Windsong is sold!

The end of a era - a sad day for us, as Windsong has today become the property of a new owner. 

We enjoyed every second of designing her, watching the build take shape and then cruising in her for the last six and a half years.  We had hoped it would be for longer, but sadly that has not been the case.  Thank you Ally and Neil, for building an exceptional boat. 

We hope Peter, her new owner, has as much fun with her as we did.  Give him a wave if you see him out and about on the cut.

We have made some great friends over the years, some we will probably never see again, some we will always be in touch with, and a few we will see on a regular basis.   And we do intend to hire a boat from time to time when we feel the need for a ‘canal fix’, so there may well be more entries on the blog from time to time.  However the name of the blog may change, in case Peter wants to write one too, but the address will remain the same.

And lastly, thank you to all our regular faithful readers who have put up with my ramblings and bad grammar for so long.

So, farewell for now,  as Arnie says ‘ I’ll be back’.

Nb Windsong is for sale…..

Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to sell Nb Windsong.  If anyone out there is interested in buying her, we will be pleased to hear from you.  Please put a comment on the blog with a phone number or an email address (no comments will be visible to anyone else) and we will get back to you to arrange a viewing.

Some internal pictures follow, plus a description and a short list of equipment.

The galley

 

The saloon (redesigned from the original)

Shower room

The bedroom

 

Windsong is a 2 berth, 58’ Semi-trad narrowboat, on an XR&D shell, with a Beacon Boats fitout.   A bespoke boat, suitable for live aboard or long term cruising, launched June 2009.

She is built in ‘reverse’ layout, so galley at the stern, then dinette, saloon, shower room and bedroom at the bow.

The rear deck has 2 storage lockers, one of which houses 2 x 6kg gas bottles with cushions for seating, and a pram-hood cover.

Steps lead down to the galley.

The internal fit is in Maple and Oak.

The worktops in the galley are granite, with under mounted sink. The galley has loads of storage.  It has under floor cool storage as well as  3 kick board drawers.  There is a large low level double cupboard, a stack of 5 drawers, 2 smaller shallow cupboards ideal for food storage, a deep cupboard with 3 shelves for crockery and pots and pans as well as sundry other items.  Also 2 overhead cupboards, and one over the oven, and a small corner cupboard at eye level.   The full size washing machine, separate condenser drier, and fridge are neatly hidden away behind doors.

There are 2 side hatches, one .ust forward of the galley and one in the dinette area.  Also 2 ‘Houdini’ hatches in the roof.

There is one dinette bench, with a Shoreline freezer in a pull-out drawer, and a table with a desmo leg.  Stools or fold-away chairs could be used for extra dinette seating.

The saloon has a full height corner cupboard, with the upper door glazed and a solid lower door, a bookcase, and entertainment cupboard with TV, and a FreeSat receiver.  The stove is a Bubble corner diesel stove. Central heating and hot water is provided by a separate Webasto system.  The engine also heats the calorifier.  The bubble stove and the Webasto share a separate diesel tank. 

The shoower room houses a Vacu-flush toilet, with remote cassette tank (3 cassettes), and shower and vanity unit with sink.

The bedroom has a king size cross bed, built with 3 sliding sections for easy single-handed operation, and again, storage abounds. Under the bed is a drawer and  2 pull-down locker doors with storage space behind.  Each bedside table has a stack of solid wood drawers behind its door. A corner cupboard was made for a laundry basket, and doubles as a dressing table.  There is also a hanging wardrobe with shelves above, and a separate storage cupboard. The heating is fin-rads.

The bow area, which has 2 storage lockers, has a facility to put a table on a desmo leg, and is covered with a cratch.  A courtesy light is also fitted. 

The engine is a 42hp Isuzu, with 3.5kw travel pack, AGM battery bank and Smartguage fitted. There is also a 3kw pure sine inverter charger onboard, and  ‘Sidepower’ Bow thrusters.

We are looking for around £75,0000 or nearest offer.

PRICE NOW REDUCED TO £69,950 OR NEAREST OFFER

As you can imagine, we are very sad to be selling, however, circumstances dictate that we will no longer be able to use her to full advantage.

Only serious enquiries please. With a sick mother at home, we can ill-afford the time to travel to the marina for frivolous viewings.  We hope all our readers understand.

If no buyer is found, we will be moving her to brokerage sometime in the New Year.

Can our blogging friends please put the word out and share this with as many people as possible.  Thank you.

NEW YEAR SALE…..

 

SPECIAL OFFER………. BAG YOURSELF A BARGAIN

PRICE REDUCED….NOW ONLY £69,950 ono

If anyone is interested, please get in touch via the Comments box – your comments will not be published on the blog, so please include a phone number so we can call you.

Nb Windsong is for sale…..

Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, we have had to make the difficult decision to sell Nb Windsong.  If anyone out there is interested in buying her, we will be pleased to hear from you.  Please put a comment on the blog with a phone number or an email address (no comments will be visible to anyone else) and we will get back to you to arrange a viewing.

EDIT:  Comments were 'hidden' for some reason, back on now!!!

Some internal pictures follow, plus a description and a short list of equipment.
The galley

The saloon (redesigned from the original)

Shower room


The bedroom




Windsong is a 2 berth, 58’ Semi-trad narrowboat, on an XR&D shell, with a Beacon Boats fitout.   A bespoke boat, suitable for live aboard or long term cruising, launched June 2009.
She is built in ‘reverse’ layout, so galley at the stern, then dinette, saloon, shower room and bedroom at the bow.
The rear deck has 2 storage lockers, one of which houses 2 x 6kg gas bottles with cushions for seating, and a pram-hood cover.
Steps lead down to the galley.
The internal fit is in Maple and Oak.
The worktops in the galley are granite, with under mounted sink. The galley has loads of storage.  It has under floor cool storage as well as  3 kick board drawers.  There is a large low level double cupboard, a stack of 5 drawers, 2 smaller shallow cupboards ideal for food storage, a deep cupboard with 3 shelves for crockery and pots and pans as well as sundry other items.  Also 2 overhead cupboards, and one over the oven, and a small corner cupboard at eye level.   The full size washing machine, separate condenser drier, and fridge are neatly hidden away behind doors.
There are 2 side hatches, one .ust forward of the galley and one in the dinette area.  Also 2 ‘Houdini’ hatches in the roof.
There is one dinette bench, with a Shoreline freezer in a pull-out drawer, and a table with a desmo leg.  Stools or fold-away chairs could be used for extra dinette seating.
The saloon has a full height corner cupboard, with the upper door glazed and a solid lower door, a bookcase, and entertainment cupboard with TV, and a FreeSat receiver.  The stove is a Bubble corner diesel stove. Central heating and hot water is provided by a separate Webasto system.  The engine also heats the calorifier.  The bubble stove and the Webasto share a separate diesel tank. 
The shoower room houses a Vacu-flush toilet, with remote cassette tank (3 cassettes), and shower and vanity unit with sink.
The bedroom has a king size cross bed, built with 3 sliding sections for easy single-handed operation, and again, storage abounds. Under the bed is a drawer and  2 pull-down locker doors with storage space behind.  Each bedside table has a stack of solid wood drawers behind its door. A corner cupboard was made for a laundry basket, and doubles as a dressing table.  There is also a hanging wardrobe with shelves above, and a separate storage cupboard. The heating is fin-rads.
The bow area, which has 2 storage lockers, has a facility to put a table on a desmo leg, and is covered with a cratch.  A courtesy light is also fitted. 
The engine is a 42hp Isuzu, with 3.5kw travel pack, AGM battery bank and Smartguage fitted. There is also a 3kw pure sine inverter charger onboard, and  ‘Sidepower’ Bow thrusters.
We are looking for around £75,0000 or nearest offer.
As you can imagine, we are very sad to be selling, however, circumstances dictate that we will no longer be able to use her to full advantage.
Only serious enquiries please. With a sick mother at home, we can ill-afford the time to travel to the marina for frivolous viewings.  We hope all our readers understand.
If no buyer is found, we will be moving her to brokerage sometime in the New Year.
Can our blogging friends please put the word out and share this with as many people as possible.  Thank you.

It’s days like these…..

that remind us why we do it!  On Thursday morning we left our mooring near The Bridge.  It was bright and sunny, with wall to wall blue skies.  We started off in T shirts, and that’s how we remained until later on in the afternoon.

We decided that we would moor short of Hillmorton and then carry on to Brinklow today.  We came through Braunston without the usual jinking about around other boats, and then moored at the same place near Willoughby that we moored on the first night out.  As we were tying up, Ozzy did his usual leap straight off the boat and charged up the towpath towards another dog, which looked somewhat familiar!  I then looked at the boat moored some way in front off us, and then at the couple sitting in chairs on the towpath.  Meanwhile, they were also looking at us!  It was Moni and John on nb Holly, that we met last year and spent some time with.  What a lovely surprise!  We hadn’t expected to meet up with them on this trip.  Needless to say, we spent the afternoon with them.  They had planned to continue on to below Hillmorton after lunch, but they changed their minds.

We sat on until late afternoon, by which time we were in the shade, and the wind became a bit nippy.  Today was very cloudy when we first left our mooring, Moni and Ollie came with me and Ozzy for a walk for a little while, and then returned to Holly when Rog picked me up.  They then continued on their way – we had another brief word when they arrived at at Hillmorton Top Lock as we left.

We carried on to Brinklow our mood getting gloomier and gloomier.  Although there was no real rush for us to come home, my foot is playing up so much that I really do need to try and get it sorted.  It’s not a lot of fun, limping around the locks, although Rog did his fair share, standing on the back of the boat steering was painful for me too!

We are back at home now, and will go back to the Marina tomorrow or Sunday to collect the stuff we couldn’t fit in the car today.

So, here endeth our 2015 cruising – at least for a while.  Hopefully if my foot improves with some medical treatment, we may get out again later on in the summer or early autumn.

An unexpected meeting…..

Having left Twyford Wharf on Sunday morning, and moored just short of Cropredy, we continued on yesterday to Fenny Compton.  The wind got increasingly strong during the day, and we got caught in ne or two heavy showers.  As we arrived at Fenny, the heavens opened once more, the wind rose to gale force and we had horizontal hail!  While we were mooring a couple walked by with suitcases.  Suddenly, the chap turned and said ‘Roger’?  It turned out to be a very old friend (and his wife) that Rog had met on his Air Traffic Controllers course in 1986!  A short chat, and we found that they were loading up their boat for a few weeks out.  Needless to say, an arrangement was made to meet a bit later on in the pub.  2.30 saw us all safely ensconced out of the foul weather.  A great deal of beer, chat and laughter later, we decided it would be rude not to take advantage of the pub’s 2 meals for a tenner, so we did!  Sara and I left the pub at just after 8 pm, with the men following shortly after – they had decided that they had had enough beer already and didn’t succumb to the temptation to have just one more pint.  I can’t remember the last time we spent all afternoon in the pub!

The wind still being horrendous on Tuesday, we decided to stay where we were for the day.  Pete and Sara are continuing with their preparations for leaving on their trip, so they came for a coffee, and then went off in the car.  We planned to meet up again later.

After another few beers in the pub we said our goodbyes.  We did think we might see them again today (Wed) but we were away earlier than them, and they have stopped at The Folly below Napton Locks, and we are moored 10 minutes further on at the Bridge pub.  It’s been a lovely day today, a little cloudy at times, but hot when the sun has come out.  A little chilly in the breeze still, but it’s great to see the sun!  Even better tomorrow, so the weather forecast says.

A week with the girls…..

We set off on Monday morning and stopped at Aynho Wharf for fuel, water, loo emptying, postcards for Flo to send and souvenirs of Flo’s trip – she bought a key ring with a boat that she thinks looks a bit like ours. Flo and I then continued up the towpath to give Ozzy a walk whilst Rog finished off at the Wharf.

Waiting to be picked up

First lock was Somerton Deep Lock – we were 4th in the queue, so quite a long wait

I love this lock, it’s so pretty with Clematis growing all over the bridge and gypsophilia (probably spelt that wrong!) along the wall.

Flo opted to stay with Rog and go down with the boat.

About to exit the lock

Bacon butties were in order afterwards and we continued on towards the Heyfords – we stopped a bit earlier than planned as we found a decent mooring spot.  Flo played with Ozzy for a long while, then we had a game of Scrabble which Flo didn’t really enjoy!

Tuesday turned out to be a longer journey than expected as we’d planned to moor around Lower Heyford but it was skanky, so we continued on.  Unfortunately there was nowhere to moor between there and Thrupp, so we ended up on the visitor moorings at Thrupp – the first time we have been able to moor there.  Of course it would have been rude not to sample the pub, so we took Flo to The Boat for a very late lunch.  It was excellent – in fact we couldn’t eat it all, so we brought some chips back to the boat, re-heated them on the oven and had chip butties for tea – yum

Handy to have a lock buddy

Moored at Thrupp

On Wednesday morning we reversed back to the lift bridge at Thrupp and then moored on the services to fill with water, empty the loo cassettes (it’s amazing how quickly one little girl can fill one!).  Emma arrived shortly afterwards with Milly and Lizzie, and we did a quick turnaround as we didn’t want to hog the waterpoint for too long.  We said goodbye to Flo and welcomed Milly on board.  Again we had quite a long trek back to decent moorings for the night, moored where we were on Monday night.

Milly did so want to help with the locks, but she wasn’t quite strong enough, so she sat and ‘supervised’ Grandad!

 

On Thursday we headed for Aynho, where we did what was necessary to service the boat yet again!  We managed to get a mooring quite near the bridge, and went to the shop so Milly could take her turn at buying souvenirs.  Then of course, we just had to go to the pub for lunch – again! Back at the boat,Milly and I played Scrabble (she didn’t enjoy it either!) so we dug in the cupboard to see what other games we could find, and settled on Yahtzee – we played the best of three games and I won 2 of them.  But she determined to beat me again before she left.

On Friday we headed for Twyford Wharf where we had arranged to meet Emma and Ben to hand Milly back.  The weather was foul – cold and windy with torrential rain showers, and poor Milly had to remain inside the boat – Rog and I got absolutely soaked just doing the locks.  Luckily it was a shortish journey and by lunchtime we were moored and inside drying off.  We had dashed to the Farm Shop at the pig farm and treated ourselves to some of their delicious bacon from the farm’s Tamworth pigs, so we had bacon butties for lunch.  Milly then insisted that she get her own back at Yahtzee, and beat me at all three games!

The sky was pretty spectacular most of the afternoon with continuing heavy showers.

The weather was much better this morning, still breezy and chilly, but at least we had intermittent sunshine.  The rest of the family arrived around mid-day and Emma and Ben had brought lots of yummy goodies for lunch.  We sat and had a picnic on the towpath, and a good old natter, which was lovely, and the girls ran up and down with Ozzy.  All too soon it was time for them to head back home.  The boat feels very quiet and empty now, and Ozzy is sunk in a deep depression that he’s lost his playmates.  I keep catching him standing staring up the towpath in the direction they went, hoping that they might return.

We’ve had a lovely week and I hope the girls have too – Emma says we have to have them both together next time, she’s seen far too much of the M40 this week! 

We are now about to turn on the telly and Rog will suffer through the Cup Final, in the faint hope that the Villa will beat the Arse!