Chilling and walking

We are still moored at Nether Heyford and are enjoying bouts of winter sun . Carolyn has booked in to get her hair done tomorrow at 09.30 in the village so after that we will pull pins and continue our journey down the Grand union canal.

 Our time here has been taken up by chilling out, walking, walking and more walking and a bit more chilling. But with views like this it is well worth it.

                Just around the corner from our mooring we came across this part of the canal frozen over.

                                                                               Carolyn still searching out my final resting place .

                                       This weather vane on Nether heyford church is one of the best we have seen.

                                                  There is a very good one stop shop and Post office in the village.

                                   Also there is a hairdresser's butcher's and baker's. But no candlestick maker.

 When we were down in Devon we bought a new chainsaw. And what a difference to the old one. It cuts through the wood like it was going through butter.

 Being one for gadgets I picked up this Stihl moisture meter to go with the Stihl saw. All wood that you burn needs to be less than 20% moisture content to avoid filling your chimney with tar and creating vast amounts of smoke. The tar also runs down the outside of the boat and looks horrible. At 25% this log will have to season for a bit longer.

It was good to get a mention and a link to our blog in November's TOWPATH TALK the newspaper for waterways users. It relates to the fitting of our solar panels. (Fame at last).

The panels as you would expect are not putting a lot in to the batteries at this time of year. Although when we get full sun we are seeing 8 amps and in cloud at most just 1 or 2 amps, but every little helps.

                                          Happy Days

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Nether Heyford

Friday started with a heavy frost and a visit from Wilson's the makers of our rear pram cover . They fitted the zip ends and also fitted the tube covers so after 3 months the cover is now complete. We then pulled pins at 10.45 and made our way down the Buckby flight of locks.

This is one of the heaviest gates on the flight and what a struggle it was. If only I could have jumped off to help !. And look at those lazy little dogs.

When we got down to the bottom of the flight Carolyn spotted this chap. And no we are not having one, it will not fit on the boat roof Carolyn.

 

                                                                  That's one way to mount the engine. Directly onto the tiller.

 

                                                               Whilton bottom lock over flowing. Carolyn off to investigate.

                           Are you still awake Nicholas ?  

On route to the Chandlers we came across this tanker taking out the elsan holding tank.. That brings back some old memories.

On Friday afternoon we visited the Chandlers, the Farm shop and for some reason we had to go to the garden centre, Just to look around apparently although we did end up buying a couple of sets of battery operated Christmas lights. (Who said I was worse than Scrooge)

We spent the night at Whilton then pulled pins at 10.15 on Saturday morning. The temperature was just nudging 3 deg but the sun was out which made it feel a lot warmer. We stopped off in Weedon bec to pick up a few supplies and then another couple of stops to pick up wood we found on the towpath.

We eventually arrived at our present mooring which is just outside of Nether Heyford. Not long after mooring we had a visit from Ryan on the coal boat. We bought 5 more bags of coal a gas canister, diesel and toilet blue. They give cold weather coming next week but we should be OK.......Fingers crossed.

                                            Happy Days

Norton Junction

We are still moored at Norton junction. We were going to move today but we have an appointment with Wilson covers on Friday morning. Wilson's are the company that fitted our rear pram cover . We first contacted them in August and they came to measure up on the 3rd of September. The cover was then fitted on the 4th October but during this time we had 2 appointments cancelled after we had got to a good mooring for ease of access for them . Some parts were missing when it was fitted on the 4th of October but they promised to come back the following week and fit the parts. We paid them the full amount which was over £1100 and waited for them to arrange a visit. After a couple of weeks of hearing nothing we contacted them and they promised to get back to us which they didn't . Another phone call this week and they promised us it would be Friday.
 So that will be several phone calls, 2 cancelled appointments and 4 visits. And from our initial call to Wilson's it will be nearly 3 months. We can not fault the cover or workmanship in any way , but the service has not been the best and I think we would certainly think twice before using them again.......End of rant.

                                                         Our 48 hour mooring for a few couple of days at Norton junction.

 Looking back to the Junction. This end just next to the lock started to freeze on Tuesday night when the temperature dropped to minus 2 .

        We have had a couple of days of very good weather and we have been out walking and making the most of it. The sun has been putting between 5 and 7 amps into the battery bank when it has been direct onto the panels so that free electric is most welcome.

On Wednesday it rained for most of the day but that gave us the chance to catch up on some maintenance. We have now changed the gearbox oil as the engine has now done over 750 hours. We bought a small hand pump to suck the oil out of the filler bung and this made the job a lot easier and saved a mess in the bilge. The oil came out looking very black so it certainly needed doing. We will see if it makes the gearbox any better when we next move. I have also tidied up the roof as it was looking so untidy. Now the cycles have gone back to Devon for their winter visit it now looks a lot better on top.

Now fingers crossed that Wilsons turn up in the morning. We will then move down through the Buckby flight of locks and moor at Whilton. Carolyn wants to visit the farm shop and I could do with a couple of bits from the chandlers (Strange how I can't pass a chandlers without going in even if I don't want anything). We may spend the night at Whilton depending on what time of day it is. The only problem with Whilton is that you have the M1 Motorway 100 meters away on one side and the High speed trains 100 meters on the other side. But then after a few glasses of wine the noise tends to stop.

                                      Happy Days

On the cut

Crick marina is a very good marina and after talking to many of the residents there they certainly recommended living there. We had a couple of days on Inca in the marina and could see the benefits especially the electric , water and all the other amenities. The other thing they all said was that it would not be very good without a car and that is one thing we definitely do not want. We would also get a bit of cabin fever if we stayed in one place to long.

We left the mooring at the marina at 09.00 just as it started to mizzle (mist and drizzle). We started off by getting Inca wedged between the boat next to us and the bank behind us but after getting off and pulling like mad we eventually got unstuck. Then we had a quick look around to make sure nobody had seen what a mess we had made of getting off the mooring. Luckily I don't think anyone saw us.

After Crick tunnel its not long until you get to Watford locks. This is where there is a kind volunteer lock keeper to help you down the flight of locks.

                                             Carolyn setting the top lock while the lockie sets the staircase locks.

On the staircase locks there are different coloured paddles. The paddles must be operated in the correct order and there is a saying so that you don't forget ... Red before white and you will be alright...............and................White before red and you will be dead.
All was going fine and Carolyn was having a good old chat with the lockie as we descended the flight. He had a pair of Westie dogs like us . Then at the third staircase lock down someone lost concentration and started to do white before red!!!!..............well luckily we are not dead.

                                                                       This coal boat is the only boat we passed all day.

                                                                                                   Not many leaves left to fall.

              We saw this dog just before Norton junction he was having a good swim in the canal.

When we arrived at Norton junction there were plenty of moorings on the Leicester arm but the towpath was a bit muddy so while Carolyn held Inca I walked around the corner to see if there was any available moorings on the junction where there is a good towpath/road. There were plenty of moorings available so Carolyn decided to steer Inca around the corner and onto the mooring, and what a good job she did ..                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

Today we cruised for three and a half hours and now have a good mooring with good TV reception and 9 mb/s of internet. The weather tomorrow is going to be fine and sunny but cold, then on Wednesday there are high winds and heavy rain forecast .                                                                

 

We don't have any plans set In stone for the rest of the winter . The only plan we have is to cruise  down to Milton Keynes and then as far as Leighton Buzzard then decide from there what to do next .                                                                                                                                                                                             .                                                                      

 

Happy Days                                                            

Back to Inca

On Saturday we made our way back to Crick marina to pick up Inca. After Chloe's trip to New York she was so tired and swollen that she couldn't drive us back. Carolyn's brother Michael and sister in law Lorraine kindly offered to drive us back up. We set off at 09.00 and got back at 15.00 after finding the M42 closed and going miles out of our way.
When we got to the marina we were joined by one of Michael and Lorraine's son's Matthew and his girlfriend Valentina and their friend Nicola who is a singer. They were on their way down to London to perform on tonight's X-Factor. Matt and Valentina are both very good dancers and in January they are off performing on a world cruise ......Lucky them.

                                                Left to right.....Michael, Valentina, Nicola, Matt, Lorraine and Carolyn.

We had a chat and a cup off tea and before long it was time to say good-bye. Thank you very very much for dropping us back we really appreciate you doing it.

On Sunday we had a very busy day. It seemed like we had been away for months not just a week. In the afternoon we had a walk around the marina. There are several hundred boats moored here with most of them paying well over £2000 a year. A right little gold mine me thinks.

                                                                              Another good boat name........That's us.

We leave the marina first thing on Monday morning . They give the weather getting very cold so tomorrow we will head down the Watford flight of locks and head for Norton junction. It should take us about 3 hours. Then see what the weather is like for the rest of the week before deciding what to do next.

 

Happy Days