Stunning morning at Buggy.

The morning began with the sun pouring through the pigeon box portholes, which bode well for the day.

With no wind the reflections were beautiful.

Hadar was soaking up the sunshine whilst she and we waited for Kuranda to arrive to look at our inverter/charger.

I went out with my camera to make the most of the sunshine and photograph opportunities.

At 10.30am Brett and Phil arrived and immediately began checking things out, he found an anomaly with a setting on the Invertor/Charger. Having corrected it and much improved the output from the charger, we now hope that this has finally cured our problems, and we can take a break from things going wrong. Next stop to pick up our fridge/freezer from Braunston.

Marmite checking out the sunshine.

There is a lot of Butter Bur about.

Frog spawn which has yet to hatch.

Frog spawn already hatched.

Whilst out taking photograph I noticed this Welsh Cob enjoying the grass at the basin. I got chatting to her owner, who brings her down every day for half an hour to eat the lush grass. It was hard to believe the Welsh Cob was 23 years old, she really did not look it. I really enjoyed chatting the owner and hearing about her 25 years of breeding Welsh Cobs.

When I got back to the boat all was fixed with the inverter/charger or at least we hope so, so I made us all a drink and put some shortbread out. We are now going to be keeping an eye on things to make sure it is working properly, but hopefully this will put an end to things breaking down for a bit at least.

Tomorrow we have a food delivery coming and so we will be off on Thursday.

Break-ins in Harborough Area.

It has been reported by the Harborough Mail that there have been a number of boats broken into.
http://www.harboroughmail.co.uk/news/crime/warning-to-narrowboat-owners-after-break-ins-1-5044960

Sadly there are people out there who have little respect for other peoples property, they seem to feel they can take what they like and when ever they like, so make sure you keep your eyes open if your in this area.

In to Bugsworth Upper Basin.

Travelled 1.36 miles in a time of 55 minutes.

Travelled since leaving Uxbridge 201.4 miles, worked 142 locks in a time of 100 hours.

It was a wet start to Monday morning, but we only had a short hop. Keith had rung Kuranda to see if they were coming to see us on Tuesday and they were so we left our mooring at Furness Vale at 9.25 am and headed in to Bugsworth Basin.

It was busy in the lower and middle basins, so we moored up in the upper basin where we moored last year when we were here. Having sorted ourselves out and had some lunch we went for a wander and to see if anyone from the Inland Waterways Protection Society (IWPS) was about, so we could let them know our situation.

The middle basin almost full.

It was never this busy last year. They also had the University of Derby canoeists out in the basin.

I recognised a couple of the boats.

NB Rakiraki-Wandering Duck. Mark and Ruth were no where to be seen on our walk down, but on our walk back they arrived back to the boat and so we had a quick natter with them. It was lovely to hear their news and hear about how their business has been getting on.

Another boat I recognised was NB Fizzical Attraction which belongs to Yvonne and Roger, who we have not personally met, but I dip in and out of the blog from time to time. We may see them both whilst here.

Just as we were about to walk back to the boat the mooring warden from the IWPS arrived, we already knew them from last year and so they were happy for us to stay and we will update them on our progress on Thursday. We are always made so welcome when we come to stay in Bugsworth Basin. They have 48 hour moorings and when they are busy they do ask that boaters only stay for the 48 hours otherwise they will get reminded, but if you do not abuse their hospitality they will give an overstay permit.

The River Goyt is looking very quiet at the moment, but then again we have not had much rain of late.

It was lovely to see Cowslips out in the basin, with Swallows and House Martins flying around in a chilly breeze.

It is nice to be back here and we do hope to catch up more with people we know whilst we are here.

Furness Vale turn Left and Whaley Bridge.

Wide awake at 6am on a Sunday morning arghhh now that is just not one, so we sat in bed drinking tea and watching the news. Paddy never stirred, but Marmite came into the back cabin to say “Good Morning”.

The forecast for the day was favourable and so we decided that we would go off walking again after breakfast.

This morning we walked back to the road bridge, walked up over the railway line.

Past The Crossings Pub like yesterday but at the t junction we turned left.

We walked up past the village school and down below we spotted our boat.

The pavement then took us down to a footpath which crosses over the canal, so we walked down towards Whaley Bridge.

We arrived at the junction with Bugsworth Basin, walked up over the footbridge.

Tesco can be seen from the bridge.

The towpath on the 7 day moorings has been rebuilt which is fantastic. 40 metres of the washwall had collapsed into the canal and so you could not moor up. But C&RT rebuilt the wall last Summer. Great job.

Whaley Bridge Basin.

Transhipment Shed. Dated 1832 and built to allow transfer of material from rail to boat or vice versa. The centre arch is over the Peak Forest Canal and the two side arches covered the rails of the Cromford & High Peak Railway.

In side the shed.

George Street.

George House Antiques one of our favourite shops.

Jodrell Arms Hotel is sadly closed, this Grade II listed building has a Jacobean frontage and looks very sad at the moment. It will be wonderful to see it open again someday.

Mechanics Institute  was built in 1876 and is now the town hall, library and function room.

Most of the shops were closed, but we will walk back in during the week to visit the antique shops and have another nose around. We continued our walk back from whence we came and then along the towpath back to the boat, where I got on with making us some lunch and then a pie for dinner.

Whilst looking for some of Furness Vales history I came across their own history website and found that we were on it. It would have been lovely if they had knocked on the boat, then I could have made them a cuppa and we could have had a nice chat, because Furness Vale is a lovely place with a lot of charm.

I’m Old School.

I am old school and proud to be so. It costs nothing to have good manners. Yet I did once get told off for saying thank you to much. Yes I kid you not it is true. I told the gentleman. “I am sorry but I was bought up not dragged up”.

I always respect my elders and when possible help others, because one day I may need their help.

There seems to be a lack of any of these things these days and I am not just blaming the younger generation, because some more mature people are to blame as well.

Furness Vale turn right.

Yesterday we went out for a walk even though it was raining gently. We walked up to the road bridge which took us up over the railway crossing, up station road and into the village.

We walked past The Crossings Pub and turned right at the T Junction.

In the village there is another hostelry The Soldier Dick Hotel which opened in 2011 after extensive work. There is also a Fish and Chip Shop, Post Office and Church.

The views across the Goyt Valley are stunning.

My photographs do not do it justice sadly.

Having walked to the end of the village we followed a footpath which took us to the other side of the railway.

I was hoping a steam train would come thundering along the track at this point, but no such luck.

Fabulous view towards New Mills.

We walked back along the towpath and met up with Chas & Ann on NB Moore2Life, and Geoff and Mags on NB Seyella moored near Carr Swing bridge. We had a brief chat with them before they set off for Marple.

Just a bit further up the moorings was NB Shelley Anne. I knocked on the boat and was greeted by Sarah-May who runs Baddie the Pirate a place for all your lighting needs. Sarah-May was just setting off with friends to cruise to Disley, so we hope to catch up with her at some point before we head back to Braunston for our Fridge/Freezer. It was a day of catching up with people we knew and this included Stewart on Historic working boat Ann. He was heading into Whaley Bridge.

After a refreshing stroll, it was back to the boat for lunch and an afternoon of sea faring films on Channel 5.

Fourlane Ends to Furness Vale.

Travelled 9.66 miles, 0 locks, 2 lift bridges and 1 swing bridge in a time of 4 hours 25 minutes.

Since leaving Uxbridge we have done 199.9 miles, 142 locks in a time of 99 hours and 5 minutes.

We left at 8am and it was a cold start to the day with April showers forecast.

The weather was closing in as we cruised, with low cloud over the Pennines.

Past the flash at High Poynton.

Goyt Mill in all its glory.

Marple Junction in the sunshine.

We turned right on to the Peak Forest Canal. At this point the canal is some 500 feet above sea level.

True to the forecast the April showers began to arrive, but these ones were hailstones, which bounced on and off the rood of the boat.

Turflea lift bridge before Strines. Then I had Wood End lift bridge to do.

Higgins Clough Swing Bridge was a breeze compared to the other days Broadhurst Swing Bridge.

The views of the valleys and the Pennines are breath taking.

Heading into Furness Vale we had hope to moor before the swing bridge, but the moorings were completely full. I did however recognise a couple of boat NB Seyella and NB Moore 2 Life. At Carr Swing Bridge we met up with with Geoff off of Seyella and Ann of of Moore 2 Life, who were out walking the dogs. It has been some time since we saw them, so had a quick natter as I worked the swing bridge. It is always wonderful to catch up with people you know and fellow bloggers. We wished them both well for their Summer cruising and were on our way, thinking we would have to go into Bugsworth Basin today as we could not moor up, but not far past Furness Vale Marina we found a stretch of piling just big enough for us to fit on and deep enough as well.

All moored up I made us some soup for lunch and a coffee. We are staying here for the weekend, and hope that we will have our inverter/charger looked at early next week.