Geocaching Travel Bug

Back in November 2009 we started off a Travel Bug in a cache near Blisworth Tunnel.  For the uninitiated, a Travel Bug is a ‘trackable’ which is intended to be moved from cache to cache.  The idea is to see how far it gets.  Each has a unique number which, when entered into the geocaching website, will bring up the details of the Bug, the intention  - in this case to ‘travel the inland waterways of the world’, and where it has been.

We had a look at ours today, and it is currently in Germany, having travelled from Blisworth to Braunston then on to Dorset.  It then left our shores and went to Flensburg in Northern Germany and then to Solvig Voldsted in Denmark. It went to Copenhagen, and then to the east coast of Denmark for a while (place names are missing from the log) and then to the ‘Lost Places’, in Sachsen-Anhalt, back in Germany. It then moved again and was last picked up, still in the Sachen area of Germany, back in October last year.

We have sent a message to the person who picked it up asking for it to be re-located so it can continue it’s journey – we hope that they will do so, as it would be a shame to lose it!
We plan to start another Bug early on our travels this year, this time asking that it remain in the UK.

Pitsford Reservoir geocaching….

It was such a beautiful morning this morning that we decided to take Cassie for a walk at Pitsford Reservoir which is not very far away from us. 

There were a couple of geocaches within a mile of the car park so we decided to have a look for them.  This is the first time we’ve been geocaching since Rog hurt his toe, back in Oct 2009 (apart from once with Karen and Ian last year, and Rog stayed behind on the boat).  We wondered if we’d still have the knack of finding them, but we found the first quite easily.

For the second, we needed to go back to the car and move away from the reservoir a little, back to a road that used to cross the valley before it was flooded – it now goes down to the water and a Nature Reserve.  We found the second cache only 100 yards down the track, so continued on down to the Reserve.

but could go no further as dogs were not allowed.  All in all, Rog’s foot held up well, so it all bodes well for our summer cruising this year – I won’t have to work all the locks!

A short trip out…..

This morning saw nb Windsong throw off the shackles mooring ropes and head out for her first trip since we tied up at Blisworth Marina in the middle of September.  It was to be only a short trip out, 20 minutes down the GU to Blisworth Tunnel Boats to be hauled out of the water for her first pressure-wash and a few coats of blacking.

The sun was shining brightly when Rog set out alone on his ‘epic’ journey, but not before I’d had a little ride around the corner to Gayton Junction services to empty a cassette (we couldn’t be bothered to lug it half way around the marina and over the bridge to the Elsan at the marina!) We then turned around and headed back the way we’d come, dropping me off back at the marina to collect the car and drive it to Blisworth Tunnel Boats to meet Rog at the other end.  I was sad that I had to go by car, as it was a lovely morning, but too far to walk back, with Rog’s toe still a bit tender.

Arriving at the boatyard, we tied up alongside one of their hire-boats and dropped off the keys in the office.  I have to admit to being a bit nervous about the lift-out, as it’s the first time, but having seen their hoist, I feel happier now. It’s a bit like a covered dry-dock, but instead of emptying the water out they just lift the boat and slide planks underneath.  We plan to go over about Tuesday to see how they are getting on.

A few pics of our new ‘mooring’…

I have been waiting for a decent day to take a few photos of the village where we are renting a cottage, and they have been few and far between lately, but yesterday morning turned out to be an ‘I’d rather be boating’ sort of morning, so out came the camera.  I took these on my daily walk with Cassie.

Down the lane where I go to walk Cassie

Views over the Northamptonshire countryside

The village green

Our little lane – just two cottages and the old farmhouse at the end – ours is the one in the middle with the slightly lower roofline.

A visit from ‘boaty’ friends

Karen and Ian, our friends and last summer’s travelling companions came over to inspect our new lodgings yesterday.  We couldn’t meet ‘boaty’ friends and not go and get a canal fix, so after lunch we drove over to Foxton Locks for a walk.  It was so dead that not even the locky was around.

We had a walk and took a few pictures (again!!), had a look at the inclined plane in the hope that work may have started on the restoration since the last time we were there 18 months ago (it hadn’t) and then went for a cuppa at Bridge 61
While we were cruising over the summer, Ian was always bemoaning the fact that he could hardly ever get a ‘proper’ pie whenever we ate in pubs.  By ‘proper’ he means made with short crust pastry rather than puff or flaky, and with a bottom as well as a top.  So for a treat, I made him one for dinner last night – steak and kidney! I haven’t made one for years, but I’m pleased to say it turned out beautifully!!  I’m sure it won’t be the last!!

Like rats….

we have abandoned ship!! Last month we finally admitted to ourselves and each other that we are wimps, and that living on the boat in the winter is not for us! To that end we have rented a cottage near Northampton, taken our furniture out of storage and set up home ‘on the bank’ again. We are not selling up however, and will do extended cruising in the spring, summer and autumn, and tuck ourselves up for the winter.

We take our hats off to all our brave friends who are still ‘continuously cruising stuck in the ice’, struggling to fill water tanks, empty loos and get fuel for engines and stoves, and hope you won’t think too badly of us for throwing in the towel.

The blog will resume with some photos of our new environs just as soon as I find the camera!

Toe Update II

The news is good!!!  Rog’s toe has almost healed.  The podiatrist that he has been seeing at Northampton Hospital has been very pro-active, using different dressings depending on the stage of healing, and it’s done the trick.  No more dressings, and he has started to be able to wear both his trainers as opposed to just one and the ‘special’ shoe (which we have been affectionately, and totally non-politically correctly, referring to as his ‘spacker’ shoe!!)

His visit to St Mary’s at Paddington last Wednesday was over in double-quick time (due to the non-appearance of lots of patients because of the weather) and they have said that unless things change for the worse he needn’t go back  We caught the train back to Northampton two hours before we expected to.

He still has to see the podiatrist next week, and to go to the Foot Clinic at Northampton General in Jan, to be signed off.

So, this will be the last ‘toe update’ unless things change.  Our thanks to everyone who has shown interest and concern, and for all your good wishes.