Horn Troubles and the Great Escape

Its half term week at Chris's school and I had another weeks holiday owing.  To good a chance to miss so we decided to escape the marina.  Not before our Joanne announced she was moving on Sunday and could we help please?.  That scuppered our chances of getting to Llangollen but we simply had to give her a hand.  Besides mum wanted to see daughter's new digs as any mum would do.

After moving Joanne's worldly goods to a rather lovely looking cottage in the hills above Llangolen we hit the sack and were up bright an early this morning.  We woke to leaden skies that threatened rain but mild none the less.  We prepared AmyJo and slipped the lines and left after saying our goodbyes to Sheila next door who came out to see us off.

The log burner had stayed in over night so after clearing the marina entrance I left Chris at the helm and stoked the fire.  It was not long before the logs were burning nicely and AmyJo had a good head of steam from the stack.  The cabin remained toasty warm all day.

We made good time to Warton lock but alas no one was travelling our way.  We do keep a good look out for other boats and do wait a while.  Luckily, seeing as it is half term, there were plenty of hire boats coming down the locks so all were in our favour.  We passed through Beeston Iron and stone locks without a hitch and even Tilston and Bunbury were set for us.

All the time the sky looked dark and menacing but no rain luck would have it.  Occasionally the Sun made an appearance that lit up the Autumn colours like gold.  This tree looked magnificent against the black sky behind it.

Rich Autumn gold enhanced by the sun.

We passed Barbridge Junction with no sign of moving boats anywhere and again the portal of the bridge lit in the sun looked stark against the dark sky. 

It was then I found our horn had given up the ghost and would not make a noise no matter how I pressed the button.  I had hoped it would alert any boat coming through the bridge but nothing.

Approach to Barbridge junction from Chester end

White bridge walls gleam in the late sun.

Fortunately we made it pass the junction and just after we found Mick and Chris on nb Water under the Bridge moored in a sunny spot so we too pulled in for the night as a it was good opportunity to get to know them better.   Mick and Chris moor behind us at the marina so it we have seen each other in passing as they only cruise at weekends and school holidays like us.  

Fortunately for me Chris had a multi meter on board and I managed to track the fault to the horn itself though I could not find any obvious reason.  I reckon I'm going to have to buy a replacement :-(.

Total distance:8.01 miles Elapsed time:5h 51m  Locks:6 Bridges:15
Average speed:1.37 mph (2.39 lock/mph)

Time for a Time Lapse

I finally manage to up load another time lapse video.  This time From Tower Wharf Chester to the Shady Oak pub on the Shropshire union.

This one was taken using the little Gopro Camera.  For such a tiny unit I am impressed with the quality of the video.  Thats picture quality not my ability to take video :-)

One man and his boat.

Gosh is it really so long since I last blogged.  We've been so busy of late we've barely had a free evening.  The sailing club AGM is coming up in November so numerous meetings and visits had to be made to start getting every thing in place.  If you have been a club Secretary you know how busy AGMs are to prepare for.

Not much has been happening on the boating front.  Since our trip to Bunbury until last weekend.  We have been doing little jobs around AmyJo like putting up a key holder, re calibrating the water level as it was inaccurate (those indicators are never accurate) but at least now it shows full when full and empty when low.

One major event that did happen was I replaced my Honda Jazz with a new car, a Vauxhall Astra Sports tourer on a 63 plate.  Its a 10 month old demonstrator but with good spec.

This is the Astra Sports Tourer in the same colour as mine

Being a 1.7TDI diesel its much more economical at 54.9 mpg than the Jazz's 42mpg, is more comfortable and roomy, but has much more get up and go.  Its performance is quite stunning considering its a diesel.

It has been a while since Chris has visited her mum so last weekend Chris and Joanne took the Astra and went south to spent some time with Mary.

Mary looks better every time we see her

Mary Seems to be thriving in the home and always has a smile for the camera.  

Meantime back on AmyJo I took the free time on Saturday to give the engine room a tidy.  I removed the last of the coolant from the engine bed and checked the antifreeze level.  It was still a bit low so I topped it up some more.  The stern door hinges were starting to get very stiff so I removed the doors, greased the pins and replaced the doors.  They swing much easier now.

As winter cometh and the temperature was now a lot lower at night it was time to wake the little Hobbit and in a short time it was keeping AmyJo warm and cosy.  I'm still not comfortable leaving it burning when we're not on the boat so its only on at weekends while the Eberspacher heater does during the week

That evening our mooring neighbour, Sheila and her partner Paul, invited us both over to the marina bar for a drink.  Being the sociable type it would be rude of me to decline so I joined them explaining where Chris was.  A a very pleasant evening was had indeed.  Needless to say it was the wee small hours before I returned to the warmth of AmyJo.

On Sunday it dawned cold but without a cloud in the sky nor breath of wind.  The sun soon burnt off the mist and at 10am I felt confident enough to slip the mooring lines and motor out of the marina on my own.  

Cold crisp sunny morning at Tattenhall

I'm still not sure if I can single hand a lock yet so turned right and enjoyed a short cruise down to the Shady Oak where I moored up. 
It was the strangest of feeling cruising without Chris but, alone with my thoughts and AmyJo,  I crept along in a world of my own with the cut virtually to myself and no boat in sight.

First trip down the Shroppie on my own
With lovely clear sky and sun warming my back

 It was still a bit chilly so a jumper was required but when the sun was clear of the trees its warmth was so apparent.  The wind stayed calm all day so made for a very pleasant cruise.   Feeling quite proud of my achievement I celebrated with a cuppa on mooring up.   I then spent the afternoon lazing in the cratch watching the world go by with classic FM on the radio. Life doesn't come much better.  

Later Amy and boy friend Rob joined me and accompanied me on the return cruise back to the marina which they enjoyed immensely. I was even treated to one of Amys excellent bacon butties along the way.   Problem was she set off the smoke detector and a poor couple walking along the tow path were not sure if it was a bugler alarm.  They looked quite relieved when I explained but were disappointed we did not offer them a buttie.  

Meanwhile Rob had put another log on the fire.  It must have been a bit damp as soon after AmyJo had a better head of white smoke pouring from her chimney than a steam from a locomotive. I would loved to have had a photo from the tow path at that point.  I was quite relieved when it dispersed back to the usual shimmer.

We have a weeks cruise booked and will be heading out on 26th November.  We plan to head off along the Llangollen so we'll see how far we get.

Are You the Guy with the Remote Controlled Boat?

Hello reader,
I gave up trying to post up to now as the signal was up and down for a few more days.  Turns out the local radio mast was not working though it seems it be now.

We're making the most of the mild weather and are out and about in AmyJo for the weekend so I'm having another go at posting whilst we have good internet here.

Beeston Castle is ever present all around these parts

We left Tattenhall last night and made the hour long cruise to the Shady Oak pub with Beeston castle never far away.  Despite rumours the pub is very much open and was quite busy when we went in.   We had a great nights sleep and was really lazy not surfacing until 9am.

I think cabin fever must have been setting in as both Chris and I are really enjoying being on the move again even if it is not as far as some of the regular bloggers.  

It was 10am and I was just preparing AmyJo ready to move off when a passing boater (who also moors in Tattenhall apparently) slowed down and asked "Are you the guy with the remote controlled boat?"  Now reader, as you can image I was quite surprised at this odd question and replied "No, nothing that fancy in this boat".  He seemed convinced I was the guy in question adding the boat he was referring to was the same colour as AmyJo and was "usually moored next door to Sheila" and he makes mooring up look so easy with that remote control.  "The guy is always tapping away at a remote control pad, thought you might be him.  Oh well" he said. "They must have been winding you up in the clubhouse I reckon" I quipped with a smile and he went on his way with a grin.
Now Sheila just happens to be the name of our mooring neighbour and, even though I say so myself, the few times we have ventured out I have, more by luck then judgement, always managed to pull onto our berth gently with little revs or fuss .

I though no more of it and so we upped pins and pulled off towards Bunbury.  Once under way I started to get my e canal map running on my iPad so as to see what lay ahead when the penny suddenly dropped! Could it be ..... no surely not, really?

Is this he infamous remote control pad maybe?

I had to smile to myself and a wicked plan started to formulate in my mind.  I don't think I'll be dispelling the myth for a little while just yet ... so no one let on please:-)

The weather today was a little cooler than of late and a jumper was required for the first time.  We made good time through the locks as all of them were in our favour or a few boats were coming down.  For the most part we were the only boat heading towards Bunbury.

Waiting for the boats to exit the lock

There they go an here I come

In Beeston Stone lock

Anglo Welsh hire boats make things very tight to get into Bunbury Locks

At Bunbury staircase locks the Anglo Welsh hire fleet were moored two abreast and that left no room for boats to pass.  Fortunately there was only one boat coming down in the bottom chamber so I had to take AmyJo into cit so the other boat could leave it and have clear passage past the hire fleet.

There were two jolly cheerful volunteer lockies on today and they helped us up the staircase chatting and laughing with us as we went.  We needed to wind at the turn just on from the locks but as they were hoping to get some lunch we offered to stop after winding to wait and have lunch ourselves.  As we winded another boat appeared and seemed impatient to get on, almost trying to pass us mid turn but as I backed out of the winding hole he was forced to stop.  Not wanting to be wasteful we decided to lock down with him.  The cheerful lockies were quite happy when we explained.  There was one boat coming up so we did the Bunbury shuffle and carried on.  I do hope the lockies managed to get their lunch afterwards.

Bunbury locks on our outward run

We carried on a little further and stopped at one of our favourite spots opposite Chas Harden boats on some Armco for the night.  It was then we realised we had left our mooring chain back at the Shady Oak were we stayed last night so had to use a nappy pin type mooring hook. :-(

Chas Harden boat yard

 Regular readers may recall we stopped here on our way up to Tattenhall from Crick and had our encounter with Mr Angry (Click)  I'm glad to report there is no sign of him this trip.  Whilst enjoying dinner in the cratch we noticed this large mound (we never noticed it last time funnily enough) and at first we thought it might be an ancient burial mound but it seems far to big and besides there is a concrete structure atop of it to the right.

unusual mound

A bit of research revealed it is in fact a group of WW2 fuel bunkers.  Wonder if they are used today?

On a change of subject, having lived on AmyJo for 6 weeks now one problem Chris has been faced with is where to hang washing to dry and in particular my work shirts.  Whilst hanging dry ones in my wardrobe one day a rare event occurred, my brain actually engaged and an idea came to mind.  Two lengths of wardrobe hanging rail later I came up with this

Wardrobe hanging rail washing line

The poles are spaced far enough away from the cratch board so a coat hanger can be hooked on them and they have proved pretty effective.  When crusing the air flow dries them nicely.  The poles are held in place by the usual U shaped cups so can be lifted off and stowed when not in use.  Only problem now is of course, on wash day entering and exiting AmyJo's cabin is now a bit like walking though that famous wardrobe into Narnia.  Bloody good job Aslan ain't around! 

An Attempt to Catch Up

We seem to have slightly more stable Internet tonight so I a going to attempt to catch up with events.

You may recall we had travelled up into Chester for the weekend over the last bank holiday.  On that Saturday night the wind got up and AmyJo rocked just like being on the Thames in the Leisure 23 sailing yacht my brother-in-law sailed extensively in that area.

Sunday morning was wet and drizzly but as the day wore on the weather improved so we took ourselves for a stroll and found ourselves overlooking the River Dee not far from where we sail regularly in our Enterprise.

Our dinghy sailing area on the River Dee

Close by King Charles Tower we spotted a memorial we had not seen before. The sculpture below is a memorial to Captain Morgan who was in charge of a large cannon which was a major part in the city defences.  During the battle the cannon took a direct hit from advancing parliamentarians killing its gun crew.  The memorial attempts to recreate what was left of the cannon after the fateful event.

Monument to Captain Morgan's destroyed cannon

In the evening we walked to the Grosvenor park ready to see the outdoor theatre and had a stroll around the park

Status of the Second Marquee of Westminster

We then settled ourselves in our seats in the theatre to see "A comedy of errors" with our Presecco picnic hamper.  The show was most hilarious and we enjoyed every minute.  If you are ever in Chester during June to August I highly recommend booking tickets from http://www.grosvenorparkopenairtheatre.co.uk.  

Drinks in hand we're ready for the show in front row seats



The stage set and ready for the show

Once again the actors delighted the audience with their antics and then received standing ovations at the end of the performance.
We cruised back to Tattenhall on the Monday in better weather and had a lovely gentle cruise back even the locks seem to helps us through. 

On arriving at our berth we found the wind would assist us in reversing onto the mooring.  This because the wind held AmyJo's bow downwind but in line with the mooring jetty.  I managed with a great deal of luck to reverse onto the berth and even received a complement from a fellow boater who watched us.  Little did they know I'd never done that before nor probably be able to perform the manoeuvre as well again :-)  Still being a dinghy sailor and wind aware has its advantages sometimes but I do admit to being very relieved all went well as I shut the engine off.

Poor reception

Hi All
Sorry for the lack of posts recently.  For the last two weeks mobile phone reception for us has been diabolical to none, mostly the latter.  

Even as I type our internet connection is dropping out or barely maintaining connection with 1 bar.  Both Chris and my mobile phones are struggling to find a connection and mostly sit with 'No Service' outside AmyJo's cabin.  Even AmyJo's router SIM is struggling with her pepper pot antennas to get a signal. 

What is more annoying we are within yards of a mobile phone mast just across the cut.  This has been going on for the last too weeks.  Vodafone website showed a problem in our area but now shows its been fixed since 8th September and here we are two days on with still the same issue.

I am currently unable to post pictures so hence no posts.  Lets hope normal service resumes soon. :-(

So good to be on the move again!

Like many other boaters we took the opportunity of a bank holiday to escape the marina and go on a four day cruise as I had booked Tuesday off.

Despite the iffy weather it felt so good to be on the move again.  Nice as the marina is we much prefer to have water flowing under the base plates and let AmyJo have a good swim.

We're not going far this time, just into Chester as with Chris's birthday coming up I've booked VIP tickets for this year's theatre in the park to see Shakespeare's "A Comedy of Errors" as a birthday treat on Sunday.  Chris really wanted to go again and so I manage to get the last tickets of the last performance, now sold out.

We got under way in blustery conditions about 10:30am when the rain had stopped.  I reversed AmyJo out of the mooring with trepidation thinking the wind may play havoc with manoeuvring.  I need not have worried as without realising it I had reversed into the shelter of the club house and turned AmyJo into much calmer wind as a result.  I found providing I kept a reasonable speed in reverse AmyJo kept a good line and then turned easily when changing the throttle to ahead.  I was grateful all went well as being new kids on the block all eyes were watching us leave wit interest.  Funny how there seems to be no one around and as soon as you pull of the mooring the marina comes alive with people all of a sudden :-).

Leaving the mooring and Ominous Grey clouds we would be cruising into

We made the transition through the moorings at Golden Nook and the rain started.  It became heavy enough for Chris to go below and do some boat work (is that the correct phrase for housework on a boat?)

And this is only the start of it

Once passed the line of moorings we soon got back to normal cruising speed but the sky got darker and darker until a torrential down pour followed.  It lasted for some 20 minutes after which the sun came out and it remained dry for the rest of the day.

For a holiday weekend surprisingly few boats passed us and at the Old Trooper and Cheshire Cat  moorings only a handful of boats were present.

Hardly anyone about at Chistleton

We had a boat follow us from Tattenhall and they became grateful lock buddies with us going down Greenfield and Tarvin Locks.  I did not get the ladies name but hubby Mike and I chatted as you do in locks and he was a really pleasant chap.  

Mike and I put the world to rights in Greenfield Lock

We stopped after Tarvin lock not far from the Bridge Inn as we needed a shop and I wanted to be near Aldi tomorrow as their special buys tomorrow includes this handy inspection camera

This will be great for checking around the engine and bilges where one cannot see or get too normally.

Talking about the engine, I'm please to report the leak we found on Wednesday has now stopped and we seem to be winning on the coolant leak front at last.  Still early days to see if we are still loosing any but the signs look good at the moment.

After a lovely sunny afternoon we are now settled down for the night.  The bridge Inn has a live band on at the moment and they sound pretty good.  Might just have to pop in for the odd drink and see what they are like.....

Another Pair of Eyes Do Help Sometimes.

Wednesday nights in the summer are the only free nights in a week we have and whilst Chris was away in Essex I decided it was a good time to give AmyJo's engine a really good looking over for that coolant leak that has plagued us since launching.

I had just finished dinner and was taking up the engine covers when my good friend Dave (another sailing buddy) paid me a visit.  Dave and I have sailed many miles together in his GP14 and we are known as the heavy weather guys as the stronger the wind the better we like it.

We discussed several possible scenarios where the leak may be coming from and prepared to start removing the bulkhead frame surrounding the engine when a chance movement enabled Dave to  spot the most likely cause.  The hose by the end of the cylinder head casing ( see red arrow in photo) is connected to the block by a 90 degree elbow connector. I believe it goes to the calorifier.

As Dave was feeling around the area the hose moved as the elbow connector swivelled when his hand brushed past it.  We discovered that the joint nuts were slightly loose on the connector and where the hose connects to it the hose was wet underneath.  Running the engine revealed water weeping out very slowly that stopped when the engine was turned off.  The escaping coolant dropped down a small gap between the engine block and the fuel filter into the engine bed and that was why we could not trace the leak originally.

We are planning a 4 day cruise over the weekend so now everything has been tightened up we'll see if we have finally cured the coolant loss.

Settling In and Party Time

Hi all,
Not had much to blog about until now as we have been settling into our new life at Tattenhall marina.

First week back we stayed at home in the bungalow to catch up on some much needed jobs.  The bathroom tap had started to let by and on a meter every drop costs money so had to be sorted asap.  The weeds have started to take over big style and in just three weeks we have a carpet of them through the gravel.  Of course there was the washing to be done though luckily Chris manage to get most done on AmyJo so it did not take much time.

We only lasted just one week at the house, until the pull of AmyJo got too much. The plain fact is, we simply hated being ashore, we did not feel settled, and all the old stresses of life began to return!   People told us once you live aboard you'll never want to go land side again.  I think we're beginning to see why.  Monday last we returned to AmyJo and have been aboard ever since so now life is good once more.  I am now commuting to work and coming home to AmyJo each day.  The extra distance means another 20mins on my journey time but I don't mind as most is through country lanes and most alongside the cut.  I actually love driving to and from work now as a result but thoughts of perhaps retiring sooner rather than later are beginning to stir since our big trip. Once home on AmyJo its like being in another world, far from our old life.  A world we are growing to like very much.

I did, by the way, manage to fit the new fender  that we bought from Ron. I think it still needs some adjustment but its doing the job of keeping the bow off the pontoon really well.

Chris still is off work until next month and her journey to work is now much shorter so she is happy and still loves being aboard even more so now.  She has pottered about re-oiling the galley's Beech worktops, and she has even found time to make some nice scatter cushions from remnants of the cheetee and day room sofa material that was left over fro the build.

We are beginning to get to know people around us in the marina and this was helped greatly on Saturday night when the annual hog roast was staged with 250 tickets sold out.  We managed to get our tickets and at £10 each we had a whale of a time.  Based in a huge marquee we found for our tenner, we each got great food, free booze all evening, and free entertainment (value for money or what!) 

The entertainment was provided first by a 16 piece Samba band called "Karamba" who played drums so loud they were actually offering earplugs for those that wanted them, the beat that loud it thumped in your chest.  The conductor was a real character himself and was as entertaining as the band with his unique way of conducting.

The Kamaba band in full swing

Their conductor had a very odd way to conduct

Following these was one of the best young bands we have heard in a long time, "Mojo Circus" they are called and played songs from the 60's right up to modern tracks.  They catered for all age groups.  Their vocals were fantastic and in a short time had every one up dancing.

Mojo Circus had everyone on their feet dancing the night away

We had a fantastic evening have made some new friends along the way. 

Best of all the club house next morning were doing full English hangover breakfasts too, now that I might just get used to but please don't let Chris know or I'll be on lettuce leaves for the rest of the week .

Big Trip Home Day 21 - Last day and Home Coming

After our session in the Shady Oak last night Chris and I were eventually roused at 9:30am to the sound of heavy rain on the cabin roof.  Having not far to go today and the destination meaning the end of our trip we were in no hurry to surface, so turned over and woke again at 10:30am.

We decided to stay put to see if the rain would ease but by 2:30pm it was still raining so on went the wet gear and we upped pins for our final run of the trip to Tattenhall Marina, AmyJo's new home.

Not sure if it is me but AmyJo seemed sluggish today.  She seemed to swim slower than usual.  It was clear that she too did not want the trip to end as we found nothing wrong with her, nor anything on the prop.  The weather too was as miserable as we felt now the trip was coming to an end.

We turned into the marina and pulled onto the fuelling arm to top up and pump out.  After sorting all the paperwork out we put AmyJo onto her mooring that we had reserved for her back in April 2011 and our journey finally came to an end.

So that's it, we're home and done.

AmyJo's new home for now

This deluge hit us shortly after taking this photo.
Reflected our mood too.

We decided to stay on board one more night and then go home for a few days as we have commitments to keep.  We sat all afternoon with a feeling of anti climax but with anticipation for the cruises to come.  

We have thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and really do not want to go home. We have had a fantastic time love living on AmyJo even more now and the thought of going ashore is not enjoyable one at the minute.  We vowed to return at the first possible moment.  I have a feeling we're going to be spending a whole lot more time on AmyJo in future.

Our short route today

We can now say AmyJo had exceeded all our expectations and has performed faultlessly on this cruise since the alternator belt was tensioned.  She is a delight to handle and has faired well despite our coolant loss scare last month.  We are utterly in love with her now.  We are still loosing a little coolant but Beta have sent a new water tank neck and cap so we'll see if that cures it.

So what's next for us?  No idea right now, but lets just say if my boss does just one thing to pee me off when I get back to work next week ....