8th March - 14th April

Yippee! We made it safely all the way down the Stratford Canal

"That" lock

 (no problems squeezing through the dreaded Lock 47 at Wilmcote) and spent a lovely week moored right in the Bancroft Basin,

Washing (foreground) RSC (background)

opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford - lowering the tone somewhat by hanging our washing out to dry, to the amazement of various passers-by who thought we were just a tourist attraction!  Normally boats can only moor for 48 hours, but since one of the locks was closed for repair, we had some buckshee  extra days.  We had a succession of visitors, taking advantage of our being in an easy spot to locate: Jenny and family;

Jenny and Joseph

Peter and Di; Caroline; Sheila and Denise; midwives Sue and Carole;

Sue, Jean and Carole

Jill, plus dogs (to Benny's surprise/displeasure)

Jill, Bandit and Shadow

Andrew D. On our first night Roger was woken at 3am by strange gurgling sounds (no, not Jean snoring....) and on investigation found that some wag had opened the paddles on the lock gates leading from the canal basin to the River Avon, which had drained most of the water away, so Vincent Joseph was resting at a 30 degree angle on mud!  Fortunately the CRT were quickly on the case, and by morning we were afloat again.

We've had some minor technical problems -  a persistent diesel leak,a sticky accelerator cable and finally the dismay of discovering water beneath a cupboard base, from a leaking pump, which had to be replaced.

On 26th March we set off back up the locks,

Bearley Aqueduct

joined by Sue and Dave for the Bearley/Edstone Aqueduct, a reminder of the mighty Pontcysyllte last summer. The South Stratford is a lovely stretch of canal,

Tee-hee!

and we enjoyed retracing our steps.

Weathervane - the resident is presumably a biker not a boater

Bottoms up

In Lapworth we met up with Biddy and Bill,

Biddy and Bill

over from Colorado USA for a quick spot of boating before dashing off to Wales. Then we had Hatton Locks to face again,

Roger P testing his strength

and were very grateful to Roger P (R2) who came to help us down the last half.

Now we're heading southwards, our aim being to reach London by mid-May, and cruise the tidal Thames, under Tower Bridge, past Big Ben etc. A scary but exciting prospect......

29th Dec 13 - 7th March 14

It's been a long while since we last posted a blog entry, so this is bit of a marathon effort. The weeks have slipped by quietly, and we have mostly stayed snug in the boat while outside the rain poured down endlessly and the towpath gradually became a quagmire of mud. Of course we've had to make occasional forays outside, to organise wood for the fire, stock up with supplies, and go to the swimming pool regularly for a double whammy of exercise plus a long hot shower. (We do have a shower on the boat, but it's pretty tiny, and we're very thrifty with water, so washing is not a luxurious experience!)
We saw in the New Year  at Jill's house,

New Year's Eve

 and had a long walk back in pouring rain to collect the car the next day, as we hadn't realised the buses wouldn't be running - a good start to our resolution to get fitter in 2014.

Lots of lovely fires ....

 Roger continued the good work by spending hours logging up a eucalyptus tree from Di's garden, which will keep us cosy for a fair few weeks.
The year got off to a rather expensive start when the fridge stopped working! The cheapest 12volt one we could find was in Birmingham so off we went to collect it. With some difficulty we extracted it from the car and trundled along the muddy towpath!
That was £450 easily spent and shortly after we followed up with £250 on three new batteries! Ouch!!!
We've had quite a few visitors dropping in : Anne down from Scotland, Alison and Jane (midwife friends), 

Jill and Alison

Roger and Karen (and Jean)

Karen and Roger, Sue and Dave, Barbara - and Joseph and Samuel came for a sleepover during half-term.  This involves them sharing our bed while we sleep on the spare bed converted from the dining table, with the result that no-one gets much sleep! We've also made trips to see other friends: Biddy during a flying visit from Colorado to visit her Mum, and  lunch in Wellingborough with Jen and Chris

Roger had a break doing family tree research in Bolton, and then it was Jean's turn, first at David's to take James out for a 3rd birthday treat,

James at the Build-a Bear shop

Louis attacking Grandma's Kindle

 then briefly to France for a belated celebration of Louis' 2nd birthday.

Towards the end of February we discovered a fuel leak in the engine ( no wonder we've been getting through so much diesel....) 

Kate Boats

so took the boat down to Kate Boats in Warwick for repair.  By this time we were feeling thoroughly  bored with being moored in the same spot, and decided to move on in search of a fresh stretch of muddy towpath.  So on 26th Feb, on a beautiful sunny day - hooray! - we conquered Hatton Flight yet again. How many times have we slogged up or down those 21 locks?  By 1st March we had set off down the South Stratford Canal, successfully negotiating Lock 27, which has a dodgy bottom gate, and is now closed for a few weeks for repair.

The Stratford is a lovely rural canal, with interesting barrel-roofed lock houses,

"Mud on towpath" - they're not kidding

Canalside honesty box

and split bridges with a gap down the middle to allow the horses' towropes to pass through, in the days of horse-drawn boats

Spring is in the air, and free-range eggs are frequently on offer, with an 'Honesty Box' for your money. We also bought some delicious home-cured bacon and duck eggs from Finwood Hill Farm at Lowsonford

 We've got as far as Preston Bagot by this point, still several miles from the infamous lock at Wilmcote where Constance, Roger's first boat, became solidly wedged, and was only extricated with extreme difficulty and a lot of help.  The sides of the boat had to be winched in, and protrusions on the hull ground down to fractionally reduce the width, and finally British Waterways forced the boat through with a tow-rope attached to a 4-wheel drive van. We have our fingers and toes all crossed in hope that Vincent Joseph will slip through that lock with no such problems!

Nov 11th - Dec 29th

Rather more than a month since our last post, but Christmas preparations and activities have taken up time, and the days have just slipped by.....We feel well settled in our winter mooring spot now. After all our travels about the canal network over the summer, our movements are currently limited to a half-mile trip to the Saltisford Canal Centre every ten days or so to fill up with water. After each trip Benny is amazed to find that  we're in the same place when the doors open again - very boring!

In November we were treated to a delicious Sunday lunch at Robert's pub, the Crowd of Favours  (www.crowdoffavours.co.uk) along with David, Lizzie and James

Landlord Rob with some customers...[don't ask]

James and Lizzie

So far the winter has been relatively mild in comparison with last year, but we still need to light the stove every day, and have been grateful for donations of wood when friends/family have felled a tree or taken down a fence. Roger spends a lot of time out on the towpath chopping logs!

Roger's daily chore

 No joy with getting a TV signal through the aerial - if there's a programme we really want to see we have to download it to Roger's phone to watch later, which involves a trip to some public building with Wi-Fi such as a pub, library or swimming pool, or the house of some long-suffering friend.  Sue and Dave kindly invited us to watch the Strictly Come Dancing Final live, which was a highlight of our autumn viewing schedule!

We have had lots of visitors, family as well as friends, including David (with and without Lizzie and James),

Roger with Jenny and Richard, Joseph and Samuel

Jenny and Richard with Joseph and Samuel,

Roger, Robert, Moira

 Robert and Moira (Roger's brother and step-mum) Peter and Di

Note Di's look of amazement - Pete is drying up!

Jill, Caroline, Alison and Jane ( ex midwife colleagues of Jean),

Davinder

Davinder and Liz Tebby with daughter Ruth.  Liz has just published two books "Distant and Dangerous Days in Burma and China",and a short book of historic photos from Burma.

Ruth, Liz holding her book

 Details on her website (www.elizabethtebbygermaine.com) which also shows examples of some lovely paintings (she takes commissions for pet/house/garden portraits)

The boat is currently looking fairly festive, inside at least - the tiny tree we bought last year has survived outside in its pot and come in to be decorated again, and we even have fairy lights powered by AA batteries!

It's Christmas!!

 The sloe gin and crab-apple vodka which we started off in October are going down a treat ( the rose-hip wine is still fermenting gently in a corner). We spent Christmas in York with David and Robert plus extended family,

Is it a bird? Is it a plane?
No, it's David in his Christmas onesie

then returned to Warwick to rescue Benny from a cold boat and give him his present of a 'catnip bomb'!

Benny's catnip-filled bomb

Then on Boxing Day we enjoyed another family party in Cropredy to celebrate Joseph's 7th birthday.

Joseph whupping Granddad at table football

Now we are looking forward to 2014, and wish all our friends a very Happy New Year!

19th Oct - 10th Nov

We moved on from Braunston as planned, on a beautiful crisp sunny day and were delighted to spot "Knot So Fast" en route.

Knot So Fast

This was Roger's previous boat, now owned by our friend Jill, but since she has been away most of the summer and autumn, another mutual friend Tim has been enjoying some boating on it.

We moored for a few days at Napton, intending to go up the locks to Fenny Compton where we'd planned to overwinter. However, we changed our minds and headed to Warwick where we are settled (we hope)  for a few months during the worst of the weather.  We have paid for a CRT Winter Mooring, and think we have found a spot  near the Cape of Good Hope, which complies with all the regulations, but still gives us fairly easy access to water, sanitary facilities (!) car parking and a pub!!  

 Winter mooring - complete with useless aerial

 We have good phone and Internet signals - BUT no television, despite investing in a new aerial, and aiming it at all points of the compass.  We're really not a pair of square-eyed TV addicts, but it's  nice to have the option to watch from time to time.

Benny the Boat Cat is also happy with our new location, another important consideration.

Benny exploring one of our temporary moorings

He has done so well to adapt to the transition from house to boat, and survive several dips in the canal, that we feel he deserves that his needs as well as ours should be accommodated.

It's lovely to be back within reach of friends and at least some family. Karen and Roger, accompanied by Roger's son Simon and grandchildren Arlo and Marlene joined us for the journey between Leamington and Warwick.

Arlo and Marlene, with dad Simon

 We also enjoyed an outing to Birmingham's ThinkTank Science museum with Joseph and Samuel at half-term,

Joseph at the ThinkTank

 and a visit to Beningbrough Hall, a National Trust property near York, with Lizzie and James.

Lizzie and James

Sloe gin and crab apple vodka infusions

Now we're settling down for the winter, and making important preparations for the Christmas festivities : sloe gin, crab apple vodka and rose hip wine are all maturing nicely!

Rose-hip wine bubbling by the stove

Mark arriving to make a delivery

We have also had a delivery from "Mark the Coal"who runs Star Class Carrying, delivering fuel in all weathers along the canal between Warwick and Leicester.  He stocked us up with diesel, bottled gas and several bags of coal -smiling cheerfully as always.

Since we shan't have so much to report while moored up for the winter, we plan to update the blog approximately once a month.

8th -19th Oct

The gaps between posts are getting longer!  Blame it on lack of internet access, then Jean being struck down by a mystery lurgy, which has held back our progress.

Anyway, our return journey up the Nene, retracing our steps from Peterborough to Northampton, is complete.  The first few days were sunny and peaceful - on average we met only one boat a day, and only shared a lock on a single occasion during the entire trip.

A bored heron

Swan taking flight

Pair of hopeful ducks

We saw river birds aplenty, and herons especially seemed much less nervous than on the canals, where they invariably fly off just as the boat approaches - on the Nene they appeared quite uninterested in our passing

We had a slightly scary experience exiting a lock, when the current caught the boat and carried her against the boom cordoning off a large weir.

Roger, Dave and Jean hauling the boat in

We managed to get away unscathed, but follow this link to see what might have happened - there but for the grace of God, went we!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2226937/Shocking-moment-14-tonne-narrowboat-smashes-river-sluice-gate-Northamptonshire.html


The weather, which had been glorious for so long, broke eventually just before Sue and Dave were due to come and join us for couple of days.

An ominous sky

 Rain hammered on the roof all night of Sat 12th, and although it stopped as they arrived at lunchtime on Sunday the river was extremely full.

Stuck!

 We had been warned of several low bridges along the way which could cause problems when water levels are high and discovered why when we got wedged solid under a footbridge.

We finally regained Northampton on Tues 15th, and Roger spent the afternoon driving the car over to Braunston, then returning [slowly!] by bus.

Vincent Joseph looking lonely at Northampton

Next day we locked back on to the canal system with some relief - it feels much safer than the deep, fast-flowing  Nene,

River speed limit

although it has been exhilarating to zip along at the heady speed of 7mph [as against 3mph on the canal]

Not canal related, but an amusing memory
 from Northampton

We had grown accustomed to floating on  water so clear that we could see the riverbed - the Grand Union seems very murky in comparison!

We completed the 17 locks of the Northampton Arm on the Tuesday, but since then  our progress has been slow, due to Jean's feeling rough!  Now about to head up the 7-lock Buckby flight, followed almost immediately by the downward flight into Braunston, where we shall have a bit of a breather before continuing homeward.

29th September to 7th October

This week we have pressed on down the Nene to Peterborough, travelling over 60 miles and through 37 locks, gradually getting used to the differences between canal and river! Locks take a lot longer to operate;

Guillotine lock gate

most of them have "guillotine" type vertical bottom gates and even though most have been electrified the process still takes quite a while. A major difference to the canal system is the lack of moorings - even those marked in our guide book are often just a short stretch of grassy river bank, where we had expected a proper landing stage and mooring posts.

Weirs can be quite scary...

Moorings are pretty few and far between, so no stopping whenever you feel like a break - we have had to keep going today for six hours non-stop, eating at the tiller!
.
 On Tuesday we started the day by picking 4 lbs of rose hips in readiness for some winter wine - hope it's worth the scratches.... We then encountered the first manually operated guillotine gates - instead of an electric motor to raise them, a 3ft wheel is provided which has to be turned many, many times!!

Help!!!

At another lock, access to the pick-up point for the crew (ie Jean) was through a gate marked "Bull in field" - fortunately he must have been dozing. Eventually we managed to find moorings at a pub so we could reward our efforts with a pint (and scrump some fallen apples for a blackberry and apple crumble)

The weather has been beautiful and the landscape gorgeous, the river sometimes tree-lined, and sometimes passing through open fields giving lovely vistas as  it twists and turns past many pretty sandstone villages, although frustratingly one often can't moor to visit them.

So near and yet so far

However we have enjoyed Wadenhoe, Elton, Fotheringhay and Oundle ( home of a famous public school, many buildings of which are scattered through the town)

Ferry Meadows

We spent Friday and Saturday nights moored at Ferry Meadows Country Park, and took a trip into Peterborough on the Nene Valley Railway, who were holding a "Diesel Gala Weekend", with lots of  train-spotting enthusiasts.

Peterborough Cathedral

Today we're moored on the embankment in Peterborough centre, a stone's throw from the magnificent cathedral, having trundled 9 miles to and back from the amusingly named "Dog in a Doublet" Lock which marks the beginning of the tidal stretch of the Nene.

End of journey - Dog in a Doublet lock

That was the most easterly point of our journey, as we now have to start heading back towards the Midlands to settle down before winter sets in!