Shaking hands with the Famous

Just to say that I met Jim Shead today.

I noticed a gentleman with a very costly looking camera and asked him what he was doing. "Just taking photos of boats and locks" he said. "Do you publish?" I asked. "Yes, in articles in Waterways World and Canal Boat." he replied. "Who are you?" I asked. And he told me.

We conversed for a little while and he showed me his Canon digital camera with everything that the professional photographer could want by the look of it. "It gives me so much more time to compose the photograph", he informed me telling me about auto-exposure and auto focus and almost twelve mega pixels and lots of other stuff that my mobile phone doesn't have!

I enjoyed meeting you Jim. Keep snapping.

3 August 2008, Continuous Cruising: Stone to Milton

Well that is how it felt!

We slipped our mooring just before Meaford Bottom Lock on the Trent and Mersey at 0630h after being kept awake by a local celebration barbeque and fireworks show that commenced at 0030h.

The morning was glorious and the wild life seemed to respond. Kingfishers were darting to and fro from bridge 100 to 102 and buzzards and hawks wheeled overhead at intervals. We stopped for breakfast at Trentham lock and almost regretted it as a hire boater discovered that he was unable to steer in reverse. He missed our boat but seemed to think that he had hit it! Here are a few pictures of Sonflower at Trenham Lock.


Onward toward Etruria Junction. There were queues at every lock and the locks seemed to fill slowly. Having an average ten foot rise may have had something to do with it! We turned into the Caldon Canal and stopped for water.

Then we moored and headed for a pub, hoping to get some lunch. Neither the Bird in Hand or the Shoulder of Mutton served food. Both pubs looked as though they needed to do more than add a coat of paint to get them into the 21st century bit a coat of paint would help. Probably the mist complementary I could be is "dives". We returned tothe boat with an ice cream bought from a 24/7 store and decided to move on, hoping for dinner later.

Ascending the staircase locks 1 and 2 was interesting but uneventful. It is very nerve wracking sitting below a 20 foot high gate with water behind it.
All went well and the Best Mate found a couple of local ladies to chat to in the lockside.

Then on to the Caldon Canal with its low headroom bridges and amazing views. The whole scene seemed to change at Bridge 6 when a panoramic vista across the valley opens up in front of one. The canal is under a restoration and improvement programme and much of the towpath is being improved. Here is a length before Ivy House Lift Bridge.

Having safely bridge we cruised on. Just before Milton I spotted a grass snake swimming in the cut. We started to think of an overnight mooring and just the spot presented itself at The Foxley Inn, advertising overnight mooring, restaurant, children welcome. Except that they do not do food, children are not welcome in the bar and the mooring is a little too shallow for us to moor alongside the bank. We moored anyway and asked where we could eat. We were directed to a new pub called The Horn and Trumpet. A ten minute walk but we enjoyed the meal. We returned to the Foxeley for Karaoke night and Feyernoord v Celtic on the TV! The Best Mate sang, the Lock Labourer watched to fill a void in his routine. I just had a couple of pints.

We now need to stay overnight because we have an empty gas bottle and near the pub is a caravan centre that can fill that need.

1st, 2nd August 2008 Hopwas to Stone

We continue to travel north up the Coventry Canal away from the big cities and into the beautiful countryside. Traveling as we are in sunshine most of the time, we can appreciate how green and pleasant our land is. At times we are passing woodland that gives some shade, at others the harvest is beginning to be brought in as tractor and trailer follow the combine through yellow fields.

We observe numerous different species of tree and so many different flowers. I cannot dentify most of the and don't really have the inclination to do the necessary research. There are some lovely pinkish spikey flowers that attract many many butterles. We have seen many different birds including one exotically coloured green and yellow small parrot that had evidently escaped its owners.

In Handsacre we crossed a previous cruising companion in nb Legend. We shared locks for about four days on our way back up the Grand Union from London and our children have kept in touch. They have just been on the Llangollen. Maybe our paths will cross again soon.

Once Armitage and Rugely are left behind the industrial landscape becomes beautifully rural.

We have also seen other friends. We stopped at "The Taft" between bridge 69 and 70 for tea and a slice of birthday cake. Thank you! Now, in Stone, we have moored behind nb Covenant Connection who we met last year during our cruise. We have also been leapfrogging a Canal Time boat with first time hirers who have had to wind in Stone to return to their hire base. We have passed a few very pleasant chats along the way. They have enjoyed the experience and hoped to see us again.

After passing Great Haywood Junction (post a letter; changover day for "Ownerships") and the slow section past Shugborough Hall,(preparing for a Concert and Fireworks extravaganza: we were offered tickets for 60 quid each) we re-entered the countryside and moored for the night just past bridge 80 at Weston upon Trent.

Today we carried on up the Trent and Mersey. Stone was a lovely place to stop in. We needed to get provisions and found the Farmers Market a wonderful place to browse and buy. We arrived in Stone just before twelve and so were in town for lunch. We chose La Favorita in the High street for a two course set lunch @ 8.50GBP per head. We couldn't eat it all. The most deliciously prepared fresh ingredients and herbs were used in the cooking. We had to ask for the pizza to be wrapped to take home! One customer, however, did bot appereciate the fresh herbs, He thought he could detect mint instead of basil although the chef assured him that he didn't even buy mint! I thought that the chef didn't need to take that sort of grief. The food was lovely. I told him so. The service was excellent too!


After lunch however, we had to return to the boat. I had to spend some time in the engine hole tightening the generator drive belt to maintain battery charge. Then we worked up the locks to moor a little way out of town. We hope that it is quieter.

Gone Fishing

There are various takes on this subject that are relevant to the current cruise.

As we left our mooring one morning we saw the German crew of an Anglo Welsh hire boat fishing around the back of their boat with a boat hook. I asked "Have you lost something important?" "The bar that hold down the weed hatch" came the reply. Yes that is rather important. I reversed and came alongside, disappeared to the cupboard that holds everything and re-appeared with the sea searcher magnet. "This will pull up a motor bike" I said. He pointed the boathook at the place where he had located the strongback, I dropped int eh magnet and- hey presto! another weed hatch sinking was averted.

The second bit of fishing came just after we had moored for a morning and the Best Mate had taken the opportunity to do a bit of washing. We left the boat for a few minutes and when we returned I noticed that Pooh's Real Madrid football shirt, recently acquired in Spain was not hanging to dry on the swan hatch doors where I had left it. My turn with the boat hook. A gust of wind had whipoped it into the canal hanger and all. Fortunately it was recovered intact and just needed re-washing.

Of course, I have been trying to catch some of the real fish with rod and line. Not so successful though. Only two good fish (roach) caught.

Hello, Hello, What's this then?

The day before yesterday we passed a tree stump or log of that ilk on which was growing a most luxurious plant with light green colour that was very distinctive and shone in the sunlight. It had long serrated leaves and was a fairly bushy plant. We were amazed at its capacity to grow in such an unusual place.

Today I saw a similar looking plant growing in the cratch of a moored boat.


The boat had no license, no visible name but was identifiable by number. The amount of vegetation growing on it was amazing. I suppose it was what Grannny Buttons would call a hippy hutch.



Can anyone identify these lovely pretty plants to confirm my suspicions? [Now authoritatively identified as cannabis among the tomatoes, ED]

A Fun Day Out, Wednesday 30th July, Curdworth to Hopwas

Here is the crew enjoying themselves at a FUn Day Out at Drayton Manor Park.

This theme park has become a regular stopping off point as it is so conveniently located on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.

We have fun, get wet, eat spicy fried chicken and then get back on the boat. It is not cheap, but everyone enjoys the day.

Today was no exception. Since our last visit a lot of 'new' rides have been built. Most are more of the same but differently themed on Thomas the Tank Engine and the island of Sodor. Even to the extent of having a water tank labeled "Sodor Water"!
More meaningful that BWs temporary label "Bridge 55a" on the M42 Bridge across the Coventry Canal. Everyone can see and hear it is a motorway bridge! And it is almost OVER bridge 56!

This evening we cruised a little further toward our northern target. This time we have moored with our cruiser stern deck overlapping the marker for someone's "55ft Private Approved Mooring" "BW Approved" for boat 78267. This boat is not here and I have paced out 17 meters of vacant canal bank to ensure that they cannot grumble. Looks like another case of a NIMFY. It is between Ball's Bridge and Dixon's Bridge, Hopwas.

We'll be gone before they are up to walk the dog.

29th July, Atherstone to Curdmoor

This morning everyone was on great spirits. All the boaters we met coming up the remainder of the Atherstone flight were chirpy too. The weather was cooler but still warm enough. Showers were int he air.

We cruised on until about 12 noon and then moored for a salad and salami lunch during a heavy downpour. A spot of fishing after lunch brought a very small perch. The first catch of the cruise.

Another dry boating session took us to Glascote locks where we met a stream of Canaltime boats all returning to base. These locks really empty quickly bit filling is interminable.

The turn into the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal at Fazeley Junction is very tight but was negotiated adequately enough. We hailed our friends David (nb Kew), Alan and Hazel (nb Dilly Dally)who had moored for tea. We carried on past to turn at Curdmoor Winding Hole and moor near the conveyor bridge.

Eeyore and Piglet went for a walk under blackening skies after the spaghetti bolognese dinner had been cleared away. We saw loads of black slugs that had been drawn out by the showery weather but had a good time in a hide overlooking the nature reserve at Kingsbury Water Park. Lots of mallard ducks, tufted duck, great crested grebe, pochard, a goldeneye and a garganey. Cormorants were roosting on trees and we spotted one tern on an island occupied by Canada Geese. In 1999 we had passed here and there were loads of nesting terns. We wondered why they were not nesting in abundance this year. The only downside was that one of Piglet's telescope tripod legs broke. Getting to the hide was interesting too. We had to wade through a foot of water to the steps up to the door.

Nick's Canal Planner assures us that we can relax tomorrow without cruising and still make our next target of Handsacre, on the T & M past Fradley, by Thursday afternoon.

The starter did not present any problem today.

Pots of great cooking

The Best Mate wants everybody to know how thrilled she is with Sonflower's new cookware. These pots were found in the Katherine House Hospice Charity shop, one of the best in Banbury. They were cheap.


But what is special about them is that they are all the same diameter so they all fit on the hob. They are enamelware do they can be used on the stove. They are green and match the boat. Being the same size means one can interchange the lids, saving time scrabbling about under the sink for the one you need.

27th and 28th July 2008 Hillmorton to Atherstone

What a lot has happened. We have bought new fenders from a boater at Newbold. Don't they look smart?
We have watched with wonder at the maneuvers of some boaters in the mad heat. We have eaten well aboard and ashore ("The Rose and Castle", Ansty) and been harangued by residents of the same village. How did we upset them? It's a long story.

Piglet left his hat in the aforesaid hostelry do I stopped and held SONFLOWER on the centre rope while he ran back to get it. My engine, a 1962 BMC 1500cc, smokes on tickover so I turned it off while we waited. Whn Piglet returned the engine didn't start! I knew the symptoms. Having been a Morris Minor owner it was characteristic of a starter motor Bendix gear stuck in the starter ring. I jumped off the boat to secure the boat on pins. The clash of hammer on pins brought out the local neighbour hood watch who shouted at us that mooring was forbidden here. There were signs from BW saying that it was strictly forbidden! The Best Mate fired back that we had broken down and I asked the lady to ring BW to get them to send out a mechanic.

I disappeared down the engine hole with the club hammer and administered a few appropriate whacks to the starter. A dog walking neighbour of the watchperson came by to explain that there was no mooring all along this stretch. I could see why. The canal is on an embankment and the upstairs windows of The Grove, Ansty might be peered into by boaters! No that wasn't the case she assured us. It was because of the sandstone!

The engine fired and we were on our way far from the NIMFYs.(Not In My Front Yard)

So today the first stop after another hammer swinging start was at a boatyard for the essential pumpout and to consult a diesel mechanic. The former was successfully completed by Measham Boats at their Boot yard in Nuneaton. The latter was less successful as Oily Andrew couldn't diagnose the fault as the starter motor was now behaving itself. He gave us his card. Told us to call if we were stuck. He would need the starter for two days at least for reconditioning as they are not readily available anymore. Not what I wanted to hear two days into the Summer Cruise!

We carried on toward Atherstone and worked down the first five locks before stopping for shopping. We chose the Co-op rather than Aldi because it was nearer! The pub opposite lock 5 looks inviting. Pooh pointed out that it is open all day every day.

We saw Granny Buttons today. I cannot tell you where for security reasons. Unfortunately, there was no-one aboard. Eeyore would have liked to meet and have a chat with Andrew. Maybe another time.

A thundery shower stopped the expetition to the pub. We feasted on stir fried chicken and noodles, prepared by the Best Mate, instead. Very nice too. After a game of Cocoa Cocoa (Eeyore v Piglet) and Uno (Best Mate v Pooh) it was bed time. The youngsters both won.

Two little jobs.

There is always something to do. During the lunch break today I fixed a bracket for the air horn. I have meant to do it for ages. For five years the air horn has been rolling around the deck and not exactly where it is needed, within reach of the helmsman. Now it is!

Also, the adjustable windlass -a real asset on locks like Hilmorton with heavy top paddles and hydraulic gate paddles close to the balance beam on the bottom gate- has needed new rivets that act as stops.
These drilling jobs were completed with a hand drill and a pop riveter and became the cause of a blister on my thumb.

Here are the items and proof of the damage.


All go aaahh, please.

Toward Rugby, Saturday 26th July 2008

This morning we rose late for us. Another strange event was the rejection of an offer of breakfast at The GONGOOZLER'S REST in Braunston for a breakfast of toast and cereal on the boat. Really all we wanted to do was to do some boating.

By the time we got to Braunston Turn the hire boats were out! A Viking afloat saw me late coming round the turn and went into reverse thus blocking the canal I was turning into! Then another kind boater gave way to me at some moored boats and attempted to indicate my coming to the boat behind.The communication failed as he thought the first boat was mooring and started to pass it almost coming prow to prow with SONFLOWER. At the very next bridge however a lad of about ten handled his Rose narrowboat with aplomb to pass us under the bridge.

It must have been the heat. We stopped for lunch. It could only be salad as the temperature soared and the day turned into a scorcher.

Mid afternoon we set off again. We needed the breeze to cool us off. Even at two miles an hour the moving air is a blessing. However, everybody else seemed to be on the move. First Saturday of the holidays and all the boats were on their way. We met many at bridge holes. Two at bridges narrowed by bouys to prevent further damage where boats had tried to demolish them. We joined a long procession along Barby Straight and headed for Hilmorton locks. Here we made a boaters day by letting them go first. They had to be in Tamworth in the morning. Good luck.

We stopped for the night at Clifton upon Dunsmoor next to a golf course. We ate dinner but the fish didn't want to join in. The boys played games and UNO and went to bed at nine. The traffic didn't stop. There were boats still coming by us in the dark after ten o'clock.

Cruising in Earnest, Friday 25th July

It was Pooh who wanted to get going. Was this a new sense of adventure. We were sitting at the top of a flight of locks and he wanted to help work them. How could we refuse. We didn't expect to move on Friday evening after a long day to-ing and fro-ing to load all we needed on to the boat. But we thought we might as well get a few locks under our belt.


The crew were most enthusiastic and we worked down the whole Napton flight and found ourselves cruising into the most delightful sunset. On the way down we touched base with the miracle of life as we watched a new born buffalo calf, still wet and sticky with a dangling cord, totter around its mother who licked it attentively.


We didn't join the throng who were celebrating the last night of their holiday at The Folly Pie pub but decided to cruise a little further to moor for the night on piling just past Wygram's Turn (Napton Junction)

Here it is!

Yes! A bollard. But not just any old bollard. This is one of the new one's fitted on the ladder side of every narrow lock.

At the Customer Meeting with Robin Evans, the subject was one of the first raised. How can so much be said about a smallish piece of foundry ware? The shape is wrong, the positions are wrong, they are too far back or too near the end. All sorts of opinions were shared. And BW cannot make it mandatory to use them.

Yesterday, at Claydon Middle lock a single handed boater was working up the flight and I noticed he had secured his rope around the ladder! It will take will take two hundred years to change the habit of 200 years!

Robin Evan roadshow

I have just come back from the Customer Meeting at Hatton on the GU (Birmingham and Warwick Canal).

I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted with the offer of a coffee and bacon bap, an offer that could not be refused.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find that the CEO and Directors present were genuinely trying to listen to the views of the very varied 'customer' base. Representatives of boaters, restoration groups, local community groups , angling federations and many more were all given the time and opportunity to make their points.

I find it very hard to juggle three balls. I came away with the impression that BW are onto a loser with somebody somewhere whatever decision they make or policy they try to implement. However, the objectives were clear. To maintain the waterways as a national asset; to encourage their use by all sectors of the community; to provide minimum service standards to all customers.

I sincerely wish them well in their endeavours. They are the organisation on which we all depend for the future of our waterways and the continuation of boating as the pleasure we love.

More fantastic food

This is becoming a foodie blog instead of a boater blog!

Don't worry, we are provisioning and preparing the boat for our Summer Cruise which starts next Saturday.

In the meantime.....

. . . we have been to the English Heritage Festival of History. Driving there was almost a canal tour in itself, via Wilton Locks, Watford (locks), a stone's throw from Foxton to Kelmarsh Hall in Leicestershire where the event happened. We overnight stopped in Market Harborough (on the GU(Leicester Line))

The weekend was great. Reconstructions of every period in British History from the Romans to D-day. Gladiators, jousting, Civil War battles and a dogfight between Spitfire and ME109s. Not all about warfare either with people modelling the settlements of the time and even cooking the menus of the periods.

Here is a poached pheasant and rabbit stew off the Duke of Goucester's estate in about 1480! Don't tell his Grace!

More Culinary Delight

Look what the Best Mate served up!



Can you get better than that for a Saturday night. The Best Mate needed to use up some fresh anchovy fillets (bought from Tesco, reduced, "eat on Day of Purchase"!) so what better way than on a home baked pizza. There was enough dough left over to do a round of garlic bread as well!

Washed down with a Fleurie (also reduced in Tesco) we had a wonderful dinner.

Eat your heart out Domino!

Here we go again?

It is raining. It hasn't stopped all day and we are watching the level in the canal rising. There is a steady flow toward the lock and over the top of the gates at the moment and everyone is wondering whether the weather will turn out to be like July last year when we were very nearly out of the cut and many premises locally were feet under water.

The forecast is for showers tomorrow, more rain on Friday and then more again Sunday.

At least there will be a day in between the downpours when the Cherwell might take a bit of the flow away.

Whether the weather be wet,
Or whether the weather be hot,
we'll weather the weather
whatever the weather.
Whether we like it or not

All down to the weather?

Do you remember my post about the state of the towpaths?

Well I felt that as it hasn't improved over the past two weeks or so, I would drop British Waterways a line. I received this reply:

"VEGETATION MANAGEMENT ON THE OXFORD CANAL



Thank you for taking time to inform British Waterways of the overgrown vegetation at Spiceball Park and north of here. We are aware of the situation on the towpath with overgrown vegetation(exacerbated by the warm and wet conditions) and apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused you or family.

We are working closely with our new contractor Fountains to clear the vegetation as quickly as possible and are asking people to bear with us during this period. Additional staff have been allocated to deal with the backlog of work and British Waterways and Fountains are confident that once this has been dealt with the overall standard of vegetation management will exceed that of the previous contract.



Despite the extra staff resource we anticipate it will be at least 3 – 4 weeks before we see significant improvements between Banbury and Cropredy. We have put together a detailed recovery plan to manage the backlog and clear the towpaths of vegetation. Fountains have provided additional teams to focus on strimming the towpaths to get the grass down to a level where the core team can then establish the defined standard as detailed in the contract and another team to target mooring sites, locksides and selected destinations. If you would like to know when specific areas of towpath are to be cut back I would be happy to have Lee King, British Waterways Contracts Manager talk directly with you.

Once again thank you for bringing this to our attention and please accept our sincere apologies.



If you have any questions or require further information please give me a call on 01908 302552."

Maybe, some of you who cannot see the towpath from the canal or the canal from the towpath might like to give this number a call!

Lovely healthy food

With all the recent talk by the PM about wasted food I find myself back in the club today for lunch with my friends who are just back from the Pontcysyllte and Llangollen.


Yesterday, I was beaten by the chips so today I thought I would go healthy. What could be better than this for a fiver?

A very short cruise

More visitors today. Maggie and Grant came up from Teddington. They have lived close to the Thames for half a century and never been on a narrowboat so we started the engine and Grant steered us into town for a lunch at the Club. The rain only held off for a short time so we abandoned the cruise and she is still moored in the Town Centre. We will water and turn her tomorrow.

We had a good time, over lunch for five for very little, recollecting stories about times past before they had to face the M40 to return to the south from whence came more foul weather!

Hippypapybthuthbthudabthudy

As I mentioned we were without the boat this weekend. The temporary crew of Keith, Jo, baby Emily, Derek and Lesley have written the following in SONFLOWER'S LOG:

"We have comandeered SONFLOWER for Derek's birthday weekend -what a treat. After Keith's training afternoon we felt well equipped for the job and set off on a sunny Saturday morning stocked up with food, wine and beer.

We had a great sandwich in The Red Lion in Cropredy and then hopped back on board and carried on to Fenny Compton where we arrived at about 6 o'clock. We moored up near The Wharf pub but decided to stay aboard rather than venture out as the rain had started to descend on us.

Once Emily was tucked up and out of the way, we had a lovely birthday meal and put the world to rights over a couple of glasses of wine! We all slept like logs (even Emily who almost did a full night!) and awoke to horrendous rain. That didn't deter the men who cagouled up and set off. We stopped just short of Cropredy to have a quick bite to eat and finish up all the food before heading back to Banbury.

All in all, a fantastic weekend away which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We felt relaxed and refreshed afterwards.

Thank You so much for trusting us with your lovely boat."


No problem. It gave us great pleasure to be able to serve you in this way. Sorry we couldn't fix the weather!

Hobby Horses and the Town Mayor's Show

As we have no boat and cannot be boating this weekend while Sonflower is away, we occupied our time by manning a stall for a local charity, Let's Play Project of which the Best Mate is a Trustee, at the Banbury Hobby Horse Festival and Town Mayor's Sunday.

All the local dignitaries were there and we enjoyed a great break in the weather. From 1pm to 5 pm there was no rain. The rest of the country may have been suffering showers and the men's final at Wimbledon was interrupted but the Mayor's Show went on.

I won't bore you with a repeat of the history of the mayoralty in Banbury (400 years and all that) but it was good fun. Hobby horse racing, a parade, sideshows and a general feeling of enjoyment.

Not a very lucrative event. After expenses and a lot of hard work the charity only made about a hundred pounds but it raises awareness and in that way encourages the charity workers. They support children and young people with learning disabilities to join in with the sort of activities their peers are doing out of school by providing one to one help. The young people go bowling, dancing, to discos, drama, outings to theme parks and all sorts of other things. Well worth while work. Young people don't always want their parents in attendance and these carers are brilliant with the children.

It was good to shake hands with the Mayoress, Leader of the District Council, and local MP while in the arena the Sealed Knot society re-enacted the siege of Banbury during the civil war. Sad we haven't got a castle for them to fire their noisy cannons at!

Excellent Marks

I am lending SONFLOWER to friends for the weekend. In order to be sure that he could handle the boat, I took him for a similar tour of the locality that I had introduced my nephew to last year. It covers all the fundamentals of handling a narrowboat on the narrow Canals. Bridge narrows, meeting other craft, a tight bend (with inline moorings) a boatyard, a lift bridge, a lock and turning at a hidden winding hole.

My friend did excellently so I had no hesitation in issuing a Certificate of Competence.

He and I have confidence to enjoy the weekend. He in charge of my largish asset and me knowing he will take best care of her (the boat, silly).

After the "course", he informed me that his wife had been brought up on a boat and his guest passenger for the weekend had been a boat builder in Oxford for about 20years!

Why did I bother!

Where have all the BW men gone?

Apparently, according to gossip heard on the towpath today, they are all digging three holes on the off side of every narrow lock in the country to install three cast iron bollards that we haven't needed for 200 years and will not be any use in the future! Apparently the crew seen is a specialist one with a brand new workboat and an electric cement mixer.

My informant described Aynho weir lock, which is possibly one lock that (maybe) could do with bollards as it is wider than the average and a coffin shape. The bollards are on a side of the lock that is inaccessible if you have the bottom gate open, as you can't cross the top gate! So how do you untie your boat to leave!

We have been thinking about this. One wouldn't tie your boat up if it was going down because the boat will hang on the ropes. And you wouldn't tie your boat up if you were going up because the ropes would slacken off and allow the boat to move. So when would these bollards EVER get used?

What a load of BOLLARDS!

Eventful Day

Yes!! It is finished. The last two LED bulbs were installed in the navigation lights and I have LEDs throughout the boat. I had to replace the starboard nav' light first though because I knocked the last one off in the Harecastle Tunnel! Don't remind me that we don't really need them anyway.

After that the clearup! Tools from front to back and so after collecting the screwdrivers, saws, drills and bits together and then stowing them in the cupboard that has everything I could ever need to fix anything that ever gets broken and a spare of most things just in case, I managed to collect the rest into a bin for disposal.

We now have six fluorescent fittings and four 12v 'reading' lights (10w automotive bulb) surplus to requirements.

Anyway, a trip to the rubbish was planned when the Best Mate said, "How about lunch in the club?" The tiller was in my hand toute suite and we were off the mooring almost forgetting that we had another crew member with us 'cos he's not at college as he has broken up for the summer. The Best Mate called him and we were ready.

Lunch was great and we swapped great weather stories and the joys of the Euro2008 tournament with the locals before planning the afternoon. I would go to the water point and the Best Mate would buy me a new mop and broom at Woolworths and we would wash the boat, lock down, turn, deposit our rubbish, lock up and wash the other side of the boat.

The tools appeared but the Best Mate needed a rest and Pooh, Our Bear of Little Brain, wanted to play football so I was left to do the lift bridge single handed (but a boat was coming the other way so I snuck in in front of it with thanks and a cheery wave to the skipper who gave way to me) and then moored on the water point. Washing a boat is an interminable job. While I was doing the job I spoke to the skipper of "Tinkerbell" who confessed to being a reader of this blog. How encouraging to know that I have one! I lent him my hose to fill his drinking water bottle and top up his tank. I left the polishing for another day.

I filled the lock and then the crew of nb"Rye" appeared. I could have missed this boat as she was heading for the lock and I started to fill it but the crew assured me that, although she was only 25feet long (The smallest conventional narrowboat I have seen), they were out of sight when I had looked. I was assured that they had enough room for the two of them and their alsation! They offered to wait for me to turn but the arithmetic 25 +57 into a lock didn't go so they carried on. Nice thought though!

Just under Tramway Bridge I watched and stopped the boat to allow an angler to land his perch. He bemoaned the crayfish but hadn't yet caught a zander. After turning I returned to the facilities point to moor behind a Napton Boat with a most helpful crew. The lady opened the rubbish enclosure for me and then they opened the gates and assisted me through the lock saying they might need a favour some day. Aren't people kind?

Back at the water point I met Raymond of "Summer Wine" and his good lady. They were filling every container they had with them. "Where is the boat?" I asked. "In Braunston", they replied but the water there is contaminated with a parasite. Some people have already got it in their water tanks!" They were filling everything they could with our Oxfordshire Thames (Cherwell) Water as their Anglian Water was contaminated with cryptosporidium. I had heard of the crisis and, in fact, only just missed being affected as we had a lovely weekend away in Northants, but didn't realise the effect it would have on boaters. Fancy driving forty miles for fresh water!

Then a phone call from the Best Mate. I had run out of time to get Pooh to his football practice! Oops. She suggested that there would need to be a bit of bridge re-building. One cannot hurry things on the canal. I had not stopped all day. The Cabin Boy (Piglet) joined me to finish washing the other side of the boat. We stepped back to admire the view and then set off once more for our mooring. Quite an eventful day.

Anpther day, another ...

Another Day but no money at the end of it. Today was Saturday and I spent it continuing to battle against the heat and my own mistakes fitting the LED lighting. Most of today was spent on my back working at just more than arm's length away from the wiring, fittings or cable that I was trying to fix. I was attempting to fit downlighters under the top berths in the bunk room to light the Lower berths.

And by four o'clock today we had light right through the boat!

Well almost! I ran out of cable and cable clips so the wiring for the second lower berth will need to be done later.

Altogether though a good weeks work and rewarded by the Best Mate telling me that there was a beer waiting in the fridge! And how I needed that. She told me I had earned it.

While I was toiling inside this afternoon, the Cabin Boy and Best Mate were cutting their way through the jungle that is beside our mooring and revealing that there is grass under the nettles and cow parsley. Four hours hard work later and we could see one of the signs that demarcate the mooring: 65 feet the other way though the sign is still in the undergrowth.

BW are supposed to maintain the mooring. That is the only thing they should be doing for us for the £1300 a year fee. Not this year! No sign of any grass cutting gangs at all.

We went for fish and chips after all the hard graft and spent this evening lolled in front of a dvd.

Life in a sweatbox!

It is sunny out there. Unfortunatly I am not seeing much of it at the moment. I am working inside the boat, up near the ceiling fitting LED lighting. Having made the decision to use LEDs as a measure to reduce the need to recharge the batteries and to allow more lights to be used at the same time, I now have to fit them!

Richard, from Bedazzled, explained to me why we need to fit a suppressor and thermal fuse to the supply circuit of the downlighters we have already installed rather than just replace the bulb with an LED assembly. The problem is where to fit it and, of course, the supply wiring is behind wood panelling up in the roof. So I am getting hot and sweaty.

I have made excellent progress today. I probably have another day's work ahead of me but I think it will be worth it. I am replacing all the fluorescent fittings with double cabinet lights and so far it looks good. The bunk reading lights with 12v tungsten bulbs are all going to be replaced with downlighters as well.

Then we will be ready to cruise and expect to light the boat like Blackpool illuminations on the amps of one 15W fluorescent.

Away from it all

Believe it or not I'm watching tele.

Not bad for someone who doesn't have tele on the boat or anywhere else for that matter. But this weekend is Birthday Weekend and myself and the First(Best) Mate are away from it all on a weekend away.

Having carefully selected a 4-star county hotel that the internet told me has fishing lakes, I arrived to the word from the receptionist "We have lakes but definitely NO fishing". Three golf courses but no-one can hold a rod and line near the water! I discussed this with the leisure manager this morning. The general opinion is that it is something to do with "health and safety". An angler is apparently a sitting target for golfers who have lost their sense of direction or have little or no basic club swinging competence.

So I went to the canal and fished there! At 4am this morning there were no boats moving. There again there were no golfers moving on the golf course either. But I was healthy and safe.

Success? One largish roach- a lively fish. One small zander (10-12") which wriggled off the hook as it came out of the water before I could kill it! The Lure Angling Society reports over 900 of these were electrofished in 2007 with weights up to 10lb. It is not too good news that these voracious predators have survived.

The Best is Cheap enough

I am just resting after a wonderful lunch.

Devilled herring roes on toast with fennel and parmesan salad.

Don't we eat well!

What is amazing though is that this meal for two cost under two pounds! The herring roes (milts) were £1.19, half a fennel bulb costs about 50p and the toast was two crusts of a stale white loaf that were going to be used as fish bait! Add in the few flakes of parmesan and two mushrooms for the salad, the butter to cook it in, a tablespoon of flour and a teaspoon of paprika/chilli powder and we just about top the two pound mark.

It made me think though about all the people who fill their shopping carts in Tesco with stuff that they haven't prepared, filled with ingredients that they haven't chosen and other stuff they haven't a clue about and spend twice to three times what we do on it.

No wonder people can't make ends meet and are suffering from ill health and obesity.

But we eat well enough! Thistles are even cheaper! You don't see many of them though because they are swamped by the 5ft high nettles and six foot high cow parsley!

Walk it off!

"The canals are generally seen as a relaxing place to be, and a week’s boating holiday an ideal opportunity to chill out and leave the cares of the world behind you. However, what few people realise is that boating can boost your fitness levels, develop your arm muscles (lockwinding) and tone your legs (walking to the next lock)." Waterscape.com

However, how do you get that exercise when the towpath looks like this?

I have heard that BW have a policy to "rurally manage" some stretches of the towpath but this in is in Banbury Mooring Zone. It is also on the waymarked Banbury Fringe Circular Walk. Believe it or not there is a canal next to this path- it is on the left.

I wanted to go for a walk to exercise my replacement knee but at this point the towpath was impassable to me. The nettles are about 5 feet high and the cow parsley reaches up a good two feet taller.

"Rurally managed". Rarely managed I would say.

I spoke to the local BW patroling officer the other day. He was fed up with getting soaked by the excessive vegetation and he's paid for walking the towpaths.

Keeping afloat

I promised you all the details of what it takes to keep the boat afloat.

This morning I determined to fix a navigation light that I had knocked off in a tunnel. As I am determined to refit the lighting on SONFLOWER with LED lamps to save precious amps I thought I would look at tying them in to the tunnel light circuit as I never use the nav lamps without it.

A quick look at the wiring loom and I discovered a loose (actually disconnected) wire. The tunnel light circuit was in need of repair. A few moments later I was about to start on the navigation lights when I thought about locating the spare. I could not find it in my cupboard where I keep everything! I thought it was at the back of the boat before we had the back of the boat refitted so I wondered where we had put it while we had the back refitted and then thought it might be under the back steps so I felt under there and........water. Cold, wet, water.

This could only mean one thing. I went under the bathroom sink and took out all the shelves and cabinet that are in front of the bilge pump to discover that the bilge pump area was reasonably dry. Lifting the float switch turned the pump on. My intitial fears of pump failure were unfounded.

Nevertheless we had water in the bilge on the starboard side and the list on the boat meant that the bilge pump on the port side in the bathroom wouldn't help me.

The next hour was spent bailing out the bilge with a dust pan which I emptied into a waste bin which I emptied over the side.

We have had a loose connection on the sink waste in the galley so I imagine that this was the source of the water. Time will tell.

We are still afloat.

Doesn't it look nice?

I thought I would let you see the third new Generator that now adorns the rear deck of SONFLOWER.

It is petrol driven so I can't locate it inside the boat. There isn't any room in the engine hole so it has to stand proudly as "deck equipment".

Is there a better way to secure it or is this adequate?

Any suggestions?

Bad Manners

I don't like to moan. No really.

But sometimes one gets that "Victor Meldrew Moment"

We had a wonderful cruise yesterday. We took additional crew with us a little way up the canal and they had a lovely time. ("The best Sunday afternoon ever") It wasn't spoiled by coming bow to bow with a Napton boat whose forward lookout was playing the ukelele rather than looking out. We all started as hirers and there was no physical contact. It's all in the boating experience. I just sang about the captain who played as his boat sank!

When we got to Cropredy there was a hold up. One of the local long term moorers could not get his boat out of the winding hole because a Calcutt Boat was moored opposite it! They had 'popped to the shop'. We couldn't turn because the winding hole was choked. Impass. Eventually the hirers who remained with the boat were persuaded to rope the boat back toward the bridge to allow normal proceedings to resume.

We met the crew of this boat again on the way back to Banbury after our meal. We met them as we came out of Little Boughton Lock because they were moored on the lock mooring! There are three bollards at this lock but with two of them occupied and the towpaths overgrown to a height of seven feet with nettles and cow parsley there was little option bit to try to pull up behind them to get my crew back on board. I didn't mean to but I nudged them a bit as I pulled away again.

I met them again this morning. I was assisting Jack on Iron Maiden who was single handing through lift bridge and lock. He was waiting for the boat blow the lock to enter and work up. This boat however, was waiting to get on the facilities mooring below the lock to empty the cassette toilet, dispose of rubbish and take on water. Who was on the mooring? You've guessed it, the Calcutt crew most of whom had just "nipped off for a bit of shopping". After I approached the
man left with the boat who was on the phone to the rest of the crew, he agreed to move over to the other side of the canal thus reliving the blockage from the lock entrance, and a taxi arrived at the Mill car park with the rest of the crew.

Surely it is not too much to ask people to have a little respect for etiq1uette on the canal?

How can one have such bad manners?

"I don't believe it!"

Almost there

The upholsterer delivered the seat cushions for our new seating/occasional berth this evening. These had been delayed because they were working overtime to complete a boat that was to be exhibited at Crick Show.

They told us a sorry tale of woe about the show that was a literal wash out because of the weather. The work to complete on time was wasted by two terrible days after a promising start on the Saturday when large crowds were turning up.

(Tomorrow we will be sitting on the cushions and I hope that we can add a photo to this post.)


As promised: pictures of the newly furnished saloon with table and bookcase.

No image of the "tv" cabinet for the tv we do not have is available yet.

You have already seen the doors.


Do you want to know who did the work for us? Follow the link. . . . . here

Upholstery is by Dragonfly of Stockton Top Marina.

Just because we can

Yesterday the full crew went to Cropredy and back.  6 miles, 6 locks in 4 hours.

Just because we could.

The weather was overcast but it didn't spoil the excitement of boating on the meandering South Oxford with its remote locks and rape filled fields. The meadows were plush with buttercups and clover. I have never seen clover so high in flower as this year. 

The towpaths are brim full of cow parsley and flowering nettles. The canal banks are also showing a lovely display of Water irises and reed mace.

On our way we spotted larks and  kestrels hovering in their differing ways, one distracting from the nest and the other quartering for voles or mice. Cattle ambled across the fields, their only aim being to find a suitable place to sit and chew the cud. We met a friend walking the towpath who asked whether we had seen a pair of cormorant. We had seen herons and geese and a family of swans with nine cygnets, the occasional mallard and moor-hen but no cormorants. He assured us they were nearby. The fish were jumping and he told a tale of "the worlds biggest carp" that had jumped in front of him. Maybe a bit of an exaggeration?

There was so little traffic on the canal for a Saturday afternoon. We didn't meet another boat on the way there if a canoeist can be disregarded as a boat. We only met one at Little Boughton lock on the way back but were followed by another with a norwegian crew.  

Flat Water Junkies

Sonflower's Crew are away visiting our son and daughter-in-law and grandson in Cardiff for a few days.

The weather is predictably Welsh so what do we do? We take a boat trip around the bay! At least this boat has a covered seating area.

There are lots of big expensive motor boats and sailing yachts in the two large marinas that we saw. My son says that Penarth, on the 'other side of the water' has two classes of people: the "haves" and the "have yachts".


These are pictures to prove that we were on the water!

The cormorants, coots and swans (one black one if you look closely) seemed happy enough. I wondered how the tens of thousands of waders feel who were evicted so that the city of Cardiff can have a large lake.

Twenty Questions

Granny Buttons is recording all the bloggers who are doing the "Twenty Questions Game" and listing the Twenty Answerers

I thought I would join in so here goes. . .. .


1. My favorite canal is the South Oxford. I never get bored with the rural meandering and marvel at the surveying that enabled James Brindley to build it. It is also home!

2. The least favorite canal is the Birmingham and Worcester north of Kings Norton Junction.

3. The Best Mate

4. The last book I read was "The Pheasants Revolt" by Brian Viner. Very funny stories of life in the country. The last waterway book was "Ramlin Rose" by Sheila Stewart, a heart rending composite life story of the wife of a "Number One".

5. Just after dawn. Bird song, mist and the anticipation of the sunrise.

6. People who rush to make the bridge hole when it is obvious you were closer to it! It would be better if we both stopped to give way.

7. During the Industrial Revolution when engineers seem to have respect and trust to achieve phenominal things.

8. I have never fallen in. I have got my leg wet but not yet become totally detached from the boat.

9. An aircraft engine designer.

10. If I didn't have narrowboating I'd ......be stressed out and working 12 hours a day!

11. Narrowboaters are a friendly group of people who respect their environment and community.

12. A game with the children and a bottle of wine with Best Mate.

13. The waterways need looking after as part of the national heritage.

14. Can you get a moorings policy based on boater's needs, please?

15. Windows, new double glazed ones please!

16. Pumpout.

17. Canals: rivers scare me. Having been cast adrift on the Wey, the gentlest of rivers, by exuberant youths I dread the prospect of waking up across a weir.

18. As my birthday is mid summer, I will be cruising somewhere.

19. Seven wonderful children, five of which have chosen wonderful partners.

20. 20-20 foresight. SO many people have 20-20 hindsight.

Bank Holiday Boating

What an 'orrible day!

But...... having complained in the past about BW and others overstaying on popular moorings we had to move today from the 48 hour moorings and return to our home mooring.

The wind was playing havoc with boats in the narrows of the town centre and things blew off the roof of the boat and into the canal.The moorer opposite had lost the coolie hat from the chimney and we have a chimney lid that is probably now in the cut. C'est la vie. As we talked I noticed that a footrest that I had reclaimed from the canal two years ago was again floating down the waterway, too far away to retrieve with a boat hook.

I pointed it out to the other boater. He recognised our boat name and introduced himself as our new next door neighbour. He was the other lucky winner in the recent auction of two moorings at our mooring site.

We had to move and so returned to the mooring about an hour after he arrived there.

The weather was awful. Everyone agreed but there were a lot of empty spaces. We were all out somewhere. Our other neighbour was bemoaning the fact that his plans to grind out rust on his roof had been scuppered. A chat with our new neighbour revealed that all was not rosy on his boat either as he had discovered an elusive plumbing leak by finding water in the bilges and an empty water tank (not the best way to discover it but at least he knew of it before it sank the boat!)

As we all passed the time chatting about our problems in the rain, two other boats returned from their Bank Holiday cruises. 50th birthday celebrations were spoiled by a gig that was cancelled and the rain that dampened the cruise home.

Why don't the Government instigate a variable Bank Holiday that moves to a time when the weather is good. Any party that promised that would surely get elected.

Connected!

I told you that I had bought a new dongle. Now I am sitting in my lavishly furnished saloon with my laptop atop my lap and posting.

Isn't that great.

The cruising season has started in earnest. We have our boat back from the mini refit, We are not on our home mooring. We have two lads asleep, tired out in their bunks and the Best Mate is yawning in her bed. We are boating!

And, I have mobile broadband on hand to keep me company. I hope that it keeps going.

A happy summer is ahead.

It's Moved!

As I sat in the club eating my ham egg and chips today, I noticed the hopper and tug, that I pictured in my moaning post yesterday, passing the window.

I have no idea whether it was because of my post and e-mail to BW but they are gone now and another space is available in the town centre. Normality is now restored.

What all the fuss is about

Here they are.

Aren't they good. Beautiful rear doors in iroko, hand made to fit SONFLOWER complete with new door frame. All is oiled and I just love to touch them.

There is nothing so lovely as natural wood.

Pass the teak oil somebody.

A Popular Place

Banbury is a popular place and today I had arrived back in town to have lunch with friends at GF club.

Normally, I would have stopped on my mooring and walked into town but today there was considerable congestion at Hardwick Lock that delayed us sufficiently to merit taking the boat on. We also needed those requisites of life that are provided by the local boatyard; a pump out, gas and diesel. They were shut for lunch when we arrived so we progressed under Tom Rolt bridge to discover that the town visitor moorings were full.

I did not intend to lock down and moor below the lock. We would then have to turn at Bankside and return and lock up again to return to the boatyard. We would miss our lunch date too.

The crew of Sylph saw my predicament. He said he would check with the captain but thought they were leaving in 5 minutes. I backed up, hovered and waited for them to go. They were true to their word and we moored beneath Tom Rolt bridge and went for lunch.

What really got me though was the reason the moorings were congested. You can see from the photo that British Waterways have taken no notice of what I wrote in this blog in July last year. Now however they have not just moored the workboat but a 70foot hopper as well!

I suppose they think they own the waterway. In essence we tax paying, license paying, mooring fee paying, boaters do along with the rest of the nation.

Come on BW. Moor these large floating objects where we leisure boaters do not want to moor.

Thank you Nick

I had a limited time today. I needed to move the boat between boys to school time and the time that the Best Mate could pick me up somewhere near the canal. She had an appointment today at 3.30pm so I had to be around at school out time.

That's where Nick came in. His canal planner allows you to change the speed at which you cruise. Being 'single handed' today I changed the time taken for doing the locks and then adjusted my speed until I knew I had time to get from our overnight mooring at Napton Lock 13 to The Wharf at Fenny Compton between 0930 (drop off time) and 13.30 (Pick up time). Nick's plan gave 3hrs and 57 minutes at 2.5mph.

I don't usually travel 'single handed' so this is how it went. I cast off at 9.32am and cruised to the first lock to find it full. A bad start but as I opened the top gate to leave another boat arrived and offered to close it for me. At the next lock I opened one of the two bottom gates and pushed the other one open with the bow (sorry BW). This time, as I was opening the top gate I left it to swing while I lowered the paddle. Mistake. The next lock started to be emptied and the wash of water in the pound promptly closed it again for me with a bang (Sorry BW). I had to re-open the paddle and then, knowing that another boat was on its way down I was in a quandary as to whether to close the gate or leave it open. I left it open and then, before I had left the lock lay-by had a pang of conscience and looked back. The boat behind who, had closed the gate for me at the last lock, were now in sight and the crew was disembarking. I stopped and returned to close the gate, turned and saw the bow of other boat coming round the bend past a moored boat. So I stopped closing it. By this time the crew was ready to let the water out by opening the bottom paddle. I shouted "STOP!" and opened the gate again to let the thankful descending boat enter.

It 's not easy being single handed!

As I approached the top lock I could see daylight between the gates so gingerly eased Sonflower's bow toward the bottom gates to prise them open. As I did so, I saw another boat come to the top gate. The crew member holding it on a rope moved toward the paddle to fill teh lock. I sounded the horn and hoped, as the gates started to open, that he had understood. Sonflower slipped in and I ascended the steps to take my place on the gates. "Good morning", I said, "Would you mind closing the other gate for me?" "delighted, he said, "G'day to ya". The crew of Alouisius had out in her for five weeks. "Do you know where we can get diesel?" I told him of all the marinas that now adorn the area below Napton Locks.

From there on it is all on the summit level. The passage was uneventful until I came up behind three gents on Union Canal Carriers' Wenlock, They seemed to me to be dawdling so after a little while they invited me to pass. I don't do that very often and I am not sure whether I want to do it again. As I passed the boats seemed to get locked together, I had to navigate round a bend across their bows and they didn't give way so hit me broadside! no damage done but quite scary.

The next boat I came up behind was Florence Edith from Kate Boats. This time I didn't ask to pass. They didn't wave me on, but I thanked them for giving way when they next went aground. The young man in the front well deck resignedly elevated himself from his seat and reached for the pole giving credence to the hypothesis that this was not the first time that it had happened.

Then I received a text from the Best Mate. Time was no longer of the essence. She was bringing my mother for a trip out and lunch at The Wharf.

I arrived at The Wharf at 1302, well ahead of Nick Atty's prediction. As I moored the Florence Edith arrived and scaped down my side as they headed for a mooring space ahead of me about half a mile long. "Take care of Cheryl and Nick's boat", I said "They are nice people" as he hit the piled bank at 30 degrees. "I was trying to miss you" he said.

The three men in a boat arrived about 15 minutes later and we were all in the pub together by 1330.

I needn't have bothered to rush!

Anyway, thank you Nick for your wonderful site.

On the move again

Here, with a delighted grin, is the Cabin Boy who is really glad to be winding paddles and opening gates as we make our way up the Napton flight on our way to our home mooring.

I picked him up from school this afternoon with the news that the planned haircut was cancelled and we were going to retrieve SONFLOWER from the boatyard. As we arrived at the marina the last few screws were being tightened and the work was complete. What a difference a few changes make. The rear doors, in their teak oiled irinoco nudity, look stunning. The rear entrance doesn't look like we are passing through a boarded up mine and the front saloon is now neatly fitted with a beautiful dinnette/sofa/berth.

A new bookcase will tidy away our cruising guides and the TV cabinet for the TV we do not have or want will look great with a few candles or flowers adorning it.

But best of all. We were on the boat again and moving! Just me and the cabin boy, as football practice was the order of the day for the older lad, but we loved it. As did the boaters coming the other way who chuckled at the puppet show through the swan hatch. That's what he does best.- make us smile.

We get the CALL.

Yes! We had a telephone call on Friday from the boatyard. "SONFLOWER's minor refit is sorted and the invoice is ready." They will e-mail it to us. Some minor problems were noted during the engine service but the Mechanic will call later to talk about them. Nothing serious though.

"Great!" I said, "I really am missing the boat, I'll pick her up in the morning and let you have a cheque".

"Oh, no.... there are still a few things to finish off"

"Oh, not tomorrow then? How about Monday?"

"No, the carpenter wants to finish on Monday"

"Tuesday then"

"That will be fine," the boatyard confirmed, "the mechanic will call you later to have a chat about what he's found."

"See you Tuesday then, bye."

The two days work, identified ten days ago is now almost complete! Only another day to go.

The invoice only details two days work though, so I can't complain.


The Mechanic did call later: the morse controller is held together with wire. "Did I know? The unit is the best type ever made but isn't available any more." If I want it fixed it will mean total replacement. "How long has it been like that?" Could have been years.

No I don't want it fixed! If the wire breaks I will get a stronger bit of wire. It could last more years.

And, the bilge pump isn't working from the switch on the control pillar. I know that, because the switch on the control pillar is for the navigation lights. And they are not working. I know that! "We can tell you who can do re-wiring....." I know that too!

Three Mobile Broadband

No not an advert. I don't know whether it is any good yet but I have subscribed to 3 mobile broadband.Hopefully it will help keep up to date with the blogging.

I have checked their network map and find that the coverage has improved no end since my last sortie into the north Midlands and the Shropshire Union. No 3G coverage in Froghall yet though! The main problem could be getting a signal inside the steel tube that is a narrowboat. The modem states quite clearly that it is not waterproof so dangling it outside a window on the end of a USB cable doesn't seem an option.

I'll giveit a go and see whether I can keep a reasonable log of travels etc through the summer. That is when we get the boat out of the boatyard!

All in good time

It was April 13th when we left SONFLOWER in the boatyard for "10 days work". Obviously, that was a canal 10 days.

We are NOT complaining. We want the work to be done well and as we want it. That takes time. We don't expect to be charged while the varnish is drying or the doors are cramped and the glue is setting. So we expect the work to take considerably longer than "10 days".

It all got me to thinking, however, about our modern lifestyle off the canals. We get upset when our telephone calls are not answered immediately; we expect the Tesco checkout girls to be faster than the ones in Aldi; we expect what we ordered on the internet today to be delivered tomorrow. But life shouldn't really be like that.

"What is this life if full of care, we don't have time to stand and stare?" W H Davies wrote. It's not wasting time; we must make waiting time.

What life on the canals does is slow all of life down to an acceptable pace. Having to walk to the shops gives one a chance to appreciate the place we walk through. Stopping at locks gives a chance to pass the time of day with like minded strangers going the other way. Walking a towpath and listening to the birds or watching a carp laze under a bank or a vole scurry up it all bring an excitement that is missed by the rush of the other world away from it.

I do wish the work were finished. But we can wait........all in good time.

Aint Arf 'Ot Ma

It is May! We have got so used to the cold and damp, the cool and misty, and the warm and windy this year that we have forgotten that May is the month when we "cast a clout"! The weather has been wonderfully hot and dry for teh last few days; in the UK anyway.

On Thursday I went for a bit of a walk. When on the move, we are always looking for short circular walks so that we can exercise the children without tiring ourselves out. A walk to a pub is often not quite far enough to give us the exercise needed but this little walk nearby can be just that is you wanted.

On the South Oxford Canal between Slat Mill Lock No 20 and Little Boughton Lock No 21 are two bridges in the 'middle of nowhere'. Bridge No 157 and Bridge 158. If one moors somewhere between them then a short circular walk is possible along farm tracks, across the railway by unmanned, uncontrolled crossings (PLEASE STOP LOOK AND LISTEN!) up into Little Boughton. Up Chapel Lane will take you to the Plough Inn. After suitable refreshment return down the lane to the bottom and cross by Bridge 158 to return to the boat.


View Larger Map

A distance of about 2 miles. I enjoyed it immensely. At this time of year the rape is high and in bloom and the butterflies are everywhere. There are carpets of buttercups and vetches in flower and the odd orchid amongst the grass in the shade of the hedgerows. Apart from this the songbirds provide a constant musical accompaniment.

On my walk I met one couple walking the tow-path and chatted to the crew of a Napton Hire Boat who were basking in the scorching sun. "It usually rains when we book a boat" he said. "This has been a really nice week"

My replaced half knee survived without any complaint too!

Celebration Ale

Having said that you may be fed up with Hook Norton Ales I have just poured myself one. Thus is a bit special being The Banbury 400 ale. I introduced it to friends from the BCF recently in the course of a little talk bout Banbury's history. Banbarians find many things to celebrate and this year is the 400th anniversary of a Charter by King James in 1608 that gave Banbury the priviledge of punishing drunkards. So what better to celebrate it with than an Ale! But only one or two please, landlord.

This celebration Ale is available from the cask in the Reindeer Inn, Parsons Street or in bottles from Simply Drinks, in High Street near the Banbury Cross.

Off the road

We had a very nice lunch in The Plough Inn, Little Boughton the other day. Real Ale, reasonable prices and comfortable village pub surroundings including landlady who was willing to chat and a log fire when the weather is cool.

The landlord is the chef and his immaculate kitchen can be admired throughthe open door from behind the bar.

One can pay by Credit Card but there is none of this new fangled radio wireless nonesense here; you have to go to the bar where they will stretch the wire as far as they can to get you to enter the PIN number. Cash appears to be acceptable though to complete the old fashioned feel.

I noticed a board outside indicating that it was accessible from Boughton Bridge No 158 (South Oxford Canal). It may be worth a visit if you are fed up with Hook Norton Hooky Bitter and the prices at the Red Lion and Brazenoze in Cropredy but it will be a bit of a walk. From the bridge follow the path toward the railway. Cross this and walk through field and the farmyard and onto Chapel Lane up to the pub which is on the main Southam road. It is a country half mile.

Very Trad but Bedazzling

Calvert came to town today and the Best Mate spotted her outside the club. We went to visit Terry and Maureen to welcome them to Banbury with traditional gifts of cake and ale. They showed us around their recently acquired and lovingly updated boat.

I have never been in a more traditional boat. From the immaculate Russell Newberry in its hingin 'ole, complete with pijin box and cross bed that folds out of the bed 'ole, to the fold down desk, food cupboard and even a ticket drawer. Margaret is crosherin 'er own lacey daceys and all through the boat are lovely hornamentals.

But the boat is also extremely modern and Terry showed me his modified light fitting with bang oop to date LED bulbs. These were supplied by Bedazzled and I can't wait to see them at Crick. They seem the solution to anyone who has lights as the main drain on the batteries, after starting the hingin that is.

By the way, spelling in this post is inspired by "Ramlin Rose", Sheila Stewart's fantastic book about traditional life on the cut

Crossroads of Britain

We have just had a wonderful time here in Banbury. We hosted a day out for the Boaters Christian Fellowship South Eastern Region. We had a very good day with excellent weather.

So many boaters come to Banbury and moor at Castle Quay or other town centre mooring and visit one of the many eating places in the town, do some shopping in the many national chain shops or sample some of the local ale and then move on. Not many, it seemed to me, appreciate the history of the town, steeped as it is in heritage. It has changed daily over the two thousand years of its history and the settlement of people in the iron age at what was the crossroads of Britain.

Many would put other places as the 'the middle of England'. Being as far from the sea as you can get is claimed by several villages around. Not many of them have developed like Banbury has. In 2001 it was the fastest growing conurbation in the country reputedly creating more jobs than there were applicants to fill them. Now, we have a new population joining in from all over Europe, the middle East and Asia.

We walked around the town and saw the remnants of the architecture of times past. Demolition of the old and its replacement by the new has been the way for Banbury since the seventeenth century when the castle was demolished to provide stone for re-building a war ravaged town. The St Mary's church half fell down and was half blown up in 1797 to be replaced by the present building and another fine church was demolished as late as the 1960s. The town to the south of the bridge was flattened about the same time and new apartments have risen from the rubble. Town centre churches have become shops and schools have become Estate Agencies and offices. The present Town Hall replaced another close to "Old Town Hall Wharf which is now a residential development squeezed between printing words and a car wash.

We all now appreciate the canalside developments with the dichotemy of eighteenth century Tooley's Boatyard and Dry Dock over shadowed by the 21st century Museum Bridge.

The 48 iron mongers referred to in Tom Rolt's "Narrowboat" have all gone now; the 28 inns, some referenced in Sheila Stewarts "Ramlin Rose", are under pressure; the five breweries that were the second largest employer in 1900 have all gone; there are none of the eight wharf businesses and three basins; no timber yards or saw mills, no textile or woollen mills;no malthouses; the corn mill is an Arts Centre and there is only one of the three huge foundries left. It all adds up to a huge amount of change.

Banbury is more than the destination of a nursery rhyme horse woman. It is more than a view of the cross and a visit to McDonalds. When you come to this crossroads of Britain, stay a while and appreciate a town changed by the coming of the canal, deeply affected by the demise of freight traffic on it but responding to the new challenge of the slow leisure traffic on the canal and the rush of life fuelled by the M40.

New Style of Hotel

We have just left the boat at Kate Boats for a bit of re-fitting. We took a while to get her there and have used this week without her to visit family in Kent, staying at the Maidstone Hilton.

I got to thinking about the hotel boats that we past moored just by Chambers Bridge No 100 doing a last minute clean up before starting the summer season.

But Granny Buttons has got in there first! The boats are Lady Selena and Lady Margaret of Ladyline Hotel Boats. I spoke to the owners and they look lovely, the boats I mean as well as the owners. Both boats are powered because it gives better flexibility and speed at locks. Also the resale value of a butty is very little apparently and the Hotel Boat trade is rather precarious. Awayforawhile has had difficulties recently to say the least. They had a pair of their boats (Rose and Castle??)up for sale for quite a while.

Ladyline do run as a pair though, the following boat depending on the view of the first at Wygrams Turn and inaudibly sounding her horn! No harm done as we cruise at under 2mph!

I do wish them all the best with their enterprise. Believe it or not, I like to see people making a go of a business on the canals