Where have you been?

Monday 30^th November to Thursday 10^th December 2015

I have received a complaint about the blog in this last couple of days – apparently I haven’t been writing them frequently enough and my beloved father-in-law has duly noted it and passed the comment along – via the enforcer – his daughter – oops that should read as my wife.

So I have decided to sit down and start the process of bringing it all up to date – but to tell you the truth we have merely marked time in the progress along the canal heading northwards.

 

We were out with Xmas hats on - not caring what those elves
got up to with the baby reindeer. The weather has been so warm
that the ice rink (background) was starting to melt.

As Mitch would say - "Those crazy kids are at it again"

Monday comes and there is that Slug and Lettuce
half price deal - the one that Diane can never
refuse

We did stay in Uxbridge for a few more days before moving on the Friday morning and got as far as Lynster’s Lake – a quiet mooring and very enjoyable, the only problem being that the television reception was less than adequate and as everyone knows that simply wouldn’t do for her indoors and her “Strictly”, so there was no option but for a bit of boat movement to happen.

 

December arrives and the decorations are up

Luckily I knew of a spot just a few miles up which would have good reception and be quite open – so off we trundled cruised and voila it came to pass that there was excellent TV and SHE was pleased.

 

A measure in the sand or rather a soggy towpath -
one by which Diane measures where we are

This little fellow found a ledge inside the lock

We stayed for the night and the following day we had made plans to cruise on a bit further – this time it would be with Nikki, Phil, Mia and Jess – they wandered down from where they live, close to the canal and were right on time.

It was a lovely day to cruise, which really made it so much better.

 

The Sheehan gang - enjoying a sunny cruise - you can tell
by how they are rugged up

We have been extremely lucky during this time; the weather has been unseasonably mild with temperatures up to the mid-teens and overnight it has been barely below double figures – so much so that the Reflecs has hardly been required for more than a few hours each day; the boat is so well insulated that it remains at 12-13C overnight and we get away with a summer doona and still a bit warm for us.

I guess it will just be a matter of time before we all start to feel the very cold weather and some of that white stuff will appear.

One of the main problems with such warm weather is that with the rain that we have had the towpaths are a bit muddy and sodden so that it becomes a bit difficult walking through it all.

Anyway we had a lovely cruise and were able to find a good mooring at Croxley Green, where we have moored up.

8 Miles, 10 Lock

YTD: 875 Miles (1408 km) , 538 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3769 Miles (6066 km) , 2659 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges

41

Saturday 12^th September to Saturday 19^th September 2015

I know that it has been a week since my last informative blog but at the moment there just isn’t a lot of variety or interesting things actually happening.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to tell you about going to the supermarket or that I have done the washing – the usual and normal domestic stuff that still happens, even on a boat.

What did happen that was interesting – nothing at all.

Sometimes it can be just uninteresting.

Sure I have done a bit of travelling – firstly from Cassiobury Park down to Croxley Green where Phil and Nikki now live with the two girls – Mia and Jessica.

I was very kindly invited to dinner on two consecutive nights – nothing flash, just good wholesome home cooked food and a chance for some conversation.

Croxley Green was interesting in a not-seen-it-before sense – worth a walk up the hill to see a varied group of shops offering quite a lot really and the Croxley underground station is right there as well.

A couple of days there and then it was down to Rickmansworth – nothing against it but I did need to empty the cassette and that was the nearest elsan point – I did however stay a couple of days – it was Champions League time and the White Bear shows all of the matches.

After that, I wanted to go down to Uxbridge – for fuel and I needed some packing rope for the stern gland. The fuel was only 59 ppl (self-declare) and I filled right up to the brim – it had been over 5 weeks since the last fill and I was happy with the 140 litres.

There was another boat waiting there at the same time and I was talking to the woman on the boat when she asked me a question that I had not been asked for a long time by a newly acquainted woman……

…..if I could guess where she came from, she had reached the conclusion that I was Australian. It is an indication of my improvement in picking some of the variety of accents of the UK that I almost immediately picked it as of a Mancunian origin.

If you were thinking that she might have been about to ask me some other type of question then ….. you were wrong!

We compared notes on a few things but predominantly pump-out tanks – she was about to have hers removed and I informed her that we had done so last year – and could not be happier with the result – there, the conversation always comes around to toilets – the batteries being quite OK.

After that – it was back on the “road” – the water road (to use the title of Paul Gogarty’s book) and up to Harefield – why there? – well I was a bit tired, it was starting to rain (for the 5^th or 6^th time that morning and fairly heavy this time) and it was nice and open for a TV signal to see the Rugby World Cup.

And today, Saturday, it was such an incredibly brilliant day – the sun was out from the very start and stayed out until disappearing behind the tress – a lovely warm day – and being the weekend there were so many people out and about; the sun giving them a new energy to engage with others.

This shot above Common Moor Lock was so peaceful and showed how lovely not
only the scenery was but also the day

 

I don't recall seeing a dutch barge going through a lock but that is exactly what
was happening at Lock 77 today

I finally moored up back at Cassiobury Park from whence I had left just 4 days previously but I think I will be here until next weekend when I will wind and head back south again but perhaps carry on past Uxbridge.

There, not much of an interesting week at all; I have hardly done anything at all.

Somewhere in there I have resealed the bath, cleaned the Reflecs stove; done a check on the stoppages over winter to see where we can cruise to; and of course a few loads of washing (had to get that in for Paul and Bruce).

Someone is bound to ask about the heading for this blog – why 41?

If I had written this yesterday then it would have been 42 and I could have given erroneous answers about the answer to the ultimate question of life and the universe, but quite simply it is a countdown.

There are now 41 days left until Diane returns.

 

Whatever caption I may wish to add may not be a wise move on my part, just
to say though, she is the best...

19 Miles, 24  Locks

YTD: 809 Miles (1302 km) , 508 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3703 Miles (5959 km) , 2629 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges