Cruise 2016 #1
Sunday 1st May to Monday 10th May
Sunday 1st May
Oh what fun we’ve had already.
We left the marina yesterday morning and moored up a short way from
there. As usual, we took a walk through the village, had some lunch and then,
at about 5.30 pm we ran the engine, to charge the batteries.
At about 7 pm Wifey noticed that, although the starter battery was
being charged alright, the four domestics weren’t, and this can be a real
problem first thing in the morning – no power equals no hot water, etcetera, etcetera.
Now, along the cut here at Crick, mobile reception is pretty poor, as
any boater will tell you. So, after taking a look inside the engine bay and
noticing no lights on the Sterling Alternator/Charger, I searched for any loose
wires and, not finding any, I then walked up to the main road and phoned our
engineer, Dave, who didn’t happen to be in the area.
Just a couple of hours before all this happened, a carpenter called
Neil, had fitted a new engine cover – ours was looking the worst for wear after
10 years on board. Anyway, Dave suggested I contact Neil and see if he could
help. Luckily for us he had a petrol generator lying around and we brought that
round to the boat and plugged it in and off we went.
Unfortunately, the time limit on running engines and chargers is up
until 8 pm, so I had to my nearest neighbour if he would be Ok with running the
generator a bit later, which he was OK with. But, we still only had about an
hour of charging, so I’ll still have to take another look for a loose wire.
We’re hoping that’s all it is, because we dread to think what it will cost to
repair the Sterling.
Meanwhile, Neil, who has access to landlines in their small marina;
which is devoted to keeping boats that are for sale; will be coming along later
this morning and, if necessary, will take us over there until Dave comes on
Monday.
What a great start to our 2016 cruise!!
Meanwhile, we’ve decided to stay here until Wednesday morning, because
we need to go into Rugby for some shopping on Tuesday.
Monday 2nd May
Yesterday morning, before Neil came around to move us onto a landline,
I decided to take another look in the engine bay, because Wifey seemed to
remember a loose wire causing this same problem some time age. After much
searching I finally found a small, bayonet fitting that appeared to belong
under a sticky bit of black tape and, when I reattached it, Bingo, job done.
Who’s a clever boy then? Phew! But, what a relief!
We also took the WiFi out of its cover and removed the Instruction book
for further reading. Would you believe it; it doesn’t record direct to the
inbuilt CD unit. Alan and I bought this some time ago and, according to the
blurb in the advert, it did do. Now we find that it records vinyl in MP3
format, which is not really what we wanted. Still, it’s too late now to return
it, so we’ll have to make do, I suppose. I’m not sure how though.
You see, we had intended to do away with the TV during this cruise, and
sit the Hi Fi in the place where the TV sits now but, since that is not an
option; because we have to record to the laptop first; the only solution would
be, to remove the TV, replace it with the Hi Fi and lay the laptop on the
floor.
Ah well, such is life!!
Tuesday 3rd May
As I type this entry, Wifey is outside cleaning the starboard side of
the boat. By the sound of all the scraping she’s doing, I would imagine that
the bird pooh is pretty difficult to remove. Well, we have been under these
trees since Saturday morning. Never mind though, we’ll be moving along tomorrow
and, if we moor up at the same spot as usual, she won’t have that problem.
We’re aiming to spend the weekend at Braunston where, although we can
get a TV signal and the Internet, the mobile is another gether altomatter,
unless we walk into the village, which is up a long path.
We’ll spend tomorrow outside Welton Hythe Marina, Thursday we’ll go
down Watford Locks and head towards the top of Braunston Locks, where we’ll
stay the night. Then, on Saturday morning, we’ll go down those locks and into
Braunston.
We have been thinking about heading straight for the Llangollen Canal,
but we may instead go on the Peak Forest canal, which we haven’t seen for a few
years. In fact, the last time we saw that place was when we had the boat
blacked at Mercia Marina, and spent a week in a cottage in the Peak District.
Had we not left the cottage on the Friday, instead of Saturday, we would have
been snowed in for several weeks. As it was, when we left the cottage and hit
the main road, we slotted ourselves in behind a snow plough. How lucky was
that??
Wednesday 4th May
At last, we’ll be leaving Crick today. We took the bus into town
yesterday and picked up a few bits of shopping and had a coffee and sticky bun
at our favourite café, and that will be the last time, unless we also go into
Rugby when we reach Newbold.
Thursday 5th May
For the first time ever, we made an early start yesterday morning. Why?
Well, as much as I enjoy my cruising, two-way traffic through a tunnel is not
my cup of tea. Oh, it’s fine if the boat coming towards you is being run by a
professional, i.e., someone who knows what they are doing. But, when it comes
to some of these holiday boaters, well, they don’t have clue. And, of course,
until they bump into you, you have no idea. So, in order to avoid such a
confrontation, I walked up to the Post Office for the paper; at about 6.30 am
and we left Crick immediately after that, without bothering with breakfast,
which we sorted out after going through Crick tunnel and mooring up at Bridge
eight.
This morning we’ll make our way to Watford Locks and, after checking in
with the Lock-keeper, will descend them and find a decent mooring spot. And,
unless we make a specific point of visiting Crick again, we won’t be going
through those locks, or Crick tunnel anytime soon.
Later…..
There doesn’t seem to be much canal traffic about so far, but just to
be safe and avoid any hold-ups at Watford Locks, we left our moorings a little
earlier than normal. When we arrived there we found one boat waiting to come up
and, since we had to top up with water, the lock-keeper decided to allow him to
do so. As soon as we had finished, we entered the first lock and, once through,
waited for the one coming up to pass into the top lock, at which point we
continued on down all seven locks, arriving at Welton Hythe Marina and Norton
Junction by 10 am.
So far it’s a lovely, sunny day and we have all doors and windows open.
Lovely!!
We might even pretend it’s Sunday and walk around to The New Inn at
lunchtime.
Saturday 7th May
Later on Thursday we did indeed pretend it was Sunday and spent a very
pleasant hour sitting outside The New Inn, taking the opportunity to do a bit
of gongoozling.
Yesterday morning, we made our way to Braunston and, after passing
through the tunnel without meeting any boats coming the other way, we moored up
at the top of Braunston Locks. Then, after the obligatory cup of coffee, we
walked into Braunston village for a few supplies. From the top of the locks,
all the way to the shops, is not a short walk and, after shopping and walking
back to the boat; stopping on the way for an ice cream; the walk took well over
an hour.
This morning, at about 8 am, we made our way down the six Braunston
Locks and, after the first one teamed up with another boater to go down the
last five. These are double locks and are much easier to negotiate with several
hands helping.
On exiting the final lock, we were surprised at how busy the canal was
for that time of morning – about 9.30 am – and had a pretty difficult job
finding somewhere to moor up. Then again, after the obligatory cup of coffee,
we, once again, took a walk up to the shops. This time it was just for the
paper and milk.
After lunch we took another long walk, this time to the local chandlery
for a new glass front for the fire, along with sealing tape and heat resistant
rope. We also bought a couple of non-slip pads for the new plank that Alan
knocked up for us.
Where mobile reception is concerned, Braunston is worse that Crick.
However, we are normally OK for the TV and Internet. So we can at least
communicate by email from here.
Tomorrow morning we’ll take another walk into the village, which
entails a slog up a long hill. The coming back, of course, is easier. However,
our favourite pub here, The Admiral Nelson, is yet another long slog along the
towpath. But it’s always worth the effort and we’ll do that tomorrow lunchtime.
Sunday 8th May
It’s a really good start to the day, bright and sunny and according to
the forecast, it should stay that way for the rest of the day. Hopefully, we’ll
enjoy an hour, sitting outside the Admiral Nelson this lunchtime.
Tomorrow, assuming the weather is reasonably kind to us, we’ll be off
to the top of Hillmorton Locks, where we’ll stay for two days.
Tuesday 10th May
We left Braunston on Sunday afternoon. Not because we were in any
particular hurry to get anywhere special, but just because it was such a nice
day. We only cruised for about an hour and then pulled in somewhere, but have
no idea of exactly where we were. Who cares, right?
Yesterday morning, we upped sticks and continued on to the top of
Hillmorton locks, walked to the local paper shop and then settled down to a
coffee. Or, did we have the coffee before going to the shop? Dunno!!
Our intention this morning is/was, to continue on through the locks and
then moor up outside the golf course, which is just a couple of miles away.
However, at this moment in time the rain has turned up, as promised by those
good people at the BBC. Why don’t they find a decent job??
Of course, should the rain stop some-time this morning, we’ll do just
that. Otherwise, we’ll stay put for another day. Again, who cares??
Now, since this first blog of the season is now five pages long, and,
since I have nothing better to do, and, since I don’t know if I’ll have
Internet access at our next stopping place, I guess I might as well post this
offering.
Take care folks and have a great week.
Remember this: ‘If you love everything you have, then you have everything you need’. How true.
Dave, Sheila and Alex
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