Sporting Greats.

Hi Friends.

This past week has been a week of losing some of our best known sporting greats and this morning we lost another one. I turned on the radio, to hear that Seve Ballesteros had lost his battle against cancer and had died at the young age of 54 (CLICK ME). It is another tragic loss to the sporting world and the world as a whole. I used to love watching him play golf as he bought a sense of fun and excitement to the game.

On the 3rd May we lost a true British Boxing legend in Sir Henry Cooper, who in my opinion was the Lord of the Ring. Henry died at the age of 76, which in today's standards is no age at all. (CLICK ME). I once again grew up knowing of him and his talent in the boxing ring and of course his fight with Muhammed Ali. These sporting legends will never leave us because their achievements are written in the history books and will always be seen on our screens, but a sad loss to their family and friends, who knew them away from the spot light.

Another sad loss to the sporting world was Ted Lowe who died on the 1st May at the age of 90. For many they would probably not know the name but Ted Lowe MBE was the voice of snooker and whose dulcet tones could always be heard when commentating some of the biggest events. (CLICK ME).

We all know that it is a certain that we will join them sooner or later, but when you hear of these people passing on, it makes you realise your own age and that life is so short.

Make the most of each day, because tomorrow could be your last.

Chat soon xx

Welford Junction to Welford Wharf.

Hi Friends.

Don't you just hate it when you write a posting and you go to post it and poof it has gone, never to be seen again. Someone stole y posting arghhhhhhh.

Ok so here I go again.

The morning began the same as most mornings do, with us enjoying a cuppa in bed, and Marmite beneath the duvet purring away as she made herself at home. Unfortunately her snooze was short lived, because I needed to get up and take Paddy for his morning constitutional. These days his walks seem to be getting shorter, he does what he has to and then legs it back to the boat. Maybe at 7 years old he is beginning to feel his age.

Back on the boat, I made Keith and I some toast and marmalade and mog and dog enjoyed their breakfast as well.

The plan for today was to head off up the Welford Arm find a moorings for the weekend and then go into dry dock Monday to begin blacking the hull. So come 9.30am we untied from our overnight mooring and set off. I was still creaking with my sciatica, but having taken a couple of paracetamol, that would soon ease. We turned into the arm and made our way towards Welford Lock where a nice surprise greeted us. Not only was there a boat coming out of the lock, so I did not have to empty the lock, but the lock edging at the top of the lock had finally been repaired.

Keith and I reported the damage to BW over the winter, because at least 3 of the stones were in the water and another was missing. BW have now found the stones and repaired the block work, which apparently had been in a shocking state for many years. It is refreshing that when you report something, that something does get done. So if you ever see any damage on the system, make sure you report it, do not assume that someone else will have done so.

Having left the lock, we pulled into the 14 day moorings and I hobbled around the marina to see if there were any moorings further up the arm, I was amazed to see the moorings pretty empty, the only boat there was NB Golden Valley which belongs to Brian and Shelia. There was even a space in the wharf itself, so Keith pulled in at the wharf and we moored up. Have spent some time chatting to Mark from BW and Brian and Shelia, we then went into the boat yard to see Les.

Les produced our new propeller which will be fitted when we dry dock Monday. It looks fantastic, so now we just have to hope it does the job.

The sun is shining, so I really should be doing some jobs, as they are forecasting rain over the weekend. I will wish you a lovely day and say cheerio for now.

Chat soon xx

Top Gear team visits town - Local News - Harborough Mail

Top Gear team visits town - Local News - Harborough Mail

Wishes she had been there.

Mountain Barn to Welford Junction.

Hi Friends.

Last night I was so tired I headed off to bed at 9.30pm, having seen Manchester United beat Schalke. I slept like a baby and woke at 6am due to Marmite jumping on me. Keith got up and made us both a cup of tea and then Paddy thought he would like to come and join the party on our bed, so we had Paddy and Marmite on the bed with us. Paddy then began to fidget so much I had to tell him to get off. When we got his some 4 years ago, we should have renamed him fidget, because he cannot sit or lie still for five minutes.

It was another cool start to the day, but we only did a short run to Welford Junction, where we are ready to go up the Welford Arm tomorrow, ready for dry docking Monday. The sun started to break through the clouds, so so I was hoping it would warm up a little because I wanted to get on with some paintwork in preparation for our 3 days in dry dock. As I know that 3 days is going to be cutting things pretty close, as Hadar is a 70ft boat and Keith and I are blacking her ourselves. We also have around the back counter to do as well, so any pre-preparation is going to help a great deal. But before looking at what needs to be done a much needed coffee was called for and of course that meant the biscuit box came out.

Coffee break over, I got down to rubbing down the back counter and some of the white bands on the bow, they then got a coat of White undercoat, ready for the gloss then we are in dry dock on Monday. Whilst I worked Marmite played on the grass with some feather's Keith had found for her and Paddy lounged on the stern of the boat, they have such a wonderful life. Boats moored behind us and then they were gone, was it something I said???

Another job that needed doing was the scraping out of the old grout around the galley tiles which was cracking. I wanted to replace it with some White silicone, but to do that I needed to find the tube we had bought. We searched high and low, but could not remember where we had put it. Then Keith asked what was in the bag we had the rollers and brushes in for blacking on Monday, low and behold there was the tube of White silicone, so I scraped out the offending grout and got to grips with squeezing the silicone into place. Having smoothed it down with my finger, I cleaned off the the excess, stood back and admired my handy work, which although I say it myself it does not look half bad. I am a jack of most trades but not a master of one of them.

The rest of the day has been spent making a Cauliflower Cheese for tonight's dinner. Of course this did not take me very long, so I have spent sometime relaxing, after all I am going to need all my energy for Monday and the following three days. Not only that I am looking after my Sciatica which has been playing up for the past couple of days. I have to hope that it does not hinder me next week. So on that note I am going now.

Chat soon xx

Hi Friends.

We had a lovely cold start to the day with a heavy overnight ground frost, but this did give us a wonderful day of sunshine. We had a good run up through Braunston locks at 8.20am, stopping briefly halfway up to say cheerio to Ray and Jackie on Roehaise, who are returning to the land. We met a couple of boats in Braunston Tunnel.

We turned on to the Leicester Line at Norton Junction and made our way to Watford locks which were very quiet, so we came straight up them as soon as we arrived. The locks were so quiet that Terry the full-time lockie was painting the gates and the volunteer lockie was working the flight on his own.

Just as we left the Watford Flight, we picked up a hitch hiker on the temperature gauge. The Wasp was quite happy to stay there and did so for sometime.

We saw our first Canada Geese Babies today.

We also saw our first Moorhen babies as well. It seems everything is in breeding mode at the moment. All's we need to see now are Cygnets.

As we were passing a field of cows near Bridge 25, I was taking photo's of the calf in the field and a cow leaning into the water to get a drink, it then decided to take a swim in the canal, so we stopped and I walked up to the farm to find someone to let them know. The farmer was not there but the neighbour was going to contact him. It was a little worrying as this cow is in calf and she could potentially lose her calf if she gets distressed.Not long after that bit of excitement we moored at Mountain Barn Bridge to enjoy the rest of the sunny afternoon, whilst it is here.

The most distressing thing I saw today, was a ewe dead near the canal, which we see sometimes, but this ewe had been ripped apart by something and it was carrying a lamb. If it had been Africa I would have said a lion had been at it, but of course this is England, so I can only think either Foxes or Crows have been at the carcass. It was sad to see that the ewe had been carrying a lamb which never got to gamble across the field and play with its friends. Because we were no where near the farm, I could not report it to anyone.

What a day we have had, it has been a day of firsts and lots of lovely sunshine.

Plan B

Hi Folks.

I told you didn't I.

Yep Plan A, became plan be at 6am this morning. We were awake at 5.30am, so after some tossing and turning, I got up and made a cup of tea, to warm us both us, as it was rather chilly in the back cabin. Whilst drinking our brew, we chatted about what the plan was for the day and decided that Plan A was going to be put on the back burner, so we would go to Plan B and stay put for another day. So Plan B included a trip to the shop in the village, which is not a Co-Op but a Londis, we then wanted to go to the canal shop at the bottom of the locks, Keith also wanted to visit tradline to look at rope.

Whilst we finished our tea, Marmite thought the bed was a good place to curl up and go to sleep, so she buried herself beneath the crocheted blanket and fell asleep, by 7am I was bored with sitting in bed, so got up and dressed. Paddy was by then up and about and ready for his walk. Whilst I was out walking the mutt, Keith laid up the breakfast for my return.I then donned my rucksack and strolled off up the hill towards Braunston Church and onward to the village store, which had been open since 6am. So I could have gone earlier, if I had thought about it. I do love Braunston, it is such a pretty little village with lots of history to it. I bought a few supplies from the store and then humped my way back to the boat, the church looked stunning in the morning sunshine. Keith was still feeling the chill of the morning. The sun had not reached the boat yet, but would soon warm up when it did.

After a coffee we walked up to the shop at the bottom of the lock and were amazed to see the 48 hour moorings were completely empty. There was not a boat to be seen.
I do not think, I have ever seen the moorings at Braunston empty in all the years we have been coming through. Because of the lack of boats, we decided that on our return to the boat, we would move off of the pub moorings and move onto the 48 moorings, where we would get a bit of sun and a nice mooring.

Having bought some bits at the Lock shop, we went to Tradline, and on the way back to the boat met up with Tim and Jo on Hampton, who were heading off back to Cowroast, we wished them a safe journey as they went on their way. We moved Hadar onto the moorings between the 2 marina entrance bridges which was completely empty, very different from when we passed through Thursday. Just after we had moved here from the Boathouse moorings, "Dover" came out of the marina, winded and returned into the marina. Had we just witnessed it's annual journey?

After lunch, we set about putting the sound proof boarding in front of the generator, just as we were about to finish a head appeared through the engine room door and said "hello what are you doing here", it was Ray off of NB Roehaise. Ray and Jackie are about to come off of the water after 4 years, Roehaise is going into Braunston to be sold, which is a real shame as Ray and jackie are a lovely couple. Ray went off to get rid of rubbish and on the way back we shut up our boat and walked with him back to Roehaise where we enjoyed a couple of coffee and a lovely chat with them about their plans for life back on the land. We have offered them a boat trip during the winter, should they feel the need to be on the water. They can help with the coal run. After a lovely couple of hours passing the time of day, it was time to head back home.

Dinner is now cooking. The generator is now on with its new sound proofing board and we have a TV signal, which is not perfect, but we are only staying here tonight, then we will be going up the locks tomorrow morning and that plan is definite.

Chat soon xx

Bridge 103 to The Boat House, Braunston.

Hi Friends.

I hope you all enjoyed your extended weekend, we certainly did. But it was time to think about moving. We had thought of staying put until tomorrow, but then had a change of heart as we were going to head for Rugby, but like with all good plans it soon got changed when we saw that the wind was still blowing a gale. So plan B was put into place.

We would be leaving out lovely picturesque weekend mooring and heading back to Braunston, where we would catch a bus into Daventry to do a shop at Tesco, well that was plan B.Plan B very soon got turned into Plan C, when we decided that by the time we pay for bus fares it would be cheaper to shop in the village, so we would moor at Braunston and walk to the local Co-Op and Butcher for supplies.

Because it was blowing a hooley, it made it a bit interesting travelling and was made worse by the fact that we met a boat at every bridge 'ole. There was some sideways boating going on at times. Keith is convinced that these strong winds will remain with us until we load with coal on the 14th May. At the moment the bow is light and vulnerable to wind and the sheeting is operating like a sail. So fun time ahead if this wind continues. As we made out way to Braunston the spire of Braunston Church came into view. This often operates as a beacon of hope for many a boater, as does the Windmill next door.

We arrived in Braunston and hoped that we would find a mooring, thankfully we were able to moor at The Boathouse, where we had a nice lunch and a pint of beer each. Before lunch though we visited Midland Chandlers for some bits. We returned to the boat and then had lunch at The Boathouse, before returning to Midland Chandlers for some other bits, which we needed to take measurments on the boat for. So we now have some LED bulbs for our saloon and galley lights, we also have some sound proofing board for our generator wooo hoo. During our first visit to MC, we noticed Narrowboat "Boston" moored on the towpath opposite, so on our 2nd visit we decided to return via the towpath to see how Bruce was doing. He was looking very good and back to his old self, thank goodness. We took a long time to get back to Hadar.Having finished chatting with Bruce, we then chatted to and had coffee with Anne & Keith on "Oakfield" (CLICK ME), it was lovely to see them both again and as you do, we ended up chatting about all things boaty including the old boaters topic toilets. We finally left them in peace and found ourselves chatting to Tim & Jo on their historic butty Hampton. We had seen them at Crick a few days a go and I knew, I knew the boat from somewhere, but could not picture it but soon realised that it moors at Cowroast with Historic Working Boat Owl, which belongs to Tim's Dad. The photo below was taken at Crick.

We finally made it back on board Hadar and had another coffee. I replaced the bulbs in the saloon and galley for the halogen bulbs to the new super duper LED ones, so tonight we will see if they make a difference. I am told that once we have the LED ones we will then change all of our bulbs over to them, they are supposed to be that good.

We will not get a TV signal here, so not sure what we will do this evening, twiddle my thumbs probably ;0) I have really enjoyed today and look forward to tomorrow, when plan A is to go shopping in the morning and then to head off up the locks. So we will see if we stick to Plan A or it changes to something else.

Chat soon xx

May blows in.

Hi Friends.

The year seems to be passing us by so quickly as we welcome in May and all it has to offer. So far it has bought us sunshine and a gusty wind, which is blowing a hooley at times. This has been causing all sorts of problems for some of the boats passing us.

As I looked out of the back cabin door a hire boat was struggling to get away from the bank. I watched as the occupants pushed and shoved the boat; try to push the boat into the centre of the canal. Having watched them for a minute or two I ran down the towpath and offered them a little advice on how to get themselves underway. This advice was to reverse the boat back into the bridge ‘ole where they would be able to straighten the boat up and get it around the bend without the boat being blown back into the bank. The lady steering the boat did exactly as I suggested and in no time at all they were underway once more. As they came past out boat, they thanked me for my help and I wish them well on their holiday. It was nice to be able to offer some help and for it to be appreciated. So often these day’s people can be so rude when advice is offered.

Before all of this happened though it was another morning when we were awake to early. Marmite thought we should be up and about, because she was doing her utmost to get our attention. This included charging up and down the boat like a loony, clawing at the back cabin curtains, which she knows annoys me and climbing onto the stove and playing with the plates. After telling her off a couple of times, there was nothing for it but to get up. Whilst Keith cooked us Poached Eggs on Toast and a Sausage each (Only had two in the freezer), I took Paddy for a walk along the towpath. Even thought the wind was blowing, the sound of the birds and the rustling of the trees were sublime in the sunshine. Even the lambs were bleating in the field next to the boat announcing the 1^st of May.

After enjoying Keith’s breakfast and a cuppa, I got on with the jobs on today’s list.

1). Rub down stool and coal box

2). Paint a coat of Green gloss on stool and coal box.

3). Paint a coat of Varnish on the Hand Bowl.

4). Make a Thai Turkey Curry for dinner.

5). Polish some Brass.

With all of the jobs done on my list, it was time for Drop Scones for lunch and a Coffee. It is now almost 2pm and I am sat watching “All the King’s Men”. The rest of my afternoon is going to be relaxing, after all it is a Sunday. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your long weekend.

Chat soon xx