Unusual

The sweetshop is not unusual. Traders of this commodity often stop in Banbury to sell their wares. This one though is interesting. The zebra acetate graphics add an interesting touch but the most unusual thing is the roof.

It is covered with 'turf'. Why turf? To feed the zebra!

Of course it is not real turf. But it is, in itself, a bit special because it is genuinely part of the Olympic Hill from the opening ceremony of London 2012! One of the perks of being there and helping out as a volunteer, I understand.

Boring Routine!

With a title like that I expect most of my readers have gone to the next blog!

For those of you who read everything, we have just executed the "water run" again, exactly ten days after the last. The only difference was that it took longer this time. I departed home mooring at 0730 turned at Bankside (Tramway) winding hole to mor and take on water at 0830 but this time we could not have breakfast while filling. We had NO BACON!

With water tank replenished we moved north to Samuelson Bridge and moored so that I could get bacon at nearby Morrisons. Rindless Wiltshire Cured Smoked Back was on offer at two packets for £4 so that fitted the bill. I do miss the crispy rind having no rind does mean that the bacon stays flatter under the grill.

After the true English breakfast we went back to do battle with the rush hour in Banbury Town centre. As we approached the lock which was set in our favour the Best Mate abandoned ship to go to the gym. Through the lock and without incident to the Lift Bridge. Us going north and three boats coming south, just as Tooley's staff manoevered a boat out of their dock, made the trip through the museum bridge very interesting. NB (Napton Boat)Louise discovered that narrowboats do not steer in reverse and vered toward the boat in the dock. A crew member jumped to Castle Quay with a rope to retrain it. We waited alomgside double moored boats outside Tooleys forthem to sort themselves out. We then weaved our way through the melee. The crew of a moored boat said they enjoyed watching the fun. "No boats were harmed during the performance", I commented, "thanks to the RYA boat handling training available at Tooley's boat yard!".

Thence to Sovereign Wharf for the pump out. The management was on the phone when we arrived. The chat here today was about the monopoly position of Calor in the Boating and Leisure Gas supply business. Good for share holders but not good for us according to the oracle. Centralisation means delivery to Banbury comes from Hinkley and delivery times vary from three to five days. In order to ensure supply to the customer this means small orders frequently made and hours on the telephone. Not like the old days when the local depot was Oxford! High Prices and poor service!

Then back to home mooring: turning and mooring pointing south ready for the next boring "water run" in ten days time. We moored at 1145h. 2 miles, 2 Locks, 2 Lift Bridges in 4.1/4 hours.

New Refrigerator

Here it is. After a considerable wait we have installed a new refigerator. I know the web site said this was not suitable for narrowboats but it looks ok to me and fits exactly where the old one stood. Dimensions are identical but this one has 10 litres more capacity because it isn't designed to fit over a wheel arch!

It makes ice too!

Oxford Canal Beauty

,,,

We found this beautiful large moth in our bedroom this morning.

It is about two inches wingspan and the red underwing, which gives it its name, is only visible when it flies.

According to the ukmoths website that I consulted to identify it, it is very common in southern England and its caterpillars feed on alder and willow. It makes me wonder why this was a first for me!

We moor under willows and alders in southern England.

Signage Found

This sign was found floating past our home mooring.

It is now propped up against the "Please slow down" sign just north of Marsh Foot Bridge 163 on the South Oxford Canal if the owner wants to retrieve it.

"The Pratty Flower"

That is the name of a boat! A white rose adorns it's side so I assume that the crew are from Yorkshire.

We left the mooring this morning at 0700h for the first time in twelve days. We needed to do what boaters do again! Off to the turning point at Tramway and mooring on the mooring of nb Prancing Pony (who is away in Lower Heyford) we filled with water, had a shower and then breakfast. Replenishing our fresh water tank after twelve days takes quite a time! Then back to town and on to Sovereign Narrowboats for Pumpout, blue, and diesel before returning to the mooring.                            2 Locks, 2 LB, 2 Miles 3.5 hours

I had to return on foot to drop something off at a friend's place near the station and passed the lock/services on the way back. Here was nb It's Enough taking on water and waiting for the lock. I commented to a boater washing his boat that there seemed more boats here today than there were at Little Venice and the queue built up.  The skipper of nb It's Enough cruises alone. The boat name is his philosophy.He has lost his voice box to cancer. He talks through a mike held to his throat but is unable to make himself heard across the canal. I went over to speak to the skipper of the first boat in the queue, a very nice shiny boat, to establish nb It's Enough's place in the queue explaining his predicament with his voice and that he had finished watering up and was waiting for the lock. The skipper was ok about this but not his crew when I told her I was helping him up! "We will be here all day!" was her response and she went back to confer with her skipper.

The next boat to come down the lock came almost up to the gate on the wrong side of the canal. I pointed out that the boat in the lock would not be able to get out with the boat in the way and they backed up, putting their paintwork in jeopardy on the high conrete banking above the lock. How unobservant some can be! I worked the lift bridge and handed back the windlass receiving profuse thanks for my help.

NB It's Enough minding his own business

I then walked over the footbridge and along beside the car park toward Tom Rolt Bridge. Here I could not believe my eyes. Here came nb The Pratty Flower with its crew remonstrating from the front well deck that there was a boat ahead, maintaining centre channel directly at nb It's Enough! No quarter was given. I imagine that the helmsman had detected that the unfortunate skipper of nb It's Enough was from Liverpool,  Lancashire and the war of the roses was still running.  It struck on the port bow and ricocheted into a moored boat. No attempt to slow down or avoid collision was made!  I wished that I had failed in my negotiations at the lock. The very posh boat behind would have been the target!

NB Pratty Flower heading away after impact

You had better watch out for NB The Pratty Flower!

A day out in the country

Yesterday we took German Friends on a little boat trip. A photo album they posted on Facebook recorded a visit to Stratford-on-Avon with references to their liking for narrowboats so we offered them a ride.

The showery weather curtailed our fun a little but we managed to get to the new winding hole at Twyford Mill. They say that boats of up to  60ft only can turn here. They mean it. Our 57ft turning was tighter than I like. I don't like hitting the bank at both ends!

Our freinds enjoyed the day, They were taking a lot of photos on an iphone so I expect to have a couple to post in good time. None ready now though.

By the way, the fridge is NOT working. We freeze 2 pints of milk and then let it defrost to keep the rest of the produce cool in what has now become a large cool box!

Claggy Milk

Yes, claggy milk and luke warm orange juice this morning so I opted for toast and marmalade and set about turning the fridge upside down!

A lot of gurgling and tummy rumbling noises came from the machine and we turned it back on. Now the proving time. Cleaned out, fired up and closed we await to see whether the recovery that was partial from our shake around a week ago can become a more permanent solution.

We really do not want to go down the electric fridge route. It would probably mean solar panels or a wind turbine to keep the batteries topped up. I do not fancy running the engine while moored for more than the half hour a day we do at present.

More to come. . . .

Back in Routine

Late rising today but it matters little. We had the routine "water run" to complete. The gas bottle ran out on Sunday and we need to get another spare, the level is creeping up in the toilet tank and we are depleting the water tank. So we have to do what boaters do!

That means taking the boat into town, throuh the loft bridge to the water point. We then stop to fill with water before working down the lock. Today we stopped below the lock for breakfast. Then we proceded another 3/4 mile to turn at Bankside winding hole. Here the rain started so we stopped for a few minutes to get the waterproofs on.

Then back to the lock, pausing as a crew member bumped their head on the hatch which had been closed for the rain, then through thte lift bridge to Sovereign Wharf. We had to wait a few minutes for a boat that had lost a crew member in the town shopping to move off the wharf. Gas bottle exchange, pump out and chat completed we returned to home mooring.    2lock, 2 Lift Bridges, 2 miles, 2 Hours cruising.

Nice to be back in the old routine.

Canalside Songs of Praise

Thank you to Holy Cross Church Shipton-on-Cherwell, Thrupp Canal Cruising Club, local BCF members and the Oxford Christian Music Choir for putting on the Canalside Songs of Praise event at Thrupp Wide yesterday. We had a lovely time. We do not get a lot of invitations to sing and speak and it was a privilege to be part of this event.

A special 'thankyou' to Rev Brian who courageously read the clouds and took advantage of a blue sky opportunity that was just long enough to complete the whole planned programme before we took shelter from a heavy downpour under the canvas provided by Annie's Tea rooms.

Thank you also to Ken of NB Carpe Deum which provided the stage from its tug deck.

Coupling Day

This year has obviously been a crazy one for damsel flies. Getting together is nigh in impossible in the rain so it apears that two months of the mating season has been lost to the weather. But today was very obviously perfect weather. Coupled damsel flies were everywhere.

I asked the Best Mate which damsel fly has to fly backwards when they mate on the wing. Right on cue a mating couple flew past us and settled on the boat. They both fly forwards. The male (the pretty iridescent blue one) is definitely on top and the female (the drab plain brown coloured one) is underneath.

I have heard that bees have swarmimg days when the queen selects the fittest drone, ants have flying days when the males leave the nest but I did not know that damsel flies have coupling days. By todays viewing apparently they do. And today was it!

Summer has started!

Wow it's hot! And yesterday and today we have been boating. On familiar waters maybe but very pleasurable.

Having Piglet away this week on a Citizenship Bonding Week at an outward bound type adventure centre we just leisurely meandered up to Cropredy. We had a wonderful evening in the evening warmth with our friends on the Cropredy Old Coal Wharf. A bottle of red wine and some John Smith's bitter and a fantastic home made (by our friends) rhubarb fool were consumed to wonderful conversation to the sound of church bells.

This morning we woke to bedlam. The water point at Cropredy becomes a honeypot at 9.00am and boats were queueing, jumping the queue and generally getting in each other's way as canoeists jostled to get out of their club compound and away from the converging steel. We abandoned the plan to moor on the water point and wash the boat and pulled away to breakfast outside of the village. Breakfast was over by noon and, seeking shade, we then dawdled back to our mooring.

As we approached I noticed a boat pulled over into our mooring space.  I assumed it was to let us by. Another boat was just entering the narrows of the Marsh Foot bridge. There is plenty of water here for three abreast and so I hollered "That's my mooring!" to let the boater know that we were not going to be able to moor with his boat on the mooring. It would soon get very congested! Both crew members got off the boat so hollered again "That's where we moor!" and waved him on.  I think that I may have upset them because they were not too pleased that I mentioned that they should have known our boat as they have been around quite a bit!  I didn't mean to be rude or anything but I really thought that they had just given way without any real need to. Why they got off the boat was a mystery. The boat was Wren's Nest! Nice to meet you Chris. Next time we might just moor alongside and open a bottle!

We spent the rest of the day in the shade of the trees by the mooring as the temperature soared toward 30 degrees!

Cranky Old Fridge

We have a Dometic Electrolux RM4270 Gas/12v/240v fridge. We run it on gas and only use the 12v to light it.

It did not get cold. Our milk went off, our apple juice went off, our orange juice went fizzy and our bitter went rancid. We used freezer packs and kept it as a cool box for a week but this was a pain and the milk went off etc.

I enquired at a local domestic appliance repair specialist (in Bridge Street, Banbury) about repair or servicing. They supplied us the fridge in 2004 but now they do not touch them. They said I would have to get a "gas safe" man to look at it.

I popped into Tooleys' Boatyard and asked their man whether they would repair a fridge. The helpful advice I received was to clean out all the cobwebs and grot from around the flame and see if that helped. I got the fridge out of its housing cleaned out the flame chamber but found the exhaust chimney flexible connection had perished/disintegrated. Tooleys did not stock them, the repair man in Bridge street did not stock them, Sovereign Narrowboats this time came up with the helpful advice to go to a motor factor for flexible exhaust hose (available in two metre lengths). I needed eight inches at the outside. In the end I settled for corrugated aluminium tubing as used for air inlets. At only £2.99 for a metre this was a snip and I have enough to do the job another three or four times.

The fridge still didn't work. So I rang Tooley's again and talked to Matt. He told me that a gas man was coming to the yard today to do a boiler service and he would speak to him. I brought the boat down to town and waited for the gas man to arrive. When he did come (in due canal time) he asked whether the flame was alight. On received a positive reply he then said that in that case he could not help. I needed a refrigeration gas man. It had to be something to do with the fridge gas circuit. However he did say that giving the fridge a good shake or turning it upside down might do the trick!

So we tilted it all the way over one way and shook it about. Then we tilted it the other way and shook it about again. Then I put it back in its housing.

We took the boat through the lift bridge and  lock, turned at Tramway, filled up with water and returned the boat to the home mooring. As I shut up the boat I felt into the fridge. It was cold! Thank you to the gas man for his advice. A good shaking may have done the trick.

Wet locking

Last Thursday I had a phone call from a single handing friend who was in Braunston. I had offered to help him through a flight. He was calling in my offer. But this week I was not available Sunday, Monday or Tuesday until a rearrangement enabled me to offer him today. I had not looked at the weather forcast. On rising this morning to a skyful of rain I called him expecting him to call it off. I hadn't reckoned on the fact that his boat is fitted with a canopy and he could stay dry all along the top level from Marston Doles to Claydon Top Lock.

I met him there in teeming rain. He took a little longer to get from Fenny Compton marina than I expected and I had the pleasure of helping  nb Sarah Louise down. These were first time boaters, on a borrowed boat and this was the first lock they had gone down. They had got themselves stuck, with fenders down, in the second Napton Lock (No 9) known to be the narrowest lock on the system. Their boat's owners had told them to use the fenders in the locks! Oops. They had to be washed out shortly after being stuck half in! After they left I helped nb Pepper up the top lock and waited with the gate was open and lock full.

We went down without problem and then found the second lock with bottom gates open and paddles up! Maybe my tuition was not good enough! At lock three (Middle Lock) we encountered a Viking invasion. Coming toward us. Heading for the gates was the first of six Willow Wren hire craft with Danish crews. The boat went across the canal as they reversed thrust realising there was a boat in the lock after they had passed the lock landing!  (I had met them in Banbury this morning when I was turning Sonflower to return her to the mooring.The Danish crew had to wait!) They had to wait longer here as the canopy would not fit under the bridge at teh foot of teh lock and had to be furled back.  It didn't seem that they were used to this.  I spoke to a couple of the adults as I did not know the Danish for 'dangerous' 'stop running' and 'keep off the gunwhale in the rain while throwing the centre rope".

Many of the crew were quite young, slight and inexperienced.They emptied the bottom lock as we approached in spite of my hollaring and waving. No harm done and in this torrential downpour no-one would be thinking of saving water!  I waved my friend goodbye at the Bottom Lock and went back to the middle lock where two little Danish lasses were trying their hardest to open the gate paddles to drain the lock. (They were just too small and slight to make any impact.) They made up for this in enthusiasm and the teeming rain did not stop them or dampen their joy at being able to open the gates by themselves. They ran off to try the same with the top gate! I returned to my car: very wet and tired.

The joys of boating.

Jubilee Washout

You all know it's been raining.

We have the boat close to where some friends are camping for the Jubilee weekend. We went to a BBQ yesterday and then decided to go and watch England play football against the Belgians.

Last night was so wet that they have decamped to a large country house on the other side of town. The boat is no longer near our friends!

We had lunch with My Mother today. And we watched the pageant of 1000 boats on the tele this afternoon.  The narrowboats didn't really centre on the proceedings. The BBC seemed surprised that 'people even live on them'! We spotted a couple of narrrowboats we know. Steaming "President" was always going to be a camera magnet and we noticed Quercus and Fulborne (I think) but I didn't recognise any others. I did think that I saw a friend at the tiller but if it was him he was not on a boat I recognised!

All in all it was good to see Her Majesty enjoying herself with the boating fraternity.

A great pity the British Weather didn't match the occasion.

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!