Tuesday 14th October
to Saturday 25th October
Tuesday 14th
October
According to the weather
forecast we should be getting some more warm weather, but not until the
weekend. Meanwhile, it is now just turned 7 am and that wind is still rather
strong. So, do we stay or do we go? We’re down to just one-and-a-bit bottles of
milk, so we either go on to Hinkley Wharf, or stay here and get the bus up to
town and stay another day. Hmmmm! Tricky. Not least because Hinkley Wharf is
all of eight miles away and, in windy weather, that’s not something I look
forward to.
Again I say, we’ll wait and
see.
Wednesday 15th
October
We walked about half way up
the hill to town yesterday morning, and then stuck our hands out for the bus.
Having decided to stay here for another day we thought we would pay a visit to
the local butcher, rather than wait until we reached the farm shop.
The rest of the day passed
without incident, but we’re determined to get away this morning. So far it
looks pretty calm out there, but whatever the weather we’re moving on.
We’re told, by those nice
forecasters, that we’re due for some warmer and brighter weather by the
weekend, which should mean a pleasant, cruise back to Crick.
Thursday 16th
October
Yesterday dawned damp and
cloudy and I fully expected to be cruising in the rain. However, by about 7.45
we were ready to leave and; thanks to the entrance to the new marina; turning
around was pretty easy. Since the marina has been taking in new boats, the
nearby long-term moorings are now open to anyone wishing to use them, so it
should be even easier mooring in future.
I had intended topping up
with water and disposing of rubbish at Sutton Wharf and then going on to the
farm shop but, as the 24 hour spot was free, we pulled in there and stopped for
the night. This morning then, we’ll go on to the farm shop, stop there for a
bag of logs and then move on to Hinkley Wharf, where we’ll take the bus into
Nuneaton tomorrow morning.
I bought a new eye plate when
were at Fradley Junction and was going to rivet it on whilst we were here, at
Sutton Wharf a few days ago. But, looking through all my odds and sods, I
discovered I no longer have the right size rivets for the job, hence the reason
for going in to Nuneaton.
Friday 17th
October
Yesterday was an interesting
day, which started out looking quite dismal and rainyfied, but turned quite
pleasant after a while.
After disposing of rubbish
and topping up with water, we made our way back to Hinkley Wharf, where we
caught the bus into Nuneaton. Walking around that town can be a bit of a slog,
so, when it came time to pop into M&S for a long-promised pair of slippers,
I’d had enough and we quickly walked back to catch the bus back to Hinkley
Wharf and the comfort of our boat.
Believe it or not, but the
main purpose for that bus ride, was for my slippers. No doubt I’ll get them
eventually, but as they are not too urgent, it can wait a while longer. We
could take the bus from Hawkesbury Junction; which is our next stop from here;
but that would mean going in on a Saturday. Yeuk! Don’t like Saturday shopping!
Wrooong! Hawkesbury won’t be
our next stop, that will be bridge 3 on this canal sometime today, then it will
be on to Hawkesbury on Saturday morning, where we’ll stay until Monday,
savouring the delights of The Greyhound pub at Sunday lunchtime. Why spoil a
perfect weekend with a bus ride to Nuneaton??
Saturday 18th
October
We had a good start to
yesterday; nice and calm and clear; which should have meant an early start to
our next move. But Wifey had other ideas, because she wanted to do some washing
and pay for her Health Lottery ticket. Unfortunately, the local store only does
the Lotto, so she had to wait until the Post Office opened at 9 am. So, we
eventually set off at about 9.15 and arrived back at bridge three at just after
eleven.
My friend Alan and his wife
Chris have now returned to Germany, so I can expect a whole string of emails
from him soon, some of which will be big. I don’t mind these when I have a good
signal, but they can be a problem in low signal areas. However, the solution to
slow downloads is quite easy, I simply close down Outlook and go direct to my
server at Absolute Email and read them there.
The signal at Crick can be a
bit of a pain too, despite having an aerial fitted for the local WiFi.
Sometimes I use that but, on the odd occasion I use the Three WiFi, which also
has its ups and downs. On our first bus trip to Rugby I’ll be calling in to the
Three shop to see if an upgrade could make a difference.
Over time, since I bought
this laptop, it has become quite slow in booting up, especially the Internet
signal, which is always the last thing to open up. Even opening up a Word
document can be pretty slow. In order to try to improve this boot up speed I
tried a programme from Avast, which made absolutely no difference at all.
Yesterday morning, having
nothing better to do, I Googled for ‘speed up computer’ and the first thing to
come up was Spark-Trust PC Cleaner, which promises to remove all rubbishy
stuff, especially in Registry and System Files. So, I immediately downloaded
this and left it on my Desktop. The plan is to wait until we’re at Hawkesbury
Junction, where I’ll have plenty of time to run the programme.
However, just to be safe
before running the programme, I again Googled for Spark Trust and found another
site that offered more information about Spark Trust, not much of it good. The
main problem with this programme appears to be the aftersales service and its
ability to mess with things that it shouldn’t, especially the Registry. And
then, should the buyer find that the programme has caused such problems as,
say, missing programmes, it can cost $200 or more for one of their techs to
come to the rescue. So, not wishing to take any chances, I am now going to
remove Spark Trust. I have no idea what I’m going to put in its place, but I
know a man who does, and that’s Alan’s son Ellis.
Meanwhile I’m studying
another programme called SpeedZooka, which claims to be much better. Who knows?
Sunday 19th
October
Much to our surprise and even
though it was rather windy yesterday morning, we managed the three miles to
Hawkesbury Junction without getting wet. In fact it didn’t rain until much
later in the day.
We’ll be staying here for
today and, depending on the weather, we’ll be heading for Newbold on Monday
morning. Newbold is about 11 miles away on the North Oxford, with just the one
lock here at Hawkesbury. Alternatively, should the weather deteriorate, we’ll
stay another day and maybe take the bus into Nuneaton.
Tuesday 21st
October
Well, rather than take the
bus into Nuneaton yesterday morning, we made our way towards Newbold and ended
up about half way, at bridge 26. I’m not sure if this was a good idea, as I
suspect we’ll have wind and rain this morning, which will not make for pleasant
cruising to Newbold. I suppose we’ll just have to see.
Bridge 26, on the North
Oxford canal, has a farm directly opposite and, last year, when we were
considering where to stay during the winter months, we gave this serious
consideration. It’s quiet and peaceful here and, just a short way from the
bridge there’s a big lay-bye for cars. However, staying here would mean similar
circumstances to those when we moored on the Grand Union for our first and
second winters; moving the boat to top up with diesel and similarly for water.
So, Crick it will be for the foreseeable future.
Friday 24th
October
On Wednesday morning the
nasty weather had cleared up, so we made our way to Newbold. Following our
coffee and chocky bics, we walked into the village and did some shopping at the
local Co-op.
While we were there I had a
phone call from my sister Carole and, while I was taking that Wifey popped
across the road to book a hair appointment, which was set for 2.30 in the
afternoon.
Now, I’ve been neglecting my
ukulele practice of late and so, whilst Wifey was having her hair done I got
stuck in. Not for long though because she was soon back. Normally I can expect
at least an hour of free time when she has her hair done but, when she
explained why she was there for such a short time, I understood.
It seems that when she asked
for a cut and blow-dry, she didn’t actually get a cut and blow-dry. What she
actually got was a cut, along with a spray down of her hair as the stylist went
along. The result was the same, except she had to wash her hair later in the
evening. Still, at a cost of just nine quid, who’s complaining? It’s got to be
the cheapest hair cut Wifey has ever had. Do you think that maybe, just maybe,
the hairdresser thought we were dirt poor?
Yesterday we took the bus
into Rugby, for the express reason of visiting our favourite café/ restaurant,
which is called Brooke’s, after the famous writer and poet Rupert Brookes who,
as anybody familiar with his work knows, died at the age of just 27, back in
the time of the first World war.
Saturday 25th
October
We only had four miles and
three locks to do from Newbold to Hilmorton yesterday, so we our time about it
and arrived at 10 am; about average for that distance. Thankfully the weather
was kind to us, but the rain came as no surprise later in the evening.
This area in Hilmorton is
surrounded by aerial masts that seem to have been here forever. I’m not sure
what they do; probably something to do with government eavesdropping; but the
nearest mobile phone mast is a very short distance away. But that didn’t
prevent me from having problems getting online this morning. I managed it
eventually by moving my WiFi unit to a different window but, in the process of
doing so, I dropped it on the floor and the cable tie that attaches it to my
piece of wood broke and I first had to renew that.
I have the WiFi unit attached
to a piece of wood, strapped around with two cable ties. One of them holds a
couple of rubber hooks and the other holds the unit. This means that, should we
be in a problematic position for Internet connection, I can move it to a
different position. This doesn’t always work, but it does give me some options.
We’re off to Braunston this
morning, where I know Internet connection can be dodgy, so I’ll post this, our
penultimate blog and wish you a great weekend.
Cheers for now.
Dave and Sheila
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