Wednesday 5th October Thursday 13th
October
Thursday 6th October
We took the bus into Rugby yesterday, as
planned, and did a bit of shopping. After that, we walked around to the bakery,
which is just around the corner to Brooke’s café, but the bakery was closed
and, according to the new waitress at Brooke’s, had been for some time. Not
only that, but our favourite waitress had left Brooke’s. I just don’t know
what’s going on her. We turn our backs for a few months and everything goes
cuckoo.
Still, we did enjoy a latte and a cake, with
me having the fruit scone and Wifey having a lemon drizzle.
Our day was further spoilt at the bus stop. A
young couple sat downwind of us and he produced one of those, foul smelling,
imitation cigarettes. I think I prefer the original variety. Yeuk!!
Back to my old VAIO. I downloaded this huge
programme yesterday, which is supposed to set up that laptop back to its Window
7 configuration. Having done that, I then, as per instructions, downloaded
another programme, which was supposed to allow me to burn the first programme
to a USB drive, so that I could load Windows 7 onto the VAIO.
So far, so good, or so I thought.
This morning, intending to carry out this
further operation, I plugged in my new USB drive and clicked on the new
programme, with which I would be able to burn Windows 7 ISO onto the USB. This
programme came up with a message, asking me for the ISO details. Hmmm?
Now, this programme now sits on my hard drive
and, according to what I am reading, it is called VLan, which is a media
player. Hmmm? Again. I’m not too sure now, if I’ve downloaded the correct
programme and, since it took an age to do so yesterday, I’ll have to wait until
later today to have another go.
This I will do while we’re at Hillmorton.
Friday 7th October
Yesterday morning, prior to leaving for
Hillmorton, we took a walk to the shops, for the Mail and other odds and sods.
Along the way we met up with another boater, who said, “I’m leaving early
today, because I don’t want to be stuck here while CRT remove the car from the
canal.”
As we rounded the bend and walked under the
bridge, sure enough there was a Ford Fiesta in the water, and it had been
dropped in so that it was pointed across the canal, which could give some boats
a bit of a problem getting past it. Fortunately, we were facing in the opposite
direction, so it should be gone by the time we return that way today.
We eventually decided that, rather than go
through to Braunston, we would turn around at the bottom of Hillmorton locks
and moor up at the golf course, about a mile back from there, where it’s nice
and peaceful.
Today we’ll head on back to Newbold and,
after popping into the shop again, move along to bridge 26. Hopefully that
Fiesta has been removed. That’s the second time we’ve been faced with a car in
the canal. The last time was on the Huddersfield Wide, just after coming out of
Huddersfield, when we found a car in a lock and couldn’t pass through until it
had been removed, about 3 hours later.
After arriving at the golf course and after
coffee and reading the Mail, I set to to make the bootable USB for the VAIO.
However, when I had done so, a message came up telling me that a certain part
of the process had not completed. But, when I checked the USB, that part had
been included. Strange, or what? Anyway, just to be on the safe side, I’m now
creating a bootable DVD. Clever Forsythe!!
Saturday 8th October
We left our moorings at the golf course at
about 8 am and made our way back to Newbold, where we intended to do a bit of
shopping, before carrying on to bridge 26. Along the way another boater,
heading in the opposite direction, waved us down and told us that the car was
still in the canal at Newbold. The mind boggles, it really does. Not only is
this obstruction a nuisance to boaters; it’s on a bend where other boats are
moored; it’s also a danger to wildlife, especially the large group of swans
that congregate there, (They do so, because some fool comes out and feeds them
every morning)
You would have though, wouldn’t you that,
instead of sending a tender, with a small crane, which would normally be used
for dredging, they would have arranged a real crane with which to do the job.
Well, at least there was somebody from CRT in attendance. So, that’s something,
I suppose.
Another odd thing that happened on our way to
Newbold, was the lady walking her Spaniel. This dog was clearly getting on in
years and, by the owner’s own admission, was stone deaf. And yet, not only was
it walking along off its lead, she was unable to call it back when it jumped
into the canal, swam to the other side and clambered out, only to disappear
through the undergrowth and into the field.
The last we saw of her, was when she stood on
the nearby bridge that ran alongside the canal on the towpath side. I think she
had a good half mile walk, to the nearest bridge that spanned the canal. She
then had to find her way back to where her dog had disappeared. There are some
strange people about and no mistake.
This morning we’ll be heading for Hawkesbury
Junction again, where we’ll spend the final weekend, before taking up our
winter moorings at Market Bosworth.
Sunday 9th October
Arrived at Hawkesbury Junction at 10 am and,
after topping up with water, Wifey popped across to the local shop for the Mail
and a bottle of milk, whilst I made the coffee. Works for me!
Later in the day, having already created a
reboot disc for my old VAIO, I set about getting the thing working and, yippee,
it’s all running nicely now. Mind, you, it’s so old that I have no idea what
I’m going to do with it. But, at least it’s up and running again.
Monday 10th October
We’ll probably be at our new moorings before
the coming weekend, so this is probably the last blog for our 2016 cruising.
I have been searching for a programme that
will allow me to recover my daughter’s password. Most of what I’ve seen has not
filled me with confidence. However, and finally, I found Lazesoft and have
downloaded their free software and made a bootable DVD. Hopefully, when I
finally get to visit Teresa, I’ll be able to get her back into her laptop.
Meanwhile, despite the dodgy looking clouds
out there, I think it’s time we took our pooch for a walk.
Tuesday 11th October
Well, we took that walk and, although rain
threatened, we made it back without getting wet.
Today we have several things to do, the first
of which is to walk down to the shop for the Mail. After that, it’s a quick
read and then catch the bus to Nuneaton, where we’ll do a full shop, so that it
won’t be necessary again until we reach Market Bosworth marina.
In addition to the above, I’ll have to give
Chris at Market Bosworth a bell, just to ensure that our pontoon is clear for
our arrival later this week. When we booked our winter moorings, sometime
before leaving Crick, we said we would probably be arriving on the 1st
of November and, since these pontoons don’t stay empty during the summer
months, there could well be another boat in our spot, and that would never do.
Now, having burnt the necessary Password
Recovery software to a DVD, I decided, just to be on the safe side, to also
burn it to a USB. Surely one of them should work? Now, when I get my car back
and an early opportunity presents itself, I’ll be able to visit my daughter and
sort out her laptop.
Unfortunately, she’s still having problems
with EE and her non-working iPhone. This has been going on for at least the
past 10 days and should have been sorted by now. In desperation yesterday, her
mum took her into their shop in Bedford and, after a right old bull and a cow,
she was given a temporary, Pay as You Go phone, to keep her happy until her
new, working iPhone actually arrives. She’s been reluctant to cancel her
contract; despite her right to do so, after being let down for so long; because
she’s been with them a long time and, up until now, hasn’t had any problems
with them. Hopefully, once this temporary phone is online, we’ll be able to
continue texting by mobile, rather than using her house phone. Texting, I have
found, is so much simpler.
Wednesday 12th October
Yesterday was a mixture of fun and frolic.
After walking Alex down to the paper shop and buying the Mail, we walked him
back to the boat – naturally – and had a quick read of the paper. After that,
we caught the bus into Nuneaton for a big shop.
Upon our return and after supping a
well-earned cup of coffee, I booted up the laptop and continued my search for a
low mileage, Jaguar X Type. There are quite a few about, so I shouldn’t have a
problem finding the right one.
With nothing much else to do, I put the
laptop away and, later on, after dinner, out it came again. Only, this time, I
ran into a wee problem when I accessed the Internet. Because, up popped a
message from 3, my ISP, telling me I had exceeded my monthly allowance and
that, in order to continue using the Internet, I would need to log into my
account and upgrade to a new monthly plan.
Now, I keep all my Internet info, such as web
sites and passwords, in a programme called Typitin. So, when called upon to
provide a password, I know where and what it is. Unfortunately, 3 did not
recognise my password, so I attempted to ask for it to be reset. And this is
where the fun started.
My main email provider id a company called
Absolute Email and, I have set up Outlook to automatically download my
messages. However, by the time 3 had sent me the necessary link to change my
password, I could no longer get online. Great!! They want me to upgrade and pay
more for their service, but they’re not willing to allow me the time to reset
my password and o through that process.
At the moment I am without Internet access. I
phoned my brother, Alan and asked him to do this for me, simply by providing
him with my login details at Absolute, so that he could then click on the
message from 3 and reset my password for me. But, unsurprisingly, that didn’t
work either.
For the rest of the evening, I wracked my
brains to find a way around this problem, without actually paying 3 any more
money per month and I think I’ve found the answer. It all depends on whether
Market Bosworth marina has free WiFi. If they do; and I shall phone them later
to find out; I’ll be able to use that for the first six days, which is when my
next month’s allowance with 3 begins. Simple!!
This still doesn’t help with the password
problem, but that can be sorted by phone. Although, I’ll be asking 3 to call me
back, because theirs is a pay by the minute line, and that gets expensive when
calling from a mobile phone. The alternative to this, would be to wasted part
of today, taking the bus into Nuneaton again and paying a visit to the 3 shop.
Nah!!
Today, we’ll walk down to the local shop
again, but we’ll leave here a little later than usual, because we want to stop
off at the local marina for diesel and coal. We also want to call into the Farm
Shop at bridge 23, for some meat, which they have a fair range of.
The weather out there is not looking too
clever this morning, but we do need to move along to Stoke Golding and then,
tomorrow morning, take up our moorings at Market Bosworth, because I have now
arranged with Dave and Malcolm, to collect my car from Crick Garage on Friday
morning.
I don’t expect much excitement over the next
couple of days, so I’ll keep this blog going until we reach our moorings. It
will be a long, final blog entry, but it will give you all some bedtime reading
over the weekend.
Later……
Since we’re quite likely to be without
Internet access for the next 8 days, as a direct result of me using too much
data with my “Three” account, we decided to pay a visit to their shop in
Nuneaton. Unbeknown to me, until the staff at the shop told me, their system
was being updated yesterday, which is why I couldn’t access my account and
change my password.
Now, if I had been told that in their
onscreen message, I would have been aware of the problem. With the level and
sophistication of 21st century, this simple piece of advice should
have been equally simple to include in that message. I despair of the ignorance
and stupidity of big business these days. Mind you, the owners of “Three”, a
company called Hutchinson’s, are Australian. Nuff said!!
Having sorted my Internet problem, by the
simple expedient of purchasing a £10 SIM from the shop, I should be OK until my
next month’s allowance pops up an about a week’s time. So, all’s well that ends
well.
We are now at Stoke Golding and, after
topping up with fuel and coal at the Ashby Boat Company wharf, we arrived here
at about midday and will stay until tomorrow morning, when we’ll stroll up the
hill for the Mail and then head off to Market Bosworth Marina.
Thursday 13th October
Well, here we are at last our final day of
Cruise 2016. If there are any downsides to this year’s trip, it’s been the
weather. Watching the 6 o/clock news every weekday evening, and the Countryfile
“Weather for the Week Ahead” on Sundays, we’ve noticed a distinct disparity
between the north and south of the country. Lots of rain in the north and
heatwaves in the south. Other than that anomaly, it’s been a pretty good five
and a half months.
Up until yesterday; and we still have about
six miles to go to Market Bosworth; we’ve cruised for 216 hours, passed through
235 locks and traveled 317 miles. During this time, we’ve traveled along
parts of the Grand Union, Oxford, Coventry, Ashby, Trent and Mersey, Staffs and
Worcester, Shropshire, Middlewich Branch, and we’re now back on the Ashby,
heading towards our final destination.
Bearing in mind, the fact that, in years past
we’ve left our winter moorings at the beginning of April, and returned to them
at the beginning of November, I think we’ve done pretty well this year.
Now, just in case something untoward happens
on today’s final leg, I’ll wait until later today, or maybe tomorrow morning,
before I post this blog.
Friday 14th October
Yesterday morning, at about 8.45, we set off
for the final six miles to Market Bosworth marina. Thankfully, the weather
stayed dry for us, because we had no choice, as I’m meeting Dave Hull this
morning and going over to Crick for my car.
The only thing that struck us as odd,
especially considering the really cold wind, was the appearance of a Painted
Lady butterfly. This beautiful creature landed gently on the rear hatch and sat
there, wings wide open catching the warmth of the sun. It stayed with us for
about half a mile and then, having warmed its wings, off it flew. Sadly, with
the weather so cold, I doubt if it would have survived for much longer. Nice of
it to hitch a lift though.
So, we arrived at the marina at about 11 am
and, after sorting things out at the marina office; card for electric, codes
for the various security gates etc, we settled in for our coffee and then took
Alex out for a walk. The rest of our first day here went as usual.
This morning, around about 9 o/clock, Dave
should be picking me up and, hopefully, he’ll have room for Wifey.
And, that’s it. Cruise 2016 is over and done.
Thanks for joining us on our trip. Your
presence is much appreciated. Naturally I’ll keep the blog going whilst we are
here, although there probably won’t be as much to report.
Take care folks and enjoy your winter.
Kind regards from Dave, Sheila and Alex.
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