Almost on home ground.

Hi Friends.

I thought before I do a piece on today's events, I would talk about losing pets on boats. As many of you know we have a Cat and a Dog onboard. Since we have been on this boat neither of them have ever been lost. Paddy did get lost once on our other boat, but that was not his fault. He was called off of the boat by someone else and then he wandered. he has not done it since. It is far easier for Cat's to get lost or worse drown in the canal. We see so many posters on posts asking if anyone has seen a Cat. As we have cruised up this section of the Grand Union, this poster is on almost every post. This black Cat Shadow was lost in June and the people are desperate for news. It actually breaks my heart to read posters like this. We took the decision when Marmite was 12 weeks old to put her on a harness and lead when she wants to go off of the boat. She is now over 3 years old and knows no difference. Some people have questioned me as to why I keep her on a lead and as I tell them, I do not want to lose her. Last Summer we saw two Cats floating in the canal, they had both drowned. I would hate to be sat waiting and hoping for news of Marmite. A friend recently lost her dog and she was beside herself with worry. Thankfully he did turn up at a stables. We do have friends who have Cats on boats and their Cats wander and then return to the boat, but they can spend hours waiting for their Cat to return before they can move off. Having any animal onboard a boat should be really thought about carefully. We are lucky that our animals have adjusted to their lives onboard and are extremely happy, but this is not the case for all pets.

It is Tuesday and the sun has just come out after what was a dull start. The first thing I heard was the roar of the traffic on the Motorway. It is really quite deafening, when you usually have the peace and quiet of the countryside to yourselves. We left our mooring at 8.50am and were straight away were behind another boat nb Annie Rose. As we pulled out behind them, nb Relaine was then behind us. We thought yippee at last someone to share locks with, but our hopes were dashed when nb Annie Rose pulled over below the Buckby flight to allow us past, they were with nb Relaine and wanted to share with them, so we were on our own yet again. The couples on both boats very kindly helped us with the locks though, so my job was made a little easier. The Buckby Flight Locks can be absolute pigs when they want to be, with heavy gates and stiff paddles. It is a gym workout in one coming up the flight.A Virgin train sped on its way. I am so glad I do not do life in the fast lane these days. What with the trains to our left and the Motorway to our right, it was a noisy old morning. The colours of Autumn are becoming more apparent by the day. We arrived at the top of the Buckby Flight and moored up at 11am having done 1.9 miles and 7 locks. A huge thank you to the crews on Relaine and Annie Rose for their help and chatter.
All tied up, coffee was made whilst Keith emptied one of the toilet cassettes. Then the boat jobs began. We have taken off our terrets for the winter. They have been cleaned and put away with the plume. Keeping the Brass work clean during the Winter is much more time consuming, so it is easier to take some of it off and put it away until the Spring. Lunch time was soon upon us, so we took a break from the jobs to have something to eat and drink. After a little light surfing of the internet, we started on the next round of jobs, which included replacing a water pipe on the generator, tightening a leak on the Calorifier. Neither of these jobs was as simple as they sound, because it meant taking everything out of the engine room to get to the jobs in the first place. At least our mooring has a concrete edge, so great for standing things on. There was lots of groaning and huffing before the jobs were complete, I then bled the skin tank to get any air out of the system, theis entailed me emptying the bed 'ole and climbing into the space with a large screw driver and a lead light. Another job done and dusted. The next job was to move coal around in the hold, which of course meant us both getting covered in coal dust. With deliveries to make at the end of this week, I wanted the coal to be easy to get to. It also gave me the chance to tidy things up once again. So all in all it has been a fantastic day for getting things done. Tomorrow we will be heading on to the Leicester Line and that is home ground for the Winter. We are now settled in for the day now and in front of us is Jayne and Ray on nb No Direction. They were also at the Village at War weekend.

Stoke Bruerne to Anchor Cottage, Buckby Flight.

Hi Friends.

It was a beautiful morning as I stepped off of the boat with Paddy. When we are at Stoke Bruerne, we love to walk up through the woodland. This means Paddy can have a run off of the lead and I can watch him and watch the wildlife. This morning I watched Rabbits playing in the field and a Kestral flying over looking for breakfast. We then walked back down on to the towpath near the tunnel and were greeted by this Orange fencing, which can only mean one thing. Something is a miss.
In this case the Orange fencing was put around a rather large hole which has appeared.It certainly was not there when we came down a couple of months ago. What is worrying is the fact that this hole could easily get much bigger, so I am surprised that nothing is being done about it. A bit of Orange fencing is not going to stop an accident happening. Back on the boat, we prepared for the off and Mog and Dog went to bed. Every now and again they will actually sleep in the same bed. We had a lovely morning cruise, in warm sunshine and so wind. When we arrived at Bugbrooke, I had to giggle at this sign.One of the most common problems when cruising is getting rubbish on the propeller, and today was our day for this to happen. Earlier on we had allowed a hire boat from Rose Narrowboats to pass us. After all they are on their holiday's and we are in no hurry. No sooner we let them by, they got into difficulty in a bridge 'ole and to get out of the problem they speeded the boat up, kicking up water and mud in the bridge 'ole, this did not bode well for us, because as we went through the same bridge 'ole behind them, we picked up something on the prop, which made the boat shake from stern to bow. We could not get into the bank to sort the problem, so limped on to the next bridge, where we finally got in. Keith had to life the weed hatch to find the cause, which was a fleece arghhhhhh. I know we are a throw away society but please do not throw your things in the canal.We arrived at the bottom of the Buckby Flight and there was plenty of water coming over the top of the gates. Luckily for us nb Salamander with Jan and Keith onboard, were waiting to go up the flight, so we joined forces and set off up the locks. Jan found the gates difficult to move, so not only was I doing my gate, I was nipping round and helping her with her's as well, but it is all part of the fun when sharing locks. We were fortunate that there were boats coming down the flight as well, so most of the locks were ready for us to enter. it was our lucky day. We really did enjoy sharing with Jan and Keith and hope we meet up with them again.
Our cruise came to an end above the lock at Anchor Cottage, which houses a shop, selling Canal Ware, Ribbon and Lace Plates and all things boating. It is easy to spend a while browsing through Anchor Cottage Crafts. It also sells Ice Cream, so I treated us both to a Mint Choc Cornetto. The perfect end to the perfect day.
The only draw back to our mooring so far is the fact that the pound is not very big, so we keep listing, with the boats going up and down the locks. I am ever hopeful that no sooner boats stop moving, we will be back on the level, for a much needed nights sleep.