A change of plans!

On Friday evening we had some visitors.

Gary was having a cigarette with the cratch cover wound up, and these two cheeky chaps decided to pay us a visit and get fed! We couldnt refuse.

At the same time we noticed how good the Boathouse pub looked reflected in the water!

On Saturday morning Martin arrived to have another go at fixing the leaking window. This time he removed the window and added more sealing tape before replacing the window. This seems to have worked (so far). When we return to MGM in the Spring the windows will be checked and adjusted as necessary to make sure no further problems arise.

We were keen to do a test run with the “fixed” engine, so after 4 days moored opposite the pub we headed off – to the water point (first) and then turned in the marina entrance and headed off (with quite a few other boats) back down the Oxford Canal towards Napton Junction to give the batteries a good charge!

We ended up in a 5 boat convoy all the way to the junction, where we turned round (along with one of the others in the convoy) and headed back towards Braunston. We moored up by Foxes Gate after 3 1/2 hours running – very pleased with the performance, batteries charging nicely, both alternators working as designed AND NO HUNTING!!!!! Bliss.

Sunday we had decided to stay put, but then we had a phone call from Niece Natalie asking if we would like to go for Sunday Dinner at Yvonne and Roys with the rest of the family – and they would collect us if we wished. So we moved back to Braunston so we could take up the offer, as it was easier to collect us from there.

Pulling away at Foxes Gate, who should we find moored a few boats ahead but more bloggers!

Graham was inside, and Jill was outside with the dogs – we waved on the way past!

Sunday lunch was hectic with 8 adults, 2 kiddies and 2 dogs – and I forgot to get the camera out again! Thanks to Yvonne and Roy for a lovely meal, and Nat and Matty for collecting us, and Nicole, Ben, Riley and Freddy for being there too!

We had a change of plan on Monday. As we had moored to the left of the junction at Braunston (opposite Midland Chandlers) and were facing north (ish), our original plan had been to head towards Rugby to shop in Tescos, but first we had to fill with water at the tap opposite!

As you can see, we are not the only people that do this!

Looking back at the junction at Braunston.

As we headed off, the weather decided to deteriorate and the drizzle started!

The weather forecast for this week is mainly cold, but with heavy rain forecast for Wednesday, so we decided to leave Tescos in Rugby for another time, as we had decided to head back to Warwick for the weekend, as my brother Terry and his wife Wendy were heading up to Birmingham for the Christmas Market and were going to visit us on the way.

We headed up the Oxford and turned at the winding point by Hillmorton Wharf, and headed back to Braunston, another battery charging test run successfully completed. We arrived back at Braunston just as darkness fell, and we moored back in the spot we had left in the morning!

Tuesday we made a fairly early start for us – 10.30 am, and headed off towards Napton Junction (again!). We turned right onto the Grand Union (dejavu here definitely), and headed down the Calcutt Locks after a brief stop to fill our diesel cans ready to top up the tank for our diesel stove – we didnt want to get caught out with this cold spell upon us!

We steamed on, determined to get through the Stockton Locks in the sunshine and started down the flight at 3pm!

We made good progress – and not a drop of rain in sight!

We soon got in to the rhythm – I went on to each lock to fill it ready for Gary to drive into

leaving Gary to move Muleless out of each lock and shut the gates behind him!

and then move on down to the ready lock ahead!

We made it to the bottom of the 8 locks in 1 hour 15 minutes! Now we just had two more locks to go through before mooring for the night just below the Two Boats pub – of course by the time we got through them the light was fading fast and Gary had to put on our super bright LED tunnel light to see where he was going. He was running on electric drive and several boaters peered out of windows to see the “ghost boat” float by!!

There was a brilliant atmospheric scene as we passed the Blue Lias Pub and the boats on the moorings there – but unfortunately the camera decided it was full so I couldnt take a picture!

Wednesday, we had a lazy day sitting out the rain, just going for a walk to the Co-op in the village in the afternoon and returning via the locks to take a picture - not as good as last nights shot would have been!

Just then the rain came down again – so we sheltered in the Two Boats with a couple of drinks, before returning to the boat to prepare dinner and write this blog!

Blog posted from Warwick on Saturday, as no internet signal for a few days. The rest of the journey will be in next blog!

An eventful trip to Asda!

So Monday last week we decided it was time we explored the Grand Union some more, and since we needed a few staples (wine supplies were low), we decided to head towards Leamington Spa to visit Asda.

As we were leaving Braunston we passed this famous blogger but unfortunately didnt get to say hello! We keep missing people – as the weather has turned chilly we just dont hang about outside our boats to chat as much!

We didnt get far, just 3 miles, and decided to stop by the Bridge 102 moorings.

Tuesday turned out to be a very windy day – not good! We needed a pump out and were heading into Wigrams Marina for this.

Getting into the Marina through the narrow entrance was the easy bit – much more difficult was trying to spin round and reverse onto the service wharf, which the wind wouldnt let us do! Luckily the service chap was on hand to assist and the manoeuvre was accomplished in the end.

After being pumped out, we filled with water using the hose normally used for topping up the hire boats – the fastest water top up so far! We waited on the service wharf (no other boats needed to use it) until the wind had dropped a bit and then made a dash for freedom before the wind trapped us against the hire boat fleet!

Heading out of the marina we had to head straight across the junction and onto the Grand Union heading onto yet more new territory!

Just a short distance took us to the three Calcutt Locks – big double locks again, like we had last seen at Stenson on the Trent and Mersey, but these on the GU are a bit different with hydraulic paddles.

We decided not to tackle the Stockton flight of 8 locks until the next day – which turned out to be a mistake, as it rained steadily all day!

Kitted out with our wet weather gear we started down the Stockton Locks – despite seeing no other boats and having to turn each lock before going into it we were making good time until one of our fenders leapt off the boat just as we headed into lock 5 – and disappeared into the deep water!

We had already “lost” a fender twice so far on our journey since Leicester, and usually the wooden hook (that Mark at MGM made for us) will float to the top of the canal, even though the rubber fender sits on the bottom attached by a thin rope, and we can usually just pick it up. This time the water just above the lock was much deeper – about 5/6 feet, so the hook couldnt float to the top! We havent got a boat hook, so after poking about with the pole for a whilst decided we would have to leave the fender to its watery grave!

We carried on to the next lock and then noticed a boat just starting up the flight 2 locks ahead. We exited our lock and pulled up in the pound to wait for them and save turning the lock before they got to it, and I walked down and asked to borrow their boat hook! It was a hire boat and the crew looked at me a bit strange as I explained I needed the hook to retrieve a fender – but they let me borrow it.  Off I trotted, leaving Gary with Muleless, and on my hands and knees started fishing about with the boat hook for the fender.

After 15 minutes, I was about to give up as the hire boat were just approaching the lock, when suddenly I hooked something! Result! I triumphantly returned the boat hook to the hireboaters whilst brandishing my fender – now they were sure I was loopy!

I rejoined Gary and Muleless, and we carried on down the flight – even with our hold up for the fender we did the flight in 1 hour 50 mins, which we were quite pleased with.

We found the water point, and of course had to stop to fill the tank!

The Blue Lias Pub has a large beer garden and a caravan site attached, it must be really busy in summer, but no one was there that day!

Just two more locks took us to the bottom of the Stockton locks and our mooring for the night. We were glad to get out of our wet gear and into something more comfortable!

Thursday turned out a much nicer day – no rain! So we set off again looking forward to descending locks in sunshine!

The first locks we hit were the Bascote Staircase (where the front gates of the top lock are also the back gates of the bottom lock), followed by two separate locks.

Notice the fender is now safely on the roof whilst we are travelling!

And the sun was definitely out, even though it was still chilly!

We had six more locks and 3 more miles to go before stopping for the night after Radford Bottom Lock.

We were now only one mile from the mooring for Asda, but decided to leave that for the next day.

Friday, the weather turned again! We managed to get to the mooring by the Fusilier pub just before it started to rain – but found it difficult to moor as the edge was shallow.

We walked up to Asda (about 20 minutes away at my slow pace) and proceeded to shop – and shop and shop! We ended up with way too much to walk back to the boat with, so had to get a taxi!

It was still raining, but we didnt want to stay where we were and we didnt really want to moor up in the main part of Leamington, so we moved on to find a turning point – but decided as we were getting wet (again) anyway, we might as well go on to the further away winding hole, to check out Leamington for the next visit and to get some charge in our batteries!

It was too wet to get the camera out, so no photos of Leamington until next visit!

We ended up back at our mooring below Radford Bottom Lock – but facing the other way!

Saturday we decided to stay put – we needed a rest day after all that rain again!

Sunday was a lovely sunny day, and just as we were about to set off, who should turn up but Yvonne and Roy and Tilly again! This time they had walked to us from home three and a half miles away!

After a cup of tea, we set off back up the locks, Yvonne and Roy travelled with us to save their legs for a bit, Tilly is getting the hang of being a canalboat dog, and sits by Gary watching the world go by – I will take a photo next time!

We pulled in for water just before the Fosse Locks, and Yvonne and Roy left us to walk home. There was a boat on the water point already filling, and it was about an hour before they were full! As we topped up our tank, we decided to have lunch whilst we waited, so at least we didnt have to stop again.

Although the sun was out it was low in the sky, and we were mostly in the shade as we motored along, but the locks were evenly spaced to warm us up as we went!

We arrived back at the Bascote locks at about 3.50 and debated whether to go up or not – yes we would go for it.

As the locks are close together I could ready the next lock as Muleless ascended the first one, and we emerged at the top at 4.30.

The lovely clear sky meant it stayed light enough for us to travel the next mile, to moor up just before Long Itchington.

Monday was supposed to start drizzly and then clear up – but our luck was not with us – and it decided to drizzle and rain steadily until well into the afternoon.

At this stage we were resigned to travelling the Stockton locks in the rain – so on we plodded again! We managed to ascend the flight of 8 locks in just 1 hour and 15 minutes – even turning each lock first! We were pleased with our progress!

We had decided to pop into Calcutt Boats by Calcutt Locks to get diesel – this meant a tricky manoeuvre between locks 2 and 1 and Gary reversing onto the service point! This achieved, we filled up at a very reasonable 87p/litre on self declaration!

It was rapidly getting dark as we went up the last lock and turned onto the Oxford Canal to moor for the night – no pictures again today – too much rain!

Tuesday we made the short journey to Braunston, where we had arranged for Martin from MGM and Graham from Hybrid Marine to visit us to sort out some problems.

Graham arrived on Wednesday afternoon and spent a few hours checking things over and left still scratching his head! We had a problem not before experienced by other hybrid owners, but armed with first hand knowledge of what was happening he journeyed on to his next customer still thinking about our problem!

We decided to visit the Boathouse pub to try their 2 currys and 2 drinks for £11 offer – which was well worth it!

Thursday morning Martin arrived – we had a leaking window that urgently needed attention – all that rain was taking its toll! He made a few other adjustments to things whilst he was here – shaving a bit off the cupboard door on the integrated freezer, filling a few settlement gaps etc, and after (hopefully) fixing the window leak he left us contemplating dinner at the Old Plough, up the hill.

Just then, Graham rang to say he was on his back down country and was going to pop in to see us as he had a theory about our problem!

He arrived at 5.45pm and proceeded to check out his theory in a very dark engine bay by the light of a torch!

Eureka!!!! He found the problem! We had a blown 24volt 70amp fuse on the alternators and this had been making the dual alternators “fight” each other and had been causing the engine to “hunt” at a certain stage of the charging process.

Graham went on his way, and we went up to the Old Plough to celebrate with their “pie and pudding for £6" offer – which was delicious!! We rolled back down the hill very full at 10pm – a very late night out for us!

This morning (friday) we had to test the “fixed” window by pouring water over it – unfortunately it still leaks, so Martin is coming back tomorrow morning to have another go!

This is the longest we have stayed in one place since leaving Leicester on 14 September on our great adventure 9 weeks ago!

Next week we are planning a trip to Tescos in Rugby – exciting stuff!!

Its been an eventful 3 weeks since last blog!

I cant believe it was 9 Oct last time I blogged – we seem to have been rushed off our feet (!) since then.

On 10 Oct, Sam from Foxton Boat Services arrived to diagnose our engine problem on behalf of Beta – he diagnosed a poorly alternator that needed replacing and had to make several adjustments to the engine that should have been done when it left the factory! Trust us to get the “rogue” engine. Sam promised to be in touch ASAP when he received the new alternator to fit it, so we finally left Braunston on Friday 11 Oct.

Approaching Braunston Turn to head down the Oxford Canal – under the first bridge.

We didnt get far, as it started to rain quite heavily, so we moored up to wait it out and then continued on to Napton Junction the next day. We wanted to pop into Calcutt Boats to talk to them about our Hurricane Heater, as our central heating had decided to stop working over the last couple of days – it would still heat the hot water, but not the radiators. We also wanted to check out Wigrams Turn Marina at the junction, as we needed to leave the boat in a marina whilst we headed down south for some commitments.

We left Calcutt after a helpful chat, turned round and headed back out to the Oxford Canal – turning sharp right to carry on towards Napton.

We moored just before the Folly – so it would have been rude not to pop in for a drink – and whilst we were there we booked a table for dinner in the evening with Yvonne and Roy, since we were now only 20 mins (by car) from their house!

We had a lovely meal and a great evening, dampened only by the torrential rain when we walked back to the boat!

We stayed put on Sunday, walked to the post office shop in Napton and chilled out ready for the hectic next couple of days!

Monday we pulled pins, turned round and headed back to Wigrams Turn Marina. We had arranged to collect our car from Yvonne and Roy to drive south, so thought we would be on our way by noon – but no, this was not meant to be!

When we plugged in to the shoreline it was only a couple of minutes before it tripped out – this kept happening and we were getting really frustrated – having been stationery for the weekend our batteries were at about 55% charge – not a problem normally, but the hybrid system is designed to run on a 16amp shoreline supply and even though this was supposed to be 16amp it could not handle the draw of power that our inverter was making. We had several phone conversations with Mark of MGM and Graham of Hybrid Marine, and after running our engine to top the batteries up to 60% we finally managed to keep the landline running, sorted ourselves out ready to leave, and decided to unplug the shoreline whilst we were gone just in case it tripped out again and tripped the mains fuse (which it had been doing) to make sure the fridge and freezer would stay on whilst we were gone. We now had the batteries up to 73% so knew we had enough power for a few days.

We finally left at 4.30, hit rush hour traffic and a few jams and didnt arrive at Mums until 7.45pm Luckily Mum had a casserole in the oven for us, so after a lovely meal we settled down with some wine to catch up and relax.

Tuesday was Mums birthday – one of the reasons we were down, we left mum with some visiting friends and went to St Marys Hospital for the other reason we were down – Gary had an appointment to have some sun damaged skin on his nose removed – luckily this didnt take long, and with only a small plaster on his nose and an appointment for 6 weeks time we left to get some other things done, including an update to my phone and mobile internet.

When we returned to Mum’s, her Sister Julie was visiting, so of course we had to update her on all our recent adventures, just as she left, my nephew Simon and his children arrived to see Nan/Great Nan. Less than ten minutes later my brother Terry, his wife Wendy and their other son Chris turned up, and just as we were organising drinks for everyone, their daughter Cheryl turned up and the house was full to bursting point! Mum was overwhelmed to see all her children, their spouses, grandchildren and great grandchildren at the same time. Terry popped out to get fish and chips for us all and we had a great couple of hours. Wendy had brought along a lovely trifle to tempt us all too. With all the excitement I didnt take any pictures – must try harder next time!

We had to leave Mum and the family again for a couple of hours, as we had to pop round to our friend Lee who has been cutting my hair for years and she had promised to tidy us both up whilst we were down south – I needed a severe hairstyle change to suit the canal life!

After a leisurely start on Wednesday we made our way back to the boat arriving at 3pm, in time to light the stove and warm the boat up before night, as the heating still wasnt working. We plugged in the shoreline and were pleased that it didnt trip out.

We should have been leaving the marina on Thursday, but decided to stay another day, as Sam was arriving to fit the new alternator, and Mark and Martin from MGM were coming to sort out the heating and our shoreline charging problem!

So Thursday was a hive of activity! First Mark and Martin arrived, and after the obligatory cup of tea set to finding the heating problem – which turned out to be a loose connection on the motorised valve which was of course boxed in! This was soon fixed and the boat then warmed up nicely again! They then fitted a Victron remote switching unit, which enables us to reduce the amps that the inverter calls for from a landline – so we wont have that problem again!

No sooner had they left, than Sam turned up armed with our new alternator and fitted that! In the meantime I had been using the large washing machine and tumble drier to catch up with some washing.

We quite liked it in Wigrams Marina, very friendly staff, nice spacious moorings (albeit on very long pontoons!) and great washing and drying facilities.

Here is Muleless about centre in the picture – the pontoons are long enough for 4 boats!

So on Friday 18 October, after fully charging and equalising our batteries via the shoreline, we moved off – first visiting the service wharf for a pump out, which involved some nifty manoeuvring on Garys part – well done Gary!

As we still had the car at the marina, we decided to keep it for the weekend to get some shopping done, so Gary made his maiden solo voyage from Wigrams Marina round to the moorings at the Folly, and I drove the car and left it in the Folly Car park.

We moored on the 48hr spots ready for heading up the locks on Sunday.

On Saturday we drove to Tesco in Southam to top up the cupboards and returned the car to Yvonne and Roy, who dropped us back at the Folly with our shopping just as the thunderstorm hit – so we sheltered under the bridge for ten minutes waiting for the rain to slow!

On Sunday we moved off, stopping first to top up with water at the bottom of the locks!

It was the first time we had been this way, so exciting stuff!

As we made our way up the locks we had a fantastic view of Napton, including the church where niece Natalie was married to Matty on 31 March 2012!

We only just got to the top of the flight when the heavens opened and the rain hammered down. Luckily there was space to moor next to the water point!

On Monday we had to make an appointment for Gary to have his stitches out at a local doctors, we got an appointment for Tuesday, so decided to stay where we were so that Roy could pick us up from the road there.

Tuesday went as planned, we had lunch with Yvonne and Roy (who are currently remodelling their kitchen) then took our own car to the doctors, stitches successfully removed, then we drove over the Asda in Leamington to top up the wine supplies and a few other bits. Yvonne and Roy then dropped us back at the boat.

On wednesday, with low batteries needing charging and 9 and half miles of lock free cruising ahead we set off. Just one mile further on, after a quick burst of reverse to clear the prop of leaves – Houston we have a problem! we are stuck in reverse! Engage forward – still going backwards – in neutral – still going backwards!!!!!

After turning off the engine, drifting a bit and Gary leaping the gap – we managed to get a rope initially round a tree, and then pins in to hold us in place – phew – but we were still half way across the canal with the front end as the side was shallow.

Luckily we had a signal on the phone, so we managed to get hold of Mark at MGM to explain the problem! After much head scratching, and testing of the gear box cable after stripping down the morse control, we diagnosed the problem as a broken gear box cable – very unusual, for a new boat especially! Mark said he would come straight out to us – where were we?

Gary walked to the nearest farm and got their postcode as we were at least a mile from the nearest normal road! Mark had to find the farm and then follow the farm track to the canal!

Whilst moored in this precarious position, all the passing boats were most concerned and several offered help! Even Timothy West went by!

Mark and Rachel duly turned up having stopped off to buy a new cable on the way! They eventually sorted everything out and set us on our way again at about 3pm! Thanks guys.

We cruised on for two miles, but as dark was approaching we had to moor up. Luckily we had boosted the batteries enough – well done hybrid!

As Thursday dawned we were on a mission – we wanted to reach Cropredy by nightfall, so set off eagerly. We were still in sight of Napton Hill with a long way to go!

After four miles of very meandering canal we decided to stop for water at the Wharf Inn, Fenny Compton. Fast tap here, so didnt stop too long!

As we approached the top of the Claydon flight, we had a text from Yvonne and Roy, who had decided to take advantage of the lovely weather and take a break from the kitchen to do some shopping in Banbury and lunch in Cropredy and then walk up the flight to meet us – wonderful – help doing the locks, just in time!

We were at the third lock down when they found us, just in time, as these locks are hard work! They helped us make short work of the rest of the locks and arrived in Cropredy and moored up at 4.30pm – brilliant.

After a well earned cup of tea we walked them back to their car, which was parked at the Brasenose Arms where they had had a very nice lunch.

We walked back to the boat and then decided to treat ourselves to dinner out after such a stressful couple of days (any excuse!!) We had a very nice meal and returned to the boat to recuperate!

Friday saw us moving on towards Banbury – passing some familiar boats  moored near the lock – Derwent 6 and Moore to Life! Sorry we didnt get to chat guys, catch you next time!

Cropredy is a lovely village, next time we will stay longer!

We were heading to Banbury, and having not been there on a boat before wanted to arrive at a reasonable time to choose a good mooring spot.

On the outskirts of Banbury we passed these two chaps – next time anyone says “where did you leave your mule then” we can tell them “Banbury”!!

We pulled in to moor at Spiceball Park, before the town centre, a nice quiet wooded spot.

We walked down to the town centre, checked out the moorings there, decided to stay where we were and went for a mooch round the shops.

Saturday we were thinking of leaving Banbury, but because of the impending “storm” decided to stay sheltered until monday. We spent the day visiting B&Q and Tesco and playing around with our satellite dish which we hadnt had much luck with since leaving Leicester (though to be fair, we hadnt tried too hard). We bought a new pole to fix it too and hooray we managed to find the signal and at last we had sky back (or at least, after I had re-registered as we hadnt used it for more than a month!)

On Sunday we decided to move the boat into the town centre away from the trees just in case the storm was really bad. Luckily we moved before the canoe race started – as we had to go past the finish line!

We walked down to watch the start, and felt sorry for the narrowboat who arrived at the wrong moment!

After another mooch round the shops we settled down for a windy night.

Monday morning, having not seen any of the horrendous winds they had seen down south, we moved off, heading south, through the lift bridge, then the lock, down about a mile to the winding hole to turn round and return to Banbury. We had to stop to fill up with water, but had to wait for another boat to finish and one to come out of the lock before moving over and taking his place. As the rain started at this point, I forgot to take a picture of us filling with water in Banbury – we will have to return to get that picture!

We may not have had the wind here in Banbury, but there had definitely been some rain as all the locks were overflowing – especially the one in the town centre, but I didnt get a picture of that one!

We pulled in to Sovereign Wharf to fill with diesel and take advantage of his 89p deal! Cash or cheque only, but self declaration so well worth it.

We then carried on out of Banbury, going through the lock just by the M40 – we had never seen this lock from the road before – even though we always looked!

We moored just after the M40, before the next lock, as time was getting on. What a noise from the motorway – all night! Not used to that in the country!

We wanted to get above Cropredy, since the winter works programme starts on 4 November and the lock there is closed for 2 weeks, so Tuesday we pressed on, but of course we had to stop for water!

At 60ft we fit across without obstructing the canal! but the hose only just reaches!

We carried on and made it to the top of the Claydon Flight where we moored, and managed to get a signal on the satellite!

Wednesday we had planned to spend stationary, but looking at the weather decided it was a nice day to travel with some sunshine we might not get much more of, so pressed on, stopping of course at the Wharf Inn, Fenny Compton to top up the water, but had to wait whilst a 70ft boat turned round in the winding hole – with just inches to spare!

We had decided to stop at the spot we moored at after our breakdown, but someone had already moored there, and it was a one boat spot, so we kept going, round the meanders to find another spot. Several times the canal turns back on itself and I took this picture of a canal bridge ahead – we were heading south at the time!

And about 20 minutes later, we moored up just in front of that bridge heading north!

The weather forecast for Thursday was better than it had looked earlier in the week, so after the on board hairdresser (Gary) had coloured my hair, we moved on and headed for the Napton flight again!

On the way we passed the spot that we had broken down!

We filled with water at the top of the flight – as we knew it would be hectic at the bottom, and we were right, even as we filled with water, several boats started down the flight, we then joined the queue and headed down, met a couple of boats coming up, and apart from pound on the second lock down being low with water, all the rest were overflowing making it difficult to open the top gates"!

Even the overspill weirs were full!

We reached the bottom of the flight at about 4pm, and found a mooring and settled in. We decided to visit the Folly for food and drink to recuperate from a hard days boating!

Staying put today to catch up on some cleaning and tidying – and blog writing! Unfortunately I have no phone or internet signal here, so will have to wait to post the blog another day!

I promise not to leave it so long next time!

MONDAY

Now moored at Braunston, by the Boat House Pub. After a windy weekend at Napton, we only moved on Sunday, but had a lovely trip here. Yvonne and Roy were dog walking and met us on the way, so they hopped on board and motored to Braunston with us, and then walked Tilly back to the car 2 1/2 miles back!

We wanted to visit Midland Chandlers to purchase an ecofan to help distribute heat from the stove, and today we will be stocking up at the butchers.

Finally have phone and internet signal here – so time to post the blog!