Of Cancer, Chemo and Cruising

[TeeELL]

What ho peeps,

this may be a fairly short report – we shall see. But I will cover both yesterday (1st) and today (2nd Oct). The NHS did a rapid chemo on me yesterday with the whole rigmarole taking slightly less than 4 hours and no delays between each bit of treatment (I have been known to be stuck in the ward for 9 hours!!). As a result Mo and I where ready to return to the boat in good time. We had a lift into Carterton to catch the bus into Oxford. We caught the X1 intergalactic high-speed transport module or double decker bus to you and me. It takes about 35 – 40 mins to get into the centre of Oxford so we broke out the reading material and settled back (thrown back more like as the module cleared to hyperspace) I had read very little of my book when I looked up to see that we were crossing Dukes Cut!! (I have an uncanny ability to know when I’m in the vicinity of a canal). We were in the centre of Oxford in an astonishing 25 mins, the walk to the boat mooring nearly took as long. We boarded ‘ELEMIAH’ at 5PM and set off to join ‘MILLY-M’. How I wish I had bothered looking at the Nicholson, we set off at half 5 and not long after passed the moorings without realising it!! We continued for another 200 yards before I thought to check the map so started reversing at which point MILLY-M appeared behind us. Thus we both reversed to the mooring with Maffi having the advantage with his bow thrusters.

We arranged to meet and eat at the Anchor Pub about 50 yards east of the canal. Whilst a pretty uninspiring ‘town’ pub from the outside it proved to be much better inside and the menu quite remarkable. We all 3 finally chose the Rump steak – a delicious choice and followed it with various puddings. Unfortunately Bones was away oop north and unable to join us.

 

Thur 2nd Oct. We said our farewells to Maffi and departed the mooring at 09.15. Neil Dudman was en-route and we determined that meeting him at Wolvercote lock would be ideal. With all the moored Article 21 boats I was expecting a slow journey but we took only 40 mins to get there. We had just entered the lock when Neil arrived. We encountered a new bridge adjacent to the A34 – a hydraulic lift bridge which used a hydraulic jack at each corner each gripping a steel cable and lifting the bridge about a foot at a time (Neil was fascinated by the arrangement as he was into that sort of thing in a past career). What is more, the manual lift bridge just north of the A34 bridge was operated by one of the site workers. As we passed beyond Kidlington Green lock I pointed out the mooring to use opposite the ‘Sheriff of Kidlington’s’ house (see Maffi’s Blog for details). We then stopped for water at Langford Lane bridge and Mo when to the worlds smallest Co-op for some essentials. Neil and I determined that his best place to abandon ship to get a taxi back to his car was ‘Rock of Gibraltar’ pub some 3 miles, 2 locks and one lift bridge further on. We dallied a while at the water point until Mo returned then set off arriving at Shipton weir lock at 13.45. This is a lozenge shaped lock and the boat already in invited us the join them, I ended up leaving the lock before him so, when we arrived at Bakers lock we set it for them to go first.

We set Neil down at RoG at 14.35 with an invite for him and his family to come and join us over the weekend. Just around the corner is KG marina so, with a little less than ¼ tank of fuel remaining we moored for a fill up of diesel. The price – 80p. I guessed that the tank would take 100-105 litres and it took 103, so that gives me a little more confidence in the fuel capacity of the tank. It was 20 past 3 before we moved off as the marina chap had not been on site.

Post chemo, I am unable to sleep the first night due to the steroids I have to take to counter the ‘poison’ last night was no exception, and the lack of sleep plus the steroids wearing off meant I was starting the feel very tired. We decided to moor for the night before I started making errors due to fatigue, so we found a bit of accessible pilling (saves bashing the pins in – idle boating) between North brook and Dashwood lock (a couple of miles south of Heyford wharf).

So much for a short report! We will have to put in a few longish days if we want to get back to schedule (ie Alvechurch for the next chemo session). So, from the crew of ‘ELEMIAH’ good night ‘till the next time.

 

PS Sorry Neil for spilling your beer again. Mo hasn't written her cruise diary for today but, when she has I'll copy the stuff about swinging and pampas grass!!!!!!

[TeeELL]

Hello dear reader, herewith my report for Fri 3 Oct.

After yet another sleepless night due to a different side effect of chemo, we faced a cold morning (and indeed a cold day) that too is problematic as a major side effect of my chemo is neurological – tingling of extremities in the cold to the point where my fingers, in particular, cannot function. Oh well, thank goodness for thinsulate gloves and double layer silk inner gloves.

Anyway, we finally started off at 09.45, a bit later than planned, and started our headlong rush towards Napton Jn. Now, we thought we had left6 the parakeets back on the Thames but Mo had an unconfirmed possible sighting of a pair of these birds at Dashwood lock – perhaps they are spreading north ‘The birds, the birds’!! We then had to stop just north of lower Heyford to clear the prop – a substantial amount of bundled and shredded plasic. It took over 30 mins to clear but we went on our way. I’ll not list the timings of arrival at the various locks as, to be honest, we were simply pressing north and suffering the cold.

We were aware that there was an event in Banbury and thus mooring would be difficult, that said, we had no plans to stop other than the sanitation station. We arrived in Banbury at 16.45 and whilst I did the business at the sanitation station Mo nipped off to town to yet some cash out (I’d had to pay cash for the diesel yesterday). She returned just as the water tank filled. At 17.10 we proceeded on our way and passed boats lining both sides of the canal through the town. With the temperature dropping we started looking for somewhere to moor for the night we ended up near bridge 157, sufficiently far from the railway to be quiet for the night.

We may be meeting Yoda tomorrow evening, although there was a bit of a mismatch in timings for our arrival at Napton he Sunday and me Saturday!! The major trouble we have on the boat is keeping track of time so it surprisingly easy for 24 hours to be missed. Truth is, that to achieve our arrival at Alvechurch via the planned rout we have to be at Napton tomorrow evening.

Anyway, that’s all for tonight – I must now see it there is enough signal in the air to send this to the forum!

[Neildudman]

Glad your getting on ok!........ its has been bloody cold today in that wind!.

[Sue1946]

I really missed my gloves at the bus stop today (already got my 1st winter coat out before it has been to the cleaners).

Those parakeets? I rem seeing them alongside the Thames near Hampton Court nearly 30 years ago. (My junior yrs!). I think David (Attenborough) told me that they had escaped from London Zoo a long time ago. Makes me wonder how long our 'milder' winters have really been occurring, as they have been feature on TV wildlife progs for a while.

I was so sorry to see you had a poor reaction to the chemo again, but on the other hand, was good to know you were able to receive it. I'm well able to drive to Napton - well I did it in the Easter snow!- so, as my boys played away tonight AND WON! are you able to send a road kinda type description for your moorings during the coming weekend?

OK, the weekend is now here! It took me that long to find all the right keys here!!

Sue

[Nightwatch]

I have been following your entries and find them really interesting. We plan to set off from Clattercote Wharf, north of Cropredy at about midday Saturday. tomorrow, we are due in Braunston early Monday for dry docking. Might see you.

Good luck for you know what, You have to guess the name of our boat, not too difficult. A boring all green boat. Sorry wrong thread. Martyn

[Bones]

Gosh!

You ARE making good progress!!!! We are hoping to meet up wtih BigJohn on Epiphany at Cropredy on sunday and hoped we might see you too! Have a good trip!

[Neildudman]

Narrowboat Reported Missing!

 

...... no contact for two days...... have they sunk?....... emergrated as the thought of another night with Bones and Maffi was on the cards........ Bermuda Triange has moved to Oxfordshire........

 

Anyone called 999?

 

Anyone?

[TeeELL]

OK everyone, standby!! Just to let you know the lack of posts are due to: a Yoda visiting and b a total lack of any 'bars' \on my phone last night. For those of you who hoped to communicate over the weekend - sorry. Anyway, here are my reports for Sat and Sun, I'll post todays report later, once I've written it.

 

 

Make yourself comfortable for a masterpiece of manuscript (or whatever the electronic version is!). Sat 4 Oct and we set off on today’s adventure at 09.20 and straight in to Slat Mill lock. A short while later we arrived a Cropredy and planned to stop for a visit to the village shop. As we ticked through we passed ‘EPIPHANY’ and I did a quick BCF/Canal Forum sticker check to ensure it was the right boat. Having moored Mo went off to the shop and I nipped back to ‘EPIPHANY’ to see if any one was aboard. Some of you may know that I make Boaters Accessory belts and ‘EPIPHANY’ had ordered 2 a year or so ago, unfortunately the radio holsters I had made did not quite suit their radios. I had collected the holsters for modification at Moley’s birthday bash but chemo makes it difficult for me to do anything percussive. By chance I had bought the holsters back to the boat this time and with a change of radio I was able to make a small modification and return them to John! ‘ALNWICK’, if I recall correctly, was moored adjacent to ‘EPIPHANY’ although I did not establish it is the Forum boat. Mo was most disappointed with the village shop (can’t imagine it even begins to cope when the annual music festival happens!!)

We had to wait at Varney’s lock whilst a restored tug and butty negotiated the lock – the wind was giving the tug driver serious difficulties – the pair was en-route to Banbury for the Canal Festival. Shortly after Gilkingtons lock we passed ‘ORPHEUS’ which is the boat featured in Sep Waterways World (I think) – read it whilst in hospital last week. Fenny Compton ‘tunnel’ must have been a real bind for working boats being insufficiently wide enough for boats to pass. We heard from Yoda to say he was on his way to visit. We arrived at Napton top lock at 16.40 and Yoda was at lock 11 so he walked up the flight. I have to say that the wind was really wild and was cutting through our clothing – I had even succumbed to putting the batteries in the thermal gloves although even that was fighting a loosing battle.

Yoda joined us at lock 14 after an epic 4 hour/200 miles drive!! We worked our way down to the pub at Napton br 111 (The Bridge Inn) which Yoda wanted to get to for opening time!! Sorry Yoda, it took us the best part of an hour to get down and moor – a BIG thank you to the boats who had spaced themselves out along the pilling your ‘consideration’ denied access and secure mooring for two additional boats. We moored up and it was quite insecure with the canal water lapping over the towpath. We had a superb meal and Yoda was excellent company – quite daft driving such a long distance mind!! We returned to the boat and, whilst Mo went to bed, Yoda and I talked of ‘cabbages and Kings’ - well aviation and other stuff, until I flagged. So apologies Yoda, I know you could have chatted all night but I regret that my ‘poison’ tends to wipe me out 2 days after treatment.

Yesterday just before the locks the engine/gearbox note changed and Yoda suggested a possible bearing issue, we did some investigation this morning (Sun 5th) and it seems our drive alignment isn’t!! So we have a bit of a problem, so our plans are going to have to change and I’m certainly not taking ‘ELEMIAH’ on the Avon or the Severn if we had a potential failure brewing.

Sorry for the delay in posting this but Yoda was so insistent on going for a beer or 4 that he wouldn’t have appreciated me spending an hour ‘hunting and pecking’ this report last night!!

 

 

What a foul night, the wind had lessened but the rain was torrential, Yoda was up long before us – unfortunately for him he had slept in the lounge with the ‘Morso Squirrel’ so had been toasty in the extreme. Mo produced breakfast before we went and investigated the ‘ingin bay. As mentioned Yoda considered there to be some alignment issues and the ‘long cruise’ had bought them to the fore. It rather looks as though I’m going to have to find a marine engineer who can do what the initial engine installers failed to do, and get everything lined up properly. In the mean time we will treat the drive train gently, change our plans a bit and curtail the cruise. Nonetheless, we are going to do the Leicester arm and visit Foxton – just gently.

Yoda left us at about 11.00 as the rain subsided a bit and we did ‘not a lot’ for a few hours. In the end we decided to cruise for an hour to find more secure moorings and give the batteries a bit of a top up. My, what a lot of boats – we had been passed by a fair few during the morning – some of them even slowed down, but most were out for the ‘pull the mooring pins out’ award. We set off at 14.20 and it must have been narrowboat rush hour, we had boats behind and in front and a steady procession of boats passing in the opposite direction. We went straight ahead at napton Junction and at half 3 encountered a long run of pilling on a straight bit of canal and moored up. That dear reader is the sum of our efforts for today Sun 5th Oct. Tomorrow we push on for Foxton but ultimately we will return to Longwood early – really disappointing but we need a bit of engineering and that is that!! Just hope I can find someone with a good reputation (and ability) to put right, that which is wrong. ‘Till tomorrow….

[TeeELL]

Hi folks, things are a bit higgledy-piggledy at the moment, as I’ve only just posted Saturday and Sunday’s reports. So here goes with today’s: Mon 6 Oct. We woke to find the world was much improved from yesterday morning; there was frost on the ground and a clear bright sky. The frost is bad news for me but the temperature improved through the day as the cloud cover increased. We left the mooring at 09.05 and I now engage the gears with trepidation, expecting a cataclysmic failure at any moment!! Nevertheless, things have hung together and we have progressed without problems. We stopped a working boat and bought some Loo Blue (cheaper than Midland Chandlers) our first purchase from such a supplier.

We arrived in Braunston at 10.15 and moored to visit the village. It was 12.30 when we continued on our way. As we passed the marina just on the right before the locks, I was hailed by a moored boat asking if we were locking up – on receiving the affirmative they asked if they could join us. Thus we did the 6 locks with another boat making the event much easier – heck, after the second lock Mo took over the driving and, with Julie driving the other boat we had the ‘Ladies narrowboat formation team’ – and a very good job of it they did too. Ian and I worked the boats up and helped a couple of boats going down – one, a trad ‘working boat’, did not even have the courtesy to thank Ian for helping with the gates. Just how much effort does it take to say ‘thank you’? We decided to stop at ‘The New Inn’ and join Julie and Ian but we had a ‘doh!’ moment!! We hadn’t transferred navigating to Nicholson book 3 and the Napton Jn page of book 2 doesn’t mention the Pub, we happily cruised on up the Leicester Arm trying to find the pub. Then we swapped books. With our change of plan (ie not ‘doing’ the Avon and Severn due to the possible transmission problem) we can finish when we like so, when we found a suitable mooring point we called it quits and tied up at 4PM.

We are now trawling through our DVD’s to see if there is one we have yet to watch. We plan to ‘do’ the Market Harborough arm at some stage in the next couple or 3 days, my parents lived in the area many years ago but I never visited it. (I seem to recall there is a Tesco in town!!!) That is it for today, once again we apologise for being behind the ball these past couple of days but, with no signal, getting on-line is therefore not an option. I suspect we might encounter similar situations in the Northamptonshire countryside over the next few days.

 

Sounds like the rain might be arriving and, if it is going to be dreadful we will stay where we are (nearly abeam the Watford Gap - but far enough away for the traffic to be fairly quiet)

[Yoda]

Well, I really enjoyed the visit and the apple cake was great. Took me three and a half hours to get back in driving rain and flooded roads. Cars were going everywhere on the A14 and some were driving at 100 mph in the Audi's and BMWs, real Darwiniums.

 

Tony the answers are on the Python drive thread in the Equipment section. You will be surprised, I was.

[TeeELL]

What ho dear reader, I hope that out here in the wilderness of Northamptonshire I can find a signal to upload this report. Tue 7 Oct 2008 and first thing this morning a fair few boats passed us (including the boat who’s crew we were supposed to meet at the New Inn). We finally got our act together and cast off just before 10. Our progress to the Watford flight was uneventful (mind you I was surprised to find that the canal made a boundary to the lorry park on the western side of the Watford Gap services). There was a boat ahead of us at Watford and another joining behind so we went off to find the lockie and book our passage through. With no boats coming down we were cleared to proceed up the flight and we entered at 10.30. As we reached the ‘staircase’ a boat finally arrived to descend and they waited in the pound below the top lock for the flotilla to work up. Another boat had, by then, arrived ready to descend and the crew seemed most put out that they would have to wait – to the point of not even acknowledging a ‘Good morning’. Some people!! (We exited the flight at 11.10 having had a very interesting chat with the lockie and his wife). Forgot to mention that we had to use the sanitation point from the lock as a boat had made the point ‘home’ tied to the bollards fore and aft, TV aerial up.

At 11.40 we entered Crick tunnel taking some 20 mins to transit through, then out and past the Crick showground area (there is a boat moored not far from the eastern portal of the tunnel that appears to have been abandoned – covered in green from the damp of the overhanging trees – couldn’t help but wonder the circumstances as the boat is otherwise in relatively good condition. Did the owner come to Crick and something happen to him/her/them and the boat is now ownerless?) We stopped for water at Yelvertoft, moved up to the 14 day moorings and walked into the village for lunch at the pub. It was OK – the chips excellent – but I’ve had better pub meals for the price; nevertheless the experience was all right and the pub generally cosy and welcoming. The landlady came over and chatted – she had lived on a narrowboat for 5 years. We think she wanted to talk to someone other than the regulars.

We left Yelvertoft at 14.40 (we had determined that this was not the pub where we had kept beating the local dart team 30 years ago) and cruised through the local countryside with the threat of rain. We think we saw a single Pochard duck, a Merlin, a single Kingfisher so our list of ornithological sightings is increasing. At about 4 we decided it was time to consider mooring – but the sun broke cover and blue sky appeared – so we pressed on for another hour and a half. We have our ‘ideal’ criteria for mooring (usually identified by a row of boats with the same!!): pilling – for idle mooring ‘cos the mallet is too heavy, straight bank, wide cut, 3 notches on the phone, we found it at about half five and, if you are reading this today, we even found the required 3 notches! We were, quite literally, battening down the hatches as the heavens opened.

That is today’s report – the transmission seems to be hanging together but I’m forever having to ease into reverse to clear the leaves off the prop. We may get an assessment on the transmission at a boat yard in the next couple of days as we feel a bit cheated at not being able to complete our revised plan. Going to try and transmit this now, so good night from me and good night from her.

[TeeELL]

8 Oct 08. Watcher! a brief report because we are off to the pub in a minute. Our intention to start off early came to naught as ever!! We moved off at half nine reaching Husbands Bosworth tunnel just less than an hour later and taking just 20 mins to pass through. We passed a couple of hire boats meandering along and reached the top of Foxton flight at 12.30. We were fortunate that we were the last boat to descend before the waiting boats at the bottom of the flight started coming up, nevertheless it was 14.20 before we exited the flight!! Rather different to the 35 mins I have done it in.

We moored and went to Bridge 61 pub for a beer before continuing on our way at half three. Having been on a narrow canal it was a bit of a shock to see a SLUg moored along the Market Harborough arm. I had to advise a share boat crew that their prop was fouled as they were kicking up huge prop wash and on tick over I was catching up. After explaining how to clear it and what to watch for they managed to keep up with us. We enjoyed the Harborough Arm and moored at 17.30 – mind you the use of the visitor moorings in the basin is not clear.

Tomorrow we will top up our beer store etc and return to Foxton. When we get to the top we will moor and become gongoozlers, visit the inclined plane and catch up with the owner of Foxton Boat Co. Off to the pub now so good night until tomorrow.

 

 

Dispite having 4 notches and a G my attempts to connect before going to the pub were unsuccessfull - it is now tomorrow and I've finally achieved connection. A final point on tjhe KISS principle: left the boat with a strange sound coming from the electrics - still there on return!! Dismantled engine bay to trace fault, then realised we had inadvertantley selected the bilge pump on ...... Doh!!! Still, had a great evening with a couple from another boat - guinness still rules OK - but will I still be saying that in the morning??

[TeeELL]

This is a combined report covering 9/10 Oct and, if I don’t find a suitable signal, it may also turn into 9/10/11!! Well trusty reader the 9th was a very slow day, we had to pop to the local hospital in Mkt Harboro to beg some syringes and needles to flush my chemo line through. That done we continued our walk into town in order to provision the boat for our return through the Northamptonshire countryside. We turned our backs on Tesco express and hit the Sainsbury store instead. With a full shopping trolly we thought it might be a good idea to take a look at the shopping list!! Of course, the essentials: ale, Guinness and wine were prioritised. Had to book a taxi back to Union basin!

With the A/C failed we decided to take advantage of the late afternoon sunshine (having polished the left hand side of the boat) charge the batteries and return to Foxton in order to be ready for an ascent first thing in the morning. Spent the evening in Bridge 61 Pub and reminisced with Tony (owner of Foxton Boat Services) from whom Mo and I had hired ‘RICHMOND TOO’. We reminded him that Mo was the ‘model’ featured on the ‘RICHMOND TOO’ brochures in ’79 and the early 80’s.

 

10 Oct, an early - start we were on the move to the lock moorings at 07.45. Planned to start the ascent at lock opening but it was 8.15 before I found the lockie and so we started the flight at 08.30 with a clear run through. We reached the top 50 mins later with Mo having done the driving with several photo’s taken (although none matching those of 30 years ago). We filled up with water at the top of the locks and moored up about 400 yds from the top of the locks. This allowed us to polish the other side of the boat. Having finished we decided to visit the inclined plane and museum and then do some gongoozlering of others working through the locks.

We moved off at 13.20 planning to ‘do’ the Welford arm. We reached the Husbands Bosworth tunnel at 15.00 and stopped at Kilworth Marina at 15.30 for diesel, half an hour later we continued on our way. Before I go any further I think there is something that needs to be promoted on the Forum for some form of action (might already be known but I don’t have the luxury of a broadband connection to scour the forum). We have refuelled about 8 times so far and several of the boat yards have said that they may cease trading in diesel due to the ill-conceived approach to next month’s changes – and second hand info: others have implied that they will charge whatever the hi-rate cost will be and not get involved in the split cost faf. Peeps, we may well find that diesel will be difficult to obtain canal side.

We turned up the quiet and peaceful Welford arm at 16.15. Well it is quiet and peaceful until Welford lock and the marina just beyond – then it is the usual dog-eat-dog fight to find a mooring with the usual ‘long term moorers’ on the ‘main line’. It is amazing, blooming great marina, tiny basin but visitors moorings are still the poor relations. We snuck into a slot at the furthest end of the arm just up from the pub. Thus dear reader ends another day. We are going to have to get to Leamington/Warwick for Mon as I’ve got to rent a car and return to home for another dose of chemo. Anyone around for Hatton flight next week?

 

Note for POST CODE. Very sorry, received your PM but couldn’t reply to it for some reason – not a connection issue but a problem with the forum (I think) when I’m running the laptop on t’internet with ‘pictures’ turned off.

[cheshire~rose]

Well I never!

 

I was lucky enough to be invited to lunch with Allan (Keeping up) today and the chosen venue was Edwards at Crick. (about half way between where our homes are and they do damned good food!)

 

We had a wonderful meal, pan fried scallops to start followed by a wonderful Halibut dish with spinach and sweet potato scone then a lemon posset dessert with a big coconut cookie. Yum Yum!

 

Anyway you might be wondering what on earth any of this has to do with this thread? ........

 

There we were drinking our coffee, enjoying good conversation and watching the canal based activities outside the window in the sunshine. A number of boats had passed by during the meal. I spotted an attractive looking vessel come into view and read the name of it......... Elemiah..... E l e m i a h..........I know a boat with that name........... Elemiah! ......... Its Tony I shout as I grab my handbag and dash out yelling to him!

 

After a nifty little reversing manouvre they came and joined us for a coffee to sober themselves up before tackling Watford locks. I had really not even thought that they might be anywhere in the vicinty of Crick today (even though I have been following the thread ........ honest Tony I have! )

 

It certainly is a very small world but it was fantastic to find the micro banter Allan and I were enjoying suddenly expand to include a couple more forum members!

 

One thing about this forum is that no matter where you are in the country you are not very far away from a friendly forum member!

[TeeELL]

What ho folks, I offer you my report for your entertainment. Saturday 11 Oct and yet another clear and bright day, sufficient wind to make the day cooler than yesterday. Our plan: to make it through Watford flight as we have friends visiting tomorrow and we need to make it to a pub. If you look at the canal map from Napton Jn to Long Itchington you will see that there is a long stretch with no pubs.

We managed to set off at 10.10 having first walked up to the start of Welford village. I hadn’t realised, as we cast off, that another boat had starting moving off from one of the wharf moorings (don’t think he was overly pleased – but I didn’t do it intentionally). Had to go at tick over out of the arm, almost to the lock, due to the number of moored boats on both sides of the canal. We arrived at Welford Jn at 11.00.

Once back on the GU I was surprised to see very few boats passing us in the other direction – a couple of hire boats and that was it. At 14.50 we were passing ‘Edwards of Crick’ when I heard my name being called out – lo and behold, it was Cheshire Rose. We reversed back to the Pub and moored up whereupon we also met Allen ‘Keeping Up’. We had a coffee and a chat but with the closing time for the Watford flight approaching we had to bid our farewells. We moved off at half three arriving at the top of the Watford flight at 16.20 and joined a short queue of 3 boats and was the last boat to descend before lock closure. We started down at 16.55 and completed our descent at 17.40. We moored for the night near bridge 5.

Thus we completed our days cruising, achieving our aim for the day and meeting 2 forum members en-route and made a mini banter twice as big. Bit of a hard morning’s cruising tomorrow to make it to our lunchtime stop. Hopefully we have a good signal and I will be able to submit this report this evening. Bye for now.

 

I see CR posted before me – great to see you again. We would have talked to Allen but CR kept us entertained !!

[TeeELL]

Hello dear reader, so you are still a glutton for my literary punishment!! I suspect this will be a fairly short report.

So Sun 12 Oct 2008 – yet another dry, bright day with just a hint of mist. We planned to meet friends for lunch at The Blue Lias Inn at the bottom of Stockton locks. As a consequence we set off at 08.15 arriving at Norton Jn at 08.45 but as an indication of things to come we encountered an increasing number boats out and about. We reached Braunston locks an hour later and worked the first 2 locks alone but a boat at the third lock waited for us so we completed the flight together. We stopped at the bottom of the locks for 25 mins to visit the chandlers. As we approached Braunston Jn the fun began, boats were leaving the marina; others were negotiating the junction and one, just to add to the melee, moved off the Midland Chandlers mooring on the Jn causing havoc amongst the hire boats!! Thus we joined a convoy of boats heading south west to Napton Jn.

With time pressing we could do nothing, a significant number of boats were moored all along the canal out of Braunston thus bringing progress to nearly a standstill. It took us just less than 3 hours to travel the 6 miles. We finally moored near the Napton bridge Inn at 2PM. After lunch our friends drove to Calcutt locks and we cruised round to meet them and take them through the flight. Fortunately we arrived at the flight to find another boat preparing the locks so we were able to descend as a pair, not a slick descent because a hire boat was descending ahead of us with no ascending traffic. We exited the bottom lock at 5.30PM and I might add, mid October, late afternoon and we were still in T-shirts! Worryingly, we still have a significant distance to travel to Leamington Spa but, more importantly, a lorra lorra locks. So it looks like another early start tomorrow. We pressed on until 6PM and found a suitable ‘idle boaters’ mooring beyond Br 19.

If anyone is in the Stockton locks area first thing – we can do steaming mugs of tea etc in exchange for locking assistance. I’m hoping there might be another boat to share with, there are certainly a fair few boats moored around pointing in the right direction. Anyway – it’s an early night and a hard day tomorrow.

 

Good night – ‘till tomorrow.

 

Finally got to post this this aftyernoon (Mon 13th) I had my mobile up on the TV aerial last night trying to get a signal to no avail.

 

I've had a thought - we have been out for 6 weeks, with 2 to go; I thought I would post a 'competition' to see who could come up with the closest number of miles and number of locks we will have completed. I'll put it on the General Boating.

[TeeELL]

Hya, I'll try to complete yesterdays report this evening. If anyone is thinking about having a go at the 'competition' (in General Boating) then to help you a little, we plan to go to Alvechurch to visit friends after which we will be returning to our moorings. The moorings are almost immediately above the top lock of the Rushall flight on the Rushall canal. For CanalplanAC Longwood Junction is spot on!! Once we start the journey back from Alvechurch the competition will close - you will have to guess the return route - the only clue I may provide is the number of days we will be cruising.

[TeeELL]

Hi peeps, finally caught up with myself! Herewith my log for Mon 13th Oct: having looked at the Nicholson I figured that we had a fairly hard day ahead of us as we had to make Leamington Spa before the hire car company closed. As a result we actually set off at 07.40 arriving at Stockton Top lock half an hour later. We worked through the first 8 locks, alone, in an hour but it took us another half an hour to complete the remaining 2 locks in the flight!! No rest for the wicked, just over half an hour after leaving Stockton bottom we arrived at Bascote locks and took 35 mins to work through them. At midday, having determined that we were ahead of schedule we stopped at Fosse wharf for water moving off 25 mins later. By 13.15 we had exited the last lock before Leamington and we moored at 14.00. OK, so we could have had a later start but, unlike Sunday, we had a clear run with very few boats either out and about or moored and we couldn’t afford to be late for the hire car as I had to be at Swindon hospital by 11 AM the following morning.

We walked to the station to find the hire car company and get the paperwork sorted out and then went for a wander around the town. We finally collected the car at 5.30PM, found the supermarket car park near the boat and loaded the washing etc for the return to home. I had my blood test today (tue) and all is good for tomorrow’s chemo. We have a few locks to do on thur to include Hatton (I hope we encounter another boat as last time we did the flight on our own) I think one of the reason Hatton is such a challenge is that – even when lock wheeling – you have to keep crossing the old narrow locks plus, of course, the gates that insist on opening the moment you turn your back on them!

 

If anyone is at a loose end thur, and in the Warwick area then please feel free to come and help us scale Hatton etc - tea, beer etc available.

[Yoda]

I really wish I could make Warwick, if I can i will.

[Neildudman]

Me too!

[Postcode]

And me.

[cheshire~rose]

I can't

 

Perhaps I should send YSL along there anyway!

[TeeELL]

Wow, thanks everyone - I have repled to NDs text and Postcodes PM. I'll now cut and paste my report for today:

 

 

Good evening dear reader, this should be a one-sentence report but I will string it out a bit (sorry!!!). For the third fortnight running my bloods have been OK and I have therefore had my chemo – the penultimate dose – yippee! However, today I found out why they give me the various pills to take prior to the session, but I’ll not go into details all I will say is – it was a salutary lesson and one that I will not repeat.

We returned to the boat at about 4.30 having taken a age to drive through Warwick and Leamington (it seemed so much quicker and easier when we left on Mon). With batteries below the value needed to keep the inverter running we decided that moving on for about 45 mins would give us the start of a battery charge and get us a bit nearer Hatton flight – if we got it right we would also be near a Tesco. We left Leamington Spa at 17.10 and moored by bridge 43 some 40 mins later (I guess we coasted along at about 1 mph).

Mo has disappeared off to Tesco to buy some beer as Neil is visiting tomorrow (we think/hope) and I have a tendency to knock HIS beer over. I daresay she will come back with a vast stock of supplies that Neil will be expected to help us consume. I am feeling rather unwell after today so have stayed behind on the boat doing this report. I think that is all for now – once again BT anywhere broadband has failed to deliver; we are theoretically moored outside a house marked as being part of the BT Fon community. All in all, we are presently unimpressed by the ‘vast broadband community and availability’ that BT Fon is supposed to deliver.

 

I suspect we may take it steady and not press on too far, I don't know if we will attempt to tackle Lapworth flight. What might be an idea is for us to go on to Kingswood and that would provide easy transport (rail link) for our helpers to return to their cars.

[AlanJ]

If I could, I would - but I can't (live too far away and W@rk gets in the way as well)

Been following your journey with interest - sounds like you've had a good time.

[TeeELL]

AlanJ we have had a really wonderful time, it has been great to be able to take our time (not withstanding the need to return to Swindon at all too regular intervals!) and simply enjoy the boating, the country side, the towns/cities and meeting other like minded folk - perhaps, even more importantly it has proved our relationship, after all if you can go 6 weeks with another person in such confined space without raised voice or argument it has to be right. We have even enjoyed helping hire/share boats resolve their problems and making their holiday experience that little bit more rewarding. We are already planning next years major cruise and without the hospital appointments we will be able to visit the villages, museums etc that are within walking/cycling distance.

 

On to my report:

 

Hi all, a good days travelling today but most importantly a BIG, BIG thank you to Post Code and Neil Dudman who appeared at the bottom of Hatton. But we have to get there first!!

We left our mooring at 09.30 due to unforeseen circumstances (Mo had forgotten some essentials from TESCO and, apart from those essentials, returned with croissant which we had to consume before setting off). Despite our late start we made good time, reaching Cape locks at 09.55 and Hatton bottom lock at 10.30 – precisely the revised time I had passed to PC and ND. So, not only had we picked up our 2 lock ‘mates’ the boat one lock above had been advised of our immanent arrival and wisely chose to bide their time until we caught up – they even lent PC a windlass to set the first lock for us. So we had a total of 6 of us working up the locks and we have met another 2 like-minded boaters (ie good wine, good food, good scotch, good beer, good port – did I mention food at all? – Oh yes!) Great to meet you Phil and Ruth NB ‘JACOB’ – and perhaps we will soon have them as a new member on the forum. Now we started the ascent at 10.30 and stopped by the café immediately below the top lock at 13.20 (the lock was ready for us and therefore we would have completed the Hatton 21 in a respectable 3 hours making our time per lock/pound just less than 9 mins). However, we had a picnic: hot chicken, chunky potato and leek soup with Emmantal and herb croutons, crusty buttered rolls, a selection of cheeses with Pringles, crackers etc followed by mandarin cheese cake washed down with a choice of white, rosé and red wine with a selection of fruit available. I also have to say that I didn’t knock NDs beer over (mind you he did take it with him when he worked locking ahead). I think Cheshire Rose was very envious as she phoned PC during the meal.

As we ‘did’ Hatton ND, PC and I did 7 locks apiece with the crew of JACOB doing regular swaps. We left the café at 15.00 with the temperature dropping somewhat; ND and PC had left at that stage to find their taxi back to the bottom of Hatton. We agreed with Phil and Ruth to find a mooring just beyond bridge 61 but first we had to pass through Shrewly tunnel, which we reached at 1540, ‘strewth what a wet tunnel – for a short tunnel we were dodging downpours from the roof and the sides. The dog took shelter under the map box flap and took a lot of convincing to come out once we had exited the tunnel. We cruised for another 35 minutes passing bridge 61 and on the lookout for a mooring. Have to admit that we transgressed convention because, as we turned onto the straight section, ahead of us was a towpath in shadow and a field on the opposite side bathed in sunshine – no contest, we moored in the sunshine. P & R came over for aperitifs and we are going to their boat for post supper drinks – this could be a long night! Tomorrow we are both going the same way so will work our way up Lapworth flight (I don’t know if they are narrow or wide locks – guess I’ll find out tomorrow morning) We think we may manage to make it to Alvechurch for tomorrow evening – depends on the rest of this evening I guess!!!!!!

Once we depart Alvechurch I’ll not be giving away any details of our route – don’t know why? See ‘Light hearted Competition’ thread on the General boating section. Have a go at guessing our total distance covered and number of locks completed during our cruise – all the information is in this thread, but the final part of the journey is the lottery, ND said we would be craning the boat out at Alvechurch and going by road to Longwood!! It’s an option.

 

Hope I have fed your literary tapeworm with this report and whetted your appetite to have a go at the competition. Till tomorrow, I bid you a good night.

 

PS Had a good evening post supper. I have now been introduced to Taliskers, have found out that Lapworth flight is narrow and that 'JACOB' will not be going with us althought we may, almost certainly meet at ***** in a couple of days. DON'T FORGET TO HAVE A GO AT THE COMPETITION - if I get a robust response the winner will receive a boaters utility belt.