Crick and Time Flies

Hi all
Sorry for not posting sooner.  Since last Wednesday we simply have not stopped.  I don't know why but I just have not had time to sit down an post until now.

So where to begin.  Friday started out nice and sunny.  After some overnight rain I dried off AmJyo again and set too polishing the Starboard cabin side.  

You guessed it, as I took the photo when I finished it started raining so I gave up and went below and did some cleaning chores inside.   It rained constantly for the rest of the day and was still coming down by morning.

After the rain Friday night getting Chris from Rugby station and parking the car in an already very muddy field was interesting to say the least and by time the crowds had arrived Saturday morning the fields were becoming reminiscent of a world war one battle zone with mud everywhere.   This continued throughout the many stalls causing the organisers to lay loads of straw down everywhere.   Having only trainers I purchased a pair of wellies and within an hour the stall holder had sold his entire stock of them.

The familiar wet sight Crick

Our mooring neighbours were getting into the spirit of the show and started to raise flags on their boats. One, Gary, raised his with a rendition of Dixie which had us all in hysterics.

Our neighbours Bill, Brian, Gary (in the hat) and his good lady

We managed to have a look round the show but to our dismay many of the stalls that sold items on our shopping list were absent though we did manage to buy a long boat pole to many comments about pole vaulting amongst others to dubious to mention.

Later in the afternoon whilst visiting the Fernwood stand ominous black clouds gathered

Minutes later the heavens opened up and  shortly after hailstones the size of garden peas battered the marina, by now there was no one to be seen.

We finished the day off in a packed out beer tent listening to Toyah Willcox and a great evening was had with the lads from Fernwoods who built AmyJo.

Sunday was a much better day and the sun shone throughout.  Chris and I had promised Fernwoods to show interested customers around AmyJo so were kept pretty busy all day with a steady stream of people.  I have to say I was a bit dubious of this but to be fair all were respectful and took off their muddy boots and coats without being asked. It was clear some were just being nosey but the others were very interested in our experience asking lots of questions and it was nice to share advise we had been given when we were looking to have AmyJo built.

Monday passed in a flash but with the return of the wet weather.  We had several lovely surprise visits from bloggers and boat owners beginning with blogger, John (Halfie) and his wife, his blog can be found here (click).  It was a real pleasure to meet you and we're sorry we could not visit you on Jubilee, we simply ran out of time.

We also got to meet one of our twitter followers, @bsbnutter aka Mark and his wife.  We chatted for some time and it was good to meet them both.

Shortly after that Mike and Helen from nb Little Bear dropped by and we were keen to hear how they did on their recent cruise up the Llandgollen canal.  Seems like they had an interesting time and we enjoyed sharing post launch tales with them.

Later another knock and this time Adam and Adrian from nb Briar Rose (click) were stood at the door.  Thanks for visiting guys we really enjoyed our chat.

Last of all we had a real natter about boaty things when Tony and Sue from nb The old Masters dropped by.  Their boat is also a Fernwood boat and as we had met them the previous year being given a tour of their boat we reciprocated with a tour of AmyJo this time round. 

If I missed anyone out I do apologise.  We had so much fun chatting to all our visitors it made for a great time at show.

Thank you to all those who took the time to visit us and AmyJo we really enjoyed your company and it helped to make a fantastic time at the boat show for us.

With the show out of the way our thoughts are now turning to our trip up North to bring AmyJo to her home berth on the Shroppy and of course we be posting about that we hope.

Day 2 at Crick and rain stops play

Its all happening here at Crick today.  The Marquees are nearly all up and stall holders are setting out their wares.  Only 24 hours to go then its action stations.  More boats have been launched today and most of the show fleet are now in place and looking fantastic.

I was up and about at 8:30am this morning and glad to say the headache seems to be much better.  My plan was to wash and polish  outside AmyJo  today and then tomorrow spring clean inside.

All was going well and AmyJo had a good scrub to get all the duck do off her roof.  By lunchtime though ominous clouds were building and I just managed to polish the chromium when the heavens opened and rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance so rain stopped all work and I sat in the cratch watching the lightning.  To coin a phrase used by Joe Lodge on Hadar (click) "it was certainly black over Bill's mums"

It rained for most of the afternoon but by tea time the sun made an appearance.  I had left my raincoat in the car so retrieved it and went for a wonder to see the show boats. Looks like there is going to be plenty to see but a word of warning.  Bring good shoes as the fields are likely to be a bit soggy underfoot.

Nutfield waiting to slot into her show berth

Raymond arrives and prepares to moor up

Next Nutfield Moors alongside Raymond

Canal boat magazine's latest review boat Posh Fox

And Achernar is here too, their blog is here (click)

Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow and I can get the polish out but during the rain this afternoon I did manage to tidy the cratch and lay some new covering on the well deck.  What do you think?

Boules anyone?

Not a good couple of Weeks

The last few weeks have not been good to me as Wednesday last I woke with a terrific headache.  Not a migraine but just as bad.  In fact it was causing me to feel nauseous when standing.  I took a few Parasetamol  but they did nothing to help.  I called in sick and went back to bed.

Chris woke me that evening when she returned from work but the headache was worse than ever so I tried Cocodamol but again, no effect.  This continued to Friday and as I was not getting any better Chris made me go to the doctors.  At first I refused as I’ve had this before but by now I was really feeling rough so relented.

The doc gave me a thorough check over but as it was clear I was not good referred me to the hospital.  By now I could barely stand without the pain of the headache increasing so was in agony by the time I got there.  Like most hospitals I spent the rest of the day waiting to be seen and when eventually my turn came I had blood samples taken, blood pressure read and an ECG all normal apart from elevated blood pressure. 

I was then told a CT scan was required and after waiting 5 hours was told they could not do it that day and was sent home to wait for a phone call.  I eventually got the scan at 11am on Sunday and revisited again on Monday to be told I had acute Sinusitus.  Was give a raft of pills and sent home.  I confess I was greatly relieved at this as whilst waiting all sort of scenarios ran through my mind.

My plan was to travel to AmyJo tonight but decided to leave earlier and so arrived at the marina this afternoon where apon I collapsed into the chair and slept for a couple of hours as I felt so tired. I later woke to the noise of the crane that had been launching the show boats all afternoon.



I later had a stroll round the marina to find Fernwoods show boat, Summerbourne, already on her berth but as it was late no one was around so I’ll have to see if they are about tomorrow



I got back to AmyJo and did not realise how much the walk had taken out of me.  I realised I am still not right even now.  Looking round the show over the weekend looks like it will be a slow affair for me I think.

I’m aboard now until after the show and Chris will join me after work travelling down on the train to Rugby.  I hope, weather permitting, to wash and polish AmyJo as she is now looking a tad dowdy and covered in bird droppings.  Not sure how much I’ll get done but intend to take it slow so as not to aggravate the headache that now has started to subside thanks to the tablets

A Surprise for Joe and Chris gets a Lift

First of all can I apologise to Joe on nbYarwood (click).  Poor chap must have wondered what the hell was going on when this total stranger, a woman, knocked on Yarwood and introduced herself.  Not sure what he would have made of that!  It was just Chris and I'll get round to explaining shortly.

We don't have much time for boating during the week unfortunately as we are both at work, but days like today is one of the reasons Chris really loves her job and, per chance, her day today just happened to be about canals.  You see today, Chris and the teacher she works with, took their year zero (foundation) class to the Anderton Boat lift.  Its one of their experience visits they do throughout the term.

Carefully taken shot of the children so as to be compliant with child protection.

The children stood in awe as the lift was operated and then they all excitedly boarded the tour boat for a ride down the lift themselves (lucky Chris gets to do this every year).  Hence Chris gets a lift?  OK I know its corny but....

A boat approaches the caissons from the canal

whilst the tour boat comes up on the lift

The tour boat almost ready to take the children and accompanying adults.

Aboard the tour boat, children behind the camera and hopefully behaving.

We are regular readers of Joe and Lesley's blog so knew Yarwood was on the river Weaver.  It was whilst the children were having their morning snack in the grounds that Chris spotted the highly polished cabin sides of a boat that could only be Yarwood herself just a short distance away.

Taking the opportunity of a quite period whilst the children had their morning snack Chris left them with their teacher and introduced herself to a rather surprised Joe who was about to take Lloyd and Fletcher, their two black Labradors, for a walk.  They had a quick chat before Chris had to re-join the children.  Sorry to have missed you myself Joe and Lesley and we hope the children did not disturb the peace too much :-).

Chris may not be frazzled, as Joe put, it but now she is back home she is snoozing on the settee as I type so it must have been a pretty good day out for her and the kids.

Back to Black and Shades of Grey

Whilst on our last cruise I lent over as AmyJo entered one of the Fosse locks to check her position as she entered and our small rubber duck aerial for the car radio in the back cabin dropped off and fell into the lock and sank. On our return I taped up the hole that was left until our return so as to keep any rain out.

This weekend we decided not to cruise but instead do one or two jobs that needed sorting as the forecast was favourable. First order was to replace the aerial with a new marine grade AM/FM one that I hope is a bit more robust.  In order to remove the old aerial cable I had to completely dismantle the engine instrument panel to gain access to the inside of the mounting hole.  The new aerial required a slightly larger hole so I had to enlarge it to fit the new base.  My 8 in 1 power tool set just earned its keep. 

The new aerial in place.

Having just finished putting everything back in place Sam Matt from Foxton Services arrived, as arranged, to give the engine it's 50 hour service. I can recommend Sam, he did a good job and was full of really useful advise.  One piece I really liked was to roll up a newspaper and stand it on end in the bilges.  It will soak up any water like a sponge.

Next on the list was the big one, tidy up the battle scars on AmyJo's bow flares and gunwales and rubbing bands where she had rubbed along the lock walls over our last few cruises.  

The gunwales were showing signs of wear and tear from the constant rubbing of the fenders and from when coming alongside I did not get it quite right now and again.  The bow flares were scratched on both sides and were starting to show signs of rust so something had to be done.  Besides with Crick show coming up in a few weeks we wanted AmyJo to look her best in case we had visitors.

First order on Saturday was to sand the scratches all down the Starboard side nearest the pontoon with a detail sander then prime them.  Fortunately the gentle wind was blowing across the marina and with slackened lines it held AmyJo off the pontoon enabling us to remove the fenders whilst we painted on the primer.  Poor AmyJo was now beginning to look a little like a battleship in camouflage down her Starboard flanks.

Sunday, with the weather fine and settled, we tackled the part I was really dreading as having read accounts by Tom on Waiouru and others I knew this would be no easy task to get a good result.  So after adding a little Owatrol oil to the Epithanes Multiforte, Chris and I both set too painting the gunwales, myself with a roller and Chris with a brush cutting in where the roller could not reach.

Not my best side for a photo I admit

Chris touching in the edges where the roller could not get to

Had to get my own back though Chris's looks prettier than mine

Not a bad job even if I do say so myself

I have to say it was easier than we thought and the result is not bad even if I do say so myself. We were done by lunch time so then the bow flares got our attention.  The Port side gunwales are nowhere near as bad for some reason so they will wait until next time we're aboard.

AmyJo's paintwork was sprayed on in the workshop and the finish is almost mirror perfect.  Getting the same result with brush and/or roller would be real challenge but we needed to try as the scratches could be left no longer.  By tea time the undercoat was on and drying nicely.  Glossing would have to wait until Monday as it would soon start to get damp.

Our berth neighbours reckon AmyJo's figurehead looks great!

And the end result, almost as good as new but not quite a smooth as the sprayed finish but as they say, a blind man would love to see it

Andy Munro has promised us some pots of the same paint to use as touch up but in the meantime I managed to get some Craftmaster paint mixed to the same RAL codes.  There is a very slight difference in shade but its barely discernible.  I'll give it a second coat with the touch up paint when we get it from Andy.

Canalside fix

We are unable to go to AmyJo this weekend as tomorrow I am race officer at the sailing club.  Our regulars may recall we are going to move AmyJo to Tattenhall Marina in July so we thought it was about time we visited there and gave them an update.

There was also another reason too if we are honest.  When AmyJo was being built her stable mate Little Bear was also beginning her build.  Little Bear was launched just before Easter and we knew she too would be moored at Tattenhall so we thought we would go and see if her owners, Mike and Helen were aboard (sadly they were not around).  You can certainly tell Little Bear and AmyJo come from the same stable.....

Distinctive Fernwood front end

Chris and I wish Mike and Helen many happy days cruising in Little Bear and we look forward to spending time out on the cut with them.  Little Bear looks brilliant and we love her artwork, especially the A in "BEAR" depicted as a paw print, very clever.

We had a stroll round to our mooring to check out the mooring ring positions and on the way back to the car we spied another boat looking equally resplendent

Seems Mark and Corrinne were not about either, is everyone avoiding us? :-)  I'm sure our paths will cross sometime.

I have now managed to get some of our time lapse videos up onto Youtube and have added another page to the blog to make them easily found.  Unfortunately the camera we use must have been bitten by a tetsi fly as half way through each day's cruising on the way home it went into sleep mode for over two hours.  I'm not happy with this so after much sole searching I've decided to get a new camera so have ordered a Gopro Hero 3+ as its by far a much better camera for the job (and less chunky).  I've still more videos to put up so keep checking in from time to to for updates. 

Last day and we go out with a bang - Day 6

Total distance:8.41 miles Elapsed time:5h53m19s Locks:7Bridges:22
Average speed:1.43 mph (2.62 lock/mph)
Monday
Not many pictures today as it was murky and damp at first.

The rain stopped overnight and the morning came with heavy mist and cold over the cut. The calm and silence was almost ethereal as we sat drinking our morning cuppa. A couple passed by on their boat and announced it was "Foggy at other end of the tunnel it is".

We set off hoping to get through the tunnel before too many boats were on the move but even so we met two boats coming towards us about mid tunnel. I slowed AmyJo to a stop and laid her against the wall to give as much room as possible. The first boat still going at a rate of knots smacked AmyJo with a whack on the bow and then bounced hard off the opposite wall.  The bang must have been easily heard at either end of the tunnel.  

The owner tried to say he was on the wall but my retort of how far he bounced across the tunnel assured him he was nowhere near it and that he should take it a bit slower passing boats in the tunnel in future. I did not even get an apology. 

 I think the other boat was more tunnel aware (not because of my complaint to the other boater ) as he proceeded more cautiously and though glancing lightly off AmyJo was much much more apologetic. I assured him all was OK and that it could not be helped as the previous encounter had caused AmyJo’s bow to drift out from the tunnel wall slightly. I did loudly thank him for taking care as he passed and we got to the other end without passing any more boats.

The fog must had lifted in the meantime as all was bathed in lovely sunshine and Chris took the helm for a while. At Norton Junction we passed a moored hire boat and the dreamy waft of bacon being fried assaulted our senses. Chris commented how lovely it smelt and the husband who looked distinctly like Nick Knowles popped his head out asking if we wanted some. We both said yes with gusto so he asked his wife but then jokingly said they had run out. We all  laughed, said never mind, wished him well on his holiday and carried on secretly regretting they and not bought more bacon.  It did smell divine though.

At Norton Junction I wanted Chris to turn AmyJo onto the Leicester line to give her some experience and so with a little instruction on throttle technique she winded AmyJo round like an expert and we carried on along one of our favourite bits of the cut in the area.

I took over again when we arrived at Watford locks. After reporting to the volunteer lock keeper we were asked to proceed up two locks and then wait for a while as boats came down. While we waited I prepared the lower lock several times for each passing boat until it was our turn to move up. 

Chris waits for the all clear to proceed from the volunteer lockie

 Once out of the locks I took AmyJo through an empty Crick tunnel and AmyJo got her second free boat wash and then Chris took the helm again to bridge 12 but as there were plenty of boats moored on the cut after the bridge she asked me to take over and we coasted slowly along at tickover getting back to our birth at 2.30pm. We then gave AmyJo a good cleaning inside and out before packing up and heading home.

I did have try at the 16x zoom on the camera before we left though.  This pair were clearly up for the photo shoot and came towards me as I pointed the camera at them.

Oh I nearly forgot.  The upshot of the internet problem, was with EE not our router.  When I bought the SIM I was told the deal was for 6Gb of data per month.  Seems we've only been getting 3Gb all along and had exceeded this month's quota.  So now the wrangle to get the missing 3Gb added again is on.  

I don't hold out much hope so up for any ideas on the best SIM only unlimited data deal with good coverage if you know of one.

Empty Lock Pound and a New Routine - Day 5

Total distance:10.04 miles Elapsed time:8h14m59s Locks:17Bridges:30
Average speed:1.22 mph (3.28 lock/mph)

Sunday

Today was going to be another long day as we set our goal to get to Braunston turn some 10 miles away. It was another 8.30am start and first order of the day was the climb up the Stockton locks. One drawback with early starts is not many boats are on the move and so after waiting a good while we decided we had to move on alone again (was it something I'd said?).

Worrying sign, the levels were down in the first pound

It was whilst ascending Stockton locks Chris and I found a new routine. Chris would set the lock and I’d take AmyJo in. Chris would then shut the lower gate and set the top paddles to fill the lock.  She would then go on ahead to set the next lock in our favour. I remembered reading Paul’s account on the Manly Ferry of single handing so when the lock was full I would lower the paddles, open the gate and slowly motor out putting AmyJo in reverse as she cleared the gate. I would nip off and shut the gate in time for AmyJo to reverse back to me and I could then motor into the next lock prepared for me by Chris. 

Look mum no hands. You can just see me by the lock paddle on the right

AmyJo coming to a stop as I prepare to shut the gate

I did shut the gate honest, it swung open
as I pulled away and I had not noticed

 We did this all the way up the 9 locks and it worked a treat, it also meant less lock wheeling for Chris. I admit the first few locks I really had to believe AmyJo would indeed return so I could board her and always remained ready to leap aboard if all went wrong, but she always did come back and the method worked a charm. 

That’s when we hit another snag as we ascended to Lock 5. The pound above was completely empty and only a few inches of water remained. In order to proceed we had to fill the pound from the last top lock so we set both sets of paddles open and waited for the pound to fill. Luckily lock 4 is the top lock of the flight so the water levels above were hardly affected. 

Barely a few inches left in the pound

At least we could see where not to go

 It took over 30 minutes to fill the pound so AmyJo could get to the next lock. By now another boat was waiting to come down so this meant the pound should rise a bit more. With all paddles and gates shut we can only assume leakage through the gates of lock 5 over night drained the pound.

It was an uneventful run though to Calcutt locks (going up this time of course) and on to Wigrams turn. We turned here and carried on toward Braunston turn. We did have a near miss at bridge 101. I’d slowed AmyJo right down and sounded the horn as we could not see through the bridge ‘ole and just as we started to enter another boat came towards us at speed. Luckily AmyJo stops quite quickly when going slowly and by both of us putting the boats hard astern we missed colliding by inches. The other boater apologised profusely and went on his way still at speed I might add.

We reached Braunston turn with Chris at the helm and as the moorings were nearly full we decided to carry on as there was still time left.

We made good time up Braunston locks using our new found locking method though by now the wind had picked up so we had to revert to the normal method for the last lock. The weather was turning cold and grey with signs of rain in the air so we decided to stop once clear of the locks

 At the top we had had enough and taking the advise Keith from Hadar had given us to stop early so to get a mooring we decided to moor up at the 48hour moorings above the top lock.  

We were just coming alongside the first, and only free mooring spot before the tunnel, when a highly polished working boat type with a abrupt voiced owner at the helm announced to his wife on the bow “damn it they have pinched my favourite mooring spot” and “Now we’ll just have no choice but to go on.” If looks could kill as he passed by I would have been dead 10 times over. He was ranting on whilst going into the lock and we overheard is wife retort “well there’s nothing we can do about it now is there!”. 

 What they did not realise was that their conversation, being done via by two way radios, just happened to be using the same frequency as ours and we could hear it all. Oh the temptation to have some fun was so overwhelming but I managed to desist in the interest of his poor suffering wife :-).

To make matters worse, for them I guess, a few minutes later  just as we had battened down for the evening the heavens opened and AmyJo got a thorough washing down. At this point I was glad I was not the wife of the previous gent whose favourite mooring we now sat on. We sat enjoying an evening tipple listening to the rain hammering on the cabin roof feeling so lucky we stopped when we did. 

I'm ashamed to admit it but we did have smug chuckle to ourselves.