Destination Leighton Buzzard.......

......... or just before it.

What a lovely day, I should be not moving taking advantage of the sun to charge the battery’s but taken to its conclusion that would mean cruising on dull or rainy days,  nah not doing that, I set off around 9:30 passed the Dunstable and district boat club’s moorings and clubhouse 

Dunstable and district moorings

Through here is the swingbridge

and on towards Grebe swingbridge, it looked a bit tricky but as luck would have it a boater walking his dog waved me on and opened and closed it for me, lovely man.

On towards lock 36 and there was someone in it, for a moment it looked as though they had seen me but were ignoring me but then the lady walked around and opened the other gate for me, leaving the lock I said I would close the gates, they were fairly elderly and I thought it would be nice as they had waited for me, when I approached the next lock they had caught up with another boat and were sharing the lock with them, so my good deed cost me dearly, still onwards and it was glorious sunshine, through locks 34-32 and sight of the Whipsnade lion

carved into the hillside as an advert for the zoo which I think is now gone.  At lock 31 another single hander  was just coming into the lock so I told him to stay aboard if he was happy and worked him through, my good deed this time was repaid as a Pair arrived waiting to go up so they helped me and as I left I didn’t have to close the gates, this was fortunate as it was a difficult landing with the steps sideways so I would have needed to tie up and go back, something I avoid where possible now, I have worked out that if allow my boat to exit the lock very slowly and hop off as the stern passes the gates (walking along the gunnel to exit the boat ) I can then close the gate and hop back on just as my stern reaches the bottom of the steps, not one to try in windy conditions possibly but it don’t half save a lot of walking and work.

Somewhere along the way I passed this place advertising ‘Stay in a Wigwam’ it had two of these little buildings but no sign of any wigwams and no price, it looked quite nice though. 

Evidently this section of the canal is known to ‘boatmen’ as The Fields and it was obvious why, fields everywhere but there were some lovely views too.

After Lock 29 I passed this field where most of the lambs were black, this one was thirsty.

As I approached Grove Lock (29) I saw Carl (N.b. Lizzie Jane) moored and he was chatting to the mooring warden, I intended to moor up just after the lock and shouted as much to him, but after going through the lock there were no suitable moorings so I continued on and have stopped opposite Waterside Park about a mile from Leighton Buzzard, it’s a bit far to walk back to see Carl but he has an electric bike so he may pop along this way.

Tomorrow I will walk into town and have a look around, I need to arrange for a small parcel delivery as well as get some provisions .

Tonights Mooring

Todays Totals: 6 Miles : 9 Locks : 1 Swingbridge.

Back to Marsworth and Beyond

I set off from Wilstone at 9am this morning it was cloudy but warm and very little wind, I had 8 locks to do before I reached the Grand Union mainline again. The first three (8,7 and 6)have to be left empty so as I am going uphill that means walking back to the bottom gates when you are finished and opening a paddle, more time obviously and more walking, but I have developed a fairly good system now for the single locks so it was no real hassle, at lock 5 I met a boat coming the other way so I was able to go straight out leaving the top gate open for them and as I passed the steerer told me there was a boat following so the next lock would be in my favour, I slowed down to a crawl so that they would have time to get through the lock and see me approaching, lovely, straight into lock 4, lock 3 was also in my favour so all was good, then I got to the staircase of locks, 2 and 1, as I am going uphill the bottom lock needs to be empty and the top lock full but the boat who I had past had come down so that meant both locks were empty, again more walking to fill the top lock first but all went well and the onlookers just stood and watched.

In the lower lock looking at the gates to the upper lock

I already had a mooring site in mind but it was all full so I carried on and topped up with water at the service point and then moving further, passing this nice thatched cottage, until I found a mooring spot. I made a cup of tea and was very pleased with my efforts when suddenly the chap in the boat opposite me (a residential moorer) decided now would a good time to cut up some firewood, after an hour of listening to his chopsaw I decided to move on a bit further, so down the two Marsworth  locks and I re-moored in a nice more rural spot with lambs and sheep as neighbours. 

Then I heard this strange noise coming from the fridge so I went to investigate but all was well, it was just a cold beer calling me :-)

The solar panel seems to be performing quite well although it has been mostly cloudy, without it I was only running the fridge through the inverter (it’s a 240 volt fridge) for 3 or 4 hours every other day to conserve battery power and therefore only needing to run the engine every other day, so far with the panel it looks like I can have the fridge on 24/7 and still only need to run the engine every other day, although I am hoping as the sun shines more that should improve even more, so those beers should be cooler, and the food should last longer meaning I won’t have to try to shop daily for meat and other perishables.

Views from the side hatch.

Totals today: 3 miles : 10 Locks

Moving on up

I woke fairly early at around 6am, I don’t know what’s happened to those 8am awakenings, might be something to do with the afternoon naps J the weather was overcast but not windy. At 7:30 I did a couple of strolls around Aylesbury theatre to the re-cycling bins and did my bit to save the planet. Started the engine at 7:50 and at 8am moved about 100 yards across to the service point to empty the loo, then moved another 500 yards to the water point, there are three water points at Aylesbury, the one outside the service point and the next one along have extremely low flow, I topped up a little bit sometime last week and I reckon the flow is about 100 litres an hour, I have a 900 litre tank, do the math. The third point I discovered has a reasonable flow and by 9:30 I was full to the brim, next stop Tesco one lock further along, moored right outside and topped up supplies, checked the solar panel was still on the roof and functioning and it was although so cloudy I wasn’t getting a lot of the free stuff. The return journey towards the Grand Union doesn’t give me much to say, it was the same as coming down the arm only I was facing the other way and going up the arm. All proceeded well until I reached Lock 12 again, I could not budge the gate, I tried pushing it with the boat in gear but that didn’t work either, I have since found out I was being to gentle and I needed to give it a bit of a bump, anyway as luck would have it the only boat I’ve seen today moving in the opposite direction turned up and I was able again to ask for assistance which was willingly supplied.

I passed Tim and Margaret (N.b. Mollie) who were moored up, slowing down to have quick chat, they are off to London and will probably pass me later. Then as I got to lock 10 I recognised the boat in front of me, I’d also caught up with Carl (N.b Lizzie Jane) , he got through the lock before I reached it but at the next lock I caught him before he had finished, he was stopping at Wilstone as was I, so after mooring up, we had a chat and arranged to go for a drink and a bite to eat, Carl had no food on board despite having past Tesco, he refuses to shop there! I shop anywhere when supplies are low.

So showered and refreshed we walked up to the Half Moon, you remember, famous for its association with the last witch hunt in England, and had a very enjoyable couple of hours discussing the problems of the world, and I had Duck in black bean sauce with stir fry which was lovely accompanied by a couple of pints of Doombar.

I may well stay here the weekend I have TV on BBC only again, not had anything for the last 16 days or so, and Formula 1 is on.

Just one picture, no shortage of water flowing down the arm, most of the locks were like this.

Totals : 5 Miles : 8 Locks

I have solar power.

So I finished the painting of the roof on Monday, I spent the evening (having already spent many many hours before) making the final decision on the solar panels and positioning, I changed my mind completely at the final moment so instead of having 2 x 150watt panels, one near the bow and one near the stern, I decided on one larger 240watt high efficiency panel towards the stern butting up against the entrance hatch, a 20amp MPPT controller and all the cables necessary from Midsummer Energy Ltd. Next morning I rang them and discussed delivery options and was very pleasantly surprised to find they could make up the cables with fuse and terminal fittings and deliver next day! The only problem was they needed a definite postcode delivery address and would not accept them texting or ringing me when they were near and me guiding them to where I actually was, so the suggestion was a post office, who should accept parcels. Before placing the order I set off to the local post office and the answer was a definite ‘not unless it’s Parcel Force and only Parcel Force’, so not very helpful, on the way back to the boat I thought I’d be cheeky and ask in the Travel Lodge which is right at the basin where I am moored, they could not have been more helpful, “no problem, here’s our address and postcode, leave your phone number and I will put the details in the diary so everyone on duty behind the desk will know’, a result, no long walk from town carrying a very large fragile solar panel in the wind, well done Travel Lodge. I ordered it all about 11am and spent the afternoon buying wood for the mounting box and sourcing aluminium, Screwfix had just what I needed but next day collection after 12am so I ordered that as well. Wednesday after a trip to the launderette I started making the box, I couldn't do too much until I had the panel to hand, at 12am I went to Screwfix which is the other side of town, about an hour’s round trip on foot. At 3:30 Travel lodge rang to say my parcels had arrived so I collected them and then worked til 9pm finishing the mounting box. Today a couple of quick calls to Midsummer to clarify a couple of points, again very helpful and then fixed it all wired it up and was powered up getting free (apart from the huge outlay costs) energy by about midday. Today is the first day that without running my engine I have ended the day with more charge in the battery’s than I started with, and it wasn't very sunny. Hoorah !! everyone loves a ‘freebie’.

Tilted position (tilts both ways left or right)

So having got my solar panel a lot quicker than I anticipated fitting it meant I have overstayed my 14 days, hopefully no-one will notice a day or two. I will be moving tomorrow rain or shine. The downside to the panel (at the moment) is that I haven’t sat still all afternoon, jumping up and down like a cat on a hot tin roof to see how many volts and amps was I getting, what’s the state of charge and now I am waiting to see when it will stop performing as the sun sets!

Today also my remaining neighbors both left me, Tim and Margaret (N.b. Mollie) left quite early and I was busy wiring up so never thought to get my camera after having said goodbye, then a bit later Carl (N.b. Lizzie Jane) made his escape, the pontoons are now empty apart from Quinquireme.

It's finished.....

.....after hours of de-rusting, sanding, filling, priming and undercoating finally I got the second gloss coat on the roof.

As Was

Some Progress

The weather has been fairly kind, dodged a few showers, missed one day through rain, and on yesterday I got caught out ¾ of the way through the middle panel when the heavens opened so I had to repaint that one but reached my goal to get it done while I was here at Aylesbury.

A Bit More Progress

Standing at the stern looking forward Quinquireme looks like a different boat, it was a shame to get rid of the all one colour look, I thought that was quite classy, but the lighter coloured roof should keep the boat a bit cooler inside through the summer by reflecting some of the heat away, that’s the theory anyway, and I think the new colour scheme looks great. So the next challenge is to decide on the solar panels, purchase and fit them. A word of warning to any potential boaters considering painting their boat, do not use ordinary masking tape, it lifts the paint from the existing surfaces very easily, I have learnt another lesson there, too late but noted for the next stage, use a low tack tape! So I will now wait a day or two for it to harden a bit before walking on it, I might be wearing slippers for the first few days or possibly bow hauling the boat (pulling it along by rope) to avoid walking on my nice new shiny roof, how will I force myself to take that first step on it.

The Weekend

Well the weather was against me on Saturday so I didn't progress the painting at all; on Sunday I was delighted to have a visit from my sister Carol and her partner Peter.

After a cup of tea and a chat Peter had a look around the boat and then we had a wander into town where there were Morris dancers
performing in the Market square, I hadn't taken my camera, which may please you, and we did not hang around to watch as we were looking for somewhere to eat. We settled on The Kings Head just off the square and spent an hour or two in very pleasant surroundings and the food was good too, one strange thing was the fact that you needed a code to get access to the toilet as they were situated in the courtyard which was also a walk through for the public, the owners obviously objected to non customers using their facilities, hence the code, a first for me. We went back to the boat for a bit more of a chat and a cup of tea and then said our goodbyes, thank you for a lovely day Carol and Peter.

Carol had told me that one of my cousins Pauline who lives in New Zealand was on Facebook so later in the evening I tracked her down and we had a chat by messenger, it was lovely to catch up a bit because we haven’t seen each other or talked for quite a few years, but hopefully we will keep in touch a bit more now, if you are reading this Pauline I hope you had a good Anzac day.

Today the weather has been ok so it was more painting, I am progressing and hopefully will get it finished before I am forced to move on, weather permitting, pictures on completion.

Painting.....again

Just a quick update really, I have decided that while I am at Aylesbury with a pontoon to walk on and work from and no overhanging trees I am going to try to get the roof painting finished, so I have been out and bought all I need to complete the job, I spent the best part of today removing rust from the section alongside the chimney which was quite deep and awkward and then filling with epoxy filler and trying to get a reasonably smooth finish back, I am hoping tomorrow will see the end of the preparation and paining proper can start Sunday.....hopefully it will stay dry and not too windy.