Autumn is taking hold.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my darling husband.

The time has come to light the back cabin stove, having woken up to a chilly back cabin. But before lighting the stove the chimney was cleaned and all the crud was cleaned off of the top plate. I do love it when the stove is lit and the back cabin is warm once again. Marmite has taken her place on the side bed where she is basking in the heat.

With the weather expected to take a chilly turn, I am glad I got the bow painted on one side. It is not perfect, but a blind man would be glad to see it no doubt.

With the fire under control, it was time to get out and stretch our legs, so Keith and I locked the boat up and headed off down the towpath to walk around the village. I do love this porthole lace.

Weedon Bec is such a pretty little village and has some stunning homes, not to mention the fact that it also has two pubs, hair dressers, a chemist, post office, green grocers and small supermarket. It has everything you need in a small village. 

Walk over it was back to the warmth of the boat and some lunch with a coffee. The TV went on to watch the Channel 4 afternoon film. Marmite was still hogging the side bed and Paddy the rag rug in front of the stove, they certainly appreciate the stove being lit, as does Keith and his Rheumatism. 

Just a load of old rubbish.

On Friday both these bins were full and there was no rubbish piled up by the bins, but over the weekend the mountain of rubbish got bigger and bigger and I suspect that not all of it was from boaters. Monday morning and the bins had not been emptied, so I contacted the Canal and River Trust via e-mail with this photograph attached. 

I was told that normally Biffa empty the bins every Monday, but on the previous two occasions they could not remove the rubbish due to blocked access. 

This morning we walked down to the bins to find them empty. I have received e-mails from the Canal and River Trust stating that it has been arranged for this site to go onto ‘automatic recovery mode’ which basically means if the bins haven’t been emptied due to a blocked access etc. on the Monday then Biffa will return every day until a successful service has taken place.

This a great result and it clearly goes to show if you photograph a problem and send it in, something will get done. My thanks to everyone at the Canal and River Trust.

Sunday

A bit of a dull start to Sunday, but the hope was the sun would come out from time to time and it did as if on cue.
After a cooked breakfast, which Keith cooked for us, I was on to the first painting jobs of the day. A second coat of Red gloss went on the bow, galley doors, engine room and back cabin doors. I then did a first coat of Black gloss on the bow, this was then left to dry, whilst I got on with making a Spagetti Bolognaise for dinner. It went in the oven to cook and Keith and I got on with putting the lights back up in the galley having finished the ceiling. I put the hooks back up for the galley utensils and pans, stood back and felt very satisfied with a job well done. It is nice though to have the galley back in one piece. A coffee was not called for after all that hard work. I thought Sunday's were supposed to be relaxing?
After a break we got on with cutting some clear film for the galley portholes. I know your wondering why we need to put film on the porthole glass, well we found out at out last Boat Safety Check that our glass is not up to standard and to cure this we were told, we could put sticky film over the glass and this would cure the boat safety issue. So we set about taking out two of the porthole inserts, drawing around the inserts to make sure we got the film the correct size, I then cut the clear film to fit and then placed the film over the glass. I am a little disappointed because, although the packaging say's it is clear, it does not appear to be so and now we have two portholes which are slightly frosted. But at least we comply with the boat safety now on two portholes. At present we have only done two of the portholes to see how the film gets on. I do not see the point in doing the others until I know it is not going to react to damp, heat etc.
Time for lunch and a sit down with a coffee whilst watching "Capricorn One".
I was being a complete fidget and kept finding jobs to do. I get urges to get jobs done, especially when the sun is shining and I just know things have to be done, so I decided to get on and restore the grout in the bathroom. I had bought a tube of grout restorer, which you smooth on over the old grout, which you have cleaned first, you leave it for 3 to 4 hours and then wash off the excess. I found that tube really difficult to handle, as it took a lot of pressure to push the grout up through the sponge, so ended up putting it on with my fingers, this worked much better. I left the new grout on for 4 hours and then with a freezer scrapper, began scraping off the excess, followed by washing the tiles down with a sponge. Hey presto all shiny and white again. A job well done although I say it myself.
As the afternoon wore into the evening, joy of joys "Dowton Abbey" is back on our TV's, it must be Autumn. I do so love that series and will be glued every week Sunday from now on yayyyy.

Weedon Bec Fete

Plans had been made for the day, but to begin with the usual morning stuff happened. I then got on with some painting on the outside of the boat this time. The Red needed attention on the bow, galley doors, engine room doors and back cabin doors. Nothing to huge, but patches needed rubbing down and repainting. With that job done, it was then lunch time and after that we went off into Weedon Bec.

The sun was out and so were the locals for the Weedon Bec Fete.

Lots of stall selling their wares.

Jenni and Chris Burton of Foscote Crafts were selling their crafts. Chris is a friend on our Hadar Facebook page. It was lovely to put faces to the names and to have a nice chat. We did not want to obstruct buyers so left them to hopefully sell some of their wonderful things.

Keith had bought his archery kit with him to have a go on the archery range. Keith did archery in his early days, but has had little chance to use his bow and arrows.

Unfortunately Keith discovered that their was a split in his bow whilst setting up so ended up using one of the archery clubs bows.

Despite not using his own bow he showed he still has the know how. It was nice to see him enjoying himself. After shooting his 5 arrows for £1, we had a wander around the rest of the fete.

The band played on.

Vintage cars.

Pony and cart rides for £1.

 Keep Fit.

 Taking the weight off.

 Local Judo Club, showing some fine moves.

Being over looked by the Depot.

 After walking around the fete a few times we went to find the antique centres which are on the other side of the canal in the High Street. Helios and Co. where I bought a nice pair of silver plated sugar tongs to go with my Measham sugar bowl.

If we had a house we could have filled it with some wonderful things.

We also visited the The Village Antiques Market.

After a great afternoon, we strolled back to the boat where a pint of Old Speckled Hen was enjoyed whilst sitting out on the towpath. The perfect end to a wonderful day. It is now just past 7pm and we are watching Wyatt Earp on Channel 5. It is a monster of a film and does not finish till 10pm, which is when I know I will be ready for my bed. 

Weedon Bec

After lunch we took ourselves off down the towpath, found a hole in the hedge which lead us down some steps.

At the bottom of the steps we discovered for the first time some boaters bins to disgard any rubbish which is handy. We walked under the canal and took a right along the Nene Way footpath, which took us to the cSt Peter and St Paul church. 

The church I think is incredibly pretty, it has a Norman tower and is hemmed in and overlooked from both the Grand Union Canal embankment and the West Coast Main Line viaduct. The main part of the church was built in around 1825, with the chancel being built in 1863. Hopefully I may get to look inside over the weekend.

We walked under the railway bridge and into the heart of a very pretty little village with some old properties. Our aim was to find the village hall and playing field which is where the fete is being held.

We found the village hall and grounds which are bare right now but tomorrow that will all change.

It was then back into the village.

Near to the canal is the former Napoleonic War era Military Ordnance Depot.  There are eight original storehouses arranged in two lines on each side of a branch of the canal which once was connected to the Grand Union Canal located a short distance away.  The connection to the canal has long since been filled in and in fact a new housing estate has been built since our last visit, where the barracks used to be.

The Grand Junction Canal reached the village of Weedon in 1796. With the Napoleonic wars in Europe, this  encouraged the English government to set up a military supply depot, but it was decided to set it up well away from the coast so there was no risk of Napoleon getting his hands on its contents. 

The branch of the canal entered the Depot under a portcullis at its eastern end. It was set in a building known as the East Lodge integrated in a high brick perimeter wall. When the railway was built, it too had a branch into the depot. 

There were also a Barracks in the village, holding a standing battalion, plus a troop of cavalry and a troop of horse artillery. The main part of the barracks was demolished in the 1950's. It is nice to see that the depot is still in use for storage and light industry. It is a shame that the public cannot walk through to see the canal and the buildings though.

The Plume of Feathers is looking for a new owner.

It was lovely to walk through the village again and to see only a few changes. On walking back to the boat, we met up with Sharon and Lew on NB Midsummer and Jacquie and Stein on NB Like Ducks 2 Water. We stood and had a lovely natter with them all. The last time we saw Jacquie and Stein was in Braunston last Christmas, when they were new to the canals. They are still loving every minute of their time on the water.

Back on the boat, it was time for a coffee and a chance to put my feet up whilst browsing the blogs. 

Bridge 18 to Weedon Bec.

Travelled 2.3 miles in a time of 1 hour 10 minutes.

After lunch yesterday, we walked up to the Heart of the Shires shopping village to see if there was anything new. They do have a new Antique Centre, which we enjoyed a nice wander around. There is everything from Kitchen Ware to Children's Wear and bits in between. I am sure there used to be a butcher there, but he seems to have gone. After a nice stroll in and out of the shops, we wandered back to the boat. During the afternoon as we were watching a DVD, NB Idunno with Gill, Don and Biscuit pulled alongside for a chat. We had not seen them since last Winter, so it was lovely to catch up on all their news and adventures. We will see them later in the year on the Leicester Line.

We left our over night mooring at 8.50am. For an over night mooring and to visit the Heart of the Shires it was fine, but if you not a lover of road and railway noise then staying longer may drive you mad. I tend to ignore those sorts of issues after a while, so slept pretty well, Keith disturbed my sleep with his moaning his sleep. He is suffering from Rheumatism in his shoulders at the moment, this has been going on for most of this year due to the weather and will not get any better as the year descends in to Autumn and Winter.

Fallen leaves are already gathering on the surface of the water.

One very sacred looking teddy bear on the bow of Dee.

We passed by George and Mary looking splendid in the morning sunshine and had a quick chat with Tim, who we will see again at The Village at War Weekend because they are bring George down to it.

Loved this sign.

We arrived at Weedon Bec and found a suitable mooring, which will do us nicely for the weekend.

It looks like we will have some entertainment to go to tomorrow as the village is holding its fete. I have paint jobs to complete over the weekend and other jobs I would like to get done, so we will see just how much I achieve.

Top of Buckby Locks to Muscott Mill bridge No.18, near the Heart of the Shires shopping centre

Last night we had a wonderful sunset.

Travelled 1.9 miles, worked 7 locks in a time of 2 hours.

A bright and sunny start to what was a chilly morning. It will not be long before we will be lighting the stove. Autumn is beginning to put in an appearance.
Before working down the Buckby locks we topped the water tank up. There was  hire boat Oak already filling their tank on the water point, so I asked the people on board if they would like to share the locks, to which they were more than happy to accept the invitation. On the lock gate it does still ask that you wait for up to an hour to share the locks. A boat had gone down on its own and they did not wait the hour. Water tank full, we set off with NB Oak and its crew.

There was a pair of boats following on behind us.

There was plenty of water.

It may have been my imagination, but the paddle gear seemed much easier to work this time. We had a great system working with the crew of NB Oak and it was not long before we were at the bottom lock. They stopped for a much needed pump out, so we said "goodbye" and thanked them for their company and help.

The plan was to moor at Muscott Mill bridge No.18, near the Heart of the Shires shopping centre if there was room and it was empty so we pulled in. We have the roar of the motorway and the trains but that will not bother us much for one night. Marmite and Paddy were soon out of the boat enjoying the warm sunshine. Time for a coffee and lunch then we will go for a wander I think.