C.L. Peache's Blog, page 37

Day Twelve… Fradley locks…

It’s a disappointing start to the morning when we attempt to use the showers but the water is cold and the power of the water is rubbish for filling the boat back up. But never mind, I’m sure once they’ve had time to rejuvenate the facilities it will be a wonderful site although it’s a shame they didn’t spend the money on the facilities first, rather than the pontoons and the office block.

Boat expertly steered out of the Marina and onto the pontoon we get her filled up with approx. 50 litres of fuel at approx. £56. Baring in mind we put in £216 when we bought the boat at the end of May it will be interesting to see how long it lasts for. Although i’m sure we will be still better off than being on land – the price of energy in the UK is just unfeasible – not sure how they expect people to find the money! Looking at the amount of diesel we got today I’m not too sure they charged us right when we originally filled up but oh well. It’s difficult to tell when there are no proper gauges to check.

Our first stop is Woodend Lock. I pull out a load of the weed which is in the lock as it can be a pain when they clump together and you don’t want it stuck around the prop ((The prop lays below the waterline at the stern and steers the boat)) and then you have to go in the deep dark depths of the weed hatch… ((This a hole in the boat which is near the engine where you can reach in and disentangle anything which is stuck around the prop – not a very nice job as you’re sticking your hand into the canal!))

We make our way through the other locks which mostly have lockies on them which really helps. I wanted to try and get pics of them but it’s not easy when you’re trying to do the locks and chatting to people. I had a lovely chat with a young lad who was on holiday with his family. It seems they weren’t enjoy it much but he was really into it. I reckon he will be a boater later in life. I showed him how to do the paddles and he helped out with a few of the locks and people moan about young kids! I think a lot of it is how adults talk to them, when I was running the Literature village at Newark Book Festival I was faced with a situation where a group of kids came on the market square and sent a drone up. Now, I couldn’t really have stopped them but instead of going up and shouting at them and demanding they put it away I went up and asked nicely, and you know what one of the other said, ‘come on, she’s asked nicely. Take it down.’ So there you go. I know that probably won’t work in all situations but I do think adults sometimes forget they were kids when they talk to them and you don’t often come our better off when you challenge them.

Anyway, I digress – must be the heat today – man alive it’s another hot one. We moor up near Alrewas and have lunch before wandering into the village via the pub. They don’t have ginger beer, prosecco or malibu and pineapple, I mean what is the world coming too! I had a small rose instead which was very nice. We then get some shopping before, you guessed, back to the boat for an afternoon of writing, napping and then we watch the final Hobbit film on TV and then more writing for me before bed. I think i’m up to about 10,000 words on this blog adventures so far! ((Keep going, Peachy we might be able to get another book out of this lol))

Another great day of cruising and locks and lots of lovely people chatted to on route home. I did have more pictures to upload but for some reason the PC didn’t like them.

Day eleven… a bit of a rest day, sort of!

After a lazy morning we decide to stay another night on the Marina as we are a bit tired and the next stretch on our way home is back to the Fradley area, which is lovely but as we know from coming up, it’s very tiring and you have to have your wits about you especially when dodging wasps!

I get stuck into uploading my blogs and more editing. It might not look it but it’s quite time consuming to put the blog together. First, I have to experience it to write about it, then comes the writing, then the editing and then uploading to WordPress, edit again when I find mistakes, sort out and upload the pictures, schedule it and write the sharing post. Of course, once it’s gone live I spot errors but oh well, I tried my best. All with slightly dodgy wi-fi/4g so it takes a while. I’m hoping to catch up today though. Four more days to upload! Then I really must spend a couple of days reading and doing the final edit on my fantasy book. So much to do, but I bloody love it and it’s exactly what I wanted from boating life.

Typically we decide on our rest day to have a walk into Kings Bromley, a nice walk we are promised in the marina blurb, until… we find there is no path on the busy road, only a grassy verge and then it looked like it would take us through a lovely copse, but only for a few minutes before we were back next to the huge lorries steaming past. We finally find a foot path across a field and then it’s past the ploughed fields looking for archaeological finds, over the dry, arid ground strewn with clumps of daisies and piled high straw bales, before back on the road and then finally into the co-op in Kings Bromley and then a very hot sweaty walk back the way we came.

We check the all-important washing has finished and hang it out and not a dog hair in sight – hurrah. The kind lady in the office gave us another wash token this morning when we explained about having to do another wash. The staff are very friendly on this site and I’m sure the facilities will be better once all the staff are settled and a few improvements are made. Also it turns out if you don’t get back to the machine within the time from the token you buy to run them then the door locks and you have to get another. That is really not boater friendly, as you cannot hang about whilst a wash is being done all the time.

Right, I might have a coffee or go for a well needed power nap. I have both in the end and it is a quiet rest of the day. When you’re pottering around you can almost forget you live on a boat. I crack on with more blogging and writing. We are treated to yet another fabulous sunset. Tomorrow it’s time to leave the Marina.

Day Ten… an interesting time at a new Marina and this is my 100th blog post!

We have a lovely stop near Great Haywood after turning around in the very busy winding ((That’s pronounced wind – as in windy not as in wind up – hole)) and what a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday we decided to about turn and head towards home. Further up the canal there are major closures due to the dams being low/or not being repaired quickly enough depending on who you talk too as well as the water levels being generally low due to dry weather we have had for so long. We also need to have some more work on our engine, not serious but it made sense to head home, have the work done and then go on another little cruise in the opposite direction.

It’s the first proper cool morning on the boat, think it’s still about 10 degrees but after the temperature we’ve had you can almost taste the changing of the seasons as we crank it early doors. There is something undeniably wonderful about cruising at 8am on a Monday morning when others are going to work. Although the grass looks heavy with dew and an almost autumnal feel to the air, the blue skies promise a nice warm day as we head to the marina for our overnight stay.

The cruise this morning is simply sublime. We had a Tern follow us most of the way. I can see where they get their name, it was swooping around the boat and could tern on a dime as they say. I think it was following us because we churn water up as we chug along, as every so often it would dive into the water. Stunning. This is what owning a boat is all about, I’m sure come the cold and wet days we will be hankering after days like this. We have been so luckily since we bought the boat. This must be the most perfect summer we’ve have had in a while although i’m sure those people stuck on the drought hit canals don’t feel the same. Such a shame for those people.

We moor back at Rugeley so we can wander in and get some shopping. We end up sneaking into Costa for a bacon butty for me – I don’t often eat meat but I cannot resist a bacon buttie. Then we hit the shops for a few essentials before back to the boat. After uploading a few blogs it’s now time to cruise to the Marina to get some diesel, use the facilities as well as hopefully getting some washing done.

Well, that was eventful. We pulled onto the pontoon as we were aiming to fill up with diesel, only to see the tiny sign which says moor stern on ((the stern is where you ‘drive’ the boat)) so it would mean having to turn the boat and reverse to get in but as we are visitors that would mean turning again to get to our visitor mooring which is about 1 million miles away in another county and through a bridge which is narrower than a narrowboat – well obviously not quite but it was a tight fit.

It seems like Aquavista ((they are the company who own the Marina Peachy is a resident with, you can use your Explorer 34 to stay free overnight at any other Aquavista marina)) have only recently taken over. They deffo need to add a larger sign to warn boaters they need to be stern on for fuel, but I guess the things take time and in canal world you can double or triple that from land life and let’s face it everything is on a go slow in the UK at the moment because it’s seems like 92.3% of the population is pissed off with their job, life or just the general misery it feels like in the UK at the moment. Although we did beat Germany in the Euro so go us and you cannot beat a bit of a football win to get a smile on a Brit’s face, even if they don’t like football. We’re a strange bunch.

Anyway, we moor up and trot off to the office and chat to some lovely staff who give the me low down on where we are mooring and about the electric, laundry etc. We decide to get the diesel in the morning as we will be facing in the right direction for leaving the marina. It’s suggested we walk around and see the mooring – with it being in another county and all that I’m glad we did. ((Stop over exaggerating Peachy! You writers!)) We pick up some washing tokens on the way back – £3 per wash and £3 per dry and some toilet liquid stuff. The less said about the Elsan on this site the better. The Captain wasn’t impressed, said it was the worst one he’d ever used and some of the Canal and River Trust ones on the cut are a bit dodgy! ((The ‘cut’ is what they call the canal))

The mooring up is a little difficult but the Captain manages it on the second try which isn’t bad considering the wind always picks up just as you go to turn the boat. The next boat we buy will have a bow thruster! ((For those who haven’t been on a canal boat you basically have pretty much no control/steering over the boat when it’s in reverse if you haven’t got bow thrusters)).

Once moored with have a little chat with couple next to us and then go and get the washing on as it’s about 3.30ish. They are deffo not as good as ours at Kings Marina, they are just normal sized household ones whereas the ones we have are the industrial type so you can load more washing in. I’m not quite sure how we have 2 full loads of washing but that does include towels and we have been away a week i suppose. Anyway, despite the little gripes it’s great to have these facilities and I’m sure cheaper and less hassle than taking clothes to the laundrette. I will say the pontoons are good here, they are quite new and very stable. We have a little bit more ‘washing drama’ as when we go to take the washing out we realise someone has washed a dog bed, so there is hair everywhere! What is wrong with people. It means we have to wash them again and now don’t have enough dry tokens so once done we have to pop them on the line. The washing is just about dry when the rain starts. It was all a bit of a faff but we got there. We decided to take a little drink up to the picnic area, they do have some lovely areas to sit in on this marina whilst we waited.

I was hoping to get some more blogs uploaded but the 4g isn’t very good. Oh well, plenty of other jobs to do… ((Also, today, if I have calculated correctly it is your 100th blog post Peachy! Congratulations you’ve managed to waffle since 2018!)) Thanks Brackets.

Day nine… Name dropping fabulous canal YouTubers – sorry, not sorry

Last night I wrote the end on my fantasy novel hurrah! Still more to do but the battery defeated me so I decided that was victory enough for one day. Next plan is to re-read and tweak the final bits and bobs before sending to my editor. There comes a point when you can do no more and it needs a fresh pair of eyes.

Well, the much-needed rain arrived in the night and it positively bucketed it down which woke us up a few times and we made the all-important checks for any leaks – we are watertight people! Good news.

It’s still raining so we loiter for a bit as we can get good 4G so I upload my blog – only three months since my last one but whose counting. It feels like I’ve turned a corner with getting things off my mental ‘to do’ list and I intend to try not to let it get quite so frantic in the future.

Despite looking at the map I’m totally unprepared when we arrive at the lock as we head to Wosley. The bow doors are still open slightly – we tend to close these as the locks can be leaky and ideally we plan not to sink our boat. I rush around in a practised and calm way, pick up my bag, grab the walkie-talkie and windlass and head to the lock. I’m so glad we have the walkie-talkies, it makes it so much easier to communicate what’s happening. I can check if there are any boats in the lock, any waiting, which side the rope needs to be for tying the rope when in the lock etc.

We carry on through the locks as we plan to turn around Great Haywood, the Captain does a perfect turn in the winding hole/Marina entrance despite boats coming from every direction. No boats were harmed and we quickly moored up so we could have the tomato, mozzarella, and pesto sandwiches we have been promising ourselves. Tucker consumed we decide to head out and look at the country park/farm shop we are moored near. Apparently, there is a Spar nearby but at the moment we are okay for food.

Hold the phone…  just had a lovely message from the fabulous Fran and Rich from Floating Our Boat that they were waiting for their latest vlog to upload and they have mentioned little old me… I cannot tell you how excited I was when I met Fran and Rich – Canal Boat and Floating our Boat YouTube royalty at Newark Book Festival. There I was, all sweaty and running around making sure the Literature Village was okay and checking up on the events in the Town Hall, when who did I spot on the balcony!

I was hoping I would see them, after watching them from the beginning of their journey, I knew they had a love of reading and my other half had talked to Fran the night before, so I knew they were nearby. I wasn’t with him at the time and was gutted I’d missed them, so I was very happy to catch up with them. It was a pleasure to watch their latest vlog – not only because they mentioned little old me but they also gave a big shout out to Newark Book Festival and Newark in general, which is where I live and it’s always a lovely feeling when people visit and enjoy the wonderful town – maybe Fran and Rich could be persuaded to come back one year and do a talk at Newark Book Festival…?

They are as lovely in person as they are on the TV. Such genuine nice people and it was a pleasure to chat to them – although I might have actually talked at them! I did give them some prosecco though so i hope it wasn’t too painful for them. Now I’m officially a live aboard boater I have so much respect for all the people who Vlog. I don’t know how they do it as well as just the day-to-day routines of living on a boat/cruising and what it entails… here we have a factual information dump provided by Brackets who normally has an opinion on my blogs… feel free to skip past…

((for example: Filling your water tank up so you have fresh water which can be done at various points along the river/canal side. These are usually provided by the canal and river trust and you need a key to use them. Then there is the toilet to empty – the discussion on canal boat toilets can go on forever but whatever you have, at some point you have to empty it! Which you can do via pump out at Marinas or using Elsans which are again provided at some service points along rivers/canals. There are also some compost toilers. Then you need to do the engine checks and make sure it’s all working properly before you set off and all this you do whilst also doing much ‘faffing’ which seems to be a must if you live on the boat. Also, you have to maintain and keep an eye on all the levels generally without any gauges to tell you said levels!)) Thanks Brackets. So that’s why I am so in awe of YouTubers, I don’t know how they find the time to put together such fabulous content as well as live on a boat as that’s only a snippet of living on a boat. I find it hard enough getting my blog together.

Since I’m name dropping, I might as well add this fabulous poster which I bought for my other half’s birthday earlier in the year. Made by the also fabulous Jo from Minimal List You Tube channel which also includes Michael, and of course, George! They have navigated the whole of the canal network, something we have a mind to do in a few years’ time – just need that lotto win or a best seller!

Not sure I have anyone else to name drop in the canal world ((I’m sure you will think of someone!))– ohhhh, Robbie Cumming apparently lived in the Marina we moor in so that’s pretty cool. Cannot get a natural link to the Country House Gent but if you want to binge watch some fabulous YouTube and some Amazon series then look out for all of these guys. Watching all of these YouTubers are the reason we decided to sell our house and buy a narrowboat! Got to also give a shout out to Narrowboat Will as well – we love watching him, what a cool bloke – Will – you are a legend! There are so many others I know I have probably missed. ((whilst editing this happened…)) Oh and Danni & Joe – they are a young couple who have pretty much built the inside of their canal boat from scratch! Oh my god, how could i forget Cruising the Cut who also has a campervan YouTube channel as well.

If you’re interested in the Rivers/Canals/Narrowboats then please do subscribe and watch all these channels. They give a great insight into Narrowboat life and we wouldn’t be doing this if we hadn’t binge watched their vlogs over the last few years.

Right, after that delightful interlude we moor up near the Wolseley Arms and I watch a bit of Footy – go the Lionesses! We treat ourselves to a curry and that’s another day done! What a day! ((Wow, you’ve included a rare picture of yourself! You must have enjoyed meeting them and you have your eyes open!))

my website!!! amazing!Legends (not me)

Day Eight.. two showers in one day…

First job, tied up at the water point to fill up. All was going well despite some boaters coming under the tunnel and onto the canal like they were in some kind of race against themselves. I really don’t want to be one of those boaters who shouts ‘slow down’ but I am sorely tempted sometimes. I just ignore them and they fail to get my normally cheery hello. That will teach them!

Another eventful time filling the water as I think I’ve turned off the water but as I pull out our hose connection, I realise my mistake and of course this happens on the water point which has better pressure than a Archimedes screw with an over flowing river channelling through it! ((I bet you had to look up that word!)) Anyway, the lower half of my body has it’s second shower of the morning and as the Captain shakes his head, we crank on up the canal and I go and change into dry clothes.

We quickly come across a tunnel with a very narrow channel, so only one boat at a time. We don’t have the time to do anything so we crank it and luckily we don’t meet anything. On the way back we are a bit more organised and I get off and walk for a bit and use the walkie-talkies. Which is a good thing as on the way back, two boats are coming through.

We moor up at Rugeley and take advantage of the Tesco’s and Morrisons within a few minutes walk. We also wander around the Town which is reminds us of Napier in New Zealand when we turned up on a Saturday lunchtime and there were no people around. Although it is nothing like Napier in terms of architecture just the fact it’s so quiet on what is normally a busy day in the UK. We wander the shops and have a good old nosey in the charity shops before heading back.

I crack on with some writing as I’m determined to get my fantasy book finished and we cruise for a little longer before mooring up just past the town for the night and finally i finished the first full edit of my book just as the battery died… ((never mind your book Peachy get some pics of the canals!)) All right grumpy! I will tomorrow, just let me bask in this moment after it’s taken me years to finish my series. Can never please some people. I shared a picture of my writing desk – i love seeing where other people write. Tomorrow I’m on the tele – well, sort of…

Day Seven… Halcyon days and a lot of locks!

Up early as usual and time to crank it. We make the rookie mistake of not putting the tiller on as we only need to move one boat along for the water point and of course, a boat came along as soon as we pulled out of our mooring spot – that’s the way of boating. You can sit there for 3 years and not see another boat, as soon as you set off, get to a water point, come to a corner, arrive at a narrow bridge or a tunnel and you will find a boat coming at you. All is well through and we manage to fill with water.

In the first lock we find a few honestly boxes with some lovely food in, so whilst the lock is filling and there are no other boaters around, we peruse the wears and come out with some spring onions – freshly picked, 6 eggs, some spuds and a beetroot relish – all for £4. I’ve now added emergency cash to the little bag I carry to the locks. In it I have my radio so I can let the know Captain what’s happening, my phone and a pen and paper for writing down ideas as I’m waiting for the locks to fill.

This stretch from Barton-Turns to Alrewas is why people love canals. The only word is idyllic, with the Damselfly’s, Dragonfly’s, herons, all manner of other birds and wildfowl going about their day with literally hundreds of pond skaters doing their thing it’s a perfect English summer scene. It’s warm but there is a blanket of cloud shading us from the glare and it is just beautiful. How lucky we are to have this on our ‘maiden’ cruise on the new boat although i know on much of the canals it’s not so good due to the lack of water they have closed or have restrictions on many. I feel so sorry for the boaters with the glorious, if a little too hot! Yes i’m allowed to say it is a bit too hot some days.

We stop at Alrewas for an early lunch stop and then wander into the village for a very pleasant coffee in the café and a read of the Towpath paper. Then it’s to the co-op to top up on some essentials and back to the boat. It’s now really hot as it’s midday and there isn’t as much shade to shelter from. I hide inside with the fan, catching up on the blog and carrying on with my writing until we arrive at the next lock in about a mile and then it’s onto the Famous Fradley Locks and hopefully the facilities before we head up the flight. There seems to be a lack of facilities as you get past Fradley so will have to see how we fair.

Wow, I was knackered at the end of the day. 11 locks in total we did today. One was a little tricky as there was a wasp’s nest in the lock so the Captain decided to wisely get off the boat and use the rope. These locks are pretty gentle though. Some of the gates are tough to open and close and it takes all my Yorkshire strength to work them. I did mean to write a bit about each one so I will try and do it on the way down when I will have hopefully finished my fantasy novel so will have more time for blogging.

I had a chat with a lockie the other day about the different locks on this stretch. These have two gates one side and one on another. When he explained, obviously it made sense but you’re never too old to learn something knew – quiet Brackets! ((I wasn’t going to say anything! They have 2 gates on one side because of the change in height of the water as locks are there to control the water and basically like a set of steps for boats. If you only had 1 gate instead of 2 you probably wouldn’t be able to open it because of the sheer weight etc. Should have just asked me.))

Knackered we moor up for the night just past King’s Bromley Marina which we end up staying for 2 nights with mixed feelings on our first stay in another Marina.

Day Six… Rude canal users…

A nice quiet evening was had and then it was up early to wander to the Marina and pick up the screw pins for the mooring – we hope these will be a lot better in many ways. Firstly, they screw into the soil/bank which hopefully will make them more secure when boaters speed past like they are on the way to the chippy on a Friday night, and also quieter for the folks living next to the canal as you twist them in rather using a massive great hammer and whacking at it and channeling your inner Thor/Hulk/He-Man. ((showing your age there Peachy – He-Man!)) So, we will see how they go. We also treated ourselves to a coffee.

Highly recommend the moorings just past bridge 23, we did have to use mooring pins rather than the Armco ((This is made from metal – like the crash barriers you see on roads. You use special hooks and they are much easier than using mooring pins)) but it was a really nice spot and we made use of the co-op a couple of times which is only about five minutes’ walk away and we might have just tested out the pubs.

We decide to crank it this morning rather than the planned few days of rest we had in mind as I feel a lot better and the batteries on the boat are getting a bit low and we don’t want to let them get below 50%. I think i have mentioned before that we don’t have our solar panels sorted yet and we will probably wait until next year to buy them. One reason it’s down to the amount of money we have already spent and we won’t be doing any longer cruises until next year as we will be working and based in the Marina so hooked up to the mains.

We stop at the facilities, because for the last time, I won’t say it again ((thank the canal fairies if you say facilities one more time!)) if you get the chance, you might as well stop. We do the necessary and then have a tricky turn off this point as we had to reverse in. We find using the ropes is easier than engine power and get her out on the second try and then moor up for an omelette followed by strawberries and ice-cream.

Taking a pause from cracking on with my fantasy novel to do Dallow Lock – what a lovely little lock, even though one of the paddles was a bit dodgy and it was a little leaky, it was so easy to work the paddles which were working and open the gates. My fav so far.  There are lovely moorings following this lock as well but we are going to crank it for a bit. I will try and get more pics of these on the return journey. Also, if there is anything you want me to explain just let me know. I don’t know it all but i will try my best!

This stretch of canal is lovely and we are treated to view after view of countryside and woods and what is this… we arrive at the lock to find that someone is rudely hogging the landing lock ((This is a specific area where you can tie up the boat and wait your turn. This can be because the someone is using the lock or they need to tie up and set the lock so the water is at the right level so they can open the gates)) a ‘gang’ of geese think they have right of way and they don’t even have a boat and i bet they don’t have a Canal and River Trust Licence! Rude. The Captain drops me off and I walk past them to set the lock and get hissed at for my trouble! I mean, they clearly have no intention of moving.

Next we arrive at Tatenhill Lock 9 which has a beautiful B&B alongside. If you love boats then this would be a great place to stay. It looks picture perfect. As i said earlier, on the way back I will try and add a little bit more detail about each lock. It’s all new to us on the way up and I’m needing to spend more time on my novel to get it finished.

Another day done and we moor up near Barton Turns which was a lovely spot. There is so much Armco along this canal. Not at all like Oxford canal where there didn’t seem to be much, but then again we were on a hire boat so maybe there was just more boaters out. We thought it would be rude not to have wander to the very traditional pub for a drink and then we had a wander up the canal path. then, it’s home. Another day done.

(I still have a problem so will try and upload some pictures but if i don’t get chance a few of them will be on my Instagram and Facebook Pages.)

Day Five… toilet emergency…

((before you start, i just want to say that in you New Zealand travel book you went on about the toilet and being ill… it seems a standard for you on holiday Peachy.)) and as I’ve said before my blogs/books are about real life, it’s not like when i write fiction and no-one visits the facilities or gets caught short. Can you imagine Jack Bauer from 24 stopping to have a wee or Frodo Baggins getting caught short or the side of a hillside! ((Fair point and i suppose most conversations with boaters comes around to toilets at some point, as you were. my bad but also that lead nicely into sharing that your New Zealand Book, 187 Kilometres, turn left, is 2 years old today! Book Birthday – only £1.99 on kindle and free on unlimited. Get your copy today)) Nice work Brackets, smooth link in #teamwork. ((well if you don’t make a few pennies from your writing you end up getting other jobs and then don’t have time to blog so it’s all about self preservation))

Woke up to an idyllic morning on the canal and an early morning cruise for an emergency toilet emptying. ((told you – clues in the title)) Hopefully there is an Elsan at the Willington canal services. We really want to replace our toilet as although it functions well it’s a bit old and we want more like a toilet in a house, so with a ceramic seat etc. Ours does have a fairly large tank which is good but not when it coming to emptying as it’s heavy! So, we intend to get a new toilet when we are back from cruising and have a few pound notes to spare. We’ve just had a bill from Canal and River Trust for £1,200 for the engine work – which is actually good value for the work we’ve had done but it’s a bit of a stinger to the old bank balance esp after buying the boat and all the other work we’ve had done. ((so, what Peachy is saying if any of you want to buy her books or visit the website and buy her a coffee it will go towards buying a new bog, sorry, toilet))

The idea is we will get two cassettes for the toilet and then we have a spare. Ideally, if we don’t have to empty the toilet for a week when cruising it gives us a few more options. Generally, we will be moored in the Marina so not a problem as there is an Elsan on site and it’s unlikely we will continuously cruise for a while unless I win the lottery or my book sales go through the roof ((More chance of winning the lotto Peachy and stop going on about toilets now we’ve all had enough))

Anyway, it’s onwards to the facilities ((Sorry folks, i tried!)), whilst watching the herons and other birds going about their morning routines…

We are lucky when we arrive at the next lock, not only because there is another boater with us. If you’re new to boating try and wait for another boat for the double locks, they are so much easier to manage and your boat doesn’t move around like a matchstick in a whirlpool. We had a lovely chat with a couple who have had their boat for a few years, swapping info about what we have done etc and where they have been. A CRT chap comes along and helps with the lock which is very handy as I chat to him about the best way to do the locks. We have done quite a few over the years but it’s always good to chat to the experts.

Lock done we head to the facilities which is being used so we loiter around in the winding hole ((a large area where you can turn your boat around as most canals are too narrow to do this)) but only for a few minutes as they are finishing and we don’t block any boats from turning. We turn around emptying the toilet, filling the water, emptying the bins in a record 15 mins and are back cruising again. We don’t head far and spot the perfect mooring which will do us for a couple of days as we raid Co-op – not literally, and pop to the chandlers for some new bits and bobs for the boat. It’s Christmas day every day for this boat!

On this journey, we pass Mercia Marina where we bought our boat and they kindly let us live for a few days as I couldn’t get time off my many jobs to move the boat back. We are now officially on ‘virgin waters’ and cannot wait to see what is ahead of us… the adventure continues but a few days of chilling are in order whilst we do a bit of faffing with the boat, I can get this blog up to date and work on my fantasy novel as my fans are demanding – you know who you are… I have a lovely couple of hours writing on the stern – this is exactly what i dreamed of doing when i was so stressed before we moved onto the boat.

We enjoy a chilled afternoon of faffing on the boat before some friend’s pop by in the evening to see the boat for the first time. This is after the gas alarm went off when we were cooking tea. The next day the fire alarm went off, they are really sensitive which I suppose is good. We have since mastered a meal without an alarm! Always something to do when on a boat but all sorted and a lamb had to be rescued out of the canal after it fell in leaning into drink – it was all well in the end and the farmer came to take it to the barn.

Another day’s adventuring done. Tomorrow we have to deal with rude canal users ((nice clickbait their Peachy)) I will try and add some photos but my phone has decided it’s run out of storage space so i cannot send them to my email to upload. Such is the life on the water with no proper internet.

Day Four… Dodgy boating…

As I said yesterday, I’m not feeling too well so we have a lazy morning of me doing a bit of napping and we play a board game when i feel better, which is a must on a boating holiday and we enjoy the sound of relative silence other than the birds going about their day.

Once I’ve rested, we set off and quickly arrive at our first lock of the day, Aston Lock and I’ve about filled it up when a boater comes along who is going down the river, and as we are going up, he gives me a hand with the lock. He’s quite keen to tell me I should have opened the two outer paddles – cannot remember their name (landing lock paddles?), first, before the gate paddles. Now, I’m happy to learn, as you know, we are new to this boating life other than a few boating holidays, we have certainly never owned and lived aboard before. But you know you can see the scorn on some of these experienced boaters when they point out what you’re doing wrong. I’m pretty sure that when they started boating, they weren’t perfect! ((I’ve been made aware that I haven’t to my knowledge explained what a windlass is, so it’s an apparatus to move or crank something. it’s an L shaped handle basically for turning the lock mechanism to open/close the paddles. I will get Peachy to show you a picture))

Anyway where was I, I was happy to listen and that seemed to make him realise he was being judgmental – maybe. I wasn’t feeling great so I ended up getting back on the boat and letting the Captain take over as the lock was nearly filled anyway, and another boater had joined the one wanting to go down so they were happy to close the gates etc.

We carried onto the next lock, Weston Lock which was where it all went a bit wrong. I didn’t have the energy to do the locks. Normally I love doing them but I just didn’t have the strength, so I said I would wait with the boat and steer it in. Anyway, I was holding the rope, and the gush of water coming out of the pound was so strong it started pushing the boat over to the other bank. I was trying to hold it but I just couldn’t do it. My Yorkshire strength failed me. Luckily the Captain spotted me as did another boater and he ran down to help – thank you kind person. We quickly pulled it back in and no damage done. Any other day I would have been fine but I was weaker than a kitten.

That done we get into the lock and it’s a proper ferocious one. Since I usually don’t do the driving of the boat – something I’m going to do more of as I haven’t quite got the hang of the power of the water in these locks and when you have a single boat in them it can be quite scary as you don’t want the boat going near the lock gates and water pouring into your boat and you also don’t want to bash the gates with your boat and damage them. We have now found a better way of securing the boat in the locks, so we now tie the stern rope where possible onto the landing lock and this keeps it nicely back from any water when going up a lock. I can see how easily it could be to sink a boat – you have to be properly concentrating when in the locks, it’s surprising how easily things can go wrong and how quickly. Anyway, I got the hang of the controls with some direction and with some nifty rope handling by the Captain we managed it and got through.

We decided to moor up as it had about drained me, so I had another little power nap before heading back out again about 5ish for a lovely cruise to Swarkestone Lock – what a lovely lock – all the paddles were working nice and not much leakage. Took a while to fill up but then these are big locks along this stretch. It’s 6.45pm now and we are gonna moor up for the night before heading to the all-important Elsan and refuse point tomorrow. They do have a refuse point at Swarkestone but we decided we might as well sort everything at the same time.

Right, time for tea and then bed. I’m exhausted.
(the font size seems a bit weird on this blog but i haven’t time to faff as have limited connection here to get the other blogs uploaded – sorry, hope it’s okay to read!)

View from the duck hatch

Day three – About Turn!

It’s an early start this morning and we still haven’t decided which way to go. We can go onto the River Soar or continue up the Trent and onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. Decision, decisions.

I make a bit of rookie mistake when filling the Cranfleet lock as the paddle wasn’t completely down – so, so close but in my defence, they are quite stiff to close and the gates are very leaky ((Okay, okay enough excuses going off their Peachy. You’re new. Mistakes are allowed just don’t do it again)) anyway a nice chap came and gave us a hand as he said they can be tricky and it regularly happens so i felt better. I know the canal is struggling further up so i don’t want to be responsible for water wastage. We only open one gate rather than both though as there was a dead goose which would have gotten squished in the gate – ewwwww. I know best practice is to open both as even a little bump against them will cause damage over time even if you’re experienced enough to glide through without touching the gates.

Through the lock, and the flood gate is open which isn’t surprising as the river is very low as other than a bit of rain here and there it has been really dry for a while. We moor just after as we still haven’t decided which way to go and we are both feeling a little tired today, and let’s face it, we are not in any rush.

Finally, we decided to go down the River Soar only to get to the first lock and find two boaters had been in there about 45 minutes and it still hadn’t filled properly. We decided to about turn and head back in our original destination which would take us past the marina where we bought the boat and stayed for a few nights ahead of bringing it back to Newark, which feels like quite a nice milestone.

We arrive at Sawley Lock which is manned by volunteers who tell us a tree has come down on the canal further up which they are hopefully going to clear, else we might be heading back to Newark at this rate. But we decide we might as well carry on and see what happens. The joys and adventure of the boating life.

It was really windy as we were cruising along and the boat was being pulled all over the place. We ended up doing a couple of locks with a lovely couple who had hired their boat for a few weeks and they kindly waited for us as we attempted to moor about 42 million times without success. Always nice to share the load of filling and emptying the locks, as well as having a natter.

It’s a bit tight on the turns through Sawley as it seems most of the boaters going down the Soar have turned back so we are at the head of a boating convey. We try and fail to moor a few times as I said earlier, once because we couldn’t get the pins into the ground properly to secure the ropes and as some boaters don’t slow down when they go past, they can easy pull out the pins as happened to us earlier in the day.

We carry on a bit and eventually find a mooring we are happy with and settle down for the night. I’m not feeling too great so it’s a bit of a dodgy night for me and probably why we have a few ‘little’ boating issues tomorrow as you need to have your wits about you for this boating malarky.

It doesn’t help that every time we do something on the boat an alarm goes off! At least they are working though and it’s all just teething problems and us and the boat getting used to each other.

Anyway, that’s day three done and dusted. I did manage some writing today which was lovely, so nice cruising along and writing with the odd glance out of the window.

View as i write…onto the river soarheading towards River Soarwriting life