Dog Rose's

Yesterday was my 100th blog, now hasn't that gone quick and my audience from the blogger overview show's  5356 times somebody somewhere has logged on to read my utterances. It also shows where about in the world they have sat at their PC's and viewed.

This is the league table of where people have logged in from, how this correlates to the 5356 total views I'm not sure.

United Kingdom	209
United States	176
Russia	48
Isle of Man	38
France	17
China	11
Ukraine	9
Poland	6
Germany	4
Netherlands	3

We moved from Wigrams in warm overcast conditions and moored 2 miles outside of Braunston near bridge 100. Took some interesting pictures in the hedgerows

Dog Rose

 I got the beer hunter out 

filled the tyres with air and cycled along the towpath to Braunston Village for provisions  and a trip to the chandlers for a new seal for the loo.

 I should of took a machete with me because in one part the towpath was completely blocked by a fallen tree. 

On this occasion I didn't visit the local hostelries but I then I knew there was a cold one waiting for me back at the boat. 

 In Braunston I stopped and chatted to a moored elderly boater sitting on the tow path enjoying the sun and a beer and I asked him if he was there for the Braunston Historic Boat Rally. "Not bloody likely they moor 3 abreast down here and it's mayhem, load of posh tossers showing of their engines pretending to be from some boating family or other, give me a Jap engine any day"  Sorry I asked, I'm really looking forward to the show, you meet all types on the canal and everyone has an opinion to respect.

Hands of time

Windy and wet today so going to stay put for today. We haven't done a lot today, Sue has been baking bread and doing some washing while I have been tidying the tool cupboards at the stern and the lockers at the bow.

These two areas seem to get in a mess all too easily and I spend a noticeable amount of time peering into their deepest darkest corners deciding how best to rearrange the contents within. Usually I'll sit on the rear steps, open the cupboard doors, staring at the array of tools while I muse in my mind's eye where the best position for each item might be, then I'll remove all items from the shelves and put them back again in a slightly different & more satisfying position. Perhaps I'm developing OCD where the tool kit is concerned or I might just have too much time on my hands, I'll be back on the steps before the end of the week.

We aren't going to travel far this week as we want to go to The Historic Narrowboat Rally at Braunston next weekend.

British and Irish Lions

It was a very blustery day when we woke on our comfy new mattress, I made the tea and bacon sarnies and then got the treader off the roof to go up the hill into Napton to post number one granddaughters birthday card for Monday and buy a newspaper.

We are streaming the Lions game live to the computer, the picture is watchable and has only buffered a few times, we have Talksport on the radio to listen to the commentary in English but it's about 10 seconds in front of the picture, ah well it is better than nothing. At the moment it's half time and the Lions are in front by one point 12 to 13...........

We managed to get a link into Sky Sports for the second half with English commentary.

In the second half, the game continued to be close with the Lions running out 21 - 23 winners.
Beale had 2 penalty kicks in the last few minutes to win it for Australia but fluffed both chances.

Sue gets extremely excited during these test and jumps and shouts encouragement to the players at each Lions attack, with the odd adult groan aimed at the Ref and commentator Stuart Barnes.

It's a bit depressing that the days are already shortening before we have hardly had any summer. In this marina they have the Black Prince holiday boats for hire and I can't help but feel a little sorry for the holidaymakers as they set out onto the canal all wrapped up from the gusting wind and showers but then boating is like that, it doesn't matter about wind rain or so indeed ice and snow because you take your home with you and the warmth of the saloon and a pot of tea are only a few steps away.

Deliveries

Sainsbury's delivery came on time and as we were loading it from van to trolley a huge vehicle arrived with our new mattress I did ask the driver if he would be able to take the old mattress to the amenity site for disposal for a cash fee but he declined. We got the new mattress on to another trolley and we wheeled them to our pontoon. Bit of a struggle getting the mattress into the boat but with a bit of huffing, pushing and shoving it was in.

The base of the bed slides out and the insert fits in to make a 5ft bed, the old mattress was only 4ft and was a little too snug for the pair of us. I had to fabricate 2 supporting legs for the base that slides into the companionway.

I rang a local man and van who came straight round and took away the old mattress, a little expensive but we needed it gone.

I took the beer hunter out for a spin to try and locate an Inn that has Sky Sports, it's the first Lion's Test against Australia tomorrow but to no avail.

Deliveries

The day starts with a warm overcast day as we make our 4-mile journey to Wigrams Marina where we have arranged to take delivery of our new bed, my contact lens and a Sainsbury's delivery on Friday. (Sue had a £15 off voucher to use) .
Once in the marina and tied up Kevin came to say hello and welcome us back.
I washed turned and washed the boat which made it rain for an hour.

Relaxed beef

Sunny and hot all the way today. Set off at 9am for Braunston at a leisurely pace and soon had a boat tailing us so we moved over and waved him through. Arrived in Braunston around 1130am filled our water tank and turned the boat at the entrance to Braunston Marina and we are now moored on the 48 hour moorings opposite The Boathouse which my canal guide describes as a 'canal side pub long ago disfigured by a Mississippi steamboat style extension'




We picked up some supplies from our favourite butcher and the store opposite and as it was so hot we treated ourselves to  ice lolly's. This afternoon I strolled down to have a chat with John from Solar Afloat who said he had an enquiry from a chap who reads this blog. So we had a shandy and I came away with two free gifts, a battery tester and a 12v plug. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with a few chores hoovering and mopping the floors and cleaning the bathroom. Then I gave our tiller and pin a good going over with Brasso, I wish the brass roof vent mushrooms would come up as good as they.

Looking back to Braunston Junction from our mooring at 9pm

This chap was so relaxed in the cool water he hardly moved a muscle as we passed him by.

Tw#tter

Arose to a warm day, so after we had readied ourselves we walked into Rugby town, it's about a mile walk. We had a look around the shops and eyed a few items we would purchase after we had visited the museum's. While having a coffee in Nero's I got a call from the engineer saying the alternator had been fixed and he was on the way to the boat. We quickly made our purchases and high tailed it back to the boat, the museum can wait till next time we are in town. By the time we got back to the boatyard the engineer had fitted the alternator and gone (I had left the back hatch open just in case he called).

We said goodbye to the boatyard staff and left a donation to their Christmas party and made our way to Brinklow Marina and turned around in their basin then headed back towards Braunston. We cruised a total of 6.5 hours that's a record for us. We are now moored at the southern end of the Barby Straight.

On our travels today we met a man sitting  by Walton Bridge eating strawberries who instructed us to duck, wonder if that is his official C&RT job or did he just take it upon himself to be helpful, if so he should move his position to on top of the bridge because while turning to see who had uttered this command I very nearly clouted my bonce on the masonry.

Walton Bridge

There is another Walton Bridge that was voted the most ugliest bridge over the river Thames 

This is in the process of being replaced by this one below  Click Here  due to open in July.



The bridge crosses the Thames between our old home of Shepperton and Walton on Thames and has been a worsening bottleneck for traffic as long as I can remember, this should move the bottleneck on a few miles.

Newbold Tunnel has coloured lights down its length although most of them were out when we passed through.

Got any bread mate ... 'No'!

Come on lets try the next boat

Loved this T-shirt on sale in Rugby

Webb Ellis

The RCR man turned up at 11am and took the poorly alternator away for repair unfortunately this is going to take another two days as they don't have an exchange unit. Now the alternator is off we can't run the engine to charge the domestic batteries as the same pulley runs the water pump.

Good job we have the solar panels to keep the fridge and lights going. We will be able to heat the hot water by using the Webasto diesel central heating so things aren't so bad.

Tomorrow we plan to walk into Rugby to visit the Rugby Football Museum

Surprise

Still at Willow Wren waiting on our alternator to be sorted tomorrow.

Did a bit of shopping in the local shops , Sue enjoyed The Range Shop (they have those annoying adverts on TV) where she found some good bargains in the kitchen utensil department, I got a washing brush for the outsides, and a couple of door mats. We also got a 12v charger from Maplins for Sue's phone.

In the afternoon Sue had her fishing rod out when she said to me "that fellow over there looks like ... it is, it's Bob and Marilyn!". What a surprise my brother and his lovely wife had read the blog, knew we wouldn't be moving , so drove up from Wraysbury to visit.

We decided to drive to The Folly Inn at Napton for a quick drink and walk along  to the lock to see how things worked. Bob would like one day to give up the 35 knot, gallon a mile, rat race of boating on the south coast 

and throw away his deck shoes for a pair of rigger boots, a narrow boat that does a litre an hour with all mod cons and a four legged friend to walk  to the canalside watering holes, Marilyn's not so sure, but a day at the Crick show or the IWA Festival could soon sway her.

We were all a bit peckish and the Folly had finished serving food so we tried the The Kings Head but they were fully booked (it is Father's day), so we ended up in Frankie & Benny's which is just across the road from our mooring.

We like surprise visits ... who's next?

River Canal Rescue

Bit of an overcast day today with a stiff breeze and occasional squally showers,

Started off towards Rugby and once through Braunston Turn and on the way to the Barby straight we got an alarm warning on the Vetus control panel. After mooring up I found that the rev counter had stopped working along with the battery indicator light I checked that a fan belt hadn't snapped then I phoned the nearest engineer and it was agreed I would meet him at Willow Wren  boat yard in Rugby another 6 miles away, we pressed on listening out for any unusual noise and sniffing the air for melting rubber as you do when you think things are about to go bang.
We made it too Willow Wren without any mishaps and Ian quickly diagnosed a faulty starter alternator, problem is its Saturday afternoon and we can't get a replacement till Monday.

The silver alternator on the bottom fan belt feeds the bank of 5 leisure batteries and that ones ok. The culprit is the one just above it on the top fan belt, as it is the same colour as the engine I suspect it has been on there since new. Anyway Ian went of home and I had a thought, we joined the RCR so I got there blurb out and we are covered for replacement starter alternators. I rang RCR and told them the situation but they wouldn't take Ian's word for it that it was the alternator even though he does call out work for them, so as I write this another engineer is on his way about an hours drive from here to have a look also.

Never mind we have the Argentina v England rugby test tonight and the signal for all devices is excellent .Tesco's is 5 min walk and Rugby centre a 20 min walk so we will probably go there tomorrow.

Later ....

Tom RCR guy turned up and diagnosed the same alternator problem as Ian and guess what he can't do anything till Monday. He did have a new alternator in his van but alas it had different fixing points.

St John the Babtist

We haven't gone far today in fact after going down the Oxford canal to Napton Juction we turned left on to the Grand Union canal went through 3 locks then turned at Calcott Marina back down the locks straight across Napton Junction into Wigrams Marina where we filled the diesel tank and replaced our empty gas cylinder with a full one.  Arranged with Kevin for us to take delivery of our new mattress which is being made by Edwardian Bed Company there next week.


We passed Lower Shuckburgh  on the way back to the mooring place we left this morning

Gone Green.

Most of today was taken up with helping John  from Solar Afloat fit the solar panels to Festina Lente , John  splits the fitting charge 50/50 if you help with the lifting and passing tools to him that sort of thing. We had to stop work on a couple of occasions to allow a heavy shower to pass over us.

We had two 125 watt panels fitted to low level storage box's

 

The panels have the ability to be tilted into the low sun come October.

Although we are never going to be self sufficient energy wise we will however need to use the engine a lot less when not on the move.

Happy Birthday

Got down to JG Marine at 12am as arranged and Justin set about cleaning the tank , we had a half a bucket of accumulated rust, sludge and water removed from the bottom of the tank. The first line of defence in the fuel system is the water separator which was half full of water even though I had emptied it a few weeks earlier, same story with the main filter and the diesel pump filter. So I am mighty glad I decided to have this work done. Justin found that the deck fitting for the diesel filler was not sealed correctly which was probably the main culprit for the water ingress the other being condensation.

While at the yard Sue went into Braunston to the butcher (who incidently sources his beef from         

The IOM Fat Stock Association)

for some chicken ,bacon and a chicken & ham pie, and some groceries from the store opposite. While I went down to the chandlers at bottom lock for the craftmaster paint I needed .. thanks Adam. While there I also bought a ladder come boarding platform.

Work all done and bill paid we decided to wind where we were this involved a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in between boats on the yards pontoons and the canal bank with boats breasted up and with onlookers, I managed it without removing a slither of paint off any vessel including Festina Lente for which I received a round of applause from Sue. The alternative would have been to go through Braunston tunnel to wind and come back again.

The only job to get done on the boat now apart from solar panels is some joinery work in the saloon and then we should  have the boat pretty much how we want it.

We stopped of at the water point and filled the water tank on our way out of Braunston and we are now moored behind narrowboat Plum for our solar panel fitting tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday to Jayden my cutest Grandson.

Braunston

It was raining when we set off for Braunston this morning, as we chugged along we spotted Solar Afloat moored and pulled in behind  to have a quick chat with John as we always knew we wanted solar fitted to Festina Lente. After lengthy discussions on the different types of packages to suit our needs a deal was struck, while John prepares the panels box's and fittings (he tows a neat little workshop behind his boat 'Plum'). We will continue to Braunston to have our tank cleaned at JG Marine tomorrow and be back with John on Thursday to have the panels fitted.

Now at Braunston moored opposite the Boat House but we won't be using it as we prefer the more traditional types of establishment.

We walked over the bridge to Midland Chandlers to get paint and a few other consumable items for the boat, unfortunately they don't stock the Craftmaster paint that I have been using on the roof but I did get some black non slip paint for the gunnels, rust inhibitor, more fender hangers and wet and dry paper.

Cladosporium resinae and Aspergillus fumigatus

Sunday - cloudy with some warm sunshine

We cruised to Napton on the Hill and moored in between locks 8 & 9 of the Napton flight. A good Sunday lunch was eaten at the Folly Inn.

Monday - overcast and cool.

Walked into the village for some groceries and then set off under grey skies. We were helped through lock 9 by a volunteer lock keeper, then we cruised for a further six lock free miles and are now moored near the village of Flecknoe

The back garden today

I am arranging to have our fuel polished in Braunston, not because I think we have bugs in the fuel but as I don't know when the fuel tank was last cleaned I am going to get it done as a precaution and I will have a starting point of clean fuel and filters for a future maintenance regime. 

The E.U. say sulphur has to be taken out of marine fuel even though the more you take out the more likely we are to get bugs in the fuel but the ridiculous thing is the more they take out  the more biocides we boaters  are likely to tip in the tank to counteract the effect of this legislation. 

Billy Twelvetrees

Saturday

We stayed put for another day and I rubbed down the roof sections I had treated earlier to a couple of coats of primer and gave them a top coat of gloss.I got the beer hunter out and cycled 5 miles, but alas no beer was found.

We did some fishing but no luck there , Sue made a sticky ginger cake so some luck there, played games in the evening Sue won at Scrabble I won at cards(Fred). Watched the  Argentina v England rugby game and was impressed by England's first half performance.  England won 3 - 32 but didn't perform well in the second half Billy Twelvetrees was my man of the match.

Red sky at night is not always right.

Sunday and its very chilly, coats back on, we set off for Napton on the Hill. 

One of the Napton flight of locks

Building in background is circa 1865

We stopped and moored before the bottom lock and had Sunday lunch in the The Folly Inn , beef for Sue and pork for me.

Ben My Chree

Moved 3 miles in as many hours and are now moored in an isolated spot above bridge 130

Views from the side hatch.

The day has been sunny with a slight chill in the breeze, the sun disappeared around 4pm for a couple of hours and now the evening is bright. I gave the boaters pole a top coat of light grey from a tin that was left on the boat by the previous owner. This turns out to be the colour on the roof although the roof has faded to a light blue by the sun. 

The rest of the day has been reading and fishing , I'm reading Dan Brown's 'Inferno' and Sue is reading 'Death at La Fenice' by Donna Leon. 

Had a shock today when the Ben my Chree went passed !  

I wasn't quick enough with my camera but here is a picture off the web click here

Donkey's and a Scary bloke

Went to bed last night at 2130hrs and got up this morning at 0930hrs, what are we now  teenagers again!

It was little bit grey which was soon replaced by wall to wall sunshine, the scenery is white with blossom from the hawthorn tree, shades of green from every type of leaf possible as they do their daily chore in  photosynthesis, and deep yellow from fields of rapeseed and golden from wild buttercups.

Buttercups

I didn't realise buttercups can grow so tall when not mown down in a lawn.

 

Rapeseed

Hawthorn 

If I had a donkey and it wouldn't go do you think I'd beat it oh ,no, no, no.

Scary bloke in a field

We were helped up the Claydon flight of locks by  Paul a lovely chatty  chap who has to be back to work by 5am on Tuesday in Sheffield (didn't get his boat's name but he'll have to get a crack on ) and by the time we had got to the bottom lock we knew he had had a couple of heart ops and his wife Claire had an arthritic knee. 

Sue had a slight mishap when the windlass she was using whipped back and hit her arm making a large bruise.

Sue at Claydon lock

arrrrrrrrrrrr

Can't remember which lock!

This Moorhen chick could only of been a day old, it was so tiny.

See how you like it big boy!

We are now moored for the night at Fenny Compton Sue made a loaf 

and then we walked down to the Wharf Inn because Sue wanted to purchase some herbs, as we were there we sat in the garden and had a glass of Stella and a sparkling water.

While dinner was on I took the beer hunter down the towpath and bought Sue some Scampi Fries

she had seen them earlier behind the bar at the Wharf Inn, she mentioned that she hadn't had a packet for twenty odd years. While I was there I sat in the garden and had a glass of Stella!

We have good signals for all devices this evening so I am looking forward to the TT racing on ITV4 and a tribute to Joey Dunlop afterwards.

Big Bertha

What a disappointment we got up expecting sunshine but it was overcast and quite cool as we made our way to Banbury to pick up some maggots and groceries. While there I popped into Tooley's Boatyard to see if they had a colour match for the roof paint but unfortunately they don't stock any paint but black. Wasn't it Henry Ford who said "you can have any colour you like as long as it's black. I don't think black will look good on our roof so I will wait till I get to Midland Chandlers and see what they have or can get.

Shopping done we didn't fancy mooring in town so we pushed on passed.

We passed a boater on the way to Hardwick Lock who said "its as busy as hell down there". There was one boat in the lock and one waiting to go through if that is his idea of busy he should try 30 odd boats waiting to go through Shepperton lock on the Thames on any summer Sunday afternoon.

At Slat Mill lock Sue had to break out the secret weapon for the first time as the paddle gear was so stiff, this would be the ratchet windlass(Big Bertha) we bought at the Crick boat show.



We both suffer from backache from time to time so hopefully, this piece of kit will enable us to keep going for longer.

I used to be a Manual Handling Instructor and the best advice I would give my students was AVOID lifting, pushing or pulling anything that puts a strain on your back, so I avoid straining mine by staying on the boat and Sue avoids straining hers by using Big Bertha.  When Sue gets confident in handling the boat into  the locks roles will be reversed.


I have been asked for the recipe for the Curried Rice dish I cooked yesterday which I will publish here.   When  I cook it usually has to be done in one pot  and in under an hour, this one takes approximately half that time.

Ingredients
Sunflower oil 1 x tbsp
Garlic clove x 2 crushed
Medium curry paste  x 2 tbsp
Can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
Basmati rice rinsed x 6ox
Vegetable stock 14 oz
Leek  x 1 thinly sliced
Mushrooms of your choice I used about 12 button ones sliced.

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the garlic and curry paste for 2 minutes
Tip in everything else: the rice, stock, chickpeas,leeks and mushrooms (a handful of raisins if you like them)
Stir well and season.
Cover with a lid and cook for 12 to 15 mins or until all liquid have been absorbed

A few cashews and/or a drizzle of yogurt to serve if you want to be alley cart.

Job done in under half-hour.

You can leave out the leeks and mushrooms and just throw in a  cup of frozen peas or thaw 4 oz frozen Spinach squeeze out all the water and launch it in at the end with a good stir.

Adderbury

Cruised 4.5 miles in 3 hours in glorious sunshine and we are now moored near Adderbury. Not  a lot to blog about, I have been doing some more maintenance in the form of rubbing down and painting during the afternoon and straightening


the front  fender which did have a distinct crooked nose.

I cooked my signature dish of curried rice with chickpeas and spinach but without the spinach( I used leeks and mushrooms instead).

Weekend

Spent the weekend at Lower Heyford ,where we are moored there is absolutely no phone or data signal, so no blogging, calling or texting.

View from our back door

Friday was warm and sunny and we had a relaxing cruise to Lower Heyford a canal-side village with one road in the same road out. While Sue was fishing I got my beer hunter bike out and cycled to The Bell Inn a 2013 CAMRA pub of the year finalist, where I enjoyed a pint of The Bell Ale in the company of Freddie.
Freddie plays Ashley's father Sandy in the Emmerdale TV soap. True to the character he only had £1.20 on him so couldn't stand his round.


We saw three King Fishers today one landed on the tiller pin to have it's photo taken but as Sue was getting the camera out a jogger on the towpath frightened him away.

Saturday another warm and sunny day

I decided to rub down a few rust spots on the roof and was surprised how many there are once you go looking for them.

Then a dab of rust inhibitor followed by two coats of primer, I will have to wait till I get a match for the topcoats , Sue thinks the colour is Wedgewood Blue I'm not so sure. This work took most of the day, in the evening we walked to the pub and decided to have our tea there, hunters chicken and sausage and mash.

Sunday

It's sunny again, in the morning I tackled the cratch and gave it a good sanding down followed by a coat of wood dye and a coat of varnish. Then it was back on the beer hunter and a cycle down the towpath to Upper Heyford, at Allen's lock there is a sign pointing to The Barley Mow so I followed it up quite a steep incline huffing and puffing and a pushing, I finally got to the top of the hill. Bloody shut!

Set the satellite dish up to watch Brazil V England and the Isle of Man TT races on CH 4, what a great race it was with the lap record being broken by John McGuiness. The TT races are one of those festivals around the world that everyone should try to get to at least once in their lives.

Today we have cruised about 4 miles and have moored in an isolated spot near bridge 193 but phone and data signal are excellent.

Sue is fishing it's 1645hrs time to get the beer hunter of the roof. methinks.

Later

Found the beer in The Great Western Arms behind Aynho Wharf.

On the cycle ride back to the boat I scratched my hand on a bramble which tore into the flesh on my little finger.