NO cancer, NO chemo Just Cruisin' - yipee

[TeeELL]

Hi everyone,

Mid August is rapidly approaching and so too our 8 week cruise. This year we plan to go anti-clockwise from Walsall through Nottingham, over the Pennines down to Chester, Llangollen and home either via Stoke or Wolverhampton. Our usual invites are, once again, extended to all/any members of this Forum.

[cotswoldsman]

Great Tony nice to see the no cancer and chemo part have a great cruise.

[SarahB]

Great Tony nice to see the no cancer and chemo part have a great cruise.

 

Yay! Glad to see you're out on on travels again and I look forward to hearing about your adventures again this year

 

Sarahx

[bottle]

Hi Tony

 

Good news on all fronts.

 

Do have a great time.

[NB Alnwick]

Great news indeed - enjoy every minute of it!

[AlanJ]

Great to hear you're back on your travels, enjoy the trip!

[NB Phoenix]

Hear Hear to all of the above Tony. Hope you and Mo have a great trip.

[TeeELL]

Wow peeps,

it has been so long since I ventured on to this site that I didn't recognise many of the avatar names in the various topics - although I see members ability to go 'off topic' with a vengance remains (ie stolen narrowboat Que sera sera!!). So it is great to receive your wishes. I have heard that Bottle now, finally, is on his boat so I'll keep a weather eye out for him - the old divil drinks you know !! This year I am some 2 stone lighter thanks to a combination of Weight Watchers and regular attendance at my local gym - not felt this well in a long time. We are still pondering our exact route although we have had to modify our 'ideal' cruise as it was going to take several days longer than our 8 weeks!! So Liverpool will have to wait 'till next year. I will do my best to make our journey a bit more readable - trouble is it takes an hour or so to type out the days adventure - that at the end of a long days cruising and a longer evenings drinking .

[Big John]

Great to hear you're doing well, Tony.

 

Which way are you coming over the Pennines? We're currently going eastward on the L&L, with the Rochdale in mind for the return, then the Macclesfield etc.

 

Enjoy the cruise.

[Madmark62]

If you get up the Calder and Hebble , let me know and I will take you for a pint or two of the good stuff.

[wrigglefingers]

Hello Tony,

 

Really pleased that you're well and enjoying life on the cut. Let me know when you're in the Wolves area _ I shall be working on Cobbett in September and October in Stourbridge and it would be lovely to meet up with you and Mo again.....

 

Love Jill

Edited July 28, 2009 by wrigglefingers

[Moley]

Hi Tony,

 

We´ve been seriously concerned about your extended absence on the forum, especially after I sent you a birthday text and got no answer, so are delighted to see you back.

 

Please let us know if your route brings you anywhere in our direction, it would be great to meet up again.

 

Give us a couple of days though, I gather the weather has been atrocious back home so I´m not as bothered as I was that the Moles have foresaken the waterways for the Canaries this year. Back soon though

[Bones]

Happy travels!!!!! Would be lovely to see you both again soon... so do venture this way sometime.

 

Hugs.

[PaddingtonBear]

Good stuff,oop north? some mistake surely? Best of luck to you both, have a great time. It seems that many of the forum are venturing to the wilds, we are leaving to go from Cowroast so our paths might cross. The only drawback is that Bones is going north at the same time so beware!

[TeeELL]

Well, our initial plan was to go up to the L&L via Nottingham, across the Pennines to Liverpool then round the Chester, up to Llangollen and home vis Stoke. Canalplan AC tells us that we have bitten of more than we have time to chew!! This year we want to pace ourselves so we can sightsee (fortunately NOT the insides of GW Hospital, Swindon ) so we have allocated only 4 or so hours cruising per day - although we have tweaked the times to ensure we get to Chester Mid Sept 'cos Mo has to take her youngest off to Uni.

We had thought to do the Standedge Tunnel, and we might yey, we will see how we progress and phone BW well in advance to see if any tunnel transits are available. Provided, of course, we can get there on a day when boats are allowed through! I have to say that we are really looking forward to this years trip. I am particularly keen because I can do some of the hard work that I simply couldn't do last year (I can even clear the weed hatch - no steroid induced belly in the way and no high risk of infection due to no immune system).

As per last year, we plan to stay in touch through this topic, subject to internet access. Please, please look out for us and as I've already mentioned, you are very welcome to step aboard for a bit of hospitality.

 

To and Mo

[Bones]

Good stuff,oop north? some mistake surely? Best of luck to you both, have a great time. It seems that many of the forum are venturing to the wilds, we are leaving to go from Cowroast so our paths might cross. The only drawback is that Bones is going north at the same time so beware!

 

 

not that far north!

[Janet S]

not that far north!

 

Coward!

 

Janet

[Postcode]

Hi Tony - I hope Rose and I will be able to meet up with you somewhere.

 

Happy cruising

 

Dave

[Sue1946]

Hi Tony and Mo,

I'd like to add my best wishes for a wonderful trip this year. It was so good to see your title!

It was a pleasure to meet you last year. I can assure anyone who may meet these people for the first time that the 'craic' is great, wonderful hospitality and a very cute dog as extra crew!! Not to mention a beautiful boat....

[Neildudman]

Happy Travels me hearties, hope your both very well.

[Christine]

My very best wishes to both you and Mo for a really fantastic cruise this year.

 

We only passed with a brief 'hello' as we passed near Alvechurch when we were returning from our BCN trip a few years ago but I have followed your troubles and progress with great (and concerned) interest.

 

Great news!

 

Chris xxxx

[TeeELL]

Hi everyone,

looks like a slightly sticky start to our cruise is on the horizon. My 3KVa inverter has decided that, without any loads applied whatsoever (ie nil, none, zilch consumer unit cbs all selected off) to 'deliver' its full load with the strip-meter up in the red zone!! I hope Mr Stirling can help, I'll be back at the boat mid week to try and solve the problem as I have my BSS on Thurs!! Still I've done a major job that has been outstanding for 3 years and several minor ones that have only recently appeared on the radar. It's fingers crossed for a start on Friday, otherwise I can see us being delayed until early the following week. (We have to make the 'Dog & Doublet' at a sensible time to get a good mooring!!)

 

Bye for now

[TeeELL]

Saturday 15th of August and this years cruise begins – at last. Actually the events leading up to the cruise (and I mean events) really started about 4 years ago………

BUT FIRST, the good news, ELEMIAH passed the BSS with no significant problems, even though I had forgotten to remove the LIDL additional fire extinguishers!!

Roll back to 2004 and ‘ELEMIAH’ has been painted and the electrics ‘sorted’ at Springwood Haven, Nuneaton. During the electrics ‘sorting’ phase it is established that my Stirling 3KVa Inverter is not working correctly – at this stage the inverter is well over a year old (although it has been in its box). So it is a quick trip down the M5 to Stirling where, without batting an eyelid they tell me it hasn’t got the ‘soft start’ so “you’d better have this brand new one sir”. Sure enough – when fitted, the electrics work like a dream. * Keep this in the back of your minds whilst you read on.

The boat has worked well during the intervening years (including post internal fit-out when the electrical system had a radical rearrange) – well enough to lull us into a false sense of security!! Now, many of you reading this will know that, in a past life, I was an RAF pilot. In the Services we have a system whereby it is possible to ‘confess’ to misdemeanours in order to inform others thereby hopefully preventing a recurrence. I am about to confess some misdemeanours so you don’t fall into the same situation.

I mentioned the new Inverter, factory setting is charging GEL batteries – I had Lead acid (posh, expensive lead acid to boot!). Surprise, surprise when a numpty owner doesn’t check his electrolyte levels and ends up pouring 2 litres of distilled water into the shrivelled remains of his leisure batteries, the clue is in the Inverter settings. So, if you don’t want to follow my expensive example – check, both your charger settings and your electrolyte.

This then led to my next misdiagnosis! Knac***ed batteries make great demands on the inverter charging circuit – on the Stirling the charging circuit indicator also doubles as the AC current indicator (I didn’t realise that – although it IS clearly marked thus) so there I am thinking the inverter is providing max AC with no appliances running. You are now beginning to realise that I shouldn’t be let loose with a Tonka toy let alone a narrow boat!!! Anyway, to cut a long story short, a check by Stirling found the Inverter performing perfectly and a chance comment by Pete at Stirling gave me the clue as to the problems. With 5 bu$$ered leisure batteries it was time to hit t’internet, apart from Jason12345 of CWF the next cheapest source was Lime Kiln Chandlers at Wolverhampton, but a chance conversation revealed a much closer source (and significantly cheaper even) just a mile from the mooring so £300 lighter I walked away with 5 new leisure batteries.

No problem, soon have the batteries swapped (despite the hernia op!). But no, as the first battery came out, the bottom of the battery box was full of fluid – bubbling gently. First thought – acid, fortunately not though, having removed all the batteries the battery box was found to be immersed in water from the bilge (the cabin bilge where no water is supposed to be!!!). Sorted that out, we WILL get away before the end of August!! Batteries all back in and everything fine.

Now, my Boat Club is on part of the Wyrely & Essington and we get lots of weed and plastic – my visit to the water point (a journey of 50-100yds) required a visit to the weed hatch. Having removed the plastic etc I replaced the weed hatch, ran the engine in gear to check all was secure and returned to my mooring. Imagine my surprise therefore when I opened the engine bay to find water everywhere!! It took some considerable time for the bilge pump to clear the ‘normal’ bilge area, the secondary pump to clear one of the other engine bay bilges and a portable pump the clear the remaining 2!! Perhaps a Tonka toy is even too advanced???

So I have learnt several salutary lessons, and this before setting out on this years adventure. In the end we did, finally, get away on 15th and that is another story. I’ll elucidate tomorrow (make that Monday). For now I’ll bid you a good night – now where did I put my boat insurance details and Canal & River Rescue membership?

[TeeELL]

15th August 2009 and despite my best efforts to generally abuse and try to sink the boat we are planning to set forth today. I’ve allowed myself to tighten the main alternator fan belt (the ‘starter’ alternator being OK), of course it was only after I’d put everything back together and all the tools away that I realised I had forgotten to retighten the bracket securing bolts. I really should pack my bags and return to land – I’m certainly questionably competent at this boating lark!! Anyway, we made it from the Club mooring across to the water point, transferred the last few items from car to boat and vice-versa, filled the water tank and bravely set-off.

Well not quite, we decided to have lunch before tackling ‘Moss’ 2’ and the ‘Ganzi 7’! At 14.05 we finally set off, with only a little trepidation, fingers crossed that we would make it to the second lock without sinking. Those of you in the midlands will know that the afternoon was bright but breezy making for a pleasant cruise. The Rushall Canal was weedy (despite 26 boats coming up on the Friday) and required regular selections of idle reverse to clear the prop. We reached the top of the ‘Ganzi 7’ at 14.50 with no incident but still to relax into the holiday. It took us a gentle 65 mins to complete the 7 locks and we reached Rushall Jn on the Thame Valley Canal at 16.20 whereupon I displayed incompetence beyond belief in my attempt to negotiate the turn (I really hope I ‘sharpen up’ in the next day or so). Our plan is to stop for the night at the top of Perry Barr flight and we reached that point at 17.30 – a couple of welcome stiff sherries the order of the day.

I had bought a couple of fillet steaks from my butchers in Highworth and, having grilled them to the requisite degree (something I can get right) we had them accompanied by backed potatoes, garlic mushrooms and peas. All washed down with a Banrock Station red. A passing cyclist reports that one of the pounds is empty so off we set to sort that out, it is getting on for 21.30 and dark before we have the pound refilled and all is set for the ‘morrow.

 

16th August and we are awake bright and early, we have Albert ‘the Hobbler’ Harmon coming to help us with part of the flight and ‘kick off’ is 08.30. )*.20 and Albert is arriving just as Mo sets off to ‘walk the dog’. We set off on time and, as is the way of the world – the prop gets fouled in the first lock – so after much fettling plastic and stuff is removed from the prop and off we continue (I do hope the rest of the holiday isn’t going to be like this otherwise our 8 weeks is going to become 8 months). We last another 1hr 50 mins before the prop is fouled again, this time it is a weedhatch job and a shirt is removed from the prop and shaft, it is lock 11 and Albert must leave us (he didn’t want the shirt though). At 11.15 we bade farewell to the Perry Barr flight (no brass plaque for this flight) and cruised on towards the Spaghetti Junction. We encountered a boat in the distance – a ‘Springwood Haven’ Valley Cruisers boat turning up towards B’ham at Salford Jn west – they’ve done well to make it this far in 2 days hire.

We reach Minworth Top lock at 12.30 exiting no3 at 13.10, this is a ‘strange’ bit of canal a sort of ruralised industrial bit. Quite desolate in places but roads and commercial premises never very far away. One of our Longwood Club members recently sold his boat, having ordered a replacement – and, shortly after passing the boat inn we encountered him in his new boat. Curdworth – the spiders – tunnel followed and then it was ‘the anglers’ mile after mile of long black poles stretched across our path. (Sometimes I wish a load of cyclist would make an appearance – then what would happen? But that is naughty! – after all they pay expensive licence fees to support the canal). Those of you familiar with the Birmingham & Fazeley will know that we are now in very rural Midlands with just the motorway to keep us company!! We started down the Curdworth flight at 13.55 – hard work considering, the gates seem unusually heavy and the paddle gear stiff (maybe we are just weak). The fields are being ‘combined’ so any hay fever sufferers are going to find the area a struggle as the machines are working next to the cut.

15.45 Sunday afternoon and the moorings near the Dog and Doublet are fairly vacant (NB ‘POLLY’ looks like a permanent fixture on the 48hr moorings!!). We’ve had some rough running and the engine cutting out in idle (much to the amusement of some of the anglers) so my plan was to investigate the problem – “NO DON’T DO IT” I hear you cry, I didn’t!! I had so many people ask about the boat etc plus a share boat with bilge pump problems that I didn’t get fix my own engine. Tomorrow morning I will investigate so it is bound to be raining!

That’s it for now folks – it is 22.40 and I’m shattered (forgot to mention that Mo created a Cod in mushroom and garlic sauce with wild rice, fresh carrots and broccoli followed by chilled ginger and orange pudding – really yummy and we have enough for some more tomorrow). Fazely and Fradley Junctions call tomorrow and we will be turning west at Fradley on to a previously un-cruised part of the inland waterways – truly the start of our 2009 adventure.

 

Good night all

 

PS, apologise for the mixture of 'tenses', fatigue to blame.

[Yoda]

I'm so glad that you made it away again. Small troubles are the curse of the boat owner because its never small money. Have a great time.