Market Harborough to Foxton Locks
Saturday 24th August
I’m still a little concerned about the drop in overnight
battery power. Even after adding the Alternator to Battery Charger, I still
find that our Power Panel is only showing 12.1 or 12.2 volts. There are only
two items that could be draining all that voltage out overnight, the fridge and
the TV, which we only watch for a couple of hours in the evening, and the power
consumption from that is quite low. The best thing to do about this is to have
a chat with Andy sometime.
My main problem with the power loss is using the laptop in
the early morning. I charge it up every day, either while we’re cruising or, if
I forget that, I do so while the engine is running in the evening. But, since
the laptop battery drains away within about 1 ½ hours, I either have to shut it
down early, or plug the laptop in and switch the Inverter/Charger on, thus
draining the batteries even further. You see my dilemma!
Now, a complete change of subject. On this Sony Vaio laptop
I have Office 2010 installed, all courtesy of the nice man I purchased it from.
Of course it’s not an official installation and, consequently I don’t have the
Installation disc. So, when problems crop up; like the one I’m about to describe;
I have no way of correcting them, short of returning the laptop to Dave, the
man I bought it from.
The Problem!
I use MS Word quite a lot, in fact I’m using it now in
typing this blog. But there are times, becoming more and more frequent, when
the programme misbehaves.
Imagine the scene, you’re sitting there typing and, as the
script reaches the end of a line and scrolls down for the next one, all of a
sudden some of the line that you have just typed, or are about to type, jumps
to a different place on the page, sometimes embedding itself into a sentence a
few lines up the page. At these times I have to find the line of type, cut it
out and paste it to where it should be. Short of going out a buying MS Word
2010, I’m stuck with this problem.
Sunday 25th August
We had a big think yesterday about Debdale Wharf marina and
there’s one serious no-no about the place, and that’s the remoteness of the
marina, which is at the end of a narrow lane that looks to be miles from
anywhere. This could cause serious problems in heavy, snowy weather, making it
difficult to go shopping and/or visiting a doctor.
I misremember the other problems but, suffice it to say we
have been busy looking at other marinas and have approached Crick and Brinklow
marinas for prices. Crick is on the Leicester Arm of the GUC and we’ll be
returning that way soon, so will be able to call in. Brinklow is on the North
Oxford, and we’ll be passing that on our way to meeting up with Alan and Chris.
We had planned on meeting them in early October, but we think we’ll have to
make that late September so as to allow time for getting to our winter
moorings, wherever they may be.
Today, however, we’ll be heading back to Foxton, with a view
to sampling the delights of the Black Horse pub then it will be a return to the
locks on Monday.
Yesterday we walked into Market Harborough again, this time
for our main shopping, and we found a very good butcher’s on our walk around,
where we bought far more goodies than we had planned. We also found the Co-op
and Wifey cleared their shelf of doggie pouches. Well, you never know when we
will find a Co-op that sells them as they do seem to be a rarity these days,
especially in some of the smaller stores.
Later…..
We left Market Harborough at about 8am and moored up just
past bridge 3, which is where the two other Foxton pubs are. Before taking our
usual lunchtime break at one of the pubs, we decided to take a walk up to the
Black Horse, just to see what it was like. Well, it looked OK and so we thought we’d give it a try and strolled up
there just after midday.
As we sat there supping our drinks and munching on our
snacks, I suggested to Wifey that it wasn’t long since the place had been
renovated and decorated, it really did look good, although we were somewhat surprised
at the lack of customers, only three local chaps at the bar. Of course, the
fact that I had just paid £7.15p for a pint of Guinness, half a pint of cider,
a packet of crisps and a packet of Bacon Fries, should have given me a clue.
So, we sat and chatted for a while and, after a while a
family walked in and strolled off into the garden. Eventually I finished my
drink and went up to the bar for a second helping, which was when I realised
our mistake in coming to the place, £3.70p for a pint of Guinness!!! Ye gods
and little fishes, this is the highest price I have ever paid and, I swear, if
another pub, anywhere in the UK ever asks me to part with such a king’s ransom
for a pint of beer, they will be wearing it!!
Anyway, having finished the most expensive Guinness anywhere
north of Harlow, I suggested we take a walk down to the Shoulder of Mutton,
which is when we were smacked in the gob again. This so-called pub presents
itself as offering authentic Chinese cuisine whilst maintaining the usual offerings
of an English pub. Well, nothing could be further from the truth because, when
I noticed the Guinness pump on the pub and asked for a pint of the same, the
nice, little Chinese girl said, “Oh, we only sell Guinness by the bottle”, and
admitted that they do most of their trade in the evenings and, yeah, you’ve
guessed, it’s really a Chinese Restaurant. No wonder both pubs were practically
deserted. On the one hand the public are robbed blind, whilst on the other they
are lied to.
Of course, this is only my personal opinion. Other people might consider this high price pretty much OK. Well, I don't. So there!
Needless to say we won’t be mooring here any time in the
near or far future.
Monday 26th August (Bank Holiday)
More discussion about winter mooring yesterday led us to
seriously consider Crick Marina. Looking at their figures again we’ll save £30
per month over Mercia, we’ll be close to big towns, such as Rugby and it’s only
100 miles to Harlow. So, as we’re going that way to meet up with Alan and
Chris, and we need a new gas bottle, we’ll be calling in to speak with the
manager.
Talking of gas bottles, we changed ours yesterday, after
only 13 days of use. Sheila has already said that she thought it was on its way
out, she could smell the gas ever since we changed it last time. This is the
second time this year that this has happened. Unfortunately, when we’re on the
move all the time, it’s difficult to turn around and go back to where we bought
the bottle, so we’re stuck with it.
Now, this problem with MS Word, I’ve been trying different
things in an attempt to replicate the problem and I have found that, if I
brushed my hand across the mouse pad and left button at the same time, the
cursor jumps and moves to a different spot. This was not always the case but,
since it does do so on occasion, I’ve been extra careful this morning and, so
far it’s behaved itself.
One good thing has come of our visit to this part of Foxton,
because, when we walked up to check out the Black Horse pub we found a small
village store. Although it shares the same courtyard and car park as the pub,
it doesn’t have anything to do with it. It seems that the young woman running
the shop, now has planning permission to build one nearby, which will be good
for the villagers.
Of course, as with all things to do with snotty nosed
Councils, she’s been given a rough ride where advertising is concerned. She had
a poster printed and erected on a nearby farmer’s land, but was told she
couldn’t do this for fear of distracting passing motorists. Still, she was kind
enough to order a Daily Mail for us that we can collect this morning. We both
hope her and her husband do well.
Tuesday 27th August
We tried our heater yesterday morning, when there was just
12.1 volts showing, but it didn’t work, or, rather, it didn’t seem to work. It
fired up OK but then, after a short while, is switched itself off. I switched
it on again this morning, with 12.6 volts showing, and it’s been fine. I
suspect that, either it got damp due to rain, or the voltage dropped whilst
Wifey was running taps in the bathroom. Hopefully it will be OK from now on.
We came down from the other end of Foxton yesterday morning
and are hoping for an early start this morning. With it being Bank Holiday
there were loads of people about, strolling along the towpath and, I have no
doubt, making full use of the two pubs here. Thankfully we were out of sight
and sound of those. We now have to hope that, when we turn around this morning,
we’ll find a space below the locks.
The lock keepers there tend to send a boat down from the top
first, so it could be well after 9am before we start our way up. We’re only
going a couple of miles, so it really doesn’t matter when we start.
And, that, as they say, is that. I’ll sign off by wishing
you all a very pleasant week.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
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