Away at last…..

Friday.  

Having unloaded yet another car full of gear, Rog braved Tesco for some last minute shopping, and we left the marina at about 1.30pm.  We had an uneventful couple of hours to our planned overnight mooring, just short of Furnace Wharf near Nether Heyford.

The skies were still grey and overcast, but it was at least dry.  Ozzy settled fairly quickly into his normal cruising spot, up on the side locker, and enjoyed barking at all the sheep and horses in the fields.  Parked cars and people walking also got a good telling off from him, for daring to come anywhere near ‘his’ boat!

5 miles and 0 locks

Saturday. 

 We set off around 9.30, passing the lovely house where I always have to take a photo.  The moorings here are reserved for working boats, otherwise it would be my preferred overnight mooring spot

We stopped for fuel at Stowe Hill Marine, as is our usual habit, and then continued to Whilton for the start of the Buckby flight.  As usual there was no boat in front of us, or following, to share with, so we had to go it alone.  However, it wasn’t too bad a trip up the 7 locks as they were either ready for us, or had someone coming down, so there was usually someone to share the work.  I only had to part empty one lock, and that was because the to gates we so leaky that the lock had half filled after the last boat had gone down.  Buckby Wharf was rammed as usual, but as we prefer to moor just a little further on, at Norton Junction, that wasn’t a problem.  We reversed a couple of hundred yards up the Leicester Arm, and  snuggled up between two other boats for the night.  Again a fairly uneventful day.

Tonight’s mooring.

Tomorrow we have a lovely unhealthy brunch to look forward to after we’ve been through the tunnel, and worked down the locks – a bacon and egg sarnie, complete with fried potatoes from the Gongoozler’s Rest, moored just by Braunston basin – yum!

7.5 miles and 7 locks

Come hell or high water…..

Come hell or high water (and I think the latter is a distinct possibility!) we are leaving for our summer cruise the day after tomorrow! 

We had planned to get away a couple of weeks ago, but delayed so that we could see our daughter’s new home and lend a hand with some of the work involved in moving house.  Then we planned to get away early this week, but the weather has been so awful that we decided to delay again for a few days.  But we are just about ready to go now, boat mostly victualed up, just a bit of shopping to do and clothes etc to put on board and away we go.  We could sit here waiting forever at this rate, so we’ve decided to get a shift on, regardless of the weather.

The Webasto is fixed, costing us somewhat more than we had bargained for – not much spent on parts, just some new seals, but a good 10 man-hours involved in finding and fixing the diesel leaks – plural!  The fuel has been turned on now for over a fortnight and no sign of a leak so far, which is promising.  So now we can have hot water for our morning showers without waiting until after 8am so we can turn on the engine to heat the water.

The ‘plan’ is to head up the GU, N Oxford, Coventry, T &M to the Macc and the Peak Forest, as far as Bugsworth and maybe further.  We then plan to turn around and retrace our steps onto the T & M, and go to the Shroppie via the Middlewich Arm.  All things being equal, we will then return home via the Staffs and Worcs.

Rog has an appointment at the Eye Clinic at the hospital in early August, so we plan to be home by then, but with the option of him getting the train back to Northampton if we feel we’d like to stay out for longer.  All depending on how Mum copes while we are away, of course.

We have an Autumn cruise planned as well.  When the kids are back at school we are going to head off again, not sure where yet, but the cruise will end at Brinklow Marina just north or Rugby, where we plan to moor the boat.  We’ve decided to move it as we are getting fed up of having to do the Buckby Flight every time we want to go north.  The advantage is that it will also get rid of the necessity of doing the Brauntston Flight and the tunnel.  An added bonus is that it will cost us £400 a year less than Gayton Marina, but still be in easy reach of home by car during the winter.

So, watch this space, the blog will recommence sometime over the weekend.

Yes, we are still around…..

I’m sure all our readers will be wondering what has become of us. We have de-winterized the boat and are all set to start cleaning her up for the summer season.  When we went up to Barrow last September for the first, and probably the only,  Beacon Boats get-together, our Webasto boiler decided to pack up working.  We didn’t worry too much as we knew it would probably need a service soon.  We didn’t need to heat the water as the engine will do that, and we didn’t need the central heating.  It turns out that the anti-freeze that was in the system had reacted to the metal and had crystalized, blocking the pump.  It’s been cleaned out, some piping replaced and 3 diesel leaks from the system that have been there since launch have finally been stopped (we hope!).  We have yet to receive the bill, but are hoping it won’t be too big as there were no expensive parts needed!  We are going to try to get down to give the boat a good fettling over the next couple of weeks, and then a short day trip out that we have promised some friends, and then, all things being equal (Mum’s health especially!)  we will be all set to embark on a longer cruise this year.  What with one thing and another, we have only cruised for a total of 7 weeks in the last two years, so we are hoping to get out for longer this year.  Watch this space, we will be back blogging soon.

In case anybody out there hasn’t heard – our builders, Beacon Boats have sadly launched their last boat and closed their doors for the last time, due to the continuing ill health of 50% of the staff.  The business has been wound up in the correct manner, with no unfinished boats, no outstanding debts, and all deposits for future build slots returned to some very disappointed customers.  We wish both Ally and Neil all the best for the future, and say thank you, once again, for building superb boats.  The industry will be all the poorer for your absence from it.

Keep your eyes open….

If anybody spots this fine, upstanding young man, in combat uniform, somewhere on the K & A over the next day or two, please give him a wave, and maybe a cuppa!  It will be our son Russ, who has been on ‘detachment’ with the Environment Agency for the last month or so.  Servicemen and women have been seconded to help check flood defences, and Russ is over that way at the moment.

The best laid plans…..

But being a boater I should have expected things not to go as planned.  But, to backtrack…

Friday 28th Feb

We packed the car last Friday for our trip home – we enjoyed our extended holiday in France, despite the rain, and we very sad to be leaving.  We set off about 12.00 and tootled up as far as Tours, where we  had booked a room at a Campanile for the night.  Sunshine and showers accompanied us all the way, including one horrendous hail-storm, so loud that we couldn’t hear Naggin’ Nora, and could barely see the road in front of us.  Luckily, we only had to stay on the same road so we soldiered on.  Our room at the Campanile was basic to say the least, but in typical motel-style, it opened directly onto the car park which was much easier with the dog, than having to trog up and down in the lift every time he needed to go outside, as we had to do when we stayed at an Ibis on the way down.   At least it had a kettle so we could make tea and coffee.  We didn’t fancy what was on the menu in the restaurant at the hotel, so we went out and found a burger joint and demolished burgers and frites for our evening meal – very healthy (NOT)!

Sat 1st Mar                                                                                                                              

We didn’t have a very long journey on Sat, only about 3 hours up to just north of Rouen, so we tootled again, enjoying the sunshine, making lots of stops to let Ozzy have a pee and stretch his legs.  He really is the most brilliant of travellers, from the minute we put him in the car, we never hear a sound from him unless we stop, and then he might just give a little bark.  We really don’t know that he’s there, no whining, or panting or being sick.  The best canine traveller that we’ve ever had!            

Naggin’ Nora saw us around the outskirts of Rouen and over the bridge without any problems this time, unlike our outward journey, then decided to give up the ghost just as we were about to turn off the motorway to find our next Campanile for the night.  Luckily, it was well signposted and we found it without problem.  It was in the middle of the hugest trading estate I’ve ever seen, and possibly the busiest roads we’ve seen since arriving in France.  Rog reset Nora when we had unpacked and said it was fine, so we didn’t give it another thought.  We went for a look around after we’d had a cuppa, to see if there was anywhere to eat and found that the trading estate was definitely not designed for people on foot as there were no pavements anywhere and it was really difficult to cross any of the busy roads.  After an hour we gave up and went back to the hotel, having only found another branch of the same burger-joint we’d eaten in the night before, and a KFC.  As it was so difficult to actually walk anywhere we decided to eat in the hotel.  Dinner was passable, but nothing to write home about.

Sun 2nd Mar                                                                                                                         

And here’s where the best laid plans went awry, and Rouen ‘bit our backsides’ yet again!  The whole idea of stopping north of Rouen was so we didn’t have to worry about it with a deadline (the Eurotunnel booking)  We had hoped to continue northwards, but unfortunately we had to backtrack just a few kms towards Rouen.  Naggin Nora decided to lock up again in the exact same place as on the previous day (we decided afterwards that the large power station and numerous high voltage power cables in the vicinity were the culprits)  By the time we’d managed to get it up and running we’d missed our turnoff, and were heading straight for the centre of Rouen again!!!  However, we were careful to obey Nora to the letter, and she in turn saw us through, but not without a few hairy moments.  We ended up on the same road that we’d had to do an illegal ‘U-ey’ on the way down!  Rouen is a traffic nightmare, even on a Sunday morning, and we shall try to avoid it like the plague if we ever go that way again!  Once out the other side it was all plain sailing up to Calais and the Eurotunnel.  We were early so were offered passage on the crossing an hour earlier than booked, and were back on home soil by 1pm UK time.  A decent run home up to Northampton saw us indoors by 4pm having stopped on the way at Maidstone services for some lunch.

So, back to real life.  Plans for our Summer cruise are still not finalised, it all depends on family stuff.  But for now, this is us, signing off until next time.

1400 + miles by car, no locks, 2 sea crossings

Culture day…..

Today was designated ‘Culture day’ – I was determined that we would not leave France without having been inside a Chateau.  It’s taken us almost a month to track one down that is actually open in February.  The Chateau de Monbazillac (click on the link) is just south of Bergerac, and opened for business again about a week ago.  We decided to go this afternoon as the morning opening times are 10.00 till 12.00 and by the time we’ve dragged our lazy arses out of bed (well, it’s dark in the mornings here and we haven’t been waking up until 8.30!), showered, breakfasted, walked Ozzy, and driven there we wouldn’t have had much time.  So we had a lazy morning, a late brunch and headed over there about 1.00 in time for opening at 2.00.  It only took us half an hour though, so we had plenty of time to wander around the outside before they opened the doors.

You could see for miles from the grounds – it’s just a pity that it wasn’t a clearer day like yesterday.

The last three pics are of the Chateau kitchen in the cellar – the sink, the large fireplace with oven at the back and the well - it wasn’t nearly as bright as the photos suggest – a dark and gloomy place to work in the 16th century I suspect!  I took lots of photos but I won’t bore you with any more – the above are just a few.

The weather had cleared a little more by the time we came outside and the sun was shining, but not for long.  As we headed west back towards the gite we had a terrific storm, rain coming down in torrents!  And still the locals drive like maniacs along the narrow country roads – we were almost taken out a couple of times on bends with them cutting over to the wrong side of the road!  But we made it back in one piece, and guess what – it’s still bloody raining!  Again!!!

The best yet…..

Yesterday (Monday) was the best day yet, weather wise.  We went to Ste Foy to do our grocery shopping in warm sunshine, 16 deg and rising, and the sunshine continued non-stop all day.  We sat out with coffee and I got a load of washing dry in the light breeze.  Ozzy had a lovely time playing with Poppy, our host’s dog, and Pickles, our host’s pet sitter’s dog (our hosts have returned to the UK to look after grandchildren for 10 days).

A few more photos of the gite and surroundings, taken about 5.30 pm, just as the sun was starting to go down.

The pool, obviously not in use at the moment!

As you can see, just about in the middle of nowhere, with very few other houses visible, just a farm or two up the road.  It’s been very peaceful here, and a nice break, despite the weather being so wet.  But we are having to start to think about returning to reality now – we leave here on Friday, taking a leisurely drive back up through France, stopping at Tours on Friday night, and Rouen on Saturday night, using the tunnel to cross back to good old Blighty on Sunday afternoon.