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