Summer not quite gone - well maybe it has!

Friday 9^th September to Friday 16^th September 2016

First job of the day was to return the hire car back to Enterprise – it is always a concern for me that something will be found wrong with the car, and until it is signed off by them I remain concerned – so, once again relieved that all was OK and after getting a lift back we (I) could relax.

There was the small matter of needing to refill the water tank and remove the ‘orrible waste, but with that all done we, in the end, moved less than a mile to some favourite mooring just north of Bridge 190.

Why is that a favourite spot? Well, it is close to the Paddington Packet Boat Inn, where we are now building a good relationship with the woman behind the bar – Sue ; it is also away from the random foot traffic and only the occasional car over the bridge – and none late at night.

It allowed us to have a lovely Happy Friday at the pub with Dot and Gordon – there was the discovery of some cut-price double spirits drinks and in particular Black Russians – which were consumed in numbers by Dot and Diane – now known as D and D, which almost described their condition later on.

It was a quiet weekend during which a lovely Sunday lunch – at the Paddo’ was consumed – the Uno cards made an appearance before and after, which added to the enjoyment of the afternoon. After we left the pub we took a wander around the Little Britain Lake just down the road.

Monday came along and we made a move into Uxbridge for two reasons – firstly Diane had a doctors appointment in Watford on Tuesday and the connection is good from Uxbridge and secondly, we would need diesel at some stage before our next cruising adventure and we do not miss the opportunity to fill at Denham Marina (still 60ppl and always self-declare).

We found a mooring outside the Swan and Bottle, which we were initially a bit apprehensive about, but it was a lovely quiet night with no noise outside at all – if there was any, then we were too tired to notice.

Early Tuesday, we moved to get the diesel tanks filled, before Diane headed off, after-which I cruised the boat back to virtually where we were before we left.

That evening, after Diane had returned and the heat had gone from the day – I hadn’t mentioned yet, that it seems that summer has returned – it has been particularly hot – with so many people having a hard time with the heat – for me, it was fine as long as the humidity was below 50% - anyway back to what I was about to say, we got a few nibbles from Tesco and sat down with Dot and Gordon who had drinks in their fridge and just enjoyed an absolutely lovely evening outside; the sunset, following by the rising moon, the coolness of the evening after the heat of the day was really quite wonderful – an absolutely perfect end to the day.

Our schedule now meant that more movement was necessary on Wednesday morning and so we used the services again, farewelled Dot and Gordon and gently cruised away – firstly in the morning cool which was delightful and then the increasing warmth of the sun – cruised as far as the park at Willow Tree, Yeading, where we have enjoyed a couple of days.

Diane even managed to get her prescriptions filled in full at the Tesco – a first for any of the pharmacies we have been to, to have it all.

Thursday afternoon ended with some rather heavy clouds appearing, a little bit of rain and some ominous noises overhead – almost like a Queen song (but without the lightning).

But Friday morning was completely different – thunderbolts and lightning and hard rain – bloody wonderful it was – a pity about the flooding that resulted and the disruption, damage and chaos that it caused.

The rain continued during the morning and we had a little problem – we needed to be moving and be at or around Alperton ready for tomorrow.

Around 9:30 it eased off and we thought that we may as well go for it – luckily the only rain that we did have on our cruising was of the light nature and neither of us got particularly wet – mooring up outside Sainsburys about 11:45am.

We decided to check out the new installation about a quarter mile along – a new elsan point – that we had seen previously – yes!!, we were correct, so a full cassette would be emptied later on.

Somehow or other Diane had engineered it yet again – in Alperton, in time for lunch at the Chinese restaurant that we both like – hands were held up in mock surrender – and so we enjoyed a lovely lunch and then back to the boat for Diane to pack and me to do some work.

The much cooler weather and a few more spots of rain meant that we were pleased to be inside.

Later on we caught the final set of the first rubber in the Davis Cup and watched most of the second.

17 Miles, 2 Locks

YTD:  602 Miles (969 km) , 358 Locks, 6 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4397 Miles (7076 km), 3057 Locks, 118 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

On the Move Again !

Saturday 13^th August to Thursday 18^th August 2016

There was the little matter of some important date to begin with. It seems that yet another year has ticked by since Diane made an honest man of me – 33 now and still counting.

We have long since giving away the idea of presents and new cards, although this year we even forgot to get out the old ones, but nothing changes as far as my love for her is concerned.

What did we do to celebrate?

The old fashioned way – we went out to see a movie and then for a meal.

We had a couple of free tickets in my wallet waiting to be used and thought seeing the new Star Trek movie would be nice, as well as having a late lunch at the nearby Frankie and  Benny’s – so that was it for another year.

 

an anniversary drink..

...or two

But wait, there is more – the final part of the special day was devoted to – wait for it…..

…..getting the first coat of topcoat onto the roof of the boat – good conditions meant that it was a priority.

 

If it's not bad enough that the panting has to get done,
there is always someone around wanting to get a picture

In between the going out bit and the painting bit we also managed to hand-back the house to Nikki and Phil – they had had a great couple of weeks away and happy that the house was being looked after, took their minds off that.

Two weeks had been enough for us sitting still, so almost at first light on Sunday morning we headed off southwards, stopping only at Batchworth lock for the essentials. We shared the locks after this with another boat – listening to them talk about their desire to be able to spend more time on their boat but not being able to because of other comittments made us both appreciate more the lifestyle that we have – they have the desire but simple cannot do it.

 

Cruising along and came across this sad sight - we truly hope that all concerned
got out safely

Eventually we moored up just above Denham Deep Lock, which is lovely and quiet (there is a distant hum of traffic on the busy A40.

The following morning disaster struck – as I was taking down the pram-hood covers at the back, one of the sides struck my face and whipped off my glasses – naturally it was the canal side of the boat and the specs met a watery end – with all of the weed around and the water being quite cold it was unlikely that they would be found.

Out came another pair – all be it a pair with old prescription lens’ – but I could see enough with them to steer the boat, couldn’t make any details of anyone more than 3 metres away, but other boats I could see well emough to miss.

Carry on we did then.

Diane went down to set the lock, I continued to ready the boat and set off.

I was just underway when a chap with a couple of dogs on the towpath slowed right down to say hello – he seemed as though he was determined to do just that, so naturally I replied and that was about that – he could have had two noses and three eyes for all I knew, such was my vision.

It wasn’t until we were through the lock and Diane had got back aboard that she related the story of this guy.

He was jogging along the towpath with his dogs, when another dog barked and engaged his two, which caused him to stop at the lock and have a bit of a chat with Diane.

He asked about where her boat was and she pointed me out a bit further up the canal, just pulling out.

She had recognised who he was, but didn’t think quick enough to get a selfie with him, and so it seems he wanted to say hello to me as well after chatting up Diane.

Who was he?

We film people value our privacy tremendously and so it is with great reluctance that I share the name of a fellow thespian (well the boat did the acting part)  – Robert Lindsay – we have only ever seen him in My Family and the Hornblower series.

We filled with diesel at Denham Marina (58 ppl self declare) and then made it to Cowley Peachey to moor up – more famous people we know were waiting for us – Dot and Gordon on nb Ewn Ha Cul – the boat was there, they had nicked off again – something to do with a hospital visit.

 

Nobody on board but Diane still managed to capture a shot of nb Ewn Ha Cul

Later on we found them and had a good chat; the following day we got some shopping in and Gordon and I did some taste testing at the establishment across from Aldi – the girls just left us there after they had finished shopping and we caught up with them on the towpath.

Again, it is lovely and peaceful here.

Wednesday proved to be a real scorcher and whilst I worked in relative comfort inside the boat, Diane busied herself with cleaning the front cratch area and the back deck – as well as making a dozen Welsh cakes and about the some number of flatbreads for afternoon tea with Dot and Gordon.

We did manage to find a bit of shade and that along with a very light coolish breeze took some of the edge off the heat – we sat out “enjoying” the very good conditions.

That was until we spotted a (irresponsible) dog owner walking about 50 metres in front of her dog, completely oblivious to it’s calling card.

I pulled her up on it and copped a mouthful, including the comment that she didn’t have anything to clear it up – no bloody excuse – and when she returned a few minutes later with an old container, to her credit she did clean it up, but not without more words, suggesting that she wouldn’t want to live with me – well I am quite happy in my current domestic relationship, thank you – and I think the dog would be more friendly anyway!

One of the pleasing things about English hot summer days is that after the sun has gone down, so does the heat (not like hot Australian summer nights) and sleep is definitely a lot easier.

14 Miles, 11 Locks

YTD:  496 Miles (799 km) , 322 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4291 Miles (6906 km), 3021 Locks, 116 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

We’re not in Kansas anymore.

Sunday 24^th July to Friday 29^th July 2016

First up was the need to fill the water tank and empty the cassette which we managed to take care of at the Cowley Peachey services – the water tap here is much faster than the one at Cowley Lock.

It was a slow easy cruise into Uxbridge – for one thing the moored boats meant that we were slow anyway and for another there appeared to be something around the prop which would not budge.

This combined with a couple of sections of canal since we had got back on at Brentford which were heavily clogged with weed, was the awakening that we were indeed not in deep, flowing water anymore.

We were somewhere not like we had become used to.

I had hoped that we could clear the prop when we stopped for diesel at Denham Marina, but this was a particularly busy Sunday morning – a boat in ahead which was just about to leave and another had come in behind us and a further boat waiting out in the canal itself – we couldn’t muck about – afterall we could move, so the prop clearing would wait until we moored up above Uxbridge Lock.

We shared the lock with a cruiser – the guy seemed particularly keen for us to come in – we had visions of crushing the cruiser like a bug, if the water coming in was too fast.

In the end we both fitted pretty well; the water was slow coming in; and no cruisers were “killed” in the passage through the lock.

Finding a mooring place was difficult – plenty of boats and just a few spaces where sadly we could get in – guess that was why there were spaces.

We carried on to Denham Deep Lock, where we shared with another boat but as I jumped off to help with it, who should be on the other side but Nikki and Phil with the girls – Mia and Jess – just out for a bit of a stroll and they nabbed us.

We did finally moor above the lock, had a cup of tea and a chat and said we would see them later in the week – it is their house that we will be looking after.

We have moored here before and it is so lovely that it should be a more frequented spot – next time maybe.

On successive days we then moved along to moor below Stockers Lock and then in Rickmansworth – interestingly we had trouble getting TV reception but it wasn’t of any concern to us at all.

Our plan was to have a bit of a rest day on Wednesday – rain had been forecast anyway – we checked out the nearest cinema – Harrow – and the new Bourne movie was on that day – it was a no brainer for us.

On the train; tickets to the movie; lunch; then sit back and relax.

Now we love this series of movies anyway, but we had a special reason to want to see this one soon – and yes we were in it, well the boat made it into there, our faces were obscured behind the curtains -  so very pleased with that.

--- and we enjoyed the movie as well.

Just a few miles further along on Thursday and we had arrived at our destination.

We will be here for a bit of time – looking after the house and we have now turned this all into a chance to get through a number of jobs that have been hanging around for a time; also a chance just to take it a bit easier.

The biggest job that we have to do is to get the rest of the walls ready to be painted – Friday was the day – so, clear out as much as we could from both the lounge and the galley/dining areas – anything that would attract dust.

Then Diane sanded her way through it all whilst I washed the boat; after that it was vacuuming time and then put everything back – job done and “dusted” in about 3½ hours.

Bookcases cleared; knick-knacks all gone...

...the wine storage covered up...

...kitchen cleared...

...and ready to go

A great deal of relief for both of us to get that one out of the way.

So now we can enjoy the rest of the day and plan for the painting.

 

A satisfied look at lunch - glad that the job was done

I think the other plan that Diane has involves baby sitting the washing machine and the bath – access to unlimited power and hot water is now with her.

Not sure that he has enough fenders - maybe he is an ex-cruiser owner

11 Miles, 11 Locks

YTD:  482 Miles (776 km) , 311 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4277 Miles (6883 km), 3010 Locks, 116 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

Well, here we are back again!

Friday 1^st January to Thursday 31^st March 2016

Well what have we been up to in the last three months, and has it really been just that long. We seem to have been very busy during a quarter of the year – that is now over.

When we look back on it there is no doubt we have been busy – busy in different ways – but busy none-the-less.

This has been our second year out of a marina-based environment over winter and it has been far different to last winter.

For starters there has been no chance of being “iced-in”, having been south of the midlands – primarily around the London area.

We have taken a bit of a holiday and flown the coop, heading off for a month in Mojacar Playa to catch up with Paul and Elaine and seems that we dragged along Sue and Andy – they are still there – maybe they might take up residency as well.

 

This shot was taken from our bed as we watched the sunrise over the Med.
Not a bad way to wake up each morning

Dear friends - so hard to come by that we want to be with them all of the time

One of the forts along the coast - originally built to ward off the Moor invaders

Whether you like it or not, Spain's culture and heritage has included the "sport"
of bullfighting - we visited the the ring in Vera

It is still used today - although the conditions for the bull are a bit better

One off the bucket list was to visit Granada to see the Alhambra Palace

It lived up to the grandeur and magnificence of the
hype associated with it - combining the best of Moorish
and western architecture 

With hot weather being part of the landscape, cool quiet areas such as this
were in abundance

Water was a central theme as well and whilst it is a beautiful palace
it was also a fortress.
The water supply coming from high in the mountains a few miles away,
through some ingenious engineering

Looking out over Granada

We also took in Cordoba and in the very centre of the city is a magnificent
cathedral, originally built by the Muslim Moors but retained and enhanced
by the later catholic rulers.
We wandered around its interior for a good hour and almost missed....

...a full-sized catholic church in the middle.
The whole building with its entire contents was worth the
the trip on its own

Looking out from Mojacar - the one in the mountains

We have been into Paddington Basin and out again; hovered around places and avoided stoppages; kept our doctors appointments and cruised as well – there seems to be nothing more invigorating that a wee cruise on a cold day with the sun, hopefully, out to provide a bit of inferred warmth on your back.

We have to say that we have found the situation in London a whole lot better than it was when we first came down last year – CRT are doing a great job of making sure that boats are moving and not accumulating in the one area for too long – some may say that they are not doing enough, but the improvement in being able to find mooring spots and also not seeing loads of boats just simply stopping for months in the same spot is to be congratulated.

We know that there will be many (not the majority) who would see this as something infringing on their rights to “squat” in a mooring spot and never move, but most will see it as being fair and reasonable.

Bad luck to the former!!

We have had the chance to catch up with family and really have had an enjoyable time for longer than we have previously managed – when we have been further north; the downside of this is that we have missed seeing many of our wonderful friends as regularly as we would want to do – but life is about making choices and decisions – good and bad with every decision but decisions need to be made and taken.

The boat has been wonderful over the winter – sure there are things that go wrong, but these get fixed and we move on – it has been very cosy on board – our only problem being the recent high winds in Paddington Basin (the “wind tunnel”) – it was so bad that the stove blew out on a few occasions, but we have a solution and that is now done.

We have purchased a new chimney – made to look like an “H” which is used in high wind conditions –predominantly experienced by vessels off-shore, but which can happen to us all.

Our time in London was again pretty good -

 

A walk over Tower Bridge - long on our list of things to do - now crossed off

A visit to the Globe Theatre

A replica of the original Golden Hind - as seen with
Sir Francis Drake and a few "friends" from Spain

The weather seems to have been pretty mild for winter, but then again it isn’t snowing and cold every year – we asked the locals for some verification on this and they agreed; we, of course, buggered off to Spain to escape what might have been a cold spell – it certainly was warmer there and we enjoyed our time immensely – sampling the food and the local customs as well as meeting new friends.

We are contemplating returning there again next winter – but haven’t made a decision as yet – still plenty of time to do so.

We will advise of the only downside of our trip – if someone was to ask us about hiring a car from Europcar (which is the company that we used) we would advise to you (based on our experience) to spend a bit more and go with another company.

In Europcar we found a company that suddenly charges for damages to a car that were not present during our possession of the car (before and after condition was witnessed and photographed); did not want to inspect the car on return; would not provide any proof of said damages, nor will they engage in any communication about it – charge you, not justify it, and then not talk to you.

We are taking action to recover all of the money.

Next time? We will stick with Enterprise.

Lastly for this time we have wandered off to the north of England to catch up with Dot and Gordon who are house sitting for friends in Northumberland – we were here 2 years ago with them as well and have needed to be able to spend some time with them– they are very dear friends and we have been away from them for too long, so we instantly jumped at the chance to come and see them.

At the home of the Marmalade Festival - have never seen so many jars of
different marmalade ever.

Two cheeky fellows there at the back

I think it is a credit to the greater family of boaters and boating friends that you meet over time and then meet and meet again that we have faith in one and another to be able to leave our precious craft in the care of others and know that they will look after it as their own.

In this regard we have such lovely friends in Carol and George (wb Still Rockin’) – for our time in Northumberland they agreed to keep an eye on Ferndale, start the engine every day to charge up the batteries and do a thorough cut’n’polish of all of the paintwork (this last one might not have been discussed, but I am sure that telepathically speaking there was an understanding on my part); we, of course have reciprocated the favour with their travels to catch up with their wide-spread family – on our part it was disappointing not to find a suitable buyer for them for Still Rockin’ but there will be time in the future.

Not just for looking after the boat, but simply for their company we have have a great time with them in Paddington and at Yiewsley as well as at Cowley over this last month or so – it is just simply wonderful to be able to call all of our friends “Our Friends”.

Molly, Carol and George - definitely a highlight of our winter was
dog-sitting Molly whilst Carol and George enjoyed a night out without the "kid"!

Having had the chance to have a bit of a break from the blog I can see that there are still plenty of things to write about and I will be easing back into it from now on – I don’t think that it will be everyday, maybe monthly or a bit more often – I will just have to see what happens.

We have changed plans on the next part of our adventures – we have a trip planned to see our lovely son and equally lovely daughter-in-law in LA coming up so that has an influence on what we can do before then.

In there somewhere was a desire to cruise the Thames from Brentford to Oxford before truning back onto the canal and mooring the boat before heading off.

Trouble is that the recent rain has brought the water levels up along the river and we cannot plan to head that way and still be sure that we can fly-off.

So we will now be heading northwards along the Grand Union and visiting places that we have not otherwise stopped to see before; we will venture down the Aylesbury Arm; see a bit more of Milton Keynes; and other spots as we cruise – maybe places we won’t have a chance to see again.

Later, after our return from the US we will be heading down the South Oxford and onto the Thames heading towards Lechlade and will cruise the Thames heading eastwards, and maybe the Basingstoke as well.

 

Again, I get to finish off with a lovely Kingfisher.
This time as we cruised the Slough Arm at the end of March.

100 Miles, 39 Locks

YTD: 100 Miles (161 km) , 39 Locks

Total: 3898 Miles (6273 km), 2743 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges

It's not really Xmas (yet)!!

Saturday 21^st November to Sunday 29^th November 2015

We hung around in Alperton for another couple of days, mainly on account of the weather conditions before we finally headed off; we had wanted to spend a couple of days at Willow Tree Open Area but decided against it, opting to have a quite long cruising day by our recent standards and made it to Cowley Peachey where we found a lovely mooring just up from Tesco.

It is to be expected that at this time of the year the conditions will be a bit unpredictable and not the best for daily cruising, so we have got into the habit of mooring up for a number of days before finally moving.

With mooring restrictions relaxed, essentially they are all 14-day moorings (unless otherwise stated) it becomes a bit easier on the need to move-on quite so soon.

The Costa located in the Tesco store as well as the one a bit further down the High Street seemed to be a bit well frequented whilst we were around, and strangely on Thursday morning we found ourselves outside the freshly- reopened Aldi wating for it to open so that Diane could inspect and purchase her favourite Star Wars toys – really is a big kid (again!).

 

Crazy people - queuing up outside Aldi - and we were crazy
as well

Her spoils

It was just as well that it was open early because we had decided to move on up to Uxbridge after the shopping expedition and, of course, in the process, had to go through that locking process business for the first time in quite a while – that being with both of us there.

Luckily we managed to grab a perfectly sized mooring spot in a line of moored boats – it being virtually the last one available.

There were more through the bridge but didn’t fancy being moored outside a pub over the weekend, although we doubted that there would be much trouble.

It was quick work mooring up and a little later we walked up to the station – Diane was off to Watford for her annual diabetes MOT, but because of the early appointment time she spent the night with Maggie and Paddy – the Friday being Paddy’s birthday – cannot tell you how old he was but he was a war-time baby.

 

Looking fighting fit and ready to celebrate

Diane passed the testing and is now OK for another year – oil change and tyres all checked and in good working order.

We did a bit of follow-up work on some planning for a trip-away in the new year and that is now taken care of; we also went off to the movies here in Uxbridge to see “The Lady in the Van” with Maggie Smith, whom we admire as a wonderful actor – I didn’t think much of the story which, although true, showed up the gullibility of the author and also Social Service attitudes which I find condescending and in many ways blinkered.

Saturday was a milder yet quite windy day but I was coerced  suckered  persuaded to go shopping – oh how I love shopping especially when it involves Diane looking at clothes (NOT!!!) – but I survived got through it came out of my coma woke up from the nightmare.

We also ordered some tiles that we need for a new splashback in the kitchen and they are likely to arrive in another week, so we will need to come back – as we will have moved by then.

Without doubt the highlight of the week was a surprise phone call on Sunday morning from Sue (and Andy) – they had been at Twickenham for the double header the previous day and wondered if we were free for lunch.

It seems almost like years since we had last seen them both, but it was only the end of August – which in boating terms is about the same.

 

There is always somebody trying to photo-bomb - that big guy at
the back just wouldn't move

So we met them in the town centre and adjourned to The Three Tuns – the food was quite delicious and plenty of it; good value too; the Guinness was good and that was what counted for me; the football was on, but in the other bar area and rightly so as we wanted to talk to Sue and Andy and the football was not important (after all it was only Spurs v Chelsea).

 

Incredibly nice lunch but not as nice as the company - such
a lovely surprise

This was just such a good tonic for us – although we are in contact almost on an hourly basis with everyone via Viber, it was so good to catch up with them over a meal – we will of course be off to see the whole gang very soon anyway.

After we said our goodbyes it was back to the boat and out of the wind (which was still blowing quite strong) and also out of the cold – so we settled down and resisted a nanna nap.

It almost seemed dark outside at 3pm but we had only to wait another 90 minutes to really complete the process.

Just think, it is only another 23 days until the winter Solstice and then the days will be getting longer and we will be heading to summer – that season of the year with more daylight than not.

Diane is deeply “indebted” to the words of wisdom passed onto her by Gary (nb Inca) concerning the correct time to put up Xmas decorations.

In Gary’s “thesis” on the subject, he states quite clearly that any decorations put up before the beginning of December mean that an “elf is killing a baby reindeer”.

Diane is severely traumatised by all of this – walking around town with decorations clearly on display; seeing people wearing xmas clothing; avoiding even finding exactly where our decorations are currently stored.

She has however decided that we needed some battery powered timer lights to be put in place which are apparently our new security lights – on Tuesday they will be renamed decorations.

This one is by courtesy of Gary (nb Inca) and is from a couple
of weeks ago as we posed at one of these pop-up toilets.
No really we were only posing - it was too cold to expose anything

12 Miles, 1 Lock

YTD: 867 Miles (1395 km) , 528 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3761 Miles (6053 km) , 2649 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges