Shiralee: Cruise 2013 # 4

Great Haywood to Gnosall

 Friday 19^th April

 So, we’re still at Great Haywood, but we do still have a pretty strong headwind for moving on to Weeping Cross on the Staffs and Worcs canal. It’s about 4 miles from here and takes in Tixall Wide, which is where I would expect problems with cross winds. Still, when you gotta go, you gotta go!

 Most of yesterday was also very windy but, since we had decided to stay another day, we took a walk into the village. At first we simply called into the nearest store for the paper and some milk. But we then decided to take a walk up the high street to the next shop where they have a small butchery counter. Having found nothing she wanted there, Wifey decided to walk down the hill to the Canal Side Farm Shop, where we bought some burgers and baps. We did think about buying a small loaf of bread, until we saw the price of £2.90!! £2.90 for a small bloomer? Sheila can make four for that price. Now that really is taking the Mickey.

 Saturday 20^th April

 We only had five miles and two locks to go to Weeping Cross yesterday, and boy was that wind cold. But, by the time we got there, about 10 am or so, the wind had died down and the sun was out.

 It’s calm this morning and looks to be a fine weekend, so we’re off to Penkridge and the local market, plus, of course, the pub tomorrow, although we’re not sure which one. We usually visit The Boat, which is just below the lock at the side of the canal. But I have a yen to try one in town for a change. We’ll see.

 Sunday 21^st April

 Yesterday we did quite a lot of walking, first into Penkridge and around the Saturday Market, where we made some really inexpensive purchases, such as Country Life butter at £1 per pack, 2 boiling bacon joints for £6, along with a few other bits and pieces.

 Later in the afternoon we took Rusty for a walk along the towpath and around some of the houses, after which we stopped for an ice cream just to give her a rest really. Honest!

 We’ve been rather lax with the Bikers diet of late and so today we’re back on it proper. This does not mean I’ll be denying myself my Sunday drink, but it does mean we’ll be cutting out the naughty stuff, such as those lovely, big fruit pies we sometimes find in local bakeries, one of which we bought in the canal side farm shop back at Great Haywood. This was an apple and raspberry and, with steaming hot custard, has gone down a treat.

 Later today we’ll walk into town again, this time to the pub. Tomorrow we’ll be off to Gailey where, sadly, there isn’t a pub, or a bakery, or a butcher’s. In fact there’s nothing there at all, except a small shop by the side of the canal.

 Monday 22^nd April

 Well, we had a pretty good day yesterday, with fine weather for the most part, although we did have light rain for part of the day.

 After walking into town for some shopping, we then enjoyed a coffee and popped off to the pub at about 12.30. Just for a change we walked along the towpath and under a couple of bridges, where we found The Cross Keys. At £3.30 for a pint of Guinness and a friendly atmosphere and with a bunch of local footballers turning up, we will probably use it on our way back.

 We’re getting a bit concerned with Rusty these days. Even after giving her lighter food she still has her ‘upset tummy’ days, and today is another one of those. We also have to keep a close eye on her during the day because, if we don’t recognise when she needs to go out, accidents are likely to happen.

 Strangely she manages to sleep through until 7am some mornings, whilst at others she’ll have us up in the early hours. She’s also becoming a bit tottery on her legs of late and, whilst I hate to say it, I don’t think she’ll be with us for much longer. Still, she’s 15 years old now, if we go by what the rescue centre were told when they took her in, so she’s done awfully well.

 But then, you see, she also has days when she’s full of vim and vigour, especially if she’s been out in the rain, when she’ll run up and down the boat in an attempt to dry herself off. She’s a strange dog, and no mistake.

 Tuesday 23^rd April

 Well, time’s a flying and we’re nearly at the end of April, the weather has warmed up, we’ve had a few sunny days and all’s right with the world.

 We took a leisurely cruise, through five miles and six lock, to the bottom of Gailey lock and enjoyed uninterrupted TV in the evening.

Once again our poor wee pooch was not feeling up to snuff and just mooched around for most of the day. That is, until she smelled the chicken cooking, at which point she perked up Strange that! Anyway, now that we’ve adjusted her diet to include freshly cooked chicken and turkey, we’re hoping her tummy will settle down. Hope springs eternal, etcetera!

We’ll be off to Cross Green this morning, which is about five miles away and just the lock in front of us to negotiate. With a bright, sunny start to the day and the promise of fine weather, this morning’s trip should be a doddle. Of course, if we get stuck behind a slow poke, like we did yesterday, we could be in for a trip full of yawns.

 We’ll stay at Cross Green for two days because we are planning to arrive at Wheaton Aston for Saturday morning. This town boasts a garage that lies above the canal and serves road and canal traffic. It has a hose, connected to a red diesel tank, that snakes down to the canal mooring platform and is just about the cheapest on the cut, so we’re hoping to save a few quid. Goodness knows we need it after all the expense we’ve incurred lately.

 Wednesday 24^th April

 This morning is, once again bright and sunny although, according to the forecast yesterday evening, it’s supposed to rain today and we did have a red sky this morning. We shall see.

 The main problem I have is the inability to download my emails. According to my little WiFi icon I do have a strong signal, but no Internet access. This usually means I can’t access the Web, but can still download emails. So, what I’ll have to try later today is to strap the WiFi unit to my old dongle stick, screw it to the Top Box and run the cable through the window and plug it into the laptop. If that doesn’t work then we’re too far from a transmission tower. I suppose I shouldn’t complain as we’ve travelled over 40 miles so far without problems.

 Unfortunately, since we’re staying here at Cross Green, if I can’t get online at all then I’ll have to wait until we move on and up the Shroppie. Hey, it’s not important, right? We’re cruising and supposed to be relaxing. Who cares if we can’t download emails or get online? At least the phone is working!

 After her upset tummy of the previous couple of days, our VIP was full of the joys of spring. We took her for a long-ish walk along the towpath and she didn’t complain once. She also ate all her food, so she’s probably feeling as normal as she can do for her age. VIP? Very Important Pooch, it says so on her new collar.

 Thursday 25^th April

 Most of the time we have no problems with this new WiFi unit but, as something that comes as no surprise, we’re now on the Shroppie and, what’s more, we’re miles from anywhere. So, a bit of a struggle with the Internet this morning. At first I managed to download my messages, which was more than I could do back at Cross Green. Then all of a sudden up came an error message telling me I had no Internet access.

 Whilst trying to reposition the unit, a move that had no appreciable difference, I had a thought, ‘could it be the SIM? Well, having removed that and cleaned it, I still had no Internet. So, I then wondered if the mere fact that neither the laptop nor the unit were plugged in and charging could have an effect.

 Having switched on the Inverter and plugged both items in, I now seem to have Internet access and my emails have downloaded and been replied to. Hmmm! The only thing not working is the Intel RST service, whatever that is. I think it is an online storage facility, which I don’t use anyway, so it’s of no importance at all.

 Well, we’re between bridges 7 and 8 on the Shroppie and, simply because we are moored up right next to a whole bunch of fat balls (?), hanging in the bushes, we’ve decided to stay another day and try getting some decent photos of the visiting birds.

 Yesterday we spotted 11 different birds feeding off those balls. We had Chaffinch, Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Yellow Hammer, Blackbird, Reed Bunting, Green Finch and Dunnock. No doubt they’ll all be there again today and, with a bit of luck, the addition of Coal Tit and Bullfinch? Who can tell?

 Friday 26^th April

 We took some more photos of the birds yesterday but, even with my 2X splitter, they don’t look that good. I may be able to improve them on the laptop.

 After much faffing about with the laptop and WiFi unit, I finally managed to download my emails yesterday and this morning but, unsurprisingly I can’t access the Internet this morning. I had hoped to post this today, but I’ll have to wait until we’re nearer to human habitation, which should be Wheaton Aston later this morning. This WiFi unit is just as useless as the dongle although, when we’re in a strong signal area it does download faster.

  Saturday 27^th April

 Well, another weekend is upon us and still I can’t post this blog. We’re at Wheaton Aston, by no means a small town as the walk to the Post Office and Spar shop is quite a stretch, but we are still unable to get online. I can’t even download emails from here. Sometimes, if I’m very lucky and even if I don’t have Internet access, I can still download my emails, but not today. There are times when this new WiFi unit sucks!

 This morning we will top up with diesel and move on to Gnosall where, I hope, we’ll have a good signal. If not then we’ll have to take the bus into Stafford for Wifey to do some banking.

 Sunday 28^th April

 We were first at the garage in Wheaton Aston yesterday morning and topped up with diesel. We were away by 8.15 and, after a very cold and windy 5 miles, arrived at Gnosall by 10.30.

 Our immediate concern after arriving here was to see if we had Internet. Last time we passed through here we still had the dongle, which gave us only 4 bars of signal strength. This time, with the WiFi we have ‘Excellent’ signal strength, so Wifey could sort out her banking.

 Well, I now have 7 pages of blurb so I guess I’d better post this.

 All the best for now.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Cruise 2013 #3

Alrewas to Great Haywood

 

Wednesday 10^th April

Well now, I’ve just posted the 2^nd blog about our travels – and travails? – mostly been about our problems with the boat. My apologies go out to all who have found the content thoroughly boring but, that’s life on the cut, some good days and some bad, mostly good, I’m happy to say.

 Assuming our recon gearbox turns up today, Andy will pick me up to go and pay for it. It will then only be a matter of out with the old and in with the new, an hour or so tomorrow morning, and we should be on our way to Fradley. In fact, if we can get to Fradley Junction tomorrow, we could spend a little time in The Swan pub because, down in the cellar on Thursday nights they run a Folk night. Indeed, if I was more proficient with the ukulele, I could sit in and enjoy free beer, or so I’ve been told. Now there’s a pleasant thought.

Thursday 11^th April

 We waited in all day yesterday in hopes that Andy would call with news about the gearbox. However, he was quite late getting home, so I have no doubt he had a bad day. Hopefully he’ll call in on his way out this morning. There’s nothing worse than sitting around for days on end; it’s been nine days now; waiting for a job to be done so we can be on the move.

 This morning, just to add to our problems, the spark that ignites the cooker rings has packed up. As far as we know this is fed from the batteries, so there’s no reason for it to stop working. It may just be a loose wire but, until it’s sorted I suppose we’re back to the matches.

 Other than that piece of bad news, we’re just sitting around until we can be on the move again, and that can’t come soon enough for us. This is all very frustrating, especially as we have mail to collect at Great Haywood, and that’s several days away, even after the gearbox is fitted.

 Friday 12^th April

 Well, assuming the weather is going to be kind to us this morning, we’ll be on our way to Fradley, but that won’t be until about 10 o/clock, after Wifey goes for the paper and bread.

 The weather report is not that good for this weekend; lots of rain it seems; although it does now seem to be warming up now and not before time.

Sad to say, another boring day yesterday but at least the gearbox has now been fitted. All we have to concern ourselves with is the heater, but we’ll get that serviced at a later date.

 Saturday 13^th April

 We left Alrewas yesterday morning, quite late as it happened because we had to wait for a delivery of bread to the local butcher’s. Honest Injun!!

 Fradley Junction was only two miles and four locks, which took just over an hour. Naturally we took a walk around the local park and bought an ice cream. Well, it would have been rude not to, wouldn’t it? After all, summer is on the way.

 Of course the weather today gives the lie to the above statement, it’s nothing like summer right now, but we did at least get to Handsacre this morning without incident and, once we had settled in Wifey put some washing on, which our new charger objected to most strongly. Now, there’s nothing in the handbook to say that this box of goodies is unable to cope with a washing machine. After all, this is simply another piece of electrical equipment that runs off the batteries. But, within a short space of time, just while the water was being heated up, off went an alarm. This alarm pointed to the failure of a sensor, which the book says is a sign that the unit should be returned to manufacturer for assessment. Wonderful!!

 Of course I telephoned Andy, who was not best pleased at this bad news. Anyway, after turning off the engine, and thus the charger, we gave it a few minutes to cool down and tried again. This time we had no alarms going off and the washing was successfully completed.

 I did consider phoning Andy again but, knowing that Wifey is going to do washing again tomorrow morning, I thought I would hold off and see what happens then. To our combined minds, if the alarm goes off again we will know that we will have to switch the unit off when carrying that operation out. If the alarm stays off I can phone Andy again and see what he says. After all, the unit should have 12 months guarantee, which means, all is not lost if we keep going but watch for problems.

 Meanwhile, we now have rain and we now have a full complement of moored boats here at Handsacre and, since there’s a rather good pub just 10 minutes’ walk away, we’ll be staying until Monday morning when we’ll head for Rugeley.

 Sunday 14^th April

 Yesterday, apart from the problems with the charger, we just chilled out for the rest of the day. Today however, we are back to our Hairy Bikers diet, which has been ignored during the past couple of weeks. I don’t think I have put any more weight on as I can still tighten my belt to the same notch and, since we don’t plan on weighing ourselves until next Saturday morning, I won’t know, will I?

 I have now changed my morning routine. Whilst at the marina it was my practice to fiddle around on the laptop, or perhaps do some painting. Instead I am doing some painting and then going over to ukulele practice. Prior to leaving Mercia, I had words with Steve, my fellow uke buff and I warned him to make sure he got in plenty of practice while I’m away as I would be ‘gunning for him when I get back’. So, if I’m to be any good at all when we get back; which assumes we don’t actually find an online mooring before then; I’m going to have to pull my finger out and practice, practice, practice.

 So, for the rest of today it will be, more washing for Wifey, followed by a phone call to Andy as to how the charger has behaved. Lunchtime will be spent in the pub up the road and the afternoon will be more chill-out time. I will also be getting stuck in to uke practice, but this time at a normal volume and tempo. (First thing in the morning I play very soft and slow, so as not to disturb Wifey’s beauty sleep)

 Monday 15^th April

 After quite a bit of rain yesterday today has dawned bright and calm, so we’ll be off to Rugeley this morning.

 I was out with Rusty yesterday morning, when I noticed that ‘Shiralee’ seemed to be listing slightly to port. This stretch of canal is curved and the towpath has a slight incline to it, so it may have been an optical illusion but, just to be on the safe side, we took our pump out of storage and, lo and behold, out came another gallon of water from the bilge. This would not be enough to cause a list in the boat and we think it is just a mix of condensation and whatever was left in the bilge from when we changed the water pump.

 As for the new charger, that seems to be running OK now. Andy has recommended that we use a cooler wash on the washing machine. Unfortunately these machines do take a lot of power from the batteries and even the new charger has difficulty maintaining the charge. But, compared with the alternator on its own, which drops to about 10 volts while the water is heating up, this charger doesn’t drop below about 11.5, so that’s an improvement.

 Tuesday 16^th April

 We are now at Brindley Bank, which is about a mile out of Rugeley and heading for Great Haywood. But, why are we here?

 Well, yesterday morning, soon after we had done the shopping at Morrison’s, Wifey took it into her head to give the outside of the boat a clean. While she was doing so along came another boater and they started chatting. This is not an uncommon event and so I didn’t give it any thought.

 Anyway, when the guy had gone back to his boat, I stuck my head out of the hatch and asked what he had said. Apparently a new Macdonalds has opened and it is so close to the canal that the school kids walk along the towpath to get to it. Now, that wouldn’t be so bad, even if they can be a bit noisy, but the late night drinkers also use Macdonald’s and, on their way back they do like to decorate boats with their rubbish.

 So, thanks very much Rugeley Town Council for allowing yet another fast food outlet to blight our lives.

 And that, dear readers, is why we spent the night at Brindley Bank. No more stopovers at Rugeley for us.

 We had quite a bit of rain overnight but, thank goodness, it has now stopped and is brightening up. So, we’ll be off to Great Haywood where we won’t be pestered by drunks chucking their rubbish at the boat.

 Thursday 18^th April

 From Brindley Bank on Tuesday morning, we made our way to Great Haywood and pulled in a couple of hundred yards from the lock, where it’s quiet and peaceful.

 Now, where was I? Just made my early cuppa and spotted a spider on the wall behind the cooker and now I’m back, having disposed of the darned thing. No, I didn’t kill it, simply sent it to the outside world. It’s now crawling around on the grass looking for a new home.

 We had intended to stay until this morning and then head for Weeping Cross on the Staffs and Worc but, with this howling, gale force wind; which has been with us since yesterday morning and doesn’t look like letting up any time soon; it looks like we’ll be here for another day.

 From this mooring spot it is probably ½ to ¾ mile to the Anglo-Welsh Hire Boat Company, which resides at the junction and, since we were getting a bit low on coal, we took a stroll up there and towed a couple of 25Kg bags back to the boat. Even using their own 4 wheeled barrow this was a pretty difficult task and one we would not like to have to repeat.

 This is one of those spots along the system where it’s impossible to get any TV and where this new WiFi unit is very slow downloading stuff. I purchased a bunch of videos about easy finger picking songs for guitar but, as they only came as a download, I gave up after about 4 of them, the rest I’ll have to download when we get to Weeping Cross.

 Friday 19^th April

 Well, here we are, still at Great Haywood, and we still have pretty strong winds this morning. But, no matter, we’ll probably be on our way this morning. Meanwhile I’d better post as this blog is now getting rather long.

 Happy weekend folks.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee: Cruise 2013 #2

Alrewas to Alrewas

 Thursday 4^th April

 No doubt you thought I was in a bad mood when I posted the previous blog, well, you ain’t wrong. It is now almost 7 am, I’ve been up and about since 5.30 and Rusty has already been for her walk.

 Now, with 12.4 volts on our panel, at which point any self-respecting heater should fire up, ours still won’t. So, that’s another load of expense. The final nail in the coffin of birthday celebrations has come in the shape of the cost of a new gearbox, and the cheapest I could find was £501. And then of course it needs to be fitted.

 What to do? Well, we’ll wait until Andy arrives later this afternoon and take it from there, but I see no point in continuing with this trip without a heater and a possible dodgy gearbox. The heater we can probably manage without, but the gearbox?

 Once again, watch this space, but in my current mood I don’t suppose I’ll be bothering with the uke today.

 Friday 5^th April

 This morning is much calmer than yesterday, which was very windy and cold.

 I spoke to Andy yesterday and still our remote unit has not turned up. I also mentioned about our problems with the boat and its crawling pace. He came by and we had a chat, the result of which is that he’ll see if he can track down a reconditioned unit. With a brand new one normally costing over £600, we think a recon would be best at this time, especially after all we’ve spent on the boat so far this year.

 So, having moved the boat onto 14 day moorings, just in front of Andy’s boat, we look set to be stuck here at Alrewas for several more days yet, which means a phone call to Alan Oxley. Hopefully he and Chris will be able to meet us here, instead of the planned meet at Stone.

 So far this trip has not turned out too well. However, once this gearbox is sorted and our remote unit has been fitted, I’m hopeful of a pleasant cruse this year. Hopeful being the operative word.

 Saturday 6^th April

 The saga continues! Andy popped in on his way home from work and plugged in a new Remote unit for the charger. No luck whatsoever, which means the main charger is not sending the signal. He will remove the unit on Sunday and take it to the manufacturers for assessment on Monday.

 Meanwhile he’s located a reconditioned gearbox, which will cost us £395 + VAT which, as we are now aware, stands at 20%. Hopefully we’ll have that fitted by Tuesday, which will give us just about enough time to still meet up with Alan and Chris, before they return to Germany. They are unable to meet us here at Alrewas, simply because it would mean a train ride followed by a bus. However, if we can get the gearbox and charger sorted by Tuesday or Wednesday, there may still be time to reach Great Haywood and take the bus to Stafford, where we can spend a couple of hours with them.

 So, it’s looks like we’ll be twiddling our thumbs for a few more days yet. What a bummer!

 All that remains after that is to get this heater working. It’s fine on mains electricity and if the engine is running, but can’t fire up on the battery power, even when it stands at 12.5 volts. From past experience we know that this will cost us about £300. Great!

 The good news is that the weather has improved, the wind has dropped and we had quite a bit of sunshine yesterday. It’s calm out there this morning and, once the sun rises above the trees, we could be in for a fine weekend.

 Monday 8^th April

 Yesterday was a pretty good day, all things considered. It was bright and sunny for the most part, although still a wee bit cool.

 For the first time in almost three weeks, we actually spent an hour in a pub and put ourselves outside the usual couple of pints of Guinness, a half pint of cider and some snacks. On the way back to the boat we indulged in an ice cream cone, the first, but certainly not the last, of the 2013 season.

 Later in the afternoon I accompanied Andy to Fradley, where we disposed of some rubbish and he filled a couple of plastic containers with water. Sheila stayed behind and, when we returned, there she was enjoying a chin wag with Sandy, that’s Andy’s better half.

 This morning, at about 8 am, Andy will be removing the charger unit and taking it to Sterling’s place in Droitwich. Hopefully he’ll get to the bottom of why the remote unit isn’t picking up a signal from the main unit. While he’s doing that, he’ll also phone the chandlery at Mercia and ask them to order our recon gearbox. With a bit of luck it will be delivered tomorrow, in which case we should be away from here on Wednesday morning and we’ll be heading for Great Haywood, where we’ll collect some mail and take the bus into Stafford to meet with Alan and Chris.

 As for the rest of today, well, some much needed ukulele practice is called for, along with some more work on our back panels. I also must print out a picture of a kingfisher, which will be my next painting project.

 Tuesday 9^th April

 Halleluuuuujah brother, Andy finally fitted the new charger and all is OK in that department. This gozmo, which cost us an arm and a leg, really works well. However, since we could only charge the batteries directly from the alternator yesterday morning, while Andy took the dodgy one back, we thought it best to run the engine for the usual two hours yesterday evening. From now on though it will only be for an hour.

 Unfortunately it doesn’t look as though we’ll be able to meet up with Alan and Chris after all. This is because our recon gearbox won’t arrive at the chandlery until tomorrow morning, which means Andy won’t be fitting it until Thursday morning, leaving us insufficient time to get to Great Haywood before the weekend. Still, it does depend on how quickly the gearbox can be fitted and, of course, the weather.

 

Wednesday 10^th April

 It’s just as well we’re not moored up way out in the sticks right now, else we’d be getting somewhat bored by now. With the new charger fitted and working, we’re alright for power and hot water, but we’re looking forward to moving on, hopefully by Friday morning, but that assumes the gearbox turns up today.

 Andy has done a superb job so far, for which we have shown our appreciation. Just one more job and he’s done.

 Late yesterday morning and with nothing better to do, we took the bus into Lichfield, where we disposed of some books to a charity shop and mooched about town for a while. As towns go Lichfield is very much like any other, with the usual range of shops, banks and coffee bars, one of which we stopped at for coffee and sticky bun. With an hour and a half before catching the bus back, we had plenty of time to wander around.

 The rest of the day was spent relaxing. Alrewas is a pleasant place to moor up, with several pubs, Post Office, Newsagent and Co-op, not to mention a very fine Butcher’s. But spending over a week here is anathema to us as we rarely spend more than two days in one spot.

 Now that our plans for meeting up with Alan and Chris have been dashed, we’ll make our next stopover at Fradley Junction, after which it will be Handsacre and Great Haywood, where I must call into the local Post Office to pick up some mail. After that we’ll be heading for the Llangollen canal.

 Well now, with five pages of our doings at Alrewas, this would be a good time to post so, cheers one and all.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Cruise 2013 #1

Mercia to Alrewas

 Tuesday 2^nd April

 At last this day has arrived and we can be off. The pontoons here are just beginning to frost over, but with just a smattering of clouds in the sky and the sun due to rise soon, I don’t see any problems with ice raising their ugly heads. This was our main fear for this morning, having to break through ice in order to leave the marina, especially as we have only just had the bottom blacked.

 Our first stop will be Branston, where I’ll post that disc off to Alan. Frank emailed me to say that he’d wiped the hard drive and filled it with rubbish, so as to overwrite any stuff that may have been left behind. All he needs now is the System Recovery disc to reinstall everything that was on there when I bought it. Job done!

 We are now stocked up with food and coal and can go about a week before topping up with food again.

 As with last year, we’ll first make our way to Stone where we’ll meet up with the Oxley’s, but first and hopefully for the 4^th, my birthday, we’ll stop at Fradley Junction where The Swan hold a Folk Music evening. Now that will be a great birthday.

 Are you in the habit of making New Year Resolutions? I know I am, but for the most part they always fall by the wayside. Anyway, I was giving this some thought the other day and, instead of waiting until January 1^st 2014, I thought I might make a New Year Resolution in April 2013.

 So, for my NYR for April 2013, I have decided to go all out to really learn to play the Ukulele. There’s a very good reason as to why I delayed this decision until April 2^nd and that is because we’re going cruising again and, more importantly, I have very few distractions whilst cruising. However, the main reason for doing so at such a late stage, is that I have my eye on an 8 string uke but, unless I consider myself proficient enough to have earned this new instrument, I won’t buy it.

 Watch this space!!

 Wednesday 3^rd April

 Just before we left Mercia marina yesterday we had snow, not just a few flakes either, real heavy stuff. However, lucky old us, it only lasted a few minutes so we were off without wintery problems.

 The seven miles and two locks to Branston, took us three hours, all of which was with a bitterly cold, following wind.

 Now, last year we didn’t have the Alternator to Battery Charger, so it was necessary to run the engine until as late as possible; which means 8pm; in order to ensure enough power the following morning to be able to use the heater. On many occasions, even after running the engine for two hours, we still found that the heater would not switch on.

 Yesterday evening, after three hours of travel, we ran the engine for just 1½ hours and this morning the domestic batteries are showing 12.6 volts, whereas, without the new charger we would be lucky if it showed 12 volts, with a more likely level of 11.9 or less.

 I am hopeful that, even though I have had the laptop and WiFi unit plugged in, the heater will work this morning. The temperature has dropped considerably overnight, so the heater would be useful.

 It’s really amazing how you get used to the surrounding noise in a marina. From Mercia the main background noise is traffic from the A50, along with ducks and geese squawking during the night. As soon as you leave the marina however, and moor up in the countryside, peace prevails and, until the sun comes up, we won’t even hear the birds in the trees, never mind the waterfowl on the nearby lake. Wonderful!

 I am hoping that the canal is not frozen over this morning and, more importantly, that there’s not much of a wind to contend with. Andy phoned yesterday and told me that the remote unit should have arrived and that he would meet us somewhere if it has. He’s already moored at Alrewas, which is our next stop, although he’s still travelling back and forth to Mercia for his work, so we’ll have the remote fitted today, with a modicum of luck.

 Thursday 4^th April

 It’s my 71^st birthday today, but I can’t say that the day leading up to it was any great shakes. For a start, it was cold and windy and we had five miles and four locks to go to Alrewas. But that was a minor detail compared to what followed as we pulled away from Branston. The boat didn’t seem to have much power and, although she was moving, the revs didn’t seem to equate to the actual speed.

 On Tuesday, when we set out from Mercia, everything was fine; at least, I thought it was; but that could have been the difference between driving the car and then suddenly finding myself in a boat doing no more than 4 mph. But, we got to Branston in our average time of 3 hours, so I didn’t think anything was amiss.

 So, getting back to yesterday, we had a following wind and the first lock was just around the corner. But, before entering the lock, I pulled in and checked the weed hatch and found that to be clear. This state of affairs with engine speed continued right through to Alrewas, where we moored up for the night.

 I phoned Andy later in the evening, but still no remote unit. However, I did ask him what he thought of my problem. “It could be one of two things” he said, “either the drive shaft is not spinning at the right revs, or the plates in the gearbox aren’t meshing correctly.”

 Last year, when Lyndon service the engine, he did suggest that the gearbox was on its way out but, since we managed to travel over 500 miles last summer without problems and I actually took the boat across for diesel whilst we were at Mercia this winter, also without problems, I thought we were OK. It seems I may have been wrong.

 Anyway, the upshot of all this is that Andy will come along this evening and we’ll take the boat for a short run and, hopefully, he’ll be able to tell me what’s wrong, if anything. It’s a big worry though because, having spent all that money on the service, the blacking, the additional charger, plus the car and its MOT, we will have big problems stumping up for a gearbox, which all means that we’ll probably have to turn around and crawl back to the marina, until we can gather the cash together, and then just take a short cruise this year.

 As for the rest of today, well, we’ll just chill out here until Andy turns up. The problem is that we have to be at Stone to meet up with Alan and Chris but, if we have a dodgy gearbox, that meeting will have to be abandoned.

 So, on that happy note, I’ll post and worry about the boat after Andy checks it out. It just might be my imagination but, having driven this boat for more than six years, I do have my doubts.

 The other thing is, if you may remember, we had problems with the heater not starting first thing in the morning. All winter long we’ve had no problems with it but, on the very first morning we needed it, it wouldn’t start up. Now, with this new charger and a reading of 12.2 volts at the panel, the heater should have run, so we’re back to square one on that too, which probably means we’re going to have to get that serviced asap.

 As for the rest of yesterday, well, I did make a start on the ukulele and we both did a lot of reading. I didn’t dare put the TV on last night, even though we had the engine running from 6 until 8 pm, for fear that we wouldn’t have enough power for the heater. I’m even running this laptop on the internal battery, which has 1 hour and 42 minutes left even as I type.

 Cheers everybody.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 20

Thursday 28^th March

 Well, apart from the successful shopping trip to Burton, the purchasing of a pair of boots for me was a dismal failure. Despite the diet, we did treat ourselves to coffee and sticky bun. I put my foot down with a very firm hand about this. Most enjoyable!

 Tomorrow morning, Andy assures us our Remote Unit should arrive and be fitted. He also said, on a less than positive note, that if it still doesn’t work he will remove the lot and take it all back to the makers for assessment.

 We bought ourselves a new broom, a nice soft one for cleaning the side of the boat whilst cruising. Goodness knows why it gets so mucky but, since our one recently fell apart, we decided to blow the £3.45 on a new one and to hell with the expense.

 Friday 29^th March

 As you all know, I’m learning to play the ukulele. But, did you know that there’s a hybrid instrument, that’s been around since about 1999, called a Guitalele? No, me neither, I only discovered it a couple of weeks ago when I accompanied my neighbour when he bought a new uke.

 This year whilst cruising, I will be making every effort to improve my uke technique, but I have yet to decide if I want an 8 string uke or one of these guitaleles, which are in essence, simply a guitar, only shorter by 5 frets, thus making them ideal for travelling. Hmmm! Gotta think about that one.

 Today Andy will be fitting our Remote Unit, we hope, after which we’ll be popping along to The Range for a lightweight watercolour book. Sad to say our printer will not print the heavier, 300gms paper.

 I have found a way to converting a photo to black and white and giving it a ‘wash’, so that it looks very faint when printed out. I’m pretty lousy at copying a photo onto watercolour paper, even when placing a grid down first, so this could be an ideal way of achieving the same thing. Graphite paper can be a bit messy, very much like carbon paper, so this could prove to be a clean alternative and much easier.

 Saturday 30^th March

 Still no sign of our remote unit yesterday, which comes as no surprise since it was Good Friday. Andy doesn’t expect it to arrive until Tuesday now, so he’ll probably have to meet us somewhere along the cut. His boat is already ahead of us any way and is currently moored at Alrewas, so he won’t have a problem.

 He’s one of the few boaters we know who actually take their car with them when cruising. This is because he could still be called upon to work on a boat or car and, if necessary he can get to them quickly. When you consider all the walking, or bus riding necessary to fetch the car after moving along with the boat, I won’t even consider it. Also, where do you park the car? If you don’t know the area this could be a big problem. Still, horses for courses I suppose!

 I’ve decided to pop down to Harlow today to drop off the Toshiba at Frank’s place. He’s helped Alan out on a number of occasions and has offered to wipe the hard drive for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring it back with me tomorrow morning. If not, then Alan will take care of it and fetch it with him when he visits, whenever and wherever that might be. Frank tells me that, with a hard drive of 250Gb this could take up to 4 hours, and the drive on the Toshiba is 320Gb, if you count only the C drive. The whole drive is partitioned and totals 640Gb and so, if he has to do the lot it could take all night!

 Whatever happens I must get back on Sunday morning as we have a finally shopping trip set for Monday. So, on Tuesday morning I will post this blog and start a new one for our 2013 cruise. Yeah!! Whoopee!!

 Monday 1^st April

 Well folks, today is the last of my winter blogs. We’ll be off tomorrow morning. The weather today is milder than of late, so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to leave without having to break through the ice.

 Frank has reported back about the laptop. On the strength of the info I gave him; namely that the System disc that came with it has 5.6Gb of info on it; he is hopeful that the whole of the system information is in there. If so then he won’t have to re-install Windows and drivers as they’ll be on the disk.

 He also installed so much stuff and rubbish after wiping the hard drive, that nobody will be able to unravel any sensitive information. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow before posting the disc to him as I want to send it Guaranteed Next Day Delivery, just to ensure it doesn’t get lost in the post.

 As for today, well, that will be taken up with shopping and checking the boat over. We cleaned the windows yesterday and Wifey washed down the port side, we’ll wash the starboard side when we are moored up with that side to the towpath.

Our first port of call will be Branston, assuming it’s not raining or blowing a gale, in which case we’ll stop at Willington, or a bit further on.

 All the best to you all, and have a good summer. We certainly intend to, despite what the elements may throw at us.

 Cheers me dears!

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 19

Saturday 23^rd March

 Yesterday morning was full of indecision, do we stay or do we cut our holiday short and go? Taking a walk down to the car, I first had to remove snow from the steps at the end of the garden path, both of which were totally obliterated.

The lane outside the cottage has some pretty deep potholes, all of which were filled in and there was plenty of that horrid white stuff drifting against the walls and the car. The lane down to the road didn’t look unsurpassable, so we decided to load up and get going. We could see that the main road was being well used, so we had no qualms about that.

Packing and loading the car took about half an hour, so, after scrambling through the drifting snow on the lane, we arrived at the A623 and, much to our surprise, it was quite clear.

 About half a mile further on was the roundabout connecting to the A6 and, much to our further surprise, we managed to tuck ourselves in behind a snow plough. How’s that for a stroke of luck? We stayed behind him for a few miles but, once he turned off down a country lane, we found the rest of the trip pretty straightforward. Our journey to the cottage took us along the A515 but, having listened to the travel item on Radio 2 earlier, we knew there were problems along that route, so we stayed on the A6 to Derby then it was just a short run on the A38 and the Marina.

 It was still snowing when we got back and the forecast was for more to come. They weren’t wrong about that. I’ve just been out with Rusty and we’ve had at least another 3 inches overnight, and still it keeps coming. This time last year we had temperatures in the teens and up to 20 degrees! Amazing! My only fear – if you can call it a fear – is that this keeps up into next week. We have to leave the marina on Tuesday, not least because someone else already has this mooring reserved. Still, once we’re outside the marina we can always moor up at Willington. At least it does have a few pubs and a Co-op!!

 This weekend will be pretty relaxed, simply because we have no plans for going anywhere in this weather. Monday is earmarked for shopping in Burton, so we’re hoping for clear roads by then.,

 Sunday 24^th March

 Oh boy! Have we had snow? Lots of it, many, many inches of it. Yesterday Chris and I cleared all the snow from the pontoon and this morning it’s back, with a vengeance. It snowed all day yesterday, and all night too, so much so that we’ll be calling into the office to see if we can extend our stay by another week.

 Monday 25^th March

 We did manage to get to the Marina Office and book ourselves in for an extra week. With the weather being in our favour; and I’ve been told the temperature could well be in double figures for Easter weekend; we will be away on Tuesday 2^nd April and I will spend my 71^st birthday on the cut. And, with Branston being only a short run along the T&M, a birthday treat could be in order.

 This morning we have an appointment with our doctor, just to have our prescriptions drawn up. Afterwards, and if I’m feeling up to it, we’ll drive into Burton for shopping. But, since we’re here for another week anyway, it might just be a case of Morrison’s shopping instead.

 Tuesday 26^th March

 It’s getting on for 7am and our wee pooch is still fast asleep. Contrary to what a neighbour told me yesterday, this cold snap is not going away any time soon. Still, at least it has stopped snowing.

 We didn’t bother going into Burton yesterday as I wasn’t feeling as well as normal, queasy tummy and all that. We’ll probably leave that little jaunt until later in the week. Instead we popped into Morrison’s.

 Doctor gave me some different medication, supposedly to help with the nerve pain in my feet. Not a lot of good last night, I fear. What with the queasy tummy and painful feet, I’m afraid I didn’t get much sleep. Neither did Wifey, what with my tossing and turning.

 Life goes on as normal here, and with this weather clinging on, there’s not a lot going on that’s different to normal, which accounts for my rambling this morning. Have pity on a boating man please, Cabin Fever has taken a grip, so I’m not in a normal frame of mind, hence the rambling.

 Wednesday 27^th March

 We heard yesterday, on the BBC Travel News, that the road leading up to our holiday cottage was still closed. So, had we not cut short our break by a day, we would probably still be stranded there. Can you imagine how cold this boat would be when we finally got back? Brrrr! It doesn’t bear contemplating.

 Now, I heard the other day, during a news item on radio, or was it in the paper, that a certain transplant hospital – only the one so far – had been selling freely given organs to foreign rich folks. That is not on! I do not, as far as I know, have a Donor Card but, if I did, I would be seriously considering my position. OK, in America one has to pay for such things anyway and besides, there are more than enough people over here, simply desperate for organs. So there’s really no excuse for this disgusting behaviour. Will anybody in this government, or any other for that matter, do anything to stop it? I think not!

 I seem to be over my tummy upset now, thank goodness, and I even managed a walk around the marina yesterday, so I’m quite chuffed about that.

 Somewhat to my dismay a few days ago, I discovered that my Clarke’s boots were leaking. Crikey, I’ve only had them about 8 years, what’s going on here? I now have to go and buy a new pair. Shame on them!

 Thursday 28^th March

 I didn’t manage to get those new boots yet as the company that used to trade from Findern Garden Centre, and from whom Sheila bought hers, no longer trade there. So, since we’re driving into Burton today, I’ll see what I can find there.

 Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting the replacement Remote Unit for the Battery Charger. Chris tells me that Andy has done his back in while he was lifting a sack of coal onto the boat, so I’ll give him a ring later to see if our Remote has arrived. If push comes to shove I suppose I could fit it myself as it’s only a case of plugging it in and running the cable through the bulkhead in the engine bay. But I dare say he’ll want to do it himself, but that’s assuming the unit has turned up. If not then when it does, Andy will be chasing us down the T&M to find us and fit it. He’s a good lad, is our Andy!!

 Well, since I have nothing better to do and already have five pages here, I guess I’ll post this penultimate blog for this Winter and, judging by the temperature outside, it is, most certainly Winter!

 Cheers all.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 18

Our Week at ‘Garden Cottage’ Part 2

Tuesday 19^th March

 Just for a change, we took it easy this morning and took a short drive to Castleton which, when we arrived, appeared to be home to a busload of schoolkids. We simply took a stroll around the town, bought a few odds and ends at a local shop, then came back to the cottage. Some of those odds and ends included bird food and a container for same, which Sheila hung in a nearby tree. We have Chaffinches, Robins, Dunnocks, Blue Tits and Great Tits feeding in the garden now.

This afternoon I tried phoning Justin at the marina boatyard, to ask about the rudder. However, since he seemed busy I emailed instead. He returned the message with the info that the rudder simply needed a tack weld, which they would do when they fitted the anodes. Anodes? I know they are there and I know what they do, but I wasn’t aware they required changing. However, having asked Andy about them, he assured me that we’d had a good run out of them over the past seven years, so it was probably about time they were changed. Sadly that’s about another £120 added to the bill!! Ah well, more dipping into pocket, I suppose.

 One of Justin’s engineers also suggested that the gearbox was playing up, especially when he reversed out of our spot then threw it into forward gear to slow down. I advised Justin that, when I took the boat across to fill up with diesel, I had no such problem. Not only that, I’d had no problems with it for seven months of cruising either, despite Lyndon warning me last year that it needed changing.

 This morning, for the second time since we arrived at this lovely little cottage, our wee pooch has an upset tummy. As you all know by now, there’s nothing we can do to alleviate the problem for her, but I do wish she wouldn’t keep scratching at the carpet! Eventually she’ll empty her tummy on said carpet, after which she’ll be running about like a spring lamb.

 Yesterday afternoon, at my good lady’s behest, I opened the laptop and looked for the website for New Mill. This is, apparently, a popular site for visitors, with many walks and attractions. Sadly, when I followed their address, as featured in the blurb in a huge leaflet we found in the cottage, I discovered that the site didn’t exist. But, after a frustrating few minutes, I phoned them instead, although the person I spoke to didn’t seem too put out by the information and, instead, gave me another address to go to. Assuming poochy is OK later, we’ll be heading for New Mill later today.

 6.30 am, Rusty has been out for the third time, I’m on my second cuppa, Wifey is on her first and it’s snowing. How heavily we’re likely to get it, goodness only knows, but if we’re confined to barracks, I suppose I could give the uke a hammering. One thing is for sure, Rusty won’t be wanting her breakfast this morning.

 Thursday 21^st March

 Yesterday was not a nice day weather-wise, plenty of snow and pretty cold. So, rather than take that intended trip to New Mills and risk tramping around in the snow and, since that knife sharpener has proved pretty useless on the only suitable for cutting bread, we did a bit more shopping at Morrison’s in Chapel en le Frith and paid the princely sum of £3.50 for a bread knife, which we will leave here, since we have more than enough knives already on Shiralee.

Phew! I don’t remember ever writing such a long sentence. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day at the cottage, with feet up, loads of cups of tea and plenty of reading.

 Today, provided the weather stays dry, we’ll make that trip to New Mills.

 Meanwhile, the bill has come in for the boat blacking and anodes. Thankfully the rudder only needed a tack weld to put it right, and that was done while the anodes were fitted, so no extra cost for that wee job.

 Friday 22^nd March

 Yesterday was about as much fun as walking across burning coals in your bare feet. Once again we drove around in circles looking for the so-called, Riverside Walk in New Mills. When we finally found it, it wasn’t worth the trouble. Just like Bugsworth Basin, there were not enough signposts. The ones we did see were on the wall right at the turning to the riverside. When we finally arrived, all we found was a muddy track running alongside the river.

 On the way back we decided to go down to Bugsworth Basin; we had spotted a sign on our way through to New Mills; so we followed the road down. When we finally arrived, what did we see? We saw a huge car park; it must have been over 100 yards long; and, right at the entrance was a huge sign telling us there was no right of way to the general public. Why? Because that car park belonged to the Navigation Inn.

 Opposite that car park was a road leading down to the basin, but we know from past visits, that there is no public car park at the end of it. Now, since we planned on wandering around the basin for an hour and didn’t want a a nasty note or clamps on the car, we came back to the cottage.

 Watching the 6 o/clock news yesterday evening, we were made aware that snow was on the way but, having decided that we didn’t really want to be cleaning our chimney in the dark, we decided to stay the night and return to Mercia this morning. Well, having taken a peek out of the window at 5.30 this morning, I can categorically state that we have had snow. How much snow I have yet to discover but, when Rusty decides to surface, I’m sure I’ll find out.

 Once the sun comes up – if it ever does today – and once the roads have been well travelled, and providing we don’t have to drive through a blizzard, we’ll be making our way back to Mercia this morning.

 Fortunately this short break in a farm cottage was simply to get away while the boat was being painted, so although we haven’t had much by way of good weather, the time has not been wasted. However, what with the lack of signposts and a blunt bread knife with no sharpener, the best I can say about this ‘holiday’ is that it’s been filled with frustration.

 Now, lest we get lost in a snowdrift later, I’ll post this now.

 Have a good weekend.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty