Send the sea sick pills please !

For the first time ever on the boat, I was sea sick one day last week and then again a few days later!   Bucket at the ready - better to be safe than sorry, but thankfully it wasn't used!   We were rocking about like a cork in the ocean ….and then of course, the rain, rain, rain.   However we are quite safe and sound and the only issue we encountered was having to move a couple of boats length on the main canal by Saltisford Arm in Warwick.    Got up last Sunday morning to find the towpath underwater - poor old Foxxie wouldn’t jump off - canal one side and no see-able towpath the other!    We could see the towpath further up so we just pulled Jandai along - Foxxie’s relief was quite noticeable.

I got quite excited last Friday - “proper” supermarkets right by the canal between Leamington Spa and Warwick.    We haven’t seen one of these for 43 days when we were in Loughborough.   Major stockup; first at Lidl and then at Tesco.   Of course we will trundle down towpaths with our Grannie Trolleys but there is a limit as to just how far you can do this!   Couple of miles is about ok but dragging full trolleys any more than that is a test of strength and stamina I really can do without.   So since Loughborough we have just been buying the absolute essentials (like milk, eggs,  fresh veg and meat) from little village stores.    However, now the stock cupboards are full again - yes!

Had a walk around Warwick town centre - it’s a lot smaller than I remembered from when we were here 2+ years ago.   Of course it’s famous for its Castle but, honestly, the shopping is a bit limited.   Apparently everyone goes to Leamington Spa for real retail therapy but all boaters we talked to and CarT men and a policeman advised not to moor there.   It’s ok in the summer when there’s safety in numbers but not to be done in the winter months.

After a walk so far up Hatton Locks, Dai spotted a load of very recently felled trees right by the towpath - so guess what?    Yes, we moved up 3 locks and he was able to spend 2 happy days sawing and stacking.   It broke his heart when the roof was full to over-flowing and there was just no point in sawing anymore.    It must be the first time we have ever left behind a bounty of wood!!

Today we have come up the remaining 18 locks of Hatton Flight and are moored between bridges 57 and 58 close to Shrewley Tunnel in open countryside.   Another boat happened to come by just as were up-ing pins ready to rock and roll.   It makes it so much easier to do these double locks - still with those blasted candlestick paddles! - with two boats.   You find you soon get a system going with two steerers and two doing the locks that you lose count of the number of locks ---- but glad to be in the last one!    Took us 3 hours which is pretty good going as all but 2 locks were set against us.

Then, once moored and relaxing inside, disaster struck!   Dai was mending the fire and then suddenly, I heard a lot of blaspheming (wot, from Dai?…. Surely not!!).   Somehow the glass door on the fire shattered.    Temperature outside plummeting as we are forecast below freezing tonight and we have to let the fire go out.   Thank god (well,  thanks really to Ian and Irene off NB Freespirit blogging about their fire glass shattering) we had a spare since Braunston (remember me ranting about “gold plated cardboard” a few weeks back?).   After a hour or two, Dai managed to lift the door off its hinges and put it outside to cool down quicker, which it did, but then one of the fixing bolts seared off!
To cut a long story short, Dai did manage to wrangle it so the glass went in and, in fact, the door back on the fire before it went out completely!    So now, we need to source a new door but at least it will do its job until then (fingers crossed!!).

Going to stay put for a week or so now (got plenty of wood, coal, full water tank and 3 empty loo cassettes).    Will see what the village of Shrewley has to offer in the way of fresh veg and meat, but if nothing, Hatton train station is only a bridge or 2 away so I can get into Warwick if necessary - Happy Days!!

Do hope that anyone reading this who has had (or having) flood problems, that you are OK now ---- no more rain forecast for immediate future, just freezing temperatures!

Since last blog we have done … 8 miles and 23 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2065 miles and  1701 locks  

this was towpath side
as Foxxie couldn't see the towpath
(and probably remembering the time she jumped into the
canal from the wrong side)
she wouldn't jump off for her early morning ablutions

pound between Hatton Locks 33 and 34 empty
quite a mystery as therewas more water than the sea
cascading over the bywash.
We discovered the next day that CART men had drained it as
the house right by the lock was in danger of being flooded

wood bounty

CART are doing a lot of tree felling on Hatton Flight.
They know that if they just leave them, they won't be
there very long.   We boaters are very happy to shift them!

a nice towpath walker informed us that they were ash willow

What will be dangled in the Cut next?

Quiet week as we still on “go slow” because of winter stoppages at Lapworth lock flight and Camp Hill (we could go either way into Birmingham from here) which are both due to open on December 7.

Moved from Long Itchington down through Bascote 2-lock staircase and the 2 “normal locks” fully intending to then moor but - as is a constant problem at this time of year - nowhere to moor unless we wanted a mud bath every time we ventured off the boat!  Not a problem really for us but Foxxie does get a very dirty undercarriage!    So we carried on and stopped just above Lock 22.    

All the way down these “candlestick” locks (as I call them, Dai calls them lolllipops) there is the usable wide lock with the original single lock blocked off and used as a bywash.    So we moored in front of the old single lock well out of the way of the double one.   There was a little fishermans tent (ar, well, the tent was little I mean!) pitched there but no-one around.  No worries, he’s probably gone home for something or even perhaps inside fast asleep.

Guess what greeted us when we got up the next morning?    No, unfortunately not a frying pan full of fish - or even a solo tiddler - but a chappie washing his feet in the canal !  Now its middle of November and was blowing a gale strong enough for me to send out urgent requests for seasick pills.   I so wanted to take a photo but dare not as he was obviously a crazy man.   But you know how you want not to look at something but for some reason you are mesmerised?    So it was - I was just wondering what he would be washing next !!     But no, he just put his boots on (I bet the socks walked away by themselves) and then his 2 mates arrived.   

They were OK and didn’t bother us but got louder and louder as the contents of the White Diamond bottles reduced and even, at one stage, started fighting and then suddenly all went quiet.   It was too dark by now for Dai to check how many bodies were in the cut, I was just glad they had shut up because naturally by now, Foxxie was getting a bit vocal.

Dai was woken up this morning by arguing so I guess they had just passed out last night so we decided we would up pins and move.   However, it then started teeming down and as all was quiet on the western front, we stayed warm and dry inside.   The rain stopped about 2 pm so we decided to move and just went down 2 locks and are now moored in open countryside just before Leamington Spa.  

Since last blog we have done … 5 miles and 9 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2057 miles and  1678 locks

I tried it but my legs are too short!

34 degrees and rising

…. Well it was inside the boat the other day when we got back from a 2 hour walk!!   When we opened the back door, the heat billowing out was like when you get off an aeroplane somewhere like Madrid in the middle of summer …. Oh boy, we had to rush in and open all the windows before it was safe enough to stay in and breathe at the same time!     

A coal/wood fire is not easy to control unless you damp it right down like we do just before we go to bed.   Trouble then is during the day when you are just sitting in the boat at this time of year, you do need a bit more heat than during the night but then it gets soooo hot, all the windows are open and I‘m down to my thin cotton nightie which must look a bit odd (and “odd“ is only as far as I am prepared to go!!) when those lovely people walking the towpath “glance“ through the windows!   

When we had Jandai built, we also had gas central heating fitted as we think it is essential to have more than one source of heating just in case one breaks down or it gets mega mega cold.     We have only ever put the central heating on twice in the bedroom for about half a hour.

We came down the 10 wide locks at Stockton yesterday - all set against us and no-one else in sight!    Hard work.   I’m trying not to think about the upcoming Hatton Flight which is I believe 21 and we’ll be going up!!     Plan is to lurk at the bottom and wait for someone else to share the locks with!!

So we are moored now at Long Itchington with its 6 pubs - unbelievable as it‘s only a village with just one shop (little Co-op with Post Office inside) so how does it support 6 pubs??    Last time we were here in 2010 there was a big sign on the road as you entered the village boosting about the number of pubs but it’s no longer there.    Perhaps some villagers aren’t as proud of this fact as others!!

Went a nice walk today along a disused railway track - these tracks are great and it does make a change to walk without the canal on one side!      Dai is out with Foxxie foraging for wood even though I don’t know where he’s going to put it - the roof is just about full !
Ah well, keeps him amused and gives me a bit of peace!

Since last blog we have done … 4 miles and 13 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2052 miles and  1669 locks  

"candlestick" paddles on the GU

there is the "nut thing" hanging on the chain
 that you fix on when you've
wound up the paddle to stop it closing

Lias Line Cycleway map on the disused
rail track at Long Itchington

where's yer bike Foxxie??
This is a Cycleway - so the info board tells us

Found some - I'll have that ....
and come back for the rest

Bit too big a stick for Foxxie !
although she was pestering Dai for him to chuck it for her!

Gold plated cardboard

After reading Ian and Irene's blog entry of 29 October, we thought we’d better get a spare glass door insert for our fire and, as it happened, we were in Braunston for a long weekend so walked up to Midland Chandlers.    I really must try and keep my mouth shut in shops these days!  Okay, so nearly £50 for a bit of glass measuring about 7 inches square - cool.   It wasn’t that which was so expensive, it was the cardboard protecting it at about 2 foot square as, hopefully, the glass will sit in there for ever being protected as we’ll never have to use it.  £50 for peace of mind - okay, can live with that (ha ha).

So, first frost Monday night - Fritz (our weather boy) recorded a night time low of -1.8 degrees.   Lots of rain this last week too and the towpath in Braunston was like a quagmire.    We came down the locks and I stayed off the boat then to find a mooring spot and, to be honest, think it is rather disgusting that the towpath is left like it is.   For some reason (unknown to me) Braunston appears to be “one of those canal places you must visit” so is very popular with visitors who then must spend money in the village shops and pubs - so you would think they could do something with the towpath.    I expect it to be left to nature in the countryside - and, in fact, want it to be, but really you would think that these canalside villages/towns would go everything they can to attract boaters to stay a night or two.   Eventually I found a mooring not quite as knee deep in mud as others so we were lucky.   I wonder how many other boaters went through the village and onwards taking their money somewhere else.    I better shut up about this subject, else I will be on a bigger soapbox than I am already!!

Good general store in Braunston with post office and brilliant butcher.   Also a chippie although don’t know if any good as it appears to only be open for short times.    Two pubs on the High Street; big Marston’s pub/eatery by canal (although it is on offsite so you have to walk up the hill to village, along the road and down the hill !!) and the Admiral Nelson by Lock 3 ---- which reminds me.   We would have eaten there but no way prepared to get muddied up to the armpits trying to get there.

We left Braunston yesterday and are now moored just before Calcutt Top Lock.    Now that half-term has gone and winter stoppages started, the amount of boats we will see is vastly reduced - just us hardened continuous cruisers enjoying the winter solitude!  


Since last blog we have done … 10 miles and 6 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2048 miles and  1656 locks


sorry no pictures - internet connection off and on, off and on

Love is near-raw cauliflower

……. I realised this week!!    I can only eat vegetables if they just look at the steamer (and that’s one reason why we never go out for Sunday lunch as, in my experience, there is always moshy veg and too much gravy swimming around the plate).   Dai likes his veg (well, cauliflower and broccoli) a bit more cooked BUT he always tries to do the Sunday lunch veg to my taste.   Isn’t he wonderful !!

We left Crick last Thursday morning, through the Tunnel and then down Watford Locks which is (going down) - one normal lock; a 4 lock staircase; two normal locks.   There was a volunteer lockkeeper on and then a second one arrived to take on the afternoon shift.   The staircase uses the same system as Foxton Locks - ie, side pounds and you have to operate the red paddle first, then the white one.

Forgive me all you southerners but I always thought that Watford was very close to London as there is always the thing about the north/south divide being at Watford Gap.    So I was quite surprised to see that we were going down the Watford Locks on the Leicester Arm of the Grand Union Canal !!   Silly me!!   There is obviously Watford Gap and Watford - two different locations!!   And did you know that the Watford Gap Services were the first services on the M1 motorway opened on 2 November 1959?  In fact, you can find out all sorts of joys about Watford Gap Services here.

We moored just before Norton Junction (where the Leicester Arm of the GU joins the mainline - you turn left to travel towards London and right towards Birmingham - and are still here tonight!   It is a 14 day mooring in the middle of nowhere so we are forced to go for lots of long walks!!    So went back up the towpath towards Watford Locks as the M1 services are right by the canal but only got a newspaper there last Saturday as no way was I going to pay £1.25 for a litre of milk !

We walked towards Braunston with the aim of looking at Welton village but turned the wrong way off the canal (left instead of right) and very soon passed a sign welcoming us to Daventry.   We had no idea as Nicholsons makes no mention of the fact!   Anyway we then saw a lot of parked cars up this road so went to investigate and found a small shopping centre of a pub, pharmacy, doctors, dentists, Tesco Metro and a chippie.   Result!!    So naturally as it was lunchtime we had a bag of chips and then purchases some essentials from Tesco.    Didn’t bother going on to Daventry town centre as we suspected it was probably miles away as the bus stop indicated you caught the bus to Daventry from there!

Yesterday (Tuesday) we decided to walk to Braunston which according to the sign at the Junction is four and a quarter miles away.   The towpath doesn’t go through the tunnel (long, wet, kinky one) so we had to go up and over so goodness knows how many more miles this added to the journey!    And when the sign says 4 miles to Braunston, where exactly in Braunston do they mean?    There is Braunston Tunnel, then 6 locks, then boatyards and the marina and the actual village is off the canal.    So, not sure how many miles we ended up doing but my leg muscles reckon it was more than Dai said !!

Bit of sadness in that the pub “the New Inn” at the first of the Buckby Locks just after the Junction towards London is all boarded up.   On April 22, 2010 we ate Desperate Dan pies there, it was so good, it got a mention in the blog that week here !   ---- and we repeated the exercise on 26 May 2010 on our return from London.

Our thoughts these last couple of days have been with friends/family in the USA and Canada  with the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.    It reminded me of the time I got stuck in New York because of Hurricane Floyd in September 1999 - that was bad enough but nothing like Sandy.  Mother Nature certainly is a force to reckon with.

We will probably cruise down to Braunston for the weekend and then the plan is to carry on the Grand Union to Napton Junction.   Of course this is now the time of year when you have to make a bit of a plan because of the winter stoppages which start next week, so our bit of a plan right now is to get to Lapworth Locks or Camp Hill Locks by Dec 7 when the stoppages are lifted there to travel on into Birmingham.   Unfortunately they both start mid November so unless we really rushed we would “normally” arrive in the middle of the stoppage!    It’s no problem, we just take our time now for a bit and hope we don’t have to re-visit the Plan because of being iced in !!

Since last blog we have done … 5 miles and 7 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2038 miles and  1650 locks

Another canalside pub bites the dust.
The New Inn at Buckby Top Lock on the Grand Union

Wonder if this was done by the Water Sprites for Halloween?
Spotted by Wilton Marina at bottom of Buckby Locks
on our walk today (Wed, Halloween tonight)

and here is Dai doing another Good Turn today 
as he attempts to close Buckby Top Lock gate

Moist Doldrums

What an odd week this has been ……

Before I go into that though - one big piece of good news is that Amy and Andy have both got jobs this week with work permits teaching English over in Chiang Mai, Thailand.   I am so very proud (now waiting for my first class air ticket to Thailand as they become baht millionaires!!)

We’re been moored outside Crick Marina since last Saturday and it feels like we are “becalmed” in the Doldrums - not that that I‘ve ever really experienced this but I have watched the movie “Master and Commander” more than once!!   It’s been - and still is today - very warm day and night (umm, is it usually around 16 degrees outside during the day and falling to 12 degrees at its lowest in the night at this time of year??) no wind, moist and mirky and misty outside.

Added to the “doldrums” feeling is that I haven’t been off the boat for 3 days now.   Let me explain why :  Last week I decided it was time for socks and boots as it was getting a bit nippy round the toe ends and too muddy on the towpath to stay with the bare feet and walking sandals.    So I donned the colder weather footwear for a nice long walk along the towpath - oh no,  the first outing of boots resulted in agony.  When we got back to Jandai,  I gingerly removed them and it was like a bloodbath.   No, seriously, my heels resembled raw liver and only today, 3 days later, am I able to hobble about without dripping blood everywhere.   

OK, I know I am sometimes prone to a bit of exaggeration but it was so bad, the boots are in the nearest skip and I’ve had to hunt out my reserve pair as Dai wants to move tomorrow.  He and Foxxie are now fed up of walking the same bit of path - ha ha, especially as he walked back to Yelvertoft yesterday to visit the butcher there and he was closed all day!   Mind you, they went again today and so we are well stocked with bacon and sausage.   Although - poo - they are not “Award Winning”.    We have to laugh at so many butchers we come across ---- with their “Award Winning” posters and Certificates with Gold Stamps embossed on them pinned up --- we never realised how many “Sausage Champion” shows there must be around and about.

Following my comments about the “noisy parkers” last week, 2 fellow bloggers told us: 

Well I don't suppose it would work as well on a narrow boat, but when I had a problem with a rude male neighbour who thought it would be good to flash naked whenever i came to my living room window, I took the male nude centerfold out of Playgirl magazine and taped it up to the window! He soon lost interest in flashing me. We haven't had any over curious nosy peeps except very small children which Les always offers them a peek inside the main cabin from the front steps.

And

As far as nosy people go we once had a hand, grasping a compact camera come in the side hatch and take a photo', he then turned the camera round and took a picture the other way. That was on the Thames, lucky we were only having a cuppa at the time.

Dai and I had to laugh the other day - a small boy was approaching Jandai and I heard him say (remember, very warm this last week so lots of windows open) “I’m going to have a good look into this boat”.    So, true to his word, he came up very close to the window only to say, very sadly “oh no, I’m not, there’s someone in there”.    It doesn’t seem very funny written down here does it?    I think it was more his tone - going from loud/excited to soft/forlorn.   OK, you had to be here!

So, our next excitement is going through Crick Tunnel and then down Watford Locks.  We are even contemplating a McDonnells or a KFC or a Burger King pig-out as the canal touches the M1 Watford Gap Services after the Locks - well, it would be out of character as, yes, we have started the ritual pot of stew on the fire, now that the fire is in 24/7 !

Take care everyone on Halloween and don’t forget the clocks go back this coming weekend - from your crippled blogger Janice

Since last blog we have done … 11 miles and 0 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2033 miles and  1643 locks  

Sorry, no photos this week as internet connection here is too weak.

Ways to stop the Noisy Parkers!

Foxton Flight done - and probably the easiest flight I have ever locked through!
Two staircases of 5 locks each - took us around 45 minutes.   The lock-keeper set us off but after the first one, obviously assessed that we did know what we were doing and left us to it (and there was me thinking I would have help all the way up!)

Stayed a few nights at the top of the flight as we knew Roger and Pat off NB Cats Whiskers were on their way (going other way to us).   Had a very nice meal at the Foxton Locks Inn and then a pint at the other pub just across the canal called “Bridge 61”.   Mind you, the price of beer was frightening - £3.50 a pint at Foxton Locks and £3.30 at Bridge 61.   I know we are headed south but we’ll still in Leicestershire!!

Actually today we are in Northamptonshire - moored at the junction with the Welford Arm.   Went down the Arm last Monday after finding nowhere to moor between Foxton Locks and start of the Arm, so thought we may as well go the 2 miles to the end.   Several moorings but all taken!!  (Roger - you said there was plenty of room!!).    Anyway, we ended up blocking another boat in, with Jandai in the bushes from about half way down We decided on this course of action as a boat at the start of the “proper” moorings told us he was leaving in the morning, so we could move into that space….. Which is what we did and spent Tuesday night there.    
   
Trouble was we could only tie up the back and side, so when the wind started up during the night we were rudely awoken by the banging (repeat of the night in Market Harborough basin a week or so ago!).    

Big trumpet fanfare - our friends Fred and Lisa had handover of their narrowboat this week so look out for NB Chyandour on your travels or look at their blog at chyandour 

Telly heaven this last week ---- Strictly is back and Bake Off Final yesterday - love them both (and so does Dai by the way).

I am building up ways to deter those Noisy Parkers (those who know me well, know I am being very polite by saying “Parkers” - those who don’t will just have to make a guess at what I usually call them!).   That night in Welford Basin was good because at least no-one could walk by and peer in through the windows with vegetation one side and the canal the other!!   I am thinking of making a big sign inviting boarders at £1 a time for a proper look-see; feel like sticking my tongue out with a big scowl and waving fist.   What I do do when I get too fed up with it, is simply close the curtains!     It doesn’t bother Dai at all and I can cope with the “quick glancers”; laugh at the “I’m having a good look but pretending not to-ers” but the “press my nose to the window for a real good take it all in-ers” do get to me sometimes!!    Any good ideas would be most welcome!

With that said, I’d better now download the week’s photos and decide which to show you …….

Since last blog we have done … 12 miles and 12 locks  
Total since Setting Off ….. 2022 miles and  1643 locks  

Pat and Roger on back of Cat's Whiskers
going down in last lock of Foxton Flight

looking down Foxton Flight

looking up Foxton Flight

where has everyone gone?

one of the many info plaques around Foxton Locks

too much water on Foxton flight
pouring over the top gate