Back at Tooley's

I had a novice friend as crew for the trip from the mooring to Tooley's Boatyard. Nothing serious this time but we return for a small joinery modification. Refitting the central door between galley and bunkroom prevented our new under bunk drawer from opening. The only solution is a new door.

So off the mooring again and back to town.We passed the time of day with several hirers who were traversing the lock. A Norwegian couple used the lock ahead of us on the return form Calthorpe Winding hole and left the top gate and paddles open. This gave us an opportunity to chat to them and welcome them to Banbury, recommending two pubs as possible evening meal options.

2.5 miles, 2 LB, 2  locks, 2.5 hours

PRM or Hurth that is the question.

The gearbox has failed. Or rather half if it has: the reverse half.

The gearbox fails to engage reverse gear properly making stopping a dicey process. It is a Hurth. To recondition it cost the same as a new PRM.

So SONFLOWER is getting a new gearbox.

Calcutt Marine are supplying the box for Tooley's Boatyard to fit.

SONFLOWER is now an exhibit at Tooley's Museum of canal life, she has been there so long! She will be available to view on Castle Quay for the foreseeable future.

Sonflower being floated in Tooley's Boatyard this morning. She was then reversed out and moored on Castle Quay for leak testing (in the rain). When the sun shines I will take some better photographs but she really does look nice. We are very pleased.

I would recommend Jez Steadman * at Tooley's Boatyard to paint any boat. He is a genuine craftsman.

There is still a lot to do. Inside now needs our attention. We have taken one bunk out to make the bunk room airier and provide drawer storage underneath. The galley will be the next big adventure.

Sonflower is just under 57ft long but every bit of her seems to need our constant attention. There is always another job to do.

The next hurdle is a Boat Safety Scheme examination later in the year. But hopefully that will be done when she is afloat.

*J B STEADMAN

Coach Painting & Specialised Paint & Varnish Finishes

(Enquiries to Tooley's Boatyard)

Update on Painting

The painting of SONFLOWER is going really well. The painter is now putting on the sixth coat, the first of the top coats.

The boat was taken back to bare metal and rust treated. A couple of perforations were found in the steel which were repaired by the skilled craftsmen at Tooley's who seem to be able to tackle any boat building tasks: well they have built boats in the past!  Here is a little bit of welding done to repair a perforation at the foot of the gunwhale near the gas locker.

Plate repair at gunwhale end

This had been letting water into the engine bay.

Bare metal

More bare metal

Shiny bow

The full paint treatment is:
Above the rubbing strake:

• rust treatment
• primer
• undercoat 1
• undercoat 2
• top coat 1
• top coat 2
• finishing coat
• lining
• sign writing/graphics

And, of course the hull beneath the top rubbing strake will be blacked with bitumastic paint.

I did discuss sand blasting and epoxy coating. But Tooley's do not offer this at present. That the epoxy might also need bitumastic protection was also suggested. So epoxy to stop pitting of the steel and bitumastic to stop the epoxy being rubbed off or coming away in sheets.  I will continue with the age old treatment. Bitumastic to stop pitting.

Ready and Waiting

I had a weather window this morning form 1030 to 1200. This morning's rain was on its way to Northampton and the next shower was not due to arrive form Stratford-on-Avon until afternoon.

I went and collected the SONFLOWER from her mooring near Samuelson Bridge and took her up to the Grimsbury Arm turning point and back to Tooley's boatyard. I had a great assist at lick and lift bridge form the crew of a hire boat that had gone the other way to Bankside turning point. After lunch in General Foods Club, as it is Wednesday, I met John and Matt to discuss the details and handed over the keys.

So she is in dock for survey, blacking and painting and will be there until early May. Herbie wants pictures.

I will see what I can do.
                                                                                         1.1/2 miles, 1 lock, 1 lift bridge, 1hr

Preparation

We have sent a little time on the boat preparing for her to go into Tooley's for a makeover. All the windows will be coming out so we have taken all the curtains for washing and  cleared a lot of the bric a brac away.

The damp has got in and there is evidence of some more fungal rot. The window frames have been leaking again so some repairs will be necessary to the woodwork inside the boat as well as the external treatment.

As we moved her we chatted with Matt from the yard. She is booked in from Monday 3rd April and not Thursday 30th March so we are unlikely to be cruising this year until mid May.

Flat and Rescued

I went to the boat yesterday.

CRT have not given me permission to stay on the mooring for March. I have won the auction for the mooring but the contract does not start until April 1st.  So I went to move to another mooring for 14 days to then move to another mooring for 14 days and then into Tooley's dock for the whole of April!

But the gremlins had got under my engine covers and flatted the batteries. My small pv array did not keep up with the cold!

So I called RCR out this morning (that's what I pay them for) and Paul from Pershore jump started the engine and advised me to ditch it because spares are getting impossible to get and a new Kibota 44hp would only cost me £3500. I like my BMC 1500! He said the batteries were charging ok when he left.

Anyway, I boated into town and left the boat with Tooley's to test all the batteries and give me some good advice.

                                                                                          1/2 mile, 18 hours

Back on our mooring

I backed SONFLOWER up from opposite Sovereign Wharf, through the Marsh Footbridge 163 and onto her mooring this afternoon. (The link show a picture of her on it)

We have permission from Canal and River Trust to put her on the mooring for the month of February.

We are away until the 24th in Devon and cannot comply with the 14 day rule so are very glad of CRTs help. The mooring is empty and will be let through the usual process. We have expressed interest.

We will need to wait for a week or two to see whether we can successfully secure it for the foreseeable. If we do, our "continuous cruising" will be suspended for a year or so.

Jay-OK

A two hour leisurely cruise back toward Banbury today. Little traffic: Just nb Clara heading north after a short sojourn in Banbury. I was pleased to see her coming out of Bourton Lock but not so happy to see that the strong stream of the bywash trapped her against the weir edge. She had to reverse back party into the lock to free herself. There is a lot of water about today and excess is swirling down the bywashes.

By the new flood meadows there were loads of birds in the air. I saw a bird of prey that could have been a falcon and a pair of Jays. I haven't seen many of them around here so this was very pleasing. At Hardwicke Lock I met a man with a stick who was public spiritedly playing with floating sticks and relieving the build up at the bywash culvert  entrance. After filling the lock, he closed the top gate behind Sonflower and walked off north on his way.

After the lock I met a paddle boarder. She was the first I have encountered on the canals. CRT are encouraging them I understand. I had seen her going the other way this morning nearer to Banbury so I asked whether she had been shopping. There was nowhere to stow shopping on the board however.

I moored just short of the bend opposite the blue cottage, behind nb Freestyler. As I moored the paddle boarder came past again going the other way.

                                                                                          3miles, 3 locks, 2 hours

As I

Crisp January Cruise

A Sunny Period

We have to get out of town and today was one of those lovely afternoons with a forecast of sunny periods. The canal was clear and the birds were out in force. Kestrel, heron, cormorant, gulls of all sorts and the hedgerow birds like tits and robins were all around.

There were boaters about too. I came up behind nb Mirrlees who were ascending Hardwick Lock. They had followed another boat into the lock, possibly a Kate hire boat that we saw passing earlier or nb Hermione who when was moored behind Sonflower but not when we left. "three in a row and a bonus mark", I quipped. Nb Mirlees was flying the white ensign and I asked the helmsman about it. He had served in the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines so was entitled to wear it, he said. I closed the top gate for them as they left and as I approached the next two locks I was very pleased to see that they had raised a bottom paddle to speed my way. Thank you very much, nb Mirrlees.

At Little Bourton Lock 27 I noticed that there are unwanted vandals in the lovely lock garden.

This garden used to win awards when lock cottages were the homes of lock keepers and their wives.

I was glad to see space on the 14 day moorings at Cropredy and noted nb Hermione moored up there. I waved as I passed and turned at the Cropredy Coal Wharf and returned to moor just north of him. 

A very pleasant afternoon cruise. 

                                    3.9 miles, 3 locks   2.1/2hours

Coal: Come rain or shine!

On Monday I headed for the boat  and met Dusty, the coal boat, at Samuelson Bridge 168 where they were loading coal and gas. Or should I say they were drinking tea during a break in loading coal and gas. Dusty is trapped on the north section of his patch at the moment by re-building of a lift bridge between Aynho and Somerton Deep Lock. The fact that his boat was pointing south, but he usually comes from the south threw us. His timing is all wrong too. He shouldn't be here again til after Christmas.  I was told that as soon as he was loaded he would be along to my boat in five minutes.

I waited and checked out a little sealing job I need to do. But the drizzle started and silicon sealant will not stick properly in the wet. So I cut up some old slats for kindling and stacked them neatly in the wood box.

Then I played the harmonica for a bit.  I looked out if the cratch back down the canal. Trade was brisk. Dusty had been hailed by King of Clubs who wanted four bags of coal to supplement the whole willow tree that is stacked on his roof in one foot lengths. Then another boat crew returned from shopping and quickly hailed him to top up their diesel tank. It took more like 45 minutes to get to me, 200 yards down the cut!

"Nice to be serenaded" I heard Kati say as they arrived. Dusty always engages in cheery conversation and it was great to catch up. We have been away so long and the last fill we had from them was before we left our mooring on March 3rd. With no mooring to stack coal beside we can only accommodate 4 bags of coal at a time now and topping up the tanks took 153 litres.

That should keep us warm through rain or shine. Dusty comes rain shine or snow too! Here is some historical footage of the effort that these coal boats put in to getting the warmth to us.

Heatwave

Temperatures continue to soar into double figures and a quick look over the Castle Quay foot bridge on or way to General Foods Club for lunch confirmed that we have no excuse for not moving today.

Blue sky overhead, a head full of great boating conversation with the crews of nb The King of Clubs and nb Black Pig, a tummy full of good food and beer and we were off again.

Not too fat though. We spotted a gap in the line of boats just before Tramway long term moorings. We turned at Calthorpe Winding Hole (why is nobody watching when we get it perfect?) and returned to moor in the said gap. Ready for our next period of 14 days in the town.

                            1.3/4 miles,1 Lift Bridge, 1 lock,  1hr 20 mins

Ice

 Ice to the front of her,

ice to the rear of her,


ice to the side of her: our boating was postponed this afternoon because of ice.

Although there was a change in the outside temperature which was soaring toward 10 degC the water was still at zero, the temperature of melting ice, and it was impossible to move. It may look like there is clear water around the boat but the rudder was locked in until we moved it, and not without a bit of force.

I recollect the chapter in Tom Rolt's book "Narrow Boat" where he describes ice in Banbury and the joy that the arrival of the ice breaker brought to the locked in crews. We await the ice breaker because to try to break this ourselves would damage other people's vessels at the waterline and could put fibre glass boats in jeopardy.

We spoke to a fisherman who told us the score along the canal: the only ice free spots were under the bridges and even there he got no bites.

Brrrrrr!

Temperatures plunged last night and we visited the forlorn and dejected SONFLOWER today to brighten her day. There was a slight weep from the Morco gas water heater feed indicating that there had been a slight freeze but everything else was in order.

We started the engine to get the calorifier up to temperature and check around that. It is always good to hear it running well.

So, better late than never, I drained the Morco down, isolated the calorifier, opened all the taps, turned off the pump and drained down as much as I could realistically do.

We lit a fire to keep ourselves warm and have left the fridge pilot light on. A little heat goes a long way on a frosty night.

We also have put a triangular cabinet into a corner of the back passage way to tidy up the bit that ends up with a heap of fenders, mooring pins and windlasses.

                                                   0 miles  0 locks   1 hour

A Weather Window

In Kazakstan they say that the sky is blue whatever clouds get in the way!

But on Wednesday we saw a window in the weather that followed storm Angus and we took advantage of it. The afternoon was  clear and bright and we had blue sky above us all the way from Cropredy to Banbury. The chill in the boat was taken off as we lit a fire in the stove.

Waiting for Hardwick Lock to fill

There was one other boat in the move and we caught it up as it came to the bottom of Hardwicke Lock No 28. As it left the crew told me they too had taken advantage of the weather and left Cropredy in the sunshine. We closed the gates and filled our third lock of the day as the sun descended behind the new warehouses that have been built on the old Alcan site. A chill came into the air as we cruised the familiar sites on our way to the town centre. It was cold now and we needed that fire to warm up. We waved to Malc and Dink at the cottage and at many friends in their boats on the Spice Ball Park LT moorings which we had left on 3 March.

We moored on Castle Quay as the sun set. Glad to be home.

                                            4.1/4 miles,  3 locks,   2hrs 20 min

The weather man said.. .

The BBC Weather forecast for Tuesday at 2200h yesterday evening said that it would be overcast (light cloud) but dry all day with rain from 2200 this evening.

They were wrong but on the basis of their prediction yesterday we arranged for a friend to give us a lift to the boat from where we expected to reach this afternoon and off we went.

We left Fenny Compton at 12.15pm, enjoying the fresh air and the flocks of fieldfares and redwings that were feeding on the haws and hips on the high hedgerows alongside the canal.  Just after we arrived at Claydon Locks it started raining and it didn't stop until we were soaked through and at Broadmoor lock! Here a boat was leaving so it was not a 100% bad road.

But we did achieve the target of getting to Cropredy on a 14 day mooring so we mustn't moan.

The only other boat moving the opposite direction was blogger Herbie who turned into Cropredy marina. Cropredy lock leaks so fast that their presence didn't help us either.

Nb Sawdust was moored just by the old lift bridge narrows at Cropredy North moorings and we had a good chat to him at the lock. He had missed us!

We are very much back on home territory now and looking forward to staying between Cropredy Lock and Nell Bridge Lock for the winter.

                                                6.1/4 miles, 9 locks    3.3/4 hours

Backed Up

As it was dark when I arrived at the Wharf I moored hastily on a 48 hour mooring.

Today I backed through the bridges to a 14 day mooring.

                                                                                 200yds, O locks,   20 mins

Birdingbury Wharf Bridge No 21 to The Wharf Inn, Fenny Compton

I am back on the right side of the stoppages at Napton Locks.

This morning I set off for the Wharf in the car and then got a bus to The Boat Inn, Stockton via Southam. Getting there I had crossed the County border into Warwickshire and my Oxfordshire bus pass, valid on this bus from Banbury was not valid in Warwickshire because I was "twirley". I paid out the £2.70. The plan was to get a breakfast in Southam at the No19 Cafe where I have breakfasted between buses before. But today I was greeted by the sign that informed me "Closed on Mondays"! I was expecting to get a 1000 calories inside me to fuel a day in the boat precluding the need to stop to make a meal. So I went in the Co-op and bought some refreshments: BLT sandwich, pukka pie and scotch eggs. Handing my Co-op card I was told "you are in Warwickshire, those cards are not valid we have our own!" They took my Co-op credit card ok.

The target for the day was The Wharf at Fenny Compton. I had convinced myself that I had done this single-handed before. I am not so sure now.  All went well as I approached Calcutt Locks as there was another boat, NB Albert, just ahead and I could join them to aid me up the locks. However, there was no water in the pound between the Bottom Lock and Middle Lock. Not even enough to get over the cill. So a crew member was dispatched to let some down from the next pound. Boats do move better on water!

Just after the flight I was hailed by a BCF member who had an AWCC Burgee for me. He had been asked to take it to Banbury but never got there so in seeing SONFLOWER in his windows shouted out. Just in time as they are moving to Wales next Saturday!

So to Napton Junction and a sharp turn onto home waters: the South Oxford Canal. At Napton a CRT employee was adjusting water levels at the bottom lock. He stopped what he was doing and emptied it to let me through and then told me that there were boats coming down who had been trapped behind a butty that they had just released from the notoriously narrow Lock 9. It had been stuck since 3.30pm on Sunday. Progress was slowed some more by a LNBP boat nb Lancelot which was moored in a very short pound with a central bridge between the third and fourth Lock. The crew had to abandon shop as they could not progress to the Braunston Base with the butty stuck in the lock. It was not a very good place to moor as two boats are unable to pass with ease with the bridge narrows and a boat on the lock landing. We managed, just.

The rest of the flight was slow and steady though I was pleased to have two of the locks set for me by oncoming boats and pleased not to have to shut the top lock top gate as a boat was coming in. I was not so pleased to stub a toe on the roof gangplank rack while getting to the ladder of Lock 15.

I cleared Top Lock at Marston Doles at 1520h. With the loss of the hour on Sunday, I would not have enough daylight to get to Fenny Compton but I pressed on. I did consider a mooring at Brige 131, close to the main A423, but there was no suitable piling here so I pressed on, the last two miles in darkness. The sunset was spectacularly beautiful but I would have valued it to be an hour later today!

I arrived at 1810 and moored by torch light outside The Wharf Inn. I am still "Sober for October"! I limped to the car which I was very glad to get into.

                                         14 miles, 12 locks,  7h 40minutes

Long Itchington to Birdingbury Wharf

Not far today: Grabbed a half day to boat up Stockton Locks.

The bottom lock was set for us but the next was not. How does that happen? The next four were slightly against us in that leakage had filled them a little bit. Then we met a pair of hire boats and swapped locks with them. It took ages to convince one of the crew that we only needed one gate left open. There were boats in the next lock too and also in top lock so we had quite an easy time of it.

We stopped for a bottle of gas at Kate Boats and then moored just past Birdingbury Bridge.

CRT have prepared Winter Moorings here. I wondered why. There are 400 yards of empty moorings on Stockton Long Term Mooring site!

The Best Mate enjoyed the tiller work, even though she hates driving a car, and I enjoyed the footwork and paddle work. It is really good to be boating.
                                        
                                            1.1/2miles, 10 locks, 3 hours

The Moorings at Myton to Long Ichington

We needed to move off the pub moorings. Well you can't stay for ever and as I am "sober for October" there was no point in staying any longer so we thought we would move to a suitable 14 day mooring nearby.

While preparing the boat to leave my sister (on nonagenarian mother care duties) called to say Mum was wobbly so she would stay a little longer and get her to the doctor this evening. My decision maker was alert to the possibility that we could now go a bit further and make some progress toward the goal of getting south of Napton locks before the winter stoppages.

The Best Mate agreed with this cunning plan and willingly took the tiller while I returned once more to the car and drove it to Radford Bottom Lock via a Sainsbury's local for a couple of baguettes for lunch.

All went very well with my sister updating me on plans and with great assistance from two retired RAF/civil airline pilots (Concorde and Airbus) who lock wheeled and shared locks from Wood lock to Bascote top Staircase Lock. We had good fun with them but the continual walking and winding, pushing and pulling does take a toll and the Best Mate was almost rigidly fixed to the tiller for four hours.

We also met new BCF members who were working in the opposite direction after the Staircase.

The last leg:200 yards from the mooring spot

So the boat is now near the Two Boats pub. And we are home and hoping that tests tomorrow show Mum is not too bad.

Another thing we had forgotten in assessing whether we could go further today was that I was supposed to be at a management company leaseholders' meeting at lunchtime (I am Company Secretary): oops! Apologies were given by phone but I needed to do it in person on return!

What a busy life we lead! And tomorrow we say "goodbye" to Jo, a very good friend who was taken to heaven far too early for us.

                                                                              7.1miles, 10 locks   5 hours