Adopt a waterway.

Hi Friends.

Have you ever wanted the opportunity to get involved with your local waterway, whether it be a river or canal, then why not adopt it.
Yes it is a new British Waterways scheme, whereby you adopt a stretch of river or canal. We are looking into doing just this very thing with some friends and customers. http://www.waterscape.com/features-and-articles/features/british-waterways-canal-adoption-schemes

A Lovely weekend.

Hi Friends old and new.

I had a very enjoyable weekend, despite having to move and being on the tilt for part of Sunday. Hen i say on the tilt. I mean the boat was listing, due to low water level.

As you may remember from Saturday, we moved the boat after a boater told us we were on a winding 'ole. I have yet to find out for definite that it is still a winding 'ole, I will confirm it with our British Waterways friend, when we next see him. I have a feeling it used to be a winding 'ole, but is not now used.

Anyway now to Sunday. After a very nice nights kip. I was up and out with the hound, who seemed to have springs in his paws. Maybe the sunshine had something to do it with. I had a quick chat with the gentleman who lives in the Lock Cottage next to one of the Cassiobury pair and then it was back to the boat to get some boat work done. Sunday's has become boat cleaning day. So the generator went on and the hoover came out. Because Pad moults all year round, using the hoover once a week, is an excellent way of getting up all his hair. I do use a dustpan and brush in the week, but the hoover does a much better job. The floors got a wash and the surfaces cleaned down, this proved to be a wise move as you will discover late. I then bailed out the front locker, which had an inch and half of water in it. One of our outlet bungs is leaking, so I have to keep a check on how much water is getting in. It will not be a problem once we have sold some coal, because the outlets will then be above the water, at the moment they are below water and we choose to put wooden wedges in to keep the water out or not as in this case. With all that done it was then time for lunch, so I made us some salad and chicken wraps, which were nice on a very warm day.

Over the last couple of day's, I have heard a chick calling its parents and was pretty sure it was a Buzzard chick, but could not see it. So after lunch, I took my camera and tripod into the woods and went on the hunt of the call. I felt like an intrepid adventurer in the woods, but it was a little disconcerting listening to all the creaking and crackling going on. I finally found the source of the calling and it was indeed a Buzzard chick calling, but I could not get a decent photograph of it, because it was to high up in the tree's. I followed the call through the woods for over half an hour and never once got a decent photograph opportunity, which was a real shame. I felt deflated that I did not get a photo, but at least I knew for definite what was making all the noise. I was a woman on a mission, who was now satisfied.

As I got back to the boat, I was informed by my much better half that we were going to have visitors in a few minutes. His sister and her husband were coming along the towpath to come and say hello. We have not seen V & T for a couple of years, so it was lovely to welcome them onboard. I made us all a coffee and got the biscuits out. We only really have biscuits when visitors comes a calling, so it was an honour. Before we knew it three hours had flown past and they had to leave and Pad needed his walk. So we said our goodbyes and they headed back down the towpath to their car and hubby took Pad for his evening walk. I had to start the generator up and then decide on something for dinner. We ended up having Sardines on toast with a beer. I know not a normal sort of combination, but the beer washed the toast down nicely.

Because there had been a lot of boats moving, we were on the tilt, which was not great, because I would be sleeping with my head lying downwards, so we untied the boat, started the engine and moved the boat away from the edge and got us back on an even keel. This meant we were now a foot away from the bank, but there was nothing we could do about it. So Sunday was all done and dusted. It was a really great weekend.

This morning (Monday) was yet another beautiful morning. We set off at 9.30am to head for Kings Langley and encountered our first issue at the Cassiobury pair of locks. One of the bottom gates on the second lock would not close properly despite me opening and shutting it a few times. K even tried to close it with the boat. In the end we flushed the entrance and after some pushing, it finally closed. At this point a boat was coming down the canal to use the lock after us, so I let the lady know that it was better not to use that side of the lock, and I would report the problem to British Waterways, which is what I did when we got to Grove Mill. Two BW guys were on a work boat, so I let them know the problem and at which lock. I hope they sorted it out, because it was going to be a problem for any of the widebeams.

It was not long before we were at North Grove Lock, which as this devine lock cottage. Each time we come this way, I keep meaning to take a photograph, and never get the chance, so today I made sure I got the photograph below.

Having enjoyed a lovely cruise we arrived at King's Langley lock and I made a new friend. She was a little Black and White cat, who was in a very cuddly mood. I reckoned she came off of one of the boats, because she was soon on our bow and walking up the gunwale. As we left the lock, I lifted her back onto the towpath and said cheerio to her, as I do not think that Marmite will be to impressed that i have been playing with another moggy. We are now moored in a deep water mooring opposite Toovey's Mill Race, Kings Langley, having cruised for 3.45 miles, I did 8 locks, in 3hrs.

As we settled down for some lunch, I noticed this young Heron opposite the boat. It looks like it is walking the high wire. I wonder what it is thinking?

After lunch, we walked up into Kings Langley. It is somewhere between a large village and a small town. There are a few shops, which includes a Butchers, Spar shop, Pet shop, Hairdressers, Laundrette and other little shops. There is a pretty little church, a couple of pubs and a Fish and Chip shop, so really everything you need.

We plan to stay here overnight and then hopefully move on tomorrow. At the moment, we have the doors and side windows open as it is rather warm out at the moment. I now have to decide that to have for dinner, so goodbye for now.

P.S Happy birthday to N, he is 27 years young today. Love and hugssssss xxxxx

Angel in the sun.

Hi Friends.

What a day I have had, it has been fantastic.
It all began a little less early than previous mornings. I was woken up by the sound of Crow's and Magpie's. It seems that on one side of the cut the Crow's live and on our side the Magpie's live and in the morning's they have a shouting match across the water. Then there were footsteps on the roof of the back cabin. Not sure whether it was a Crow or a Magpie though.
Having crawled out of my pit and got dressed. Paddy needed his walk and yet again he went scampering across the field. This time he caught the scent of something, and was off like a whippet to find the smell. It was probably a Rabbit, which he never did find. Having got back to the boat, I had breakfast and a cup of tea.
I then grabbed my camera and walked back up to the tunnel. This was the morning when the Butty 'Angel' was going to be legged through the tunnel. Roy the British Waterway's man, was there to make sure no boats went into the tunnel and his workmate was at the other end. The tunnel was closed from 8am to 11am.
I have spent a fabulous morning taking photographs of the Butty 'Angel' being legged through Braunston Tunnel and then the butty was pulled along by Gypsy Queen. It was so wonderful to see. It made me ponder about how they used to do boating all those years ago. It took the leggers about an hour and half to leg through Braunston Tunnel, all 2042 yards, 1867 metres. They certainly needed their weetabix this morning. I was joined by Betty from NB Oakfield, who also had her camera to hand. It was a bit of a shame that more people did not turn out to see this wonderful thing take place. Sue Day who is the Chair Person for the Horse Boating Society was there on hand to make sure everything went like clockwork. I happily gave my services to take the photographs for her. It is something I could watch all day.
Gypsy Queen pulled the Butty Angel out of the lock and on to the next lock down the flight. There is something so majestic about this form of transport. It would have been so peaceful on the cut in those days. The cut these days is a little more crowded and this was evident with the boats travelling up the flight. We made every effort to make sure they knew what to do when leaving the lock, because the last thing Sue needed was for a boat to get in between the horse and the boat. Thankfully everyone seemed to grasp what was required of them and the trip went without any hitches. The only real problem I had was the sun. Now I love the sun, I really do. But it did cause problems taking the photos, especially when people were in the way. I left the procession half way down the flight and legged it back to the boat to down load the photos on to a disc for Sue. I then made us some Bacon Sandwiches for lunch, before going back down the flight to hand the disc over the Sue and a couple of others, who had asked for the photos. One of them being the Cheese Boat which is here for the weekend. Geraldine and Micheal have a mooring in the Marina for the weekend. Whilst walking back I caught up with other people we know and who we will see over the weekend. Back onboard I was in need of a drink and a sit down. I really need to get my fitness back up to a better level. It was football time. But with the TV reception at best not good, Keith went and played with the ariel to get us a better picture for BBC1. As he sorted us out a boat pulled in behind us and I heard one of them say "We will stop here, and see if we can get a picture, if not we will go through the tunnel" They must have got a picture, because they stayed until the final whistle and then they undid their ropes and moved off. I wonder if their picture was as poor as ours was??

Ok now I think I said that I would not mention the football on a previous post, or was it the Election, oh well never mind I am going to mention the football, because you cannot have failed to notice that England were playing today again Slovinia and we had to win this match to stay in the World Cup. What a game it was too. The guys did us proud by winning 1-0. In my opinion it should have been more as we had plenty of opportunities to score more. I do wonder how much further we will go in the World Cup. I have a dreadful feeling that we may end up playing Germany next arghhhhh.

Also on the football. I was appauled by the behaviour of the French Coach Raymond Domenech. Domenech refused to shake the South African coach's hand. The snub occurred when Carlos Alberto Parreira, the South African coach, came over to Domenech at the conclusion of the game and wanted to shake his hand. The Frenchman refused to do so mentioning that Parreira had insulted his team by saying that they should not have beaten Ireland in qualifying because of a handball goal by Henry. he was stating the obvious and I bet none of the Irish were crying for the French when they crashed out of the World Cup. Despite what happened there was absolutely no excuse for Raymond Domenech's behaviour. He should be ashamed of himself. Football is supposed to be the beautiful game, there is nothing beautiful about it when people behave like that. Not only that it sets a bad example. Just my opinion though.

Residential Moorings.

Good afternoon.

What a fabulous few days we have had. This is what living on a boat is all about. Thankfully I am an all weather person. I am quite happy to put up with whatever the weather chucks at me, but hey it is always nice to get some sunshine.
My shoulder is coming along I think. I have rested it as told by the GP and this morning I began the exercises. This maybe a slow process, as I cannot get my arm into some of the positions without pain, but it is early days. With a lot of time on my hands at the moment as I rest the shoulder, I have been doing some surfing on the net and I came across the British Waterway's Mooring site. To get a British Waterway's mooring these days you have to bid for one in the auction. The problem is that there are way to few Residential Moorings for those who do not wish to be in a marina. I did however spot this Residential Mooring. The main problem with it though is it is on the Aire and Calder, which is not where we would want to be. Infact on closer inspection they have three in the same place wooo hooo. Sadly though not for a 70ft boat. Finding a 70ft residential mooring is almost impossible. When we finally decide we can no longer move the boat, due to either old age or health issues, we would love to see our days out on the boat, but it is true to say that finding a residential mooring is never going to be easy. I remember when we were in Birmingham for the BCN Explorer Cruise a couple of years ago. There was a representative from British Waterways in the news, talking about the canal and that they wanted marina's to allow 10% of their moorings for residential moorers. Not sure what happened to that, it was it just a hollow promise. I know I have said we would not like being in a marina, but who knows by the time we get to the point of not moving the boat anymore we may like the marina idea. Time will tell. I really must go and sit outside and get off the computer.... Have a fun evening.