shoot, which just about everybody took part in, and just about everybody posed for. We even had one of the staff members taking photos with our cameras. Eventually it was left to Sheila and me to make the move to leave; else they all would have stood chatting until they were eventually asked to leave. I would say the day went well.

 After dropping Aland Val off home, we repaired to the Premier Inn at Harlow Mill, where we rested up and read the Mail until Al and Val turned up later, when we enjoyed a few more drinks together.

 We arranged to pick them up again on Monday morning for breakfast at The Stow café, after which we took them shopping. I think we eventually tore ourselves away at about 10.30 or 11.00 and made our way home to Crick. But, as with travelling the M1 on a Monday, we were obliged to leave the motorway and head for the A5. It seems there had been an ‘incident’ between junctions 11 and 12, which is well before the point at which we would have left it.

 We eventually arrived home at about 12.15 or so and, after a quick cuppa, we set to and cleaned our chimney. We do this just as soon as we are in a position to let the fire go out, such as when the weather hots up or, like Sunday, when we leave the boat for a couple of days. If we don’t do so on a regular basis, the main stack inside the boat is prone to clogging up and, as proved to us last year, it can take an age to unclog, using a long piece of iron rod.

 So, that’s the family bash for another year but, unlike this year we won’t be saving to pay for it. Bob and Steve; Gill’s partner; both offered to put something in the pot, but Wifey had set her heart on paying this year, so we had to refuse the offers. Thank you both, but they do say it is better to give than receive, and we both enjoyed your company, if only for a short while.  See you all again in 2015.

 Now, while I think of it, does anybody out there have any idea how we can get in touch with Ian? If you have an email for his sisters, or if Ian has a new one that we aren’t aware of, please do email me with them.

 We now have just one week before we set off for another enjoyable seven months of cruising. This year we’ll be taking a week through part of the Birmingham Canal System, along with 19 other boats. Several stopovers have been arranged and the week ends with a festival at Titford, after which we’ll be heading for Liverpool. After that, perhaps we’ll make our way to the River Weaver via the Anderton Lift, but this will depend on the weather. Any more flooding and we may have to forget it, again!

 Friday 28^th March

 Yesterday we took the bus into Rugby, only to do a wee bit of shopping and enjoy a coffee and scone; one of the local, back street café’s make their own scones and they are really something. I have asked one of the staff girl’s there to let me have the recipe, but she reckons that, if she did so then she would have to kill me. Shame, they are really great.

 Anyway, sad to say, after faffing around and wandering into several different shops, we didn’t have time for the coffee and scone. However, since we’ll be going into Rugby again on Monday, we’ll make sure we have our coffee/scone fix; it will be the last chance we get, because we’ll be off on Tuesday morning.

Today we have to see the nurse and arrange our prescriptions, prior to leaving. At this surgery, which has its own pharmacy, they are happy to give us three months’ supply and, whilst cruising we only have to phone or email with a request, along with address of the chemist at which we would like to collect our medication, and they will post the prescriptions direct. Magic!

 After seeing the nurse we’ll do our main shopping at Sainsbury’s and then, any odds and sods we need before leaving, we’ll pick up at the Co-op in Crick.

 Roll on Tuesday!!

 Saturday 29^th March

 We both had a medication review with Nurse Sharon yesterday morning, along with blood pressure checks and blood sample from me. We collect our medication on Monday, which will be three months’ worth and which will have to be stored under the bed. Goodness knows how we’ll find enough space for my Insulin. Ah well, we’ll soon be on our way.

 Tuesday 1^st April

 Today’s the day we’ll be on our way, but first we have to settle our electricity bill and buy some more coal.

 Sunday was, as Sundays go, much of a muchness, with the usual lunchtime drinky-poohs at the club. After which we said our goodbyes until November.

 Yesterday afternoon we had a visit from another boater, whose name is Peter and who was on his first day as a boater. Peter lives in Thailand, and is married to a local lady. He’s 69 and has decided to give boating a couple of years and he’s hoping his missus will be agreeable to the lifestyle.

 Anyway, he popped along to get some information about boating, such as diesel and gas usage, WiFi; which he called MiFi for some reason. So, realising that we would need a couple of hours to chat, he came back later in the evening and we went through a few things. We ended up with a guided tour of his boat; which is 57 feet in length and is about 20 years old. I must say, we were pretty much impressed with the condition of the boat, especially since he only paid £38K for it. He’s promised to come and see us before we go, although, once we’ve sorted our own business out, we’ll only be mooring up outside the marina, but only until tomorrow morning, when we’ll be making our way through Crick tunnel and heading towards Braunston.

 So, that’s it for this year’s winter moorings. I have to say it’s been pretty peaceful here, so we’ll be back here in November again this year.

 Toodle pip for now.

 Dave and Sheila

Shiralee: Crick Marina # 10

Sunday 9^th March to Saturday 22^nd March

 Monday 10^th March

 Hopefully those weather people know what they’re talking about because, having told us it’s going to be fine and warm for the best part of this week, we’ve decided to venture out and onto the cut for a few days.

 But first we need to do a bit of shopping at the Co-op and dispose of rubbish. What time we get away depends very much on what time Wifey rises from our pit.

 Tuesday 11^th March

 After much faffing about, emptying rubbish and doing washing, we finally left Crick at 08.45, into what started as a quite mild day. However, after about three miles I found it necessary to don a warmer coat, to keep out the chill from the headwind.

 After almost five miles, we pulled in just past bridge 26 and there we stayed for the rest of the day.

 We did manage to watch DCI Banks at 9 pm and, come 5 o/clock this morning we still had 12.5 volts showing on our electrics panel. Not enough, I suspect, to allow me to put the heater on, nor to switch on the Invertor plug the laptop in. Still, it’s now 06.45 and, with 12.5 volts still showing, I’ve just plugged the laptop in. The power was down to only 18% and I still had this to write.

 Now, when we called in at the club on Sunday, we were pleasantly surprised to be handed an envelope containing a meat voucher in the sum of £10. This voucher is valid until 28^th April and can be redeemed at Joseph Morris Butchers in South Kilworth, which just so happens to be along our current route.

 South Kilworth appears to be quite a walk from the canal but, as it comes before North Kilworth; from where we intend to catch the bus into Market Harborough; we’ll stop there on the way back and collect £10 worth of meat.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to make a list of recipes that we could use during this year’s cruise. I then bought some calligraphy pens and an A4 book and have now started to enter the recipes in the book, in posh writing. Now, in with the pens there is an order form for such things as ink cartridges and one item in particular that I think could be useful. This is an Ink Converter, which fits into a pen in place of a cartridge and can be used very much like the old style fountain pens, by simply dipping it in a bottle of ink and filling it by extracting the plunger.

 So, thinking to order a few of these on the calligraphy site, I accessed their website and, lo and behold, no Ink Converters. Oh, goody.

 So, I then emailed the company and discovered that this is one item that they don’t sell from the site!! Great!! Now what? Well, it seems that I need to submit the order form that came with the set, by post no less. Stupid, plain stupid.

 But I have a cunning plan because, when we get to Market Harborough I’ll but a fountain pen, one that comes with a refillable bladder inside and, along with a bottle of ink, the problem will be solved. Hopefully I’ll find one with a wide nib, or at least an interchangeable one and won’t have to bother with the cartridges, which do not flow as freely as I would have expected and hoped.

 Later that evening…..

 So, having left our moorings at about 8 am, we headed off to North Kilworth, hoping to catch the bus into Market Harborough. Alas, at the relevant bridge, we found all available spaces taken up by boats and there was nowhere nearby that we could safely moor up. In the end we actually cruised for a total of 10 miles in just 3½ hours and ended up miles from any known habitation. It may be possible to stop on the way back, but I’m not hopeful, so we’ll probably have to wait until we’re back at Crick and get what I want in Rugby.

 Tomorrow morning we’ll turn around and head back to Crick, which will take us a couple of days.

 Today has been brilliant weather wise, but not until we had suffered the cold of early morning cruising. Tomorrow is another day.

 Thursday 13^th March

 We left our moorings quite early yesterday and, despite the continuous fog, managed to arrive back at our first moorings at 12.15pm. Apart from Wifey washing the starboard side of the boat, we chilled out for the rest of the day.

 This morning we have been greeted by a pea-souper of a fog and can just make out the opposite bank of the canal. We are hoping to get back to the marina this morning, so this fog had better lift soon.

 Sunday 16^th March

 We took a walk up to the surgery on Friday morning and, boy, did I know about it later! My left knee; which has never been 100% right since being replaced; really gave me stick later in the day. Along with the swollen knee, came the swollen and painful calf muscles on both legs. As a result of that walk, I slept badly that night and could barely walk on Saturday morning. This proved to be a nuisance considering the great weather we had, but it couldn’t be helped and we had to stay in all day. Shame!!

 Thank goodness the swelling has now gone down and I’ll probably be able to walk to The Red Lion at lunchtime. Andy and Sandy are coming down from Mercia to join us for lunch, so we’re quite looking forward to that. They’ll be bringing their scatty Border Collie Taz, with them, which could be a disaster, because he’s such a bouncy dog. It’s just as well that The Red Lion is dog-friendly, otherwise he’d have to stay in their van.

 Tuesday 18^th March

 Sunday turned out really great weather-wise and we arrived at The Red Lion just on 12 noon, with Andy and Sandy in tow. Having warned them to be early; because we knew that the place filled up fast; the pub made me out to be a liar and was pretty quiet. In fact it didn’t seem to fill up at and, by the time we left there still weren’t that many tables taken. The food was good, as was the company and we all enjoyed the time together.

 We’ve been worrying ourselves about re-painting the maroon parts of the boat, something we want to do while we’re out cruising this year. Quite a lot of it has been written over, with the name of the boat and our names also and, since the tin of paint that we have is not a good match, we’re concerned about painting over the scratches. However, Andy came to the rescue there by suggesting somebody he knows, who makes self-sealing transfers. All he requires are photos of the parts we want copying, along with measurements. This means that, after keying the whole area on both sides, we can paint over the lot and add the transfers afterwards. All I need now is the name and address of the artist concerned and we can place an order. Sadly, where such things as remembering to send details are concerned, Andy and Sandy are pretty slow. I guess I’ll have to give them a reminder.

 Today we’ll try to find the butcher’s at South Kilworth and redeem our £10 voucher.

 Tomorrow our engineer should be here to carry out the engine service and sort out our electrics and heater

 Thursday 20^th March

 Simon turned up yesterday morning and, after carrying out a thorough engine service, promptly discovered why we had been unable to fire up our heater in the mornings whilst we were cruising. Apparently a small section of connections was hanging loose; having only been secured with a self- tapping screw and had been wired up with the incorrect gauge of wire. So, we’ve been travelling around the inland waterways all this time, with dodgy wiring.

 Our final job before we leave here will be to replace the rest of the halogen bulbs with LEDs, which are all in the bedroom. After that’s done we’ll probably be able to leave all our lights on all day with little effect on the batteries, which we had thought to reduce to just four for our domestic usage. In the end, we decided to keep all six and see how we go and, if we still find we’re low on power at any time, we’ll see about renewing some of them.

 This morning the marina is taking a battering from strong winds and, most probably we’ve had some rain, although I haven’t looked out of the windows yet.

 Saturday 22^nd March

 When I asked Wifey, yesterday morning, what was for dinner that evening, she said we would be having fresh fish. But, she told me, I don’t have any parsley to go with it. She had tried at the Co-op, when she went to get the Mail, but no joy there, so, a good excuse to take the bus into Rugby, and so we caught the 11.40, which is rather late for us.

 ow, having taken the trouble to buy ink and fillers for my calligraphy pens, I then found that they were rather messy; oh for the days of pens with bladders inside, that you just squeeze in order to refill them. So, while we were in town we popped into Smiths and bought a couple of packs of cartridges, one black and one blue, since these are the two colours I use most.

 In case I haven’t told you what I’m using these pens for, it’s to make a manual of recipes that we plan on cooking while we’re away cruising this year. I have to say that the manual is looking good so far. I plan on taking photos of the ingredients and final meal and include them in a final book.

 It’s the big day tomorrow, the Kennett Family bash, so I’ll post this off as a wee reminder.

 Take care all. See you tomorrow at The Fox.

 Dave and Sheila

 

 

Shiralee: Crick Marina # 9

Monday 24^th February to Sunday 9^th March

 Monday 24^th February

 We drove over to Braunston this morning, with the express intention of buying a new water pump but, having explained the problem top the very nice lady there, we didn’t bother. Apparently she has experienced the same problems as we have; the pump running on after shutting down the tap; and suggested it may be our washing machine Solenoid Valve playing up.

 It seems that, if the SV doesn’t shut off properly and the inlet water valve is still open, this can cause a build-up of water in the washing machine, which is what is happening with our one.

 So, taking that information on board – pardon the pun – we turned off the inlet valve to the washing machine and, lo and behold, the water shut down straight away. Unfortunately this happy situation didn’t last because, the next time we used a tap the water pump went into its usual antics.

 So, we then tried adjusting the pressure in the Expansion Tank again, but this didn’t work either. We are now even more confused than we were before. However, when the local engineer deign to contact us to arrange a visit, we’ll bend his ear and see what he suggests.

 Tuesday 25^th February

 A cloudy start today, but turned out much brighter later.

 We drove up to the Co-op and were pretty glad we did, because it started raining soon after we left.

 I’ve now posted my licence off, complete with photo. Hopefully that will be an end to it and I’ll be able to relax for another three years.

 Friday 28^th February

 Today I’m going down to Harlow, Alan has secured a couple of tickets to the Cricket Club, which has a Jazz Night tonight.

This will be my last trip to Harlow before we set off on our travels again, except for the family bash on 23^rd of March.

 Our engineer will be along on Wednesday and will have quite a lot of work to carry out. This includes an engine service, checking our electrics and sorting out the heating system. We’ll also ask him about the water pump but we suspect we’ll have to buy a new one.

 We’re hoping that the weather will be good enough to take the boat out on Sunday, just for a couple of days. We want to see how the power is once the boat is taken off the mains. However, since these things never fix themselves, I’m pretty sure our engineer will have to make some adjustments. Hopefully it won’t entail buying new batteries, because that would be an expense too far.

 Sunday 2^nd March

 The trip down to Harlow on Friday was, to say the very least, a pretty slow affair. Due to the rain and the spray that would have been pretty bad on the M1, I decided to take the A5 down to Milton Keynes, pick up the A421 and then the A603 towards Bedford and then branch off onto the A507, which would take me to the A10 and straight down to Ware and then Harlow by the back lanes.

 So far so good, until I got to the A421 at MK, when I ran into a spot of bother, because, according to our atlas the A507 is almost immediately on the other side of the M1. Alas, this was not the case because, having traipsed along the A421 for what seemed an age, there was no sign of the A603. At this point I then decided to backtrack and continue my journey on the motorway.

 After what seemed another age of circling MK, I then saw the sign for Bedford and Cambridge which was, once again, taking me onto the A421. I then followed this and eventually found the A603. So, yippee, I was finally on the right road and knew where I was going. The whole trip took me 2½ hours, as opposed to the 1¾ by M1 and A414. Not too bad I think, but I’ll only take that route when the weather is bad or I’m travelling mid-week.

 We started our brotherly get-together with a cuppa and sarni, followed by a trip down to Maplin’s for a new TV aerial. I was looking for a high gain, small black thing which, as I’ve been advised by several boaters, is far superior to those that you fix to a mast, or pole.

 The nice man in the shop pointed me in the right direction and I settled for one that is good within nine miles of a transmitter. This was priced at £25 and came with 240 volt to 12 volt unit but, since I want to plug the aerial directly into a 12 volt socket, this same nice man then led me to a rack with jack plugs and cut off some suitable twin cable, with which to complete the job.

 Don’t you just love helpful shop staff?

 As for our planned trip to the Cricket Club and an evening of Jazz, well, that fell through as well. The Cricket Club lies at the bottom end of Chippingfield in Old Harlow and the whole area was full of parked cars. No parking there but, on the advice of Alan’s colleague, who lives close to the club, we drove around to the Fire Station and looked for parking there, but that wasn’t to be either, because the Fire Station is on a bend and I didn’t fancy leaving the car there for a long period.

 So, having failed to find suitable parking, we trotted off back to the White Admiral, which was fairly jumping and noisy.

 During the early part of May this year, we should be going on a cruise through Birmingham, accompanied by another 19 boats. Now, this seems rather a lot of boats and, due to the amount of locks we will all need to negotiate, every day could be rather long and tiring.

 Add to that the need to moor up overnight and, we suspect, we’ll be tying up alongside each other, i.e. double moored, which is not something we are too keen on.

 So, I have now emailed Stuart, the leader of this expedition, to find out just what will be expected of us. Had it been fewer boats; even only 10; we might not have been so concerned. But 20 boats seems an awful lot to contend with, especially if the weather is bad and we spend a lot of time cruising in rain and/or high winds, neither of which we would normally do.

 We will see what we will see.

 Tuesday 4^th March

We took the bus into Rugby yesterday, ostensibly to purchase a new printer. The one we are using at present was given to us by a fellow moorer at Mercia, but it’s rather heavy and we have to lift it out from under the bed whenever we need to use it.

 So, since it’s an HP printer and, since we already have most of the HP software on the laptop, we thought we’d get one of those. Looking through a slim-line Argos catalogue recently, we noticed a couple that were reduced in price. Unfortunately, when we visited the shop, they were out of stock.

 Back to the drawing board then and onto eBay for some inspiration. I’ve now found a few printers; all around the £40 mark; and, most importantly, the replacement cartridges don’t cost an arm and a leg. It only remains to decide which one to order. However, there can be a little catch with some things eBay, one of which is that some printers come without cartridges. These are usually refurbished printers, so we have to be careful here.

 Today, prior to buying the new printer, we’re going to print out everything we need on the old one, because we do have plenty of replacement cartridges for that one and will be dumping it before we leave here, Yes, it is that old and probably unsaleable.

 Tomorrow we are expecting our engineer to come and decide what needs doing to our electrics and heater.

 Wednesday 5^th March

 Our trip into Rugby was successful, I’m pleased to say. After a wee bit of shopping, we called into Ryman’s and, after much hemming and hawing finally bought an Epson XP 212 Printer. We then enjoyed our usual coffee and fruity scone, but the waitress there still refuses to give me a copy of the recipe. She says she would have to shoot me if she did! I’ve only got another few weeks to persuade her.

 After lunch we decided to get some printing done, using the old HP Printer, but that didn’t go too well. We wanted to get as much printing done with that one, rather than use up too much ink in the new one. The cartridges in the Epson are only slim and, since some of the ink in those is used for the set-up, we didn’t want to chance it.

 Alas, the HP played up something terrible; curling up corners and generally jamming up; and we decided instead to set the Epson up. What a palaver! This printer is a WiFi one and this meant setting that up too. While we’re at Crick Marina we use the site WiFi but, since we’ll be cruising soon, we really need the printer to recognise the unit we have with Three.

 Eventually, after much faffing about and waiting for the printer to sort itself out, all was done and all I then needed to do was register the machine. However, when I started filling in the online form, this model of printer was not on the list and so, without that information I was unable to register. Great! I’ll now have to try contacting Epson to find out why.

 Other than those quirks and foibles, the Epson seems to work just fine. I have had one success though, I found someone on eBay who does compatible cartridges; 4 x black and 2 each of colour, for just £6.99, a far cry from the Epson cartridges of 1 each for £26!! Don’t you just love eBay?

 Thursday 6^th March

 Just for a change, it’s chucking it down with rain this morning.

 We had the promised visit from our new engineer yesterday morning. His name is Simon Pollard and, after much discussion regarding the electrics, he seems to confirm our suspicions, that we don’t need six domestic batteries. Technically speaking; as we had already figured out; our alternator, even with the new Stirling Alternator to Battery Charger in situ, cannot maintain the batteries to their full potential. So, we’ll probably do away with two of them and, since the others are all at least two years old and not very well maintained, we’ll probably have to replace the other four. At around £100 each this an extra expense that we could well do without.

 If you are considering the easy and relaxed lifestyle of canal boat living, you might do well to remember that, as with the essential motor car, you will be dipping into your pocket quite a lot.

 Today, having purchased our nice, new printer, we’ll be taking a run over to the Daventry Civic Amenities Centre, or rubbish tip, to dispose of the old one. Sadly, it’s not even worth giving away because it keeps chewing paper up. Still, it’s lasted well, so we can’t complain.

 Sunday 9^th March

 Well, as with the previous printer; which we finally dumped at the Amenities site in Daventry; we found compatible ink cartridges for the Epson, on eBay and, at just £6.99 for 4 x black and two each of the three colours, pretty darn good value for money.

 Why does anybody pay full price for ink cartridges, when the compatible ones work just as well?

 We are now getting pretty close to our leaving day, only 23 days but, before that time we’ll be meeting up with Andy and Sandy – that’s next Sunday – and we’ll be driving down to Harlow on the 23^rd for the family do. We both hope for a dry and warm seven months.

 Thanks for reading our blog and take care

 Dave and Sheila