Garden on board

The raised garden bed which will sit on the roof is still under construction and I am cogitating on resolving it some time soon. In the meantime, we have been occupied with sowing the abundance of seeds donated to us from wonderful mother bird. Leigh has been excellent at watering and keeping the young alive and through the propagator we can see life!

There is movement in the trays of soil dotted around in the sunny spots of the boat...

The courgettes certainly are coming on strong...

And the lettuces are stretching their little green leaves up high to the streaming sunlight...

We also have bush tomatoes, chilli peppers, dwarf beans and squash which we are waiting to see a peek of green from soon. In the indoor window box, I have planted all the herbs of choice; parsley, coriander, basil and chives.

And this year we are filling up on micro salads in the form of sprouting seeds, easy to grow, no soil, only wet kitchen roll in a jar, covered with cling-film and they are so good for you...

So even with limited space, resources and money it is working out well to grow our own food aboard our narrowboat.

Underway with DIY

Of late I have been having fun and games with our lovely tool kit and paint pots. I have finally got round to painting in the bedroom and gave the bow doors a sand down and fresh coat of white. I have been using 'bathroom' paint which is perfect for the changing temperatures and humidity on the boat.

I have been using my favourite investment, the powerdrill, to make holes in the battons and base of the raised garden bed.

I have assembled and then disassembled the base as things ended up a little crooked and I don't have a plane to take of the slight overhanging edge of the base panels. Fortunately, however, after talking to Papa Bear this fine evening, I can borrow his plane when I next visit. Horrah for Papa!

I am very much a novice at woodwork, having not had a lot of practice and I realised the other day, I have to be in the right frame of mind to tackle this project. And like the wise man says; measure and measure again. In addition, I have noticed that if I had a pound for every time a guy made a comment to me whilst I have been doing this DIY outside, I would be living on a gold plated boat!

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!

To London days 19 and 20

Tring summit was so delightful and beautiful.

I would say it is my most favourite spot along the GUC so far.

The variety of trees stood majestically with a vast array of foliage climbing, hanging, filling the spaces below the leafy canopy.

The woods felt magical. Some of the trees were perfect for building tree-houses too.

Notice the roof after a night under the trees...

There were only occasional boats moored along the stretch. It is a BW designated 14 day visitor zone, so you can't stay long. It was by the bridge for Tring station that I saw the first sign with mention of London! I was so flummoxed that this was as good a photo I could manage on a moving craft!

At Cow Roast begun the locks down passing through Northchurch and into the trendy town of Berkhamsted. Here it really felt like london, with folks in fashionable breton tops, sand-stone coloured brick houses and commuters. We passed a couple of lovely looking pubs and found a mooring just before dark.

This morning I popped into the town of Berkhamsted for some provisions. Weaving through the tiny town houses by bridge 142a, I discovered a shop. A lovely organic butcher shop. I picked up some of the tastiest bread I have ever eaten, along with cheese, ham, bacon and sausages - the quality of the produce is excellent. I had to find a post box too, but this was simple as it was practically next door to the butchers. It was actually in someone's front garden, I had to check and double check that it wasn't ornamental, like the red phone boxes have become!

This is a regular experience as a traveller to new areas. When you run low on foods, need medical access, need a cashpoint it's always a new experience to find said need. I have considered building up a log book of the best places and useful info around the country, but maybe I just need a label on the blog for "useful info". I discovered that someone is compiling a list of recycling points around the canal network on their blog and another person has produced a list of launderettes too!

The guides we use as maps on our journey are Nicholson Waterways guides that are pretty comprehensive but lack that little spark - for example they list supermarkets but not independent sellers like those in cottages along the towpath. But that isn't all that realistic I guess. Also I've thought about noting where I find foods in the hedgerows, apple trees, plum trees, etc, etc. But it's just an idea, the food is in abundance so you've just got to keep your eyes peeled.

It was mid-day and we mustered ourselves together to move. We reversed to the waterpoint near by (at a petrol station) and filled up, hosed down the boat and picked up some kindling. We set off for the first of many locks today.

Leigh caught this lanky fellow on camera...

Hemel Hempstead was a little disappointing, too many locks and not enough views. They are big double locks too, so it was slow going and hard work today.

We didn't stop once and Delia was going stir-crazy inside, enough to do an escape act and try to throw herself into the water! On the whole she is a darlin' settled inside but when she's had enough we sure know about it. I like to get her out and keep her on my lap when I can so that she is part of the move but it was hard to do this today with all the working of locks.

We passed through Winkwell swing bridge, a key operated bridge that stops the road traffic...

A notice still stands stating that if the bridge is not put back in place a fee of 10 shillings will be demanded "by order!"

Two boats passed us here, one towing the other - would they make it through the gap?

We passed Kings Langley village and it was 7pm. One hour until dark, but we carried on determined to get beyond the M25 motorway. We went through lock 70 Home Park Lock - a deep lock, and motored 1/4 of a mile...

under the huge bridge number 160 - the M25

We pulled over and after a bit of jiggling around on the shallow we found the perfect spot to moor. Delia has explored the area and just popped in meowing her approval.

So we are in the larger ring of London it feels. Brilliant. A few more days and we will be in Paddington.

Tonight after 15 locks we relax, tired and aching under the glory of a full moon.