130. Classic Narrowboat Engines Part 3: National DA2 with Keith Lodge

It was so lovely to see David and we really enjoyed doing the vlog with him.

Fantastic Heritage Weekend.

Hi Friends and Followers.

Wow what a busy old weekend, we have just had.
Friday was spent getting the Arm ready for a fun weekend. Gazebos went up. The Cedar Room was laid out and bunting was hung.

Saturday's weather forecast was supposed to be wet all day. Thankfully we only had a couple of showers. It was the quiet day of the two, but I had some sales so I could not complain.

The dignitaries had a free boat ride on Saltie II.

I was ready for whatever the first day would bring.

Matt Weston MP came and joined in with the fun.

Sunday dawned much sunnier.

The hope was that we would have a better footfall day and we were not disappointed.

The children and adults enjoyed getting involved with the Samba band, who are always popular.

The historic boats proved very popular.
All in all we had a fantastic weekend, so today it was rest and laundry day.

Pop back soon xx

Busy Weekend Ahead.

Hi Friends and Followers.

It has been a crazy old day, because we have been getting ready for the Family Fun Weekend, here in the Saltisford Arm.

The Gazebos are up.

The bunting is flying.

The historic boats Raymond and Nuffield arrived today and the steam boat Adamant has been in for a couple of days.

I have set my stall up, ready for a busy day tomorrow. We just have to hope the weather is kind, because looking at the forecast, it may not be so kind tomorrow, but hey ho we cannot change it and I will still have a fabulous day.
I will post again after the event.

Pop back soon xx

Wow Wednesday.

Hi Friends and Followers.

It has been wow Wednesday for me. This morning we woke up to sunshine bursting through the portholes of the pigeon box in the engine room, which bode well for the day ahead. It felt again like summer.

Keith headed off food shopping, whilst I got on and painted our flue pipe, which has caused us hassle one way or another.

This is the flue, which had to be cut on half to get rid of the tar and soot, which was blocking the pipe so badly, it was setting our carbon monoxide alarm into a frenzy. The flue having been sorted out is as you can see back where it belongs and has had a coat of paint, so we are now ready for the winter.

Today the OVO tour of Britain cycle race was coming to Warwick. They were due to come past us at around 12.15pm, so I was out with my camera at 12 noon, to get a reasonably good position to photograph the cyclists which included Chris Froome and Geriant Thomas.

The announcing car came through letting us know the cyclists were on there way.

There were plenty of policemen on motor bikes.

The first six riders came through on their own.

Following on a couple of minutes later was the peloton.

Team Sky with Froome and Thomas in there somewhere.

It was a magnificent sight, and so nice a lot of people had taken the trouble to come out and cheer them all on. I certainly got some lovely photographs and enjoyed the whole thing. The cyclists were due to finish in Leamington-Spa at around 3.30pm.

After lunch, I went out with the arms administrator to get lots of lovely goodies for the weekends heritage weekend. We are all sorted now. The only thing that can let us down now is the weather.

I am pleased to say we have our water back in the arm and the gangplank has gone, much to the joy of Paddy because he is none to keen on it. We hope the water levels now stay up.

Pop back soon xx

Rainy Tuesday.

Hello Friends and Followers.

A wet beginning to Tuesday. I woke up late for me at 7.45am, but I obviously needed the sleep. So with rain falling, it was going to be a damp walk for Paddy and I, which does not bother me, but Paddy is not a lover of the wet stuff.

We still have a water issue in the Arm. C&RT are trying to get on top of it, but unless they stop boats going through Cape Locks for a few hours and send copious amounts of water down, this problem is not going to be cured in a hurry. What we really need is back pumping at Cape Locks, but that is and expensive option, but one which in the end may have to be done. So we are still using our gangplank for now and hoping that we get some water soon.

After sorting out Paddy, having breakfast and doing a laundry wash, I walked up into town to try again to get a float for this weekends event. It seems that the TSB is still having issues and not just with the online banking. Our local branch seems to have a staffing issue as well. Yesterday they had a problem and the same thing today, but they were open this time, so I managed to get my float money. I hope they manage to sort their problems out. I visited the post office to buy some stamps and there was no a queue for once. Normally when I go to the post office, there is always a queue. I was feeling blessed today.

Back home and there on the pontoon was our flue and chimney. The flue is completely unblocked, and needs to be repainted. Kate Boats engineer Rob has done an amazing job on our flue, it is back to the metal, which is brilliant and it is definitely lighter to carry. We should have a great fire this winter. Once we had put the flue back in place, we added a china mans hat to the chimney, so we will see how that goes. We are now ready to light the fire, when it is required.

It has been another good day on the whole.

Pop back soon xx

Where did all the water go?

Hello friends and followers.

How has your day been?

Ours has been one of being on the tilt. It all began after we got up this morning, when a lot of water began disappearing from beneath us and all the other boats in the Arm. We measured the drop and it had gone down by Twelve inches and was to drop further. We sent a photograph and an e-mail to our local C&RT man and he got back to us. They were going to send some water down. Other boaters rang C&RT asking for water. Of course these things take time.

For us the gangplank had to come out and I kept pushing the boat our further and further.

By mid afternoon the water level was getting dangerously low for some of the boaters in the arm. I had pushed us out as far as I dare, to make sure we were not listing.

The problem we have is, both Cape Locks leak. Last Winter C&RT repaired the top lock at Cape, but it is still leaking. The middle pound, is losing water into the bottom lock, which is also leaking, so when the pound is down they take our water to fill it in the mornings. We also had at least four boats leave the arm this morning and they were heading down to Leamington. I guess it was a perfect storm for the water levels to drop so drastically. Another problem we have is boaters come up through Cape, wind and go back down, so I will leave you to imagine the rest. At the moment as I type this posting, C&RT are trying to get the water level up, but I am keeping us out overnight, because we do not want to be on the tilt overnight.

In between moving the boat out, I helped out with sorting the teddy tombola and raffle prizes for the forthcoming Heritage Weekend. Teddies got number stapled to their ears. I did apologise to them before inflicting any pain. Jack and I are so ahead of the game it is brilliant. Now we are just hoping the weather is kind to us. Sadly Shrek the horse will not be with us, because he is poorly, which is such a shame. But we will have a lot of fun anyway.
It has been a funny old day, but we will see what tomorrow brings.

Pop back soon xx

Happy Sunday.

Hello friends and followers.

It is the first Sunday of September, the sun shone and the warmth given off by the sun, would have many thinking it was still the middle of summer. It was so lovely out when I took Paddy for his morning stroll. Going for a walk, is always nicer when the sun is shining and around here on a Sunday morning, it is so quiet, there was not another living soul about.
After breakfast for us and Paddy, it was time to get my baking apron on, mixing bowls out and fire up the stove. I am not a fancy baker or cook. I like good old plain baking and cooking, so today's delights were muffins and fruit scones.

The muffins have Lemon Curd and Strawberry jam inside them.

Really pleased with my fruit scones, because they have risen really well. They will be enjoyed with butter, or toasted with butter and Marmite on them. I love scones, more so than just eating bread. Baking finished for the day, I prepared a sweet and sour chicken and veg for lunch, which would be enjoyed with rice.
Whilst lunch was cooking, I put the final coat of varnish on the galley doors. All I have to do, once they are dry is put the handles and bolts back on. Another painting job, successfully completed. I still have paintwork to do, but this coming week, I will be busy helping with the Heritage Weekend, so will have little time to do any sort of painting and then we are off cruising again. I may just have to do paintwork, whilst we are out cruising, if time and weather allows.
After a rather scrummy lunch and coffee, the decision had to be made. Do more jobs, or as it is a Sunday put my feet up and do some more crochet in front of the TV.
Guess which won?
I am still a believer that Sunday's should be a day of rest and relaxation, of course that only came for me after baking and varnishing, but you know what I mean. Oh I forgot to mention, I was also tearing up news paper for Keith.

Today was the day he wanted to do some papier mâché on his railway layout, so I agreed to tear up the paper, so he could get on with the job of soaking it in glue and attaching it to the layout. More on his progress BLOG .

With everything done for the day, I got down to some more crocheting and watching the Sunday afternoon films, until the F1 race was on Channel 4 and then it is time to sit on the edge of my seat and hope beyond hope that Lewis Hamilton can somehow get past Vettel and win the race, this is after the two Ferrari's top the lead two places on the grid in qualifying. One has to have hope.

See you on the other side.
Pop back soon. xxx

Hello September.

Hiya Friends and Followers.

Here we are it is the first day of meteorological Autumn. But from the warm in the sun today it has felt just like Summer all over again.
The morning began with a cuppa in bed, whilst watching the news and weather, which reckoned we would have a nice few days ahead of us. It all bodes well for the Heritage Weekend coming up.
Up and about, Paddy got his walk and then his breakfast. At the moment the old boy seems to be rallying with his eating and in general, which is wonderful because he has been such a worry of late. He will be 15 years old in January, so we cannot expect to much from him, but it is good that he seems to be enjoying life again.
After breakfast, I got on with varnishing the galley doors.

They will get one last coat tomorrow and then I will turn my attention to the rust spots on the cabin and and the bow. Whilst I varnished, Keith took the toilet back out and put the radiator back on the wall and plumbed it in. I then had the fabulous job of giving the toilet a good old clean up. We both then put the toilet back into the bathroom and made sure it was all working properly. Job done without to much effort for a change.

The next job on my list, was to cut back the Buddleia, Mahonia and other bushes, ready for the Winter. I am doing them now, because we are going out cruising again soon until the beginning of November, and I do not want to leave them all straggly.

Mahonia all trimmed and the nest box moved. Last winter a wren made a lovely nest in it, so it was all snug during the cold weather.

Keith moved his Gooseberry bushes. They were hiding behind the Raspberry bushes and so not getting enough light, so he has moved them forward. With everything watered in and the garden now looking nice and tidy, I cooked us some lunch.
Ian our site manager let us know before he went to lunch that gas prices are going up, so if we needed a new gas bottle, now was the time to get it, so I got our empty bottle out of the gas locker and when Ian came back from his lunch, I went and got us a new bottle. This will keep us going until we come back from our cruising and beyond. It seems to me everything keeps going up, but what we get for our money stays the same and nothing ever goes down in prices. It makes me wonder how people manage on restricted incomes, because we just about manage at the moment, but if things keep going up,we will have to tighten our belts I think.
By 2pm all jobs on my list were done for the day and a coffee was very much called for. I had used up my energy supply for the day, so it was time to put my feet up and watch a film. Film of the day was Wyatt Earp 1994 starring Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid. Great film, which I have seen before.
After dinner, I got on and watered the plants we had moved earlier in the day. I want to give them a good chance of survival, especially the Rhubarb. With the nights now drawing in, I will soon be turning my attention to lighting the fires, cooking stews and baking cakes. That reminds me, I need to do some baking.

Pop back soon xxx