Boating today

But first stop the water point. The tank is full but we haven't been off the home mooring since 7 April. The boat is filthy and needed a good wash. Whatever the news on the "wettest drought in history", water shortages and hose pipe nabs, I have it on good authority, i.e I heard it on the towpath, that boat cleaning by hose pipe is exempt from any hose pipe ban because of the danger of spreading invasive species if boats are not washed regularly!

By lunchtime SONFLOWER was presentable and the crew set off down Banbury lock and on to Nell Bridge where they winded and moored four hours later.

An enjoyable afternoon. We are moored behind Moor2life and I met Ann and her rescue Parson Jack Russel (original long legged variety).

So once again we are boaters and not just boat owners!

Little Venice 2012

This shouldn't really be in the blog. But they are my rules so I can break them.

We did not take SONFLOWER to the IWA Canalway Cavacade at Little Venice this year. But we did go for the weekend and were given great hospitality on freinds' narrowboat in the 'pool'.

Coming back home has made me think what are festivals about.

This one makes bit if money for the Inland Waterways Association which is not a bad thing in itself and it provides a platform for showcasing all the good things about boating. I provides a place for canal groups, museums, businesses and societies to tell the public what they are about. For us too it allows us to show case our Cruising Club, The Boaters Christian Fellowship and tell people about its aims and objectives.

Many boaters give festivals a wide berth. They object to the extra traffic and perhaps queues at locks formed by boats trying to get there. This is understandable but from a participant's point of view festivals are more than a commercial or charity event. I thoroughly enjoyed the banter, good natured competition, chatter and friendship of the boaters who came together with one real aim: to have fun.

We all have fun on the waterways in different ways. For some there is also the serious business of making a living and of living aboard come rain or shine. But whatever the slant on boating a festival has something for you. The winner of the best boat in the pageant was a 15 foot dinghy with an outboard, the best boat in show was a traditional style narrowboat, the working boats showed off their boat handling skills and did what they do (served boats with coal, gas and pump outs). All in a charming way that represented 200years of history.

I enjoy the festivity of the festival!

Dragon Slayers Food

The grandchildren returned from their visit to Warwick Castle having made the 596 steps up to the ramparts and the Princess Tower and faced the fires of the Dragons and the Spells of the Witches of Warwick.

All in all they, and their parents, were tired out.

What better food than Granddad's "What's in the fridge Paella"

OK! I cheated by getting the mussels pre-cooked from Morrissons this morning.

I had thought that I had blogged about this in the past. However, I cannot find any record of it. If you want the recipe get in touch.

STOP!

We went for a very short cruise yesterday just to give two of our grandchildren a ride.

On entering to work up the lock my five year old grandson shouted from the bow of the boat "Stop the boat Grandad, there is a big wall in the way".

It was not a wall but the lock gate!

Today they are visiting Warwick Castle.

The boat will remain on home mooring as it is grey and rainy. Not exactly great boating weather for the Bank Holiday weekend. I have sympathy with boaters like our neighbours on the mooring who only have weekends like this. He told me this morning that his next oportunity will be May holiday weekend. Work makes ordinary weekends impossible. What a pity.

Shake Down completed

We have been to Nell Bridge winding Hole and back through Banbury to Cropredy Winding Hole and back to Tooley's Boatyard to complete the "shake down cruise".

The boat behaved beautifully as did the crew. A full crew for a change! For the cruise to Nell Bridge we were joined by a friend. At Nell Bridge is "The Pig Place". Here we purchased half a dozen huge free range eggs and a piece of their Gloster Old Spot pork. The last piece we had was excellent ao we look forward to a great dinner in the near future. Back to overnight in Banbury and thence northward.

The weather changed dramatically. As the sky darkened the rain started and it poured. We stopped for a time just above Slat Mill Lock. We had heard from the occupants of nb Pondlife that Bones was in Cropredy so I texted her to ask about moorings. We were pleased to meet up and fill a gap behind her on the moorings below the lock that was just a bit too small for a 57 foot boat. We moored there anyway with the aft a little too far away from the mooring ring so we had to improvise a little with the centre rope. Rather snug nestled up against nb Bones!

Getting to the mooring was eventfull. The winding hole/services at Cropredy was full with a moored hire boat. It was raining so the crew had taken shelter on the water point! Opposite them was nb Emma of Nelson Portsmouth who were proving that the navy can moor a boat anywhere. After the hire boat crew woke up and moved away we shunted fore and aft a few times and then winded, squeezing past Emma to get onto the water point. The skipper from the navy lark crew then popped up and said he would water after us. He hadn't noticed it was a water point and his canal guide had not marked it! I did not suggest that he opened his eyes and threw away the guide.

I ignored Bones' jibes that narrowboats are not supposed to go backwards and reversed through the bridge, past her boat to moor behind.

This morning we set off at 8am. We left Bones behind waiting for her crew and headed to Banbury. On the way we remoored nb Ragtime whose bow had come adrift allowing her to swing across the canal. No-one was home at the cottage.

Then to TOOLEY'S to have the sterngear checked. Matt found that the new bearing to stern gear joint was leaking so called John to tighten it up. It meant just another quarter turn for the gland assembly. Out came the 24 inch stilsons and a scaffold pole. "Are you squeemish?" John asked. We had also shaken the swan neck bearing securing crews loose and the air filter off the engine.

The boat trim was noticably better than it has been for two years.

Shake down cruise completed.

Where shall we go next? Maybe our home mooring!

And out again

SONFLOWER was reversed out of the dock this morning.

While floating we took the opportuntity of reclaiming some ballast that was removed a couple of years ago to correct the list to port that is evident at the moment.

I stowed some steel plate below the kitchen store cupboard floor, and railway rail sections behind the fridge and in one of the lockers to see whether this will do the job.

The lemonade bottle on the table seems to have a level surface now and bottles have stopped rolling down the table.

All on an even keel again.

In Dock

Yes, it is that time again.

SONFLOWER entered Tooley's dock on Saturday for biennial hull blacking and a roof repaint.

BUT: Tooley's have a "ten point inspection" plan. It ensures that a boat does not leave the dock with a potential reason for iminent return! This plan has brought up three things:

1. The propeller is flapping about as though it is in the wind. The stern gear bearing is worn (and probably the shaft) to the extent that there is about ten times as much clearance as there should be.

2. The rudder shaft is banging around like a loose spoon in a jamjar. The tiller bearing is knackered.

3. Two anodes on the swim have done their job (good news) but need relacing (additional work)

Basically, it is another proof of the acronym BOAT : Bung Over Another Thousand

What a waste!

We have a 70mm diameter waste in the sink. It has an integral overflow. The plastic screw that holds it all together was suffering from terminal fatigue and failed. This made the stuff in the undersink cupboard wet.

In order to replace the broken component viz a plastic screw which is no longer available (hopefuly because the designers of the things found that they degrade and embrittle in the arduous conditions of a sink waste) I had to buy two waste kits. One was a 70 mm waste and the other one an 80mm waste with overflow entry.

So does anybody want an 80mm waste kit without an overflow?

Watch out there's a Thief about!

Yes, another theft from SONFLOWER while on her mooring!

This time four 25kg bags of Purheat coal. Value to me: heat while cruising.

Value to anyone else: £40.00. It seems hardly worth the trouble of taking them off the roof, putting them on a barrow and transporting them away, unseen, to a place unknown. Perhaps they need to warm themselves up after a cold night's thieving.

I wouldn't deny anybody the warmth if they really needed it. But it is hardly ever the destitute who would take without asking. The poor usually have higher standards and wouldn't stoop so low.

Lock wheeling

This weekend nb VERITY visited Banbury with our friends aboard. Unfortunately, the skipper was suffering from a twisted back. These things slow one down at best but can make some things almost impossible. Pushing lock gates and winding paddle gear while controlling a very energetic young labrador are some of them. So I volunteered for a bit of lock wheeling.

I bussed to Cropredy on Saturday afternoon and accompanied them through the four locks to the town centre. Then, this morning I helped with working the lift bridge and lock combo up and down (Verity winded in between at Tramway) and then met them this afternoon to lockwheel the Claydon Flight. What a beautiful day for boating. Crisp and cool but sunny and almost windless.

Here they are on their way on the top level toward Napton and the North Oxford under perfect blue sky.

Oooh Expecting Company

The ice has gone. For how long we have no real idea but it means that boats are on the move again. (Not that it stopped a solo boater in a tiny fibre glass cruiser from nipping up and down without a care for his gel coat. He seemed to like to be boating at midnight as well! Or a local moorer crashing his way through the ice making a tremendous noise and crashing ice into all the moored boats as he passed them. For third of a mile they had to travel I dont think it was worth the effort and diesel.)

And we have just heard that friends will be making their way down from the Rugby to Banbury soon.

How exciting. We don't get too many visitors in the winter.

Cropredy Marinas Approved

Cherwell District Council has approved two marina schemes for the little picturesque village of Cropredy. This has been reported as having no harmful impact on the village. With no shops on site getting the supplies to the boats for their cruises could bring in 300 visiting Ocado refridgerated vans!

And what about the impact on the canal!

The marinas, one with 49 berths and one with 249 berths, bring 300 additional boats to the South Oxford Canal. Last summer saw water restrictions on the top level with locks at Claydon Flight and Marston Doles only open for 4 hours per day. Just filling these marinas will take the usable reserve of Clattercote reservoir! That's about 75 million litres which will drop the level in the reservoir by approximatey a metre. Surely CaRT will not want to allow too much water out at once to preserve the specimen fish in the prime angling water. Clattercote reservoir contains approximately 175 million litres at an average depth off 2.5m.

300 boats, each out once a month on a little cruise there and back, would deplete the canal by approximately 57,000,000 litres of water per month. Just do the maths. 1 lock full is 19000 litres at 2metre drop. There and back would take 2 lock fulls per boat (600).

Marina folk are not known for waiting for another boat to come the other way so as to share the water at a lock. Once out of the marina they are going somewhere and back again, usually on a schedule. From Cropredy, my guess would be Oxford and back in a week. (3 days there, a day in Oxford, 3 days back) And they won't want to be held up by slowing down for the poor folk who have linear towpath moorings. The pressure will be on for CaRT to remove these obstructions and force the likes of me into the marinas for twice the cost to pay for facilities we do not want to use.

Impact on the village may not be a consideration. Has anybody thought about the impact on the canal?

Where are the Craftsmen now?

Piglet's violin case needed sewing so I got out the sailmaker's needle and some fishing nylon and set about it. What I didn't have was a sailmaker's 'palmy'. This is a leather pad that sits in the palm to stop the needle pricking the palm when pushed through the canvas cloth. I improvised one with gaffer tape and a two pence piece. Unfortunately this was not quite good enough and after stabbing myself for the second time the 2p was replaced by a jam pot lid. It got the job done!

But it set me thinking. While sewing one has to do some thinking and my thoughts went back to Battersea Power Station in the sixties. I trained there. There was very little that we could not make on site. And the men were craftsmen of every different type. We even had a sail maker among the workforce. He was also a rigger and most of the time he would be re-roping cranes or lifting heavy weights with slings and shackles, pulleys and hoists. But when we needed a new canvas chute on the ash plant or a new flexible connection on a fan, Harry the Claw could be called on to do the business. Out would come his needles and palmy and he would sit on a stool in the corner of the workshop and sew as happy as the proverbial piggy wigggy. In this modern throw away society I wonder where men like Harry are today. DO we have anyone who can turn their hand to just about everything. He has been born into boats on the Thames barges and grew into the trade of his family. He was a waterman who had reluctantly come ashore as the barge trade declined. He brought the skills and the attitude of the water with him. If it could be done on a boat it could be done in the workshop of a power station. In fact there was very little that could not be done. Our welders were also blacksmiths and platers, Our fitters were turners and millers. Our machinist could help out with the carpentry and the carpenter would plaster and paint as well. Battersea was often criticised for 'restrictive' practices but when I was there, if the need was there and the plant demanded it a reasonable request was always met with enthusiasm. Men like Harry were proud of the skills they possessed and were pleased to show them off.

Can we make anything here nowadays?

Who left it up?

I went for a walk to Cropredy this afternoon. It was such a beautiful afternoon. The towpath on the S Oxford is not in very good condition with quite muddy bits and walking boots would appear essential as there are numerous holes and depressions to turn one's ankle.

At Slat Mill Lock I found a top paddle open. The bottom gate leaks and the Cropredy pound was already 6 ins lower than the spillway cill.
I closed it.
I met two pairs of walkers who were coming the other way from Cropredy toward Banbury. They had been on the good bit but the first couple asked of there were a better way back. I directed them over Bridge 156 to Slatt Mill Farm and told them to follow the farm lane to the road. The second couple asked about the time it would take to Banbury. About 1.5 hrs was what it had taken me to get there so I conveyed this information to them. I forgot to tell them there are no buses back again.

Here is a picture of Bridge 156 in glorious sunlight. Not bad for January.

I had also forgotten that there are no buses from Cropredy after 2pm. Fortunately I have friends there who gave me a cuppa and a lift back. Thank you, you know who you are.

New Year Cruising

What a winter. it may be too early to say so but the weather has been perfect for short cruises this year and we have managed to fit one in! Many people wonder what the attraction of going somewhere and back again is. To get out in the fresh air and sunshine is allways good. With a breeze in the air to stir the birds into flight and keep the clouds moving to ensure ever hanging skies is a delight. Water bubbling and gurgling around the rudder and prop to the steady throb of the deisel engine is music to my ears.
To make it very special is the first glass of beer of the New Year. Yes, honestly!

Here the crew are dutifully walking toward Grant's lock while SONFLOWER waits. In fact some nice boaters had left the lock to fill after their exit, which made things easier. Aren't boaters nice? We only went as far as the new winding hole near Twyford Mill where we turned. This is marked as only for 60ft boats only. Our 57ft is well within the limit but the proximity of a moored boat made the turn very tight.

The smell of potatoes baking in the oven wafting up from the cabin made the return very pleasant but we did need the fire alight to warm the crew after working the locks. Here we are returning to Grants lock.alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5697044247719542050" />


The lock had been filled while we turned by the crew of an inflatable dinghy out for an afternoon jolly who had worked up the lock. We never caught them up!

Here we leave Grant's lock behind.


The smell of pork roasting joined in with the potatoes as we went under the M40 motorway making my tummy rumble as juggernauts rumbled overhead.

We headed back toward town under blue skies. The familiar lift bridges are always welcome and comforting on the familiar approach to Banbury.

Just there and back again: 6 miles, 4 locks and 2 Lift Bridges in 4 hours.

The pork, potatoes and gravy did taste good!

Happy New Year

Ok, so it's late! I am sorry for that but it is sincere.

I haven't posted for a long while. The boat has not moved and nothing much has been happening. But we have been boating. Well two of SONFLOWER's crew have. We finished off the last year with a little exercise on the wide locks from Bascote Staircase to Fosse Locks. With the walk there and the walk back about a 5.5mile walk to move some of the blubber that one of the crew has built up over the Christmas period and to blow away the cobwebs and stiffness from sitting at a computer for the other. It all helped friends who need to move on. Sadly we are not available for Hatton http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifFlight on Bank Holiday Monday. Here they are cruising into the distance away from Fosse Bottom Lock.
More of our "lockwheeling" exploits here.

We set ourselves a challenge to count how many different species of bird we could see during the day without really trying.

Here they are: dunnock, robin, blue tit, coal tit, great tit, blackbird, mistle thrush, house sparrow, mallard, coot, moorhen, kestrel, buzzard, common gull, black headed gull, lesser black backed gull, fieldfare, redwing, wren, rook, crow, jay. We live in the midst of the wonderful diversity of a wonderful creation.

Even more frustration: The conclusion

We have a new water pump that seems to be working correctly now. It is a ShurFlo Junior with a shut off setting of 2bar. Hopefully all will be well for the full three years of the warranty.

We have received refunds for the mis-sold pressure switch assembly and the malfunctioning ShurFlo 3.0 pump.

Even better!

Glenmorangie Single Malt

A Winner

I had a terribly difficult hour on the phone to Lloyds TSB. All I wanted to do was report a lost chequebook. By the end of it I was frazzled and unrecognised by the automatic voice recognition system and the operator who asked for details of a payment into my account that morning and then could not understand that Electricité de France was EdF. Failing to provide an accurate amount of the cost of four theatre tickets purchased by debit card five days previously froze up the system for security reasons. Representation to a supervisor bore no fruit and they had the cheek to send me a request to appear before a bank employee in person with my passport in hand to prove who I was. After being a customer for 27 years!

The letter I sent them resulted in the bottle of whisky that arrived this morning. The card says "We want to say sorry".

Well, that's all right then.

Wintery Thoughts

I sent a day on the boat this week. I sat in front of a warming stove and read some of The Famished Road, Booker Prize winning fiction, (but found it hard going) as I waited for 'Dusty' our trusty coal diesel and gas boatman to arive. Having been just south of Banbury the evening before it didn't take him too long to work his way up to the moorings on the north side of town to fill my empty tank with diesel and put some coal aboard. I paid cash. 'Dusty' likes cash. (He says he takes cash or cheques and if either fail he introduces 'PayPal", a pick axe handle with the words 'Pay Pall!' inscribed on the blunt end.)

By lunch time all our business was complete and we had 'put the world to rights'. It was time for me to check the boat over and shut it up. The gas water heater is drained, the new water pump switched off and the the taps left open to reduce damage if the temperature gets to low this winter. Then empty the veg bin and the fridge and leave SONFLOWER on her own.

I left the novel on the boat.

The frost on the ground reminded me that it is indeed December and wintery now after the second warmest November in the last 100 years.

Just the winter engine service to complete and we are ready to roll for the New Year.