Autumn cruising to Birmingham

I've noticed the autumn colours are showing themselves and lots of leaves are blowing through the breezy air these days.

We have joined the River Canal Rescue as a silver member - to cover both of us if one person is away. This covers us if we breakdown, we can call and they send out an engineer who will either fix it and get us on our way or tow us to the nearest boatyard. They will also convey us to our home mooring. This is a very good idea as we are doing lots of cruising these days and putting the boat and engine under pressure.

For the time being we are running well and getting along fine. But at some point we do need to see a Lister engineer because there is something worn in the gearbox. As we are still on a schedule this will wait until we arrive in Birmingham hopefully in the next week.

Since Boxmoor we have been cruising each day for up to 8hours non-stop and it has been tiring work. We cruised through Berkhamsted and up to Tring Summit where we struggled to find a suitable mooring as the water level had really gone down. There is a constant issue with the water supply here as every time a boat crosses the summit it uses nearly 200,000 gallons of water! We ended up stuck at the stern and with some help from passing walkers, we managed to dis-lodge from the shallows and cruise along to a concreted mooring point.

We moored at the summit overnight which it is my favorite spot to be. All kinds of trees line either side of the valley giving a vast canopy and interest for exploring. Delia and I went in search of fire wood and found plenty. Delia was so excited arriving in a wood that she ran up a tree! Funny girl.

Here is Delia the pickle, caught walking along the gunwhale, just the right size for a purdycat.

The following day we passed through Marsworth locks and all the way to Linslade. We spent the night at Linslade and the next day used the local launderette and grocers, having a day off from cruising.

We set off from our mooring and just made it through Leighton Lock at Leighton Buzzard before British Waterways were doing an emergency stop on a lock to try and repair a broken paddle. We cruised on through Soulbury three locks, Stoke Hammond Lock passing Fenny Stratford and through Milton Keynes. We had cruised 16 miles straight.

Leaving Milton Keynes the next day we reached Stoke Bruerne Locks and unfortunately we arrived after 4pm and the locks were locked shut for the night due to water level shortages.

So, we moored up for the night.

I pulled out my bike and cycled up to the village to collect a lovely take-away curry from Spice of Bruerne, the local Indian restaurant.

The next morning the atmosphere was dramatic as there was a strong haze of fog and steam rising from the early morning dew.

We worked through Stoke Bruerne locks and Blisworth Tunnel which on this occasion seemed to pass much quicker than the first time. And I steered through and passed other boats inside the tunnel without any problems. We moored up at Blisworth as they have a Post Office that I needed to access and so we called it a day.

Yesterday we cruised passed the villages of Gayton, Bugbroke, Nether Heyford and Weedon. It was a blustery day and there were lots of boats moving about making maneuvering all the more tricky along the windy canal. We worked Buckby Locks a flight of seven and took the GUC mainline towards Braunston at Norton Junction. After a mile the cloak of night had come down and it was time to moor up before Braunston Tunnel.

And this is were I write this blog post from. It is Sunday and after being woken at 7am by 30 or so fishermen wittering on about camouflage as they dragged their poles and boxes of maggots along the towpath I didn't want to exert myself. So it's a day of rest and absorbing our achievements and delightful views of gently swaying trees.

9hours, 9miles and 18locks!

"Listen" said Leigh. "What is that scratching?" I replied
"A rat scraping away at some berries at the top of the tree!"

We counted three different rats at the top of the Hawthorn trees nibbling away for breakfast.

We set off from our mooring at Batchworh at 9am today and the air was crisp and fresh. The engine was again running well and by the time we reached Croxley Green boatyard all was well so we decided to keep going. We now have a good list of engineers and options should anything go awry. To top this we've decided to look into and join the River Canal Rescue, like the AA for boats too.

On our journey today we achieved 9 hours of cruising over 9 miles and through 18 locks, quite an achievement.

We passed back under the M25...

the view below the motorway road, photo courtesy of Leigh...

and shared working the locks and tiller...

We have passed the thick of Hemel Hempstead and are now in the suburbs, moored for the night at Boxmoor.

And to top it all off, today I received a brilliant purple flower!

What's going on down below?

It is very autumnal these days and we are wrapping up well for the trip.

We've been doing a fair bit of research about our gear box problem, speaking to various experts in the field of vintage engines. We aren't completely clear what the problem is. It is not the oil, that's checked and fine. We now know that as we can reverse and run in neutral the hydraulics are fine so it is possibly something mechanical as the problem is with the forward gears.

We have spent the last four days going from one solution of a £3000 new gear box to being told that it could simply be a small adjustment. We may require new clutch pads and it turns out that parts are pretty sparse for the Lister engines (often parts can be found stored in an enthusiasts shed!) but there are some older mechanics around the country who are able to make the parts to order. Leigh and I don't quite feel equipped to open the gear box and do any mechanical adjustments ourselves so we plan to take the boat to a Lister engineer who can put their expert gaze over the engine.

We left Cowley today to get to a Lister Engineer in Croxley Green. The engine was running swell, things are looking good.

Here is a look underneath our stern boards at our amazing Lister SR 3 cylinder engine.

It is an air cooled engine, having three large vents...

Here is our LM150 gear box...

Also in the engine bay we have the stern gland. I give this tube of grease a turn after every day's journey to keep the prop post well lubricated.

And the weedhatch...

located above the propellor, it's exactly what it says on the tin - a hole to access weeds or tyres or umbrella's that have been churned up and wrapped around the propellor.

Here is our electricity generation. Thanks to PB and MB for their suppport in getting a new alternator making our charging more efficient.

Notice the belt and fly wheel - these were the items we replaced on our way down to London.

And below are our batteries, two 6volt traction batteries (wired up to make one 12 volt) which is what we use to run our lights and a 300watt invertor and we have one 12volt starter battery. These were all newly installed when we were in Atherstone last spring and have been a brilliant investment indeed.

We had travelled over half the way to Croxley Green today and as the night was drawing in we 'parked' at Tesco to get a bit of shopping.

Handy don't you think?!

We barged over to the towpath side of the cut to moor for the night.

Leaving the big smoke

After a good family discussion around the round table the three of us decided that it would not be feasible to spend the winter months hanging out in London. I've not had a lot of luck with jobs I wanted and so to prevent hemorrhaging money where we've got none, we decided it is a good idea to get out of the big city.

By the looks of the mooring fees for winter we'd be looking at Paddington at £22 per foot or Hackney at £18 per foot. BW are being rather antagonistic in London about overstaying in area's requesting that you notify the local 'enforcement officers' if you get frozen in and can't move and they may still charge you, etc. Compare this to last winters mooring at £7ish per foot and no BW troops seen to hassle anyone.

We decided to go for a less stressful quality of life and on the flip of a coin, set off for a cruise. Delia put her point across stating that she would enjoy a little time spent in the countryside on a journey. We've decided to head back up the Grand Union Canal towards Birmingham. There maybe opportunity for work as last year, plus I can nip across to work in Nottingham for the day or two.

Delia came home from Saltdean a little bit fatter and happier from her holiday away. Today, however, we are wondering if she might like to return and stop being such a pain in the bum. She is enjoying the burner being on at the boat and is baking herself in front of it's red rays.

We set off on Friday morning from Paddington Basin and the change in scenery was dramatic....

This stretch to Uxbridge has no locks which made it a full day's cruising. We've been encountering problems with the gears when accelerating the throttle and thought it was the gear cable going. However after a guy from High Line Yachting came to do the job, we discovered that it is in fact the clutch belt that needs replacing. We are still no further than Cowley (just before Uxbridge) waiting to get the job fixed. Tomorrow, we should know a little more.

We are a little against the clock as on the 7th November, the winter stoppages begin and BW shuts access to some areas to do repairs. This might affect us further up the GUC but we have a plan B, as I'm learning we always need more than one plan in this lark.

On our first day's cruise, we passed a work boat and filled up the diesel as well as pumped out and got some coal. Just before we left, Dominic the owner showed me this quick and secure knot he had used to secure our boat to his...

Here is a step by step (and reminder for me!)

and to quickly undo just pull!

Delia Derbyshire by the seaside

That's right, she packed her bag and took the train to Brighton to visit the Grand Parents! We aren't sure if she will decide to come back to our rough and tough lifestyle after all the creature comforts of a bungalow to explore, central heating and doting family. I'll be dropping by on Tuesday to see.

A welcome message also to Brian and June - Papa Bear told me about you. Just don't print this one out unless you have reams of paper in the printer!

Back in Paddington

October is here already and what a scorcher until today! It was a lovely weekend, beginning with the 1st October celebrating Margaret's birthday with Papa Bear...

which was full of soaking up all the sunshine, a evening pic-nic in Victoria Park, taking the Thames Clipper from Westminster to Greenwich and plenty of tea. And on Tuesday, we got things together and set off from our 14 day mooring spot in South Hackney. It took several hours through the locks, passing Kings Cross St Pancras, Camden and Little Venice. The wind was against us and once again Paddington Basin was a challenge. After a bash and scratch we squeezed into the pontoon space and moored up.

The surrounding buildings at night are illuminating! It often feels quite odd that we are allowed to moor in such a crisp environment. We've got 7 days here and then will be off on the move again. It isn't ideal for Delia as there are few hiding places but she waits until night and heads out when it is quiet and the place is hers!

Practically, there are no resources here so we planned beforehand and filled up with water in Hackney. Hopefully 'Pumpout Pete' (a name our friend mentioned) should be along soon to do the business using his pump out machine from his old boat. We have noticed a frequent stream of businesses operating from narrowboats here selling fuel and providing services to boaters - it makes life pretty easy. Plus the fact that there are few marinas with provisions or facilities in London itself.

Leigh and I have spent lots of time getting to know areas, finding shops, laundrettes, garages, banks. I have still been looking for work with very little coming back which is a bit of a pain. We have both been working hard on our creative projects and finding contacts in the area. All this is noticeably part of the lifestyle of a roamer, which makes life rich and interesting but equally challenging for the most simplest of things.

The wood burner is going this evening with many thanks to Papa Bear keeping us warm with wood and now it really does feel autumnal - you see I was right to put away summer clothes and shoes and get out the winter jackets and boots!