tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53558380808446421052012-02-16T09:28:04.464ZNo Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.comBlogger1961100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-79895884631229582322012-02-13T16:08:00.000Z2012-02-13T16:08:02.029Z

Monday 13th February 2012. Sue Hunter from www.beefur.blogspot.com left a comment on our last blog asking how bad the ice was around Kings Bromley so here's a couple of pictures showing that it's disappearing fast, a boat went past on Friday or Saturday which started thing off.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-72622111825587974822012-02-12T21:12:00.001Z2012-02-12T21:20:43.387Z

Sunday 12th February 2012. Moored on the opposite side to the Towpath at Kings Bromley for the last 3 weeks has been this lovely sight, no licence and no number it now has a British Waterways enforcement notice attached. The occupants use a outboard powered dinghy to come and go.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-20859704214168845532012-02-04T10:22:00.001Z2012-02-04T12:09:15.075Z

Saturday 4th February 2012. Weekends are usually busy times at Kings Bromley Marina even in the winter but with minus 9 degrees and snow forecast the "Butterfly Boaters" have stayed away, plenty of car parking space and no screaming kids. The Ducks and Swans aways try and keep an area of water ice free by swimming around, with last years prolonged freeze their pool got very small.  Glad we

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-85581830919562910712012-01-27T19:34:00.001Z2012-01-27T21:32:36.362Z

Friday 27th January 2012. Out collecting wood, British Waterways contractors had left a pile about 1 mile along the canal from the Marina, it was difficult to get to as it was on the opposite side to the towpath and the water wasn't very deep but persistence and the plank got the job done.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-58383655550861267562012-01-20T10:53:00.000Z2012-01-20T10:53:43.916Z

Friday 20th January 2012. Yesterday our Boat Safety examiner turned up and carried out his inspection of No Direction and it passed, I did have to have a quick fettle of the Alde Bubble tester on the gas system but once that was sorted everything else was ok. If you need a reliable boat examiner in the Midlands/Staffs area then we can recommend Jeff Greatwood, he's based at Alrewas and his

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-4741733813208279462012-01-17T12:39:00.002Z2012-01-17T14:05:06.106Z

Tuesday 17th January 2012. Back in the late eighties/early nineties you were supposed to apply for a permit from British Waterways before cycling on the canal towpath, it cost £3, coloured green and white and was laminated so in didn't disintegrate when tied to your handlebars, I had one but didn't see many more around. Looking through the Waterscape site recently I noticed that you still need

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-45412623364600144582012-01-14T06:00:00.001Z2012-01-14T06:00:05.496Z

Saturday 14th January 2012. On Monday 14th January 1974 at 2 o'clock we got married, that's 38 years ago today and to celebrate we are off for a short cruise towards Rugeley collecting the logs that the British Waterways contractors have left.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-56777325651648053022012-01-12T23:08:00.000Z2012-01-12T23:08:15.334Z

Thursday, 12th, January, 2012. Our Laptop was over 4 years old, a long time in computer life and, was getting very slow, so we have bought a new one. After a bit of research we decided on a Acer Aspire 5750 with i5 processor, so off we went to PC World at Burton upon Trent, they had a lower spec one with a i3 processor on display but told us that they didn't have any in stock and and couldn't

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-66320715730366793792012-01-06T13:44:00.004Z2012-01-06T16:00:09.312Z

Friday, 6th, January 2012. You may have noticed (or not) we haven't blogged over the Christmas/New Year period that's because we hibernate and wake up when it,s all over. So now it's Friday and time for another blog, Jayne has gone into Lichfield for lunch with a friend and left me to finish off the vegetable samosas for mine, but spicy food and Planet Rock on the Radio is heaven to me so

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-35895855866053274662011-12-18T08:42:00.000Z2011-12-18T08:42:54.658Z

Saturday, 17th, December, 2011. This is the Plough at Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal which has been closed since the end of September, we were in here on the Friday before the "Huddlesford Gathering" weekend a couple of days before it closed and thought it was expensive, £10 for a plate of pasta covered with a sauce, beer at £3.50 a pint comes as a bit of a shock to us

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-25772817120579967942011-12-15T11:46:00.000Z2011-12-15T11:46:04.982Z

Thursday, 15th December, 2011. These are the new safety handrails recently fitted to the bridge across middle lock Fradley, it seems strange that health and safety requires hand rails here but not for the steep and worn stone steps with the metal trip hazard in the bottom of the picture. Safety rails are also being fitted to Keepers lock at Fradley which has a similar bridge. The final

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-64205519120635277632011-12-13T22:37:00.000Z2011-12-13T22:37:52.325Z

Tuesday, 13th December, 2011. We put our Christmas lights up today, well we put one set up yesterday but the second set didn't work and required a bit of fettling with the soldering iron today. I also had to carry out emergency repairs to the bird table which had suffered in the wind. Winter is certainly creeping up on us, no ice on the Marina yet, just a bit on the roof of the boat and car

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-25414512807380866622011-12-03T15:40:00.001Z2011-12-03T16:44:38.717Z

Saturday, 3rd, December, 2011. Not that we're complaining about this mild weather, the longer it lasts the less coal and logs we need to burn, the stocks we built up earlier in the year are lasting well. Stoveheat Smokeless stored in our shed which we rent at Kings Bromley Marina. Logs almost ready for the fire. We've added a link to the blog so that you can see some of our short video's on

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-71664100866926955292011-11-30T20:43:00.000Z2011-11-30T20:43:17.044Z

Wednesday, 30th, November, 2011. Our mooring at Kings Bromley Marina is known as an end mooring, this simply means although we have a boat moored on one side of us on the other side we have a clear view.  We look out onto a grassy area with a picnic bench, bird table and small trees, over the years the brambles had grown thick and were covering one of the trees so yesterday Jayne and I set to

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-26168293965905112722011-11-21T17:54:00.003Z2011-11-21T18:20:26.123Z

Monday, 21, November, 2011. No, not human visitors, I don't encourage those as they eat all the biscuits, these visitors were covered in feathers. First we have a Muscovy Duck which has moved onto the Marina, we think it may have been a pet that made a bid for freedom as it's quite happy to have it's back stroked and eat from a handheld bowl. Then we had a Kingfisher arrive and spend 3 or 4

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-43126245371649493792011-11-18T10:06:00.000Z2011-11-18T10:06:36.444Z

Wednesday, 16th November, 2011. Time goes by so quickly, we've had a letter from British Waterways reminding us that No Direction will need a B.S.S. inspection next February as it will be four years old, that four years certainly whizzed by. Out cycling yesterday down past Fradley, very quiet as two of the Fradley locks are closed for maintenance, the work appears to be being carried out by

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-67919429212516982852011-11-01T22:10:00.001Z2011-11-01T22:10:58.949Z

Tuesday, 1st November, 2011. After a long and happy life our Brita water filter jug has gone, it has been replaced with a completely new set up which we bought from Costco yesterday. We now have a new 3 way tap on the kitchen sink, hot, cold and cold filtered, the cold supply has always come through a charcoal filter which it still does but there is another supply of Brita filtered water

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-21807443621221190892011-10-22T22:28:00.001+01:002011-10-24T12:54:33.898+01:00

Saturday 22nd, October 2011. We're back from our little holiday in Cornwall which included amongst other things a visit to the Eden Project, I found the temperature and humidity of the Rain Forest Domes a bit overpowering. Big Greenhouse's Plenty of jobs to do on the boat as winter approaches, the fires going now burning some of the logs we've been drying all summer, lovely free heat.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-72570948557065469152011-10-16T22:50:00.000+01:002011-10-16T22:50:27.143+01:00

Sunday, 16, October, 2011. Moored in Kings Bromley Marina. Not much to blog about sat here in the Marina so I will attempt to answer a question about Dredging the Canals which was asked by blogger Halfie back in September. The Dredging machine in Hafie's pictures is being operated by George Wain who happens to have a boat moored 4 berths away from us at Kings Bromley Marina, we only see him at

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-85789686650676679382011-10-12T22:27:00.000+01:002011-10-12T22:27:58.297+01:00

Wednesday, 12th, October, 2011. Fazeley to Kings Bromley Marina. 13.25 Miles  3 Lock's  1 Swing Bridge. We have seen more maintenance on the Canal's in the last couple of days than we saw in 6 months last year. Tuesday, British Waterways (B.W.) men had dredged the top 3 side ponds of Atherstone Locks and were in the process of rodding out the culverts, whether they intend on re-instating the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-62901199093345947902011-10-11T22:20:00.000+01:002011-10-11T22:20:29.975+01:00

Tuesday, 11th October, 2011. Sutton Stop to Fazeley 21.5 Miles  13 Locks. We left our overnight moorings at 7.00 this morning just as it was getting light, after 15 minutes a  Cyclist went past and shouted that a boat was blocking the canal ahead. Just what we needed. We nudged up to it, I held it while Jayne reversed, we couldn,t just push it as its stern was still tied to the jetty, we then

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-18474663471414044902011-10-10T22:40:00.000+01:002011-10-10T22:40:55.453+01:00

Monday, 10th,October,2011. Braunston to Sutton Stop. 20.5 Miles, 4 Locks. Off at first light today and in bright, dry, and very windy weather, down the 3 Hillmorton lock's following another boat, with 2 boat's coming up we didn't waste to much water. The rest of today's journey has been uneventfull with very few boats around. Don't moor on this side of the Canal. Late afternoon we turned onto

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-90159423532190430612011-10-09T23:04:00.000+01:002011-10-09T23:04:32.453+01:00

Moored at Braunston. We have been here at Braunston since Wednesday and tomorrow we start back to Kings Bromley. The reason for our stay has been to help with the maintenance of the 1936 working boat Nutfield which is run and maintained by the Charity Friends of Raymond. Along with all other boats on the Canals Nutfield is required to have an safety inspection every 4 years and due to it's age

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-5372670331641450352011-10-06T22:40:00.000+01:002011-10-06T22:40:07.875+01:00

Wednesday, 5th, October, 2011. Long Buckby to Braunston. 4.5 Miles 6 Locks. Not many boats travelling in our direction today as we headed for Braunston, we arrived at Braunston top lock and found 3 boats coming up in the same lock (2 were very short), after they came out we went in and waited for another boat as requested by British waterways to save water although we new nothing was behind as

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-65132023657911707132011-10-05T12:58:00.002+01:002011-10-05T16:05:02.662+01:00

Monday/Tuesday, 3rd/4th October 2011. Stoke Bruerne to Long Buckby. 16.5 Miles 9 Locks. Monday we moved up the 2 Stoke Bruerne locks and moored just past the Museum, Jayne had the washing machine on twice and we enjoyed the last of the warm weather. Tuesday we needed fleeces on as we were back to October temperatures, I set off just as it was getting light while Jayne was still in bed, I enjoy

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-68577713759033839172011-10-02T22:34:00.001+01:002011-10-05T14:58:19.623+01:00

Saturday/Sunday,1st/2nd October 2011. Moored at Stoke Bruerne. Saturday. The first day of the Village at War weekend has been busy, mainly due to this mad weather, I felt sorry for the people in WW2 army uniforms marching around they really did look hot. Early morning at Stoke Bruerne. Both the pubs here were standing room only and the queue for the Burger Bar seem to go on for ever, there

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-12341428759641385182011-09-29T23:03:00.000+01:002011-09-29T23:03:42.338+01:00

                                                                                                                                                                   - - - for all you lot who still have to go to work in weather like this, but don't worry we're enjoying it for you. Yesterday evening we helped put a large Marquee up in one of the fields which will be used this weekend as part of the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-49157315010319602632011-09-27T22:48:00.001+01:002011-10-05T15:03:58.453+01:00

Monday/Tuesday, 26th/27th September, 2011. Braunston to Stoke Bruerne. 21 Miles 15 Locks + 4 locks to turn round. Monday. We left Braunston around 9.30 and found another boat waiting in the first lock of the Braunston flight, this was good timing as British Waterways are asking boaters to share these locks due to water shortages, we went up the six locks together, we met two hire boats coming

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-80460951182070719942011-09-25T20:44:00.003+01:002011-09-25T22:33:23.533+01:00

Sunday, 25th September 2011. Moored at Braunston. Walking around Braunston Marina and the Junction today, here are a few pictures. The 1937 Narrowboat Dover, subject of a Television Series about it's rebuild in 2005, perhaps the rebuild wasn't that good after all as it's now out of the water having the hull over-plated. The large property at the Junction is going to auction, guide price

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-25725754106804503502011-09-24T23:12:00.000+01:002011-09-24T23:12:24.231+01:00

Saturday, 24th, September, 2011. Hillmorton to Braunston. 6.5 Miles. At honeypot moorings such as Braunston we try to arrive  between 10.30 to 11.30, the hire boats from the previous night will have gone and hopefully we find a slot, so it was today as we rounded the bend off the Oxford and spotted a suitable space on the visitor moorings just before the pub. Two moorings ahead of us is nb 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-45560589187638254922011-09-23T23:14:00.000+01:002011-09-23T23:14:31.226+01:00

Friday, 23rd September, 2011. Nuneaton to Hillmorton. 21.25 Miles 4 Locks. Yes it was cold, I started off at 7 o'clock and didn't think it was to bad but an hour later the wind had picked up and it was bitter. We had a fairly trouble free journey, British Waterways are repairing the towpath at Ansty and had 2 work boats almost blocking the Cut but we squeezed through. You always know when you

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-49267488058401650112011-09-22T23:16:00.000+01:002011-09-22T23:16:05.976+01:00

Wednesday/Thursday, 21/22nd September, 2011. Kings Bromley Marina to Nuneaton.. 27.25 Miles, 16 Locks. Wednesday. We left later than planned on Wednesday, found a queue at Woodend Lock, our first of the day but at the next lock the queue had disappeared, it's just a very slow lock, we stopped for the night at Fazeley after a day battling the strong wind. Thursday. We had an early start today

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-44191908325077137132011-09-21T08:05:00.002+01:002011-09-21T09:13:08.510+01:00

Tuesday, 20th, September 2011. Tonight, along with our friends Debbi and Tony  who also have a boat at Kings Bromley Marina went to the Old Peculiar at Handsacre (by car), a good family run pub just a short walk from bridge 58 on the Trent and Mersey Canal, Jayne and Deb said their Gammon was a bit salty, Tony's steak was ok and my curry was excellent. The beer wasn't bad either. Tomorrow we

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-50197475254783139682011-09-20T10:30:00.000+01:002011-09-20T10:30:53.382+01:00

Tuesday, 20th September, 2011. The picture below was taken back in April, the resident Marina Swans had produced 7 eggs. 7 to start with. In May there were 5  (1 behind the adult on the right.) 5 hatched but only 3 made it through the summer, they have now grown to be almost the same size as there parents. The 3 that made it. This week we have watched them being shown how to take off by the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-33348020899596423262011-09-18T17:18:00.002+01:002011-09-18T21:51:01.464+01:00

Sunday, 18th, September, 2011. When we bought a dozen eggs from Georges Pork and Poultry who trade from the lock side at Audlem bottom lock they were advertised as double yokers, I was interested how the owner, Amy George, could tell they were double yoke eggs, I had visions of the poor chickens being fed some Frankenstein type drugs but the answer was very simple, she goes by the size and so

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-67400176868508221042011-09-17T22:53:00.000+01:002011-09-17T22:53:02.240+01:00

Friday/Saturday, 16th/17th September 2011. Friday I had offered to help get Historic boats Nutfield and Raymond from Atherstone to the Huddlesford Boat Gathering which was taking place on Saturday. The boats were being brought from there home mooring at Braunston Marina by 3 other crew members and were due to be at the top of the Atherstone lock flight Thursday evening ready for an 8 o'clock

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-65582715156295963392011-09-15T22:00:00.000+01:002011-09-15T22:00:19.368+01:00

Thursday 15th September 2011. This is our new Crowther Propeller. Today we drove up to Oldham to collect our new Propeller from Crowther Marine, hopefully it will cure our noise. Crowthers are situated in an huge old Textile mill, "Belgrave Mill No 1" to be precise, which is now used by a number of smaller businesses, they are quite difficult to find but as with most specialists companies they

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-30342423205547153622011-09-11T22:18:00.002+01:002011-09-11T22:24:51.611+01:00

Sunday, 11th, September, 2011. Deptmore Lock to King's Bromley Marina. 16 Miles, 4 Locks. We are now back at King's Bromley Marina after an uneventful journey.  Only four locks today, but that was enough in the strong wind, the weather saved the worst until we turned into the Marina then the rain started and the wind increased, fortunately the wind direction helped as we reversed onto our jetty

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-2838614792489486592011-09-10T22:00:00.000+01:002011-09-10T22:00:02.864+01:00

Saturday 10th September 2011. Wheaton Aston to Deptmore Lock. 22.75 Miles 12 Locks. Off at first light today up to the water point and filled up, then it was up Wheaton Aston lock and a long steady cruise to Autherley Junction, it's a tight turn if you want to go left. At Gailey lock the Viking Afloat fleet were being lined up for the next hirers. Yellow Peril's lined up. We kept up a steady

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-66402159420634154532011-09-09T21:33:00.000+01:002011-09-09T21:33:13.329+01:00

Friday, 9th September 2011. Gnosall to Wheaton Aston. 5 Miles. Short journey today in nice sunshine. Entering Cowley Tunnel. When we arrived at Wheaton Aston a boat was moored on Turners fuel Wharf  filling up so we moored opposite on the Visitor moorings, we needed bread and milk so I walked to the Spar shop in the Village. After lunch, about 1.30 we moved over to Turners and filled up, the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-47206790868024886932011-09-08T20:34:00.000+01:002011-09-08T20:34:23.982+01:00

Thursday, 8th September 2011. Market Drayton to Gnosall. 13.5 Miles and 5 Locks. I have been keeping an eye on the fuel level as we head back, we want to get to Turners Garage in Wheaton Aston to fill up as they are much much cheaper than any of the boatyard's and Marina's along the Llangollen canal, we filled up at Turners on the way up to Llangollen, we also filled two jerry cans, one of which

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-85325635886589728072011-09-07T23:04:00.000+01:002011-09-07T23:04:03.908+01:00

Wednesday, 7th September 2011. Audlem Mill to Market Drayton. 6 Miles 17 Locks. A boat came past this morning heading down the locks so we got going hoping the 12 remaining locks of the Audlem flight would be in our favour which they were, after clearing the flight we carried on to the visitor moorings at the bottom of the Adderley flight where we stopped for a late Breakfast, the wind along

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-40260929104894133812011-09-07T14:46:00.001+01:002011-09-07T14:48:41.359+01:00

Tuesday, 6th September 2011 (My Birthday) Hurleston Top Lock to Audlem. 9 Miles, 9 Locks. We sat drinking tea this morning debating if we should move or stay on our mooring, the reason, the gale force winds which had kept Jayne awake most of last night (not me though) and was still howling, after a hour or so we decided we would move. Going down the 4 Hurleston locks worked out ok as plenty of

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-30644843906728178012011-09-05T22:45:00.001+01:002011-09-06T08:43:35.452+01:00

Sunday/Monday 4th and 5th September 2011.New Marton Locks to Hurleston Top Lock.32.25 Miles, 14 locks, Triple Staircase Lock, 8 Lift Bridges. Sunday.  We had a good run on Sunday despite it being the busiest day of the trip so far, got through the only two locks of the day at New Marton early before anyone else was about. Passing the Jack Mytton Inn at Hindford I counted 14 Hireboats on the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-74944464686202068482011-09-03T21:53:00.000+01:002011-09-03T21:53:39.527+01:00

Saturday, 3rd September, 2011 Trevor to New Marton Locks. 7.5 Miles. We had a quiet night moored in the Trevor arm considering it was close to a path used by the locals, the only noise we heard were the crew from the boat moored in front of us attempting a Barbecue.  We had arranged for Jayne's friends to arrive around 11 o'clock today, they have rented a cottage in Llangollen for the weekend

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-40719533567259647692011-09-02T22:43:00.000+01:002011-09-02T22:43:37.380+01:00

Friday, 2nd Septenber 2011. Llangollen to Trevor. 4.75 Miles. Out of the mooring basin today and stopped at Llangollen Wharf to use the services, exceptionally slow water tap, we then carried on to Trevor only meeting 1 boat in the narrow section, a hired day boat, they reverse 10 yards and we managed to pass. A Horse Drawn Boat service operates from Llangollen Wharf along the piece of Canal

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-59257264658021197722011-09-01T22:36:00.001+01:002011-09-02T07:34:24.975+01:00

Moored in Llangollen Mooring Basin. We paid for 48 hours mooring when we arrived on Monday but we liked it so much we paid for another 48, this was only allowed as the Basin is not very busy. Moored in the Basin Today we did a little shopping and then spent an enjoyable few hours on the platform of Llangollen Railway Station, sitting in the sun drinking Coffee while the volunteers who run the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-52780742638551509282011-08-29T20:58:00.000+01:002011-08-29T20:58:58.463+01:00

Monday, 29th August 2011. Chirk to Llangollen. 7 Miles,1 Lift Bridge, 1 Tunnel, 1 Aquaduct. We arrived at Chirk on Saturday afternoon in the rain, the forecast wasn't good for Sunday, so stayed there until this morning, today the weather looked a bit grim but has turned out ok. We are now in Llangollen mooring basin, £12 for 48 hours including Mains electric, we've been surprised how few boats 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-92177804073654559592011-08-27T23:02:00.000+01:002011-08-27T23:02:37.807+01:00

Saturday 27th 2011 Ellesmere to Chirk 11.75 Miles, 2 Locks, 1 Tunnel, 1 Aquaduct. We've been sitting out the worst of the rain moored on 72 hour moorings at Ellesmere Junction since Wednesday afternoon, so today we made a move.  One result we had at Ellesmere was to contact the Ellesmere Info website and suggest that it would be helpful if the site included the location of recycling points and

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-62647886067460432822011-08-24T23:05:00.000+01:002011-08-24T23:05:49.951+01:00

Wednesday, 24th,August 2011 Queens Head, Montgomery Canal to Ellesmere. 7.5 Miles 3 Locks and a Double Staircase Lock. We left our mooring at Queens Head this morning allowing plenty of time to get to Frankton Locks which opened at noon. The owner of this boat moored at Queens Head is obviously a fan of the Big One. Signs of the huge amount of work it took to restore this section of the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-84532386687665289072011-08-24T07:24:00.000+01:002011-08-24T07:24:40.841+01:00

Wednesday. 24th August 2011 Moored at Queens Head, Montgomery Canal. Just read on the BBC news site that Sarah Henshaw the Bookboat Lady, has been banned from operating in Bristol, the official reason seems to be Healh and Safety but it also mentions that the other traders might be getting upset. It's all on.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-14629840

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-71411400203035457162011-08-23T22:41:00.000+01:002011-08-23T22:41:56.886+01:00

Tuesday, 23rd August 2011. Moored at Queens Head, Montgomery Canal. Today we had visitors, my Mother and my Aunt and my Aunts Husband, after a couple of hours spent on the boat chatting we popped over to the Queens Head Pub for lunch, we sat in the Conservatory area had an excellent meal, we were surprised how busy it was considering it was mid-week. The Pub opposite the 14 day moorings (

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-64569351589418068032011-08-23T09:19:00.001+01:002011-08-23T09:21:00.525+01:00

Monday, 22nd August, 2011 Moored at Queens Head, Montgomery Canal. One thing that's been on my mind coming along the Llangollen Canal is how deep is it,  various bits of information say a maximum draft of 2 feet at the Llangollen end but I know people who have travelled the whole length in boats that draw more than that with no problems. I though the Montgomery Canal may also have been a

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-4162467540660284522011-08-21T22:58:00.001+01:002011-08-21T23:05:59.349+01:00

Sunday, 21st August 2011. Ellesmere to Queens Head Visitor Moorings, Montgomery Canal. 7.5 Miles, 3 locks and a Double Staircase Lock. Reversed back to the junction this morning and turned to moor at the services, a near perfect manoeuvre, just as well as 2 hireboat Captains were watching. Arrived at Frankton Junction and tied up on the moorings at 9.45 which left plenty of time for breakfast

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-24966722530279877912011-08-20T22:43:00.000+01:002011-08-20T22:43:36.267+01:00

Saturday 20th August 2011. Grindley Brook Visitor Moorings to Ellesmere. 13.5 Miles, no Locks 5 Lift Bridges. I said on the last blog that we had timed our journey well and there wasn't many boats around, well today moored here at Ellesmere Junction it has been manic all afternoon. We left last nights mooring at 8.05 and worked our way through the 5 lift Bridges arriving at Ellesmere at around

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-958677876991540432011-08-20T06:00:00.003+01:002011-08-20T07:12:29.582+01:00

Friday, 19th, August 2011. Ravensmore, Bridge 11 to Grindley Brook Visitor Moorings. 9.25 Miles, 10 Locks, 3 Staircase Locks 3 Lift Bridges. After a very peaceful night we set off at 9 o'clock and arrived at today's first lock, Baddiley No3 about 20 minutes later, after securing the boat we both walked up to the lock and found it almost full, before emptying it we had a good look for any boats

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-42765464627699368152011-08-19T06:00:00.001+01:002011-08-19T06:00:06.567+01:00

Thursday 18th, August 2011. Audlem Mill to Ravensmoor (well very close) 11.25 miles 11 locks. We left our mooring at 9 this morning aiming to be at the bottom lock when the little shop opened, we were there but George wasn't, we hung around on the lock moorings for a while but no one showed up. Someone's overslept. At the first of the two Hack Green locks we meet a boat coming up, at the second

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-9652202063776857072011-08-17T21:09:00.000+01:002011-08-17T21:09:03.750+01:00

Wednesday, 17th, August 2011. Adderley to Audlem. 2.6 Miles 12 Locks. Well, we almost managed the 15 locks of the Audlem Flight today, we were going well until  approaching the Shroppie Fly pub with the smell of food wafting along the Canal and, with a mooring right outside Audlem Mill a short distance from the Pub we found ourselves unable to go any further.  We did well coming down the Locks

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-46473243158018107982011-08-17T06:00:00.009+01:002011-08-17T06:00:01.158+01:00

Tuesday, 16th August, 2011. Market Drayton to Adderley. 4.5 Miles, 5 Locks. We woke to rain this morning so our shopping trip was delayed slightly until it passed over, got to Morrisons at 9.40 and ordered Breakfast in the cafe, en route we past an Asda store where the Piston Broke crew gave up waiting to be served at the one and only check out.( I did check all the trollies to try and find your

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-55317864307589899572011-08-16T08:23:00.000+01:002011-08-16T08:23:43.834+01:00

Monday, 15th August 2011 Wheaton Aston to Market Drayton. 18.5 Miles, 5 Locks. We didn't go for Sunday lunch at the Hartley Arms after all, Jayne knocked up a Quorn Shepherd's Pie instead. Monday morning we shuffled across the Canal to the jetty at Turners Garage and filled both fuel tanks, Red Diesel, base price 71.9p a Litre, off we go and we pass Norbury Wharf, Red Diesel at 70.9 a Litre,

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-17680083473340401902011-08-13T17:00:00.000+01:002011-08-14T11:15:17.113+01:00

Saturday 13th August 2011. Moored at Wheaton Aston. The Digital TV signal is brilliant here, we even have the HD channels through our little Omnimax aerial despite being in a shallow cutting and surrounded by trees, our new television has a built in HD decoder so no extra boxes required, at Kings Bromley Marina which is further south we have Digital but the signal is not powerful enough for HD,

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-46075238947026723372011-08-13T09:31:00.000+01:002011-08-13T09:31:59.357+01:00

Friday, 12th August. Hatherton Junction to Wheaton Aston. 13.5 Miles, 2 Locks. As we have arranged to have visitors whilst moored at Wheaton Aston on Saturday I thought an early start was called for to ensure that we found a space. The alarm was set and we left Hatherton Junction at 6.05 this morning. After an hour or so we had to stop to move an unoccupied boat which had drifted across the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-23353006949100793042011-08-12T05:41:00.000+01:002011-08-12T05:41:41.223+01:00

Thursday,11th, August 2011. Deptmore Lock to Hatherton Junction. 9.5 Miles, 11 Locks. Had some heavy rain overnight, enough to wake us up, we got ready to move off at 9 o'clock just as the rain started again so we waited for it to blow over but approaching our first lock of the day, Deptmore it threw it down so we got wet anyway. That was the last of the heavy rain, we worked through the rest 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-48600515781784732112011-08-11T07:26:00.000+01:002011-08-11T07:26:08.865+01:00

Wednesday, 10th, August 2011 Kings Bromley to Half Mile Before Deptmore Lock. 15.5 Miles, 3 Locks.  Left the Marina at 7.45 today,  from Handsacre we were being followed by a boat that didn't appear to be slowing down when passing moored boats so was slowly gaining on us, we arrived at Armitage tunnel and had to wait as a boat was coming through, the following boat came up close and asked a dumb

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-16605170326118717452011-08-09T21:19:00.000+01:002011-08-09T21:19:00.427+01:00

Tuesday, 9th August 2011 Moored in Kings Bromley Marina. Water tank's full and enough fuel to get us to Wheaton Aston (cheap fuel) so we will be off in the morning, the last time we turned left out of the Marina was May last year, hope I can remember the way to Great Haywood. No Start time planned, just go when I get up,(after a least 2 mugs of tea), Jayne can stay in bed for a couple of extra

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-66518631982271280232011-08-07T07:58:00.000+01:002011-08-07T07:58:27.543+01:00

Saturday, 6th August 2011 Moored in Kings Bromley Marina. I have added a new blog to our blog list, nb Waiouru.   We've been following it since it was brought to our attention by Bruce on his blog,  words fail me, it just makes me angry and along with the problems the Piston Broke crew are having with the work recently carried out on their boat it acts as a sharp reminder that there are a few 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-33587398746321079142011-08-03T08:52:00.002+01:002011-08-06T08:19:18.704+01:00

Monday/Tuesday, 1st/2nd August 2011. Festival Weekend. The IWA Festival is normally held over the August bank holiday weekend, a 3 day event, this year it was held at the end of July, one of the reasons given for moving it was that the traders who attended wanted it in July. Friday being a working day the Festival opened at noon and closed at 7pm, the attendance appeared low, however Saturday

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-42407729057176564752011-08-01T22:33:00.001+01:002011-08-01T22:44:21.124+01:00

Monday, 1st August 2011. Shobnall to Kings Bromley. 14 miles and 15 Locks. Just got back from the Festival at 9.15 pm after an eventful day so just a taster blog tonight, I will do a fuller one tomorrow. This is the view of President, the Historic Steamboat from the rear deck of No Direction as we tow it,  yes you did read it correctly. More Tomorrow.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-9022631225631315172011-07-30T22:22:00.000+01:002011-07-30T22:22:09.568+01:00

Friday/Saturday,29/30th July 2011 Moored at Shobnall. The Festival opened at noon on Friday but the crowd numbers appeared to be on the thin side, but this is a big site so it may have been fuller than it looked. A lot of the local clubs and societies have taken the opportunity to show people what they do, the Burton upon Trent Amateur Radio Club have erected a huge aerial which was winched 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-1076990232675589772011-07-28T22:39:00.000+01:002011-07-28T22:39:44.265+01:00

Thursday, July 28th July. Moored at Shobnall. The passing place system we mentioned in the last blog seems to be working as boat traffic through the Festival site is flowing smoothly. And they mean it. A boat comes through. Things get a bit tight by the footbridge as an Historic boat towing a butty come through.  The weather has been very warm today, a bit to warm for me, we set up the RBOA

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-35328748200353273312011-07-27T23:06:00.000+01:002011-07-27T23:06:15.026+01:00

Wednesday, 27th July 2011. Kings Bromley to Shobnall 12 miles, 13 Locks. Jayne had her tooth fixed this morning and we left the Marina around 10 o'clock, first lock, Wood End, Straight through, the next 5 locks through Fradley were being operated by I.W.A and "The Friends of Fradley" Volunteers so little delay there despite a hire boat Trying to turn around at the Junction. If Heineken ran the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-30545157742596983562011-07-25T22:01:00.000+01:002011-07-25T22:01:20.282+01:00

Monday, 25 July 2011 Moored at Kings Bromley Marina. The usual  hold up at Fradley Locks are eased for a week or so as I.W.A Volunteers work boats through, unfortunately the relief is only a temporary measure to help boats get to the I.W.A. Festival at Burton, we were down at Fradley in the car on Sunday morning and the Volunteers looked well organised with Windlass's ( or are they lock keys )

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-42572074965860046172011-07-23T23:11:00.000+01:002011-07-23T23:11:05.168+01:00

Saturday 23rd July 2011 Moored in Kings Bromley Marina. Nothing much to blog about, Jayne chipped a tooth on Wednesday and it's not going to be fixed until next Wednesday morning at 8.30 so that has delayed our departure to the I.W.A. Festival, we had planned to travel there on Tuesday, a day later won't make any difference. Finally got round to re-painting the front and rear of the boat, the

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-6072963604910894812011-07-16T11:26:00.001+01:002011-07-17T08:26:05.889+01:00

Wednesday, 13th July 2011. Moored in Kings Bromley Marina. As we plan to cruise the Shropshire Union Canal later this year and bearing in mind the difficulty mooring close to the side in certain places due to the rocks below the water, we have followed other boaters and bought a couple of wheels which, when tethered with the right length of rope will float on their side and act as very large

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-87031845193326600232011-07-10T23:15:00.001+01:002011-07-11T07:18:19.288+01:00

Friday, Saturday & Sunday 8/9/10th July 2011 Moored at Alvecote. The weekend was not really a boatie types event, there were around 35 Historic Working Boats moored in the Marina and a couple more outside but only about 12 modern boats, most of the people around on Saturday were there for the pub. Sunday was the main day with the Alvecote Summer Fair scheduled to start at noon, stalls were

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-50516323029912143032011-07-08T12:59:00.002+01:002011-07-08T15:45:13.284+01:00

Thursday 7th July 2011. Fazeley to Alvecote. 4 Miles and 2 Locks. We had very heavy rain last night, it woke Jayne but not me, the first I knew about it was when I saw big puddles on the towpath this morning. We left Fazeley around 9.30, through the 2 Glascote locks and arrived at Alvecote at 11.30, we are moored next to the Cheeseboat but not the one we normally see this is Cheeseboat 2,

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-66272346113074291462011-07-06T22:21:00.000+01:002011-07-06T22:21:22.272+01:00

Wednesday 6th July 2011. Kings Bromley to Fazeley. 13 Miles  3 Locks. Our 2 weeks in the Marina has past quickly, and today we set off again, only a short trip this time to Alvecote Marina for their Summer fair and Boat Gathering this weekend where we are flying the RBOA flag.   It was raining hard when I got up but around 8.30 the sun was trying to break through and apart from a short shower

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-68446451954182721042011-06-27T09:33:00.000+01:002011-06-27T09:33:21.303+01:00

Marina life hasn't changed much while we've been away, the pair of Swans are now down to 3 young, 7 eggs, 5 hatched 2 died, the last a victim of a discarded fishing line. We took the Laptop in to Boldmere Computers in Sutton Coldfield on Thursday to have it checked for viruses we got it back the same day, however Saturday morning the problem was back so it was over to the shop again, same virus,

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-40222634293837704332011-06-23T08:16:00.000+01:002011-06-23T08:16:29.964+01:00

Tuesday/Wednesday, 21/22nd June 2011. Braunston to Kings Bromley. 53 Miles, 20 Locks. After a couple of long days we are back on our berth at Kings Bromley Marina, this is a week sooner than planned but we need the extra time to sort a few things out. The journey back was good, going down Atherstone locks this morning was easy as we met lots of boats coming up on their way to Braunston, we were

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-77706994364394670122011-06-21T22:05:00.000+01:002011-06-21T22:05:50.236+01:00

Monday, 20th June 2011 Oxford Canal to Braunston 5 Miles no Locks. The rain came on Saturday, showers at first then heavy, so we had a very quiet weekend and kept dry which was the plan. Jayne turned on the Computer while we were eating breakfast and found that a "Trojan" had got into our laptop blocking access to the Internet, a call to Boldmere Computers in Sutton Coldfield where we have our

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-10065767165118306092011-06-16T22:30:00.001+01:002011-06-16T22:39:42.608+01:00

Wednesday/Thursday 15/16th June 2011. Buckby top Lock to the Oxford Canal. 8 Miles, 6 Locks and 1 Tunnel. Wednesday morning we moved up the last lock of the Buckby flight and slotted in on the first visitor mooring just past the water point, the Tesco delivery which was scheduled between 3 and 5 o'clock, arrived on time and was quickly passed through the side doors and stowed. The evening was

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-20672965547207787562011-06-15T09:46:00.000+01:002011-06-15T09:46:42.195+01:00

Tuesday, 14 June, 2011. Stoke Bruerne to Buckby. 16 Miles, 6 Locks. Up at 6 o'clock this morning and off at 6.20 with blue sky's and no wind, the Blisworth Tunnel was so clear and with no approaching boats I was able to use a powerful torch to have a look at it.  Stopped at Gayton Service block to empty Cassettes and then it was just a nice Cruise in perfect conditions to the bottom of Buckby

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-16445505358256679142011-06-13T22:19:00.000+01:002011-06-13T22:19:23.076+01:00

Monday 13th June 2011. 1 Mile 8 Locks. This Morning we were watching the weather, it rained a bit to start with but the sun emerged as we dropped down 3 Locks to where we could wind (turn around) then back up 5 locks to the water point opposite the Museum.  After filling the water tank we moored halfway between the Museum and the Tunnel for breakfast but decided to stay here until Tuesday. We

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-17096898494628788762011-06-13T11:40:00.002+01:002011-06-13T12:56:33.849+01:00

Sunday, 12th June 2011. Moored at Stoke Bruerne. The picture says it all about Sunday at Stoke Bruerne, rain, rain, rain so we didn't do too well with our fund raising to help keep the Historic Boats going, we did have a few pounds put into the collection boxes but I think that was out of sympathy. The picture shows Richard, Roger, Diana and Nick, about 15 minutes after I snapped them we

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-57584066873372736282011-06-12T13:46:00.000+01:002011-06-12T13:46:39.095+01:00

Saturday 11th June 2011. Moored at Stoke Bruerne. First the Windlass, Ringmain Technology who make the LockMaster racheting Windlass offer a superfast delivery service, in fact its so fast than after receiving our cheque on Friday it was delivered to Jaynes sisters house in Derbyshire at 7.30am on Saturday which was handy because they were coming down to Stoke Bruene to visit us so we now have

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-81795770180030779522011-06-08T21:11:00.000+01:002011-06-08T21:11:30.145+01:00

Wednesday, 8th June 2011. Moored at Stoke Bruerne. Jayne has always struggled a bit winding the paddles on the wide locks here on the Grand Union Canal so today she ordered herself a LockMaster Ratcheting Windlass, they're expensive but as she doesn't want to steer the boat then we have to make things as easy as possible, so that's Jayne sorted, the other problem it more complicated and will no

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-75572284564560094652011-06-07T22:03:00.000+01:002011-06-07T22:03:45.789+01:00

Tuesday, 7th June 2011. Nether Heyford to Stoke Bruerne. 10.25 Miles, 1 Very wet Tunnel, 2 Locks. We left our weekend mooring at about 10 o'clock, the sun was out but the wind was cold, the sky started to darken and by the time we had tied up a Gayton Junction service block it was raining so we got wet emptying and filling the various tanks, it's the first time this year we've been caught in a

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-40860417237953930612011-06-06T16:40:00.000+01:002011-06-06T16:40:58.762+01:00

Friday 3rd June 2011 Buckby top Lock to High House Wharf, Nether Heyford 4.5 Miles, 7 Locks (very heavy one's) On Friday morning we moved the 100 yards to the water point and filled up, then it was off down the 7 Locks of the Buckby flight, we met boats coming up at 5 of them so that saved us closing the bottom gates which is always very welcome as these Locks, especially the bottom one which is

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-73744111059384335532011-06-01T22:14:00.001+01:002011-06-02T18:25:19.604+01:00

Wednesday, 1st June 2011. Crick Marina to Buckby Top Lock Well that's the Crick show done, we are now back at the New Inn pub at the top of Buckby Locks, having cruised back yesterday, on reflection we should have waited until today, we would have avoided the 5 hour wait at Watford Locks. The show went well for us and the RBOA with Jayne's organisation ensuring a smooth weekend Jayne, in

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-81001697013796077082011-05-27T07:43:00.000+01:002011-05-27T07:43:32.854+01:00

Friday, 27th May 2011 Crick Marina. Yesterday we made the short hop into the Marina, bit of a squeeze for a 70ft boat, we will be able to set up the RBOA stand today ready for the 3 day show. The internet signal is weaker here than it was out on the Canal so we will not blog again until we are in a better area.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-8736911176539849792011-05-25T08:14:00.001+01:002011-05-25T09:14:21.760+01:00

We are now at Crick, moored on the Towpath side and hope to go into the Marina on Thursday.  Monday we moved from Hillmorton in gale force winds and found a mooring close to the Pub at the top of Buckby Locks, yesterday we came up to Crick, Short blog as the signal is very weak, hopefully it will improve when we get into the Marina.

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-62151074662561468232011-05-22T22:20:00.000+01:002011-05-22T22:20:40.958+01:00

Sunday, 22nd May 2011 No Miles No Locks Moored half mile below Hillmorton Locks. We had heavy rain in the night so I needn't of watered the flower boxes when we moored up yesterday.  This morning was bright sunshine then cloud and a bit of rain, the wind is still very strong, so the decision was made to stay on this mooring until Monday, not a problem as we will still be at the New Inn on Monday

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-5625448824675008292011-05-22T10:39:00.000+01:002011-05-22T10:39:15.120+01:00

Saturday, 21st May 2011. Atherstone to Hillmorton. 23.5 Miles, 1 Lock. Got going early today and managed to cover a good distance, being the weekend it was busier that yesterday, we hit something underwater going through Nuneaton, the boat rolled to the right and then back, no sound or anything visible but it gave Jayne a fright as she was just getting out of bed. Passed Boot Wharf where No

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-15246223273854517172011-05-20T22:47:00.000+01:002011-05-20T22:47:54.281+01:00

Friday 20th May 2011 Fazeley to Atherstone 10.5 Miles, 13 Locks. Sunny start this morning so on with the shorts, by lunch time it was back to trousers and fleece jacket, as it clouded over the wind turned very cold. We are now moored on the 48 hour visitor moorings above Atherstone top Lock, we did not have an easy trip up the 11 Atherstone Locks as most of them were set against us and only 2

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-6875165188914572542011-05-19T18:30:00.001+01:002011-05-19T21:13:31.576+01:00

Thursday 19th May 2011. Kings Bromley Marina to Fazeley. 13 Miles, 3 Locks 1 Swing Bridge. What a cracking days cruising, we left Kings Bromley Marina at 9.15, we met boats coming out of the 3 Locks at Fradley so we were able to glide straight in, even Fradley Junction was quite. The Marina Swan family, doing well. Other Narrowboaters will know about the strange forces at work which ensure you

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-32691987443160722182011-05-16T20:02:00.001+01:002011-05-16T20:05:23.596+01:00

Just a couple more days now before we leave the Marina and it can't come quick enough for me, we will probably be off Wednesday lunch time or even Thursday morning for a slow cruise to Crick. Yesterday saw a lot of boats returning to the Marina after being out during the recent good weather however that seems to have gone now replaced by heavy showers, just what I don't need whilst trying to

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-30061357244185655552011-04-26T08:12:00.001+01:002011-04-26T10:44:40.060+01:00

Marina Fever has struck but we will have to fight it for another 3 weeks before we can cast off and get out onto the Canal, meanwhile we have a few little jobs on the boat to keep us busy. We have some pieces of wooden sculpture appearing around the Marina courtesy of Tony Darlington (tonydarlington64@yahoo.co.uk) the piece pictured below is about 5 feet high. All hand carved. Another one being

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-30032760082572601202011-04-23T22:31:00.001+01:002011-04-23T22:32:28.062+01:00

The picture below is of Daffy and Dora two of the Marina Ducks, they have been coming to our side doors since April 2008, we know they are the same pair as Daffy has a claw missing from his right heel and also a bit missing from his tail. We had given up on them ever producing offspring but this year may be different, Dora has stopped coming, only Daffy appears now for food, Dora has been spotted

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-32287525176451167532011-04-19T20:35:00.000+01:002011-04-19T20:35:54.546+01:00

When we Cruised the Grand Union Canal through Milton Keynes last year we thought how nice it was for an urban Canal, but there have been some dodgy goings on down there, when the Milton Keynes branch of the Inland Waterway Association had a Canal Clean-up at the beginning of April they dragged out 12 tons of rubbish, amongst the usual shopping trolleys and bikes they removed 2 telescopic sighted 

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5355838080844642105.post-80044646773596574312011-04-17T15:35:00.008+01:002011-04-25T10:13:07.517+01:00

Out on my bike at 7.30 this morning, not a cloud in the sky, down the tow path to Fradley Junction and right onto the Coventry Canal as far as Streethay Wharf where I found the now famous Narrowboat Reckless . Reckless, now for sale at Streethay. Fradley Junction is one of the busiest honeypots on the Canal system, with the Canal Junction, two cafes, a nature reserve, locks and a popular pub, on

No Directionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05379672816296227920noreply@blogger.com3