Fenney Stratford

Today I had a wander around the town, not much exciting but very pleasant, I took a picture of the Lock which I forgot to mention yesterday it has a Swingbridge across it in the middle of the lock, unfortunately it must have been to early in the morning and the picture is a bit distant sorry.

Fenny Stratford has numerous food outlets and a Church,

a number of pleasant looking pubs including the Red Lion facing the lock but I never ventured into any of them, not the pubs or the Church or the food outlets, I did wander on though and found myself in Bletchley of the Enigma machine fame, work to crack the German code machine was done at Bletchley Park and those who have recently seen 'The Imitation Game' with the actor whose name sounds like a dinner suit waistband may remember, but I never got that far, the town was unimpressive but I found Sainsbury right at the far end of it and bought some provisions, I also treated myself to one of those huge cups of very overpriced coffee that are so popular these days, mainly because I had walked for a couple of hours and needed to sit down without looking like a homeless person sitting on a bench.
Back at the boat the house opposite me has a long mooring and I had assumed they owned a narrowboat, well it returned this afternoon, very impressive brasswork and obviously well loved, once they were moored up safely all the removable brass bits were removed and stored and those that could not be removed were covered up, sad isn't it, if it isn't nailed down someone will steal it.

Wire......what wire?

Yesterday I walked back into Leighton Buzzard to try to locate some 10mm wire for the fridge. I went to Halfords they don’t sell it, they do sell maxi fuses, I need a 15 amp one, they had 10/20/25/30/40/60, the slot for 15amp was of course empty, I did manage to get a pack of crimp joints to join the wire when I finally obtain some. I spoke to a local boater who makes and repairs cratch covers, he assured me that Willowbridge Marina sold the stuff in their chandlery.

It was forecast to rain PM today, so at 9:30 I pulled pins and set off. I had a canoe escort

for a while but they soon left me behind, passing this boat the character in the centre amused me more than the name.

On through the countryside it began to rain, quite heavy at times, and passing some interesting boats.









When I reached the Soulbury locks, 3 of them (24-26) in close proximity to each other, there were a number of volunteers milling around and they waved me into the first lock, now last night on the phone to my sister I mentioned that the dilapidated Buckingham Branch of the canal went almost to our Aunt’s road and it was being restored, these volunteers were raising money for that restoration and as it was raining I happily threw some money into the bucket that was put before me, there were four volunteers to each lock, I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, it was all happening quite quickly and efficiently, I took this one when I had safely cleared the locks, quite a big fundraiser by the looks of things and a pub right there as well (the ‘Three Locks’ what else? ) shame about the weather hopefully tomorrow will improve for them.

At Stoke Hammond lock (23) there was a family of very inexperienced boaters entering the lock, Dad and young son on the windlass/gates, mum and daughter sat in the bow well, laughing, and a friend or brother on the tiller, I gave them some friendly pointers and Dad asked a few questions as the lock filled but he was like a cat on a hot tin roof, running around pulling on ropes and shouting instructions to his son, I told him the most important thing is ‘don’t rush and be careful’. They went on their way and I could hear him passing the information to the steerer, give them a week and they will be fine J

On thorough the showers I moored up behind a couple of boats just after Willowbridge Marina and walked back to it, of course they had 1mm/2mm/blah blah, you’ve guessed everything apart from 10mm. I went back to the boat and decided I didn’t fancy being there for long so I moved on, Fenny Lock (22) was next and as I approached it was in my favour, heading in a young lad on a boat at the water point shouted “can we share the lock?” so I said “if you are ready” as I could see a widebeam approaching from the other direction, I glanced around and saw it was the lady with the dog called ‘Monty’, (N.b. Buccaneer) and she saw me and shouted “hello Monty”, well she was a bit panicked by the now waiting widebeam and the lock is only 1ft 1” in depth so it did not take long to empty and I was out of the lock and mooring up on the visitors moorings without the chance to chat, but I shouted to ask where she was heading and she was looking for a ‘windy hole’ so she could turn around and paint the side of her boat, it’s called a winding hole or point (pronounced as in ‘the wind doth blow’ so that was correct)  so that made me smile, if I see her again I must ask her name!

So I am moored here, the lock in the distance and a family of Canada Geese, or is it Canadian Geese? I will stay tomorrow and look around Fenny Stratford.

Total today  7 miles : 5 locks

Fridge delivery day round two

So today came and went and at 3:45 I rang Ely Boat Chandlers to ask where my fridge was, “I’ll check and ring you straight back”, five minutes later “I am really sorry but it isn’t coming until Wednesday next week, we will refund you the delivery charge if you still want it or you can cancel for a full refund”. So, I was very unimpressed, but I kept calm and said I would wait, if I didn’t I would have to find another place willing to accept delivery.

Armed with that information I walked up to the pub to let them know, “oh your fridge came this morning, we were expecting you to collect it”, different staff on who did not know they should ring me, never mind, it’s here, so back to the boat get my sack barrow and collected it. Before ringing Ely I thought I would open it and check it.

Before ordering the fridge I did a fair amount of research online to make sure I got the right one at the right price and used the correct wiring etc. During that faze of what was turning out to be a very frustrating fridge changeover, there were a couple of questions I could not find definitive answers to.

I needed a fridge with the door hinged on the left as my fridge is in a corner of the galley. I checked this on both the manufacturers website and the suppliers website, both said the door was reversible.

I needed to know what fuse to use for the supply. I also needed to know what plug was on the cable from the fridge, so two queries and one which was answered by the websites (the door is reversible).

So before ordering it I asked, what fuse?  “20amp” what plug? “it does not have a plug, just a lead like your home fridge but no plug, connect it to a switch to isolate it”.

OK, so with it open, look at the back, no lead, just tails about 150mm long, so now I have a switch in the recess and no lead to reach it, I am short by about a metre, having thought the “lead” would be at least that long. I read the instructions, “use 15amp (max) fuse”, ok so I have a 20amp fuse, all going quite well, I am glad I asked the questions, no instructions on reversing the door but I can work that out myself.

So I ring Ely and the chap says “the couriers have just told me they delivered it and I was about to ring you back”, a communication problem somewhere I guess, I queried the information I was given earlier on the fuse “ the manufacturer must have changed that, it’s always been 20amp”, great, and the lead, “no, you only get a couple of tails”, great, “at least it’s with you now” my response “yes but I can’t connect it or use it because I was given duff info”.

Well I rehung the door on the other side, a very frustrating job when you are not in a good mood, and put the fridge in position, opened the door and realised that now I could not open the door to the ice box, yes the main door is reversible but not the ice box door and if you can’t open the main door to about 135 degrees then you can’t open the icebox, mine is in a corner so only opens just past 90 degrees, hmmmmm..... breathe, in....pause.....out.....pause......now swear! So no point complaining and having re-checked the Shoreline website they don’t do this fridge in a left or right door, just this ‘reversible’ one. I rehung the door back the other way, it's inconvenient but I’ll have to live with it.

I then bodged up some wires strong enough to test it and it’s in and working, tomorrow I will ‘try’ and find some wires of the correct size to extend the tails to the switch, buy a new fuse and hopefully all will be well but I already know locating the wire will be difficult, nobody seems to stock it.

It’s on test for now, it has to be left for six hours to reach the correct temperature before you stock it but it's working ok and early indications are it’s not using much power J always good to finish on a positive!

Sorry that was long and probably boring but I needed to get it off my chest.

Busy doing nothing

A lovely day today, I watched the sun rise again causing a mist rise off the canal and for most of the day it was shining here. I relented last night though and lit the stove at about 8pm, I don't know why I couldn't get warm and thought maybe I would wake up today with a cold or virus or something but luckily nothing, just me I guess.

I went for a walk along the towpath at around 10am

Shame about the wires

Come along, keep together

heading for Old Linslade, it was about a mile to the road leading to the village and I didn't expect to find much there and when I reached the road it had no pathway and was busy with traffic flying around the bends so I decided not to bother, I headed instead, back to the boat and stopped at The Globe Inn to update them on my anticipated fridge delivery for tomorrow, I then sat out in the sun with a pint of IPA for an hour and watched the occasional passing boat as the pub slowly filled up with lunchtime customers.

This afternoon was very busy with boat traffic and boats are now moored all along this section as far as I can see in both directions, canoeists practice along here as well, just singles but they travel at a fair rate and cause quite a wash, surprisingly rocking the boat more than the passing narrowboats and other craft, so this evening I sat on the stern deck and watched them for an hour, I didn't envy them, it looked hard work as I sipped a glass of red wine J

The old 9 to 5

No I haven’t gone back to work, just waiting for a delivery, I woke early today 5:30am, that’s too early but at 6am I was stood on the back deck watching the mist rise off the water listening to the birdsong and eating my cereal, it’s the best time of the day in a lot of ways. 

So what does the single man boater do while he waits, well this morning I shivered, for some reason I felt cold, it was either colder on the boat than the temperature would have me believe or I was just cold! I cleaned out and prepared the stove to light it but the sun was breaking through then disappearing behind the clouds and in the end I didn’t. 

Mid morning I had visitors, a pair of swans and five cygnets, they were all moving about quite quickly and I couldn’t get a group picture, when I thought about it I don’t think I have ever seen swans with cygnets before so another first for me. 

Then as the day passed reading my kindle, listening to music, I baked a ginger cake, exciting life isn’t it. 

At 4:45 no sign of the fridge I walked along to the pub to check with them, no nothing, I rang Ely Boat Chandlers at 5 and got their answer machine, they close at 5pm. 10 minutes later back on the boat and I was surprised to get a call back from them, someone it appears had ‘cocked up’ and my fridge had been delivered to them instead of me, so tomorrow it will be collected from them and delivered to me on Friday, annoying but as Frank Sinatra said ‘That’s Life’. So tomorrow I will go for a walk, I don’t think there’s much around here but I will wander into the pub to inform them as well and it would be rude not to have a pint while I am there.

Sorry about the cake pictures J

Thunderbolts and Lightening...........

........not very, very frightening but wet!

Yesterday I intended to move but it rained fairly constantly all morning so I stayed put. 

Today the forecast was for thunderstorms, it was sunny when I pulled pins (actually it was releasing mooring chains, pulled pins just sounds better) and set off, first stop was the service point at Leighton Buzzard.

Taking on Water beneath the trees.

I was fortunate someone was just leaving it as I arrived, so emptied cassette, emptied rubbish and took on water, then moved forward to the Tesco 2hour moorings and took on provisions, whilst in the store the heavens open with a fairly heavy but short rain shower, back on the boat and a quick cup of tea and it began raining again, tea finished it cleared and I set off to find a potential mooring outside (or near) the Globe Inn, a pub not far outside the town.

Past Wyvern Shipping a holiday boat hire company and into Leighton Lock (27) which was against me, turned the lock ( prepared it for my direction) and as I was leaving a boat approached so I did not have to close the gate, just around the bend a short distance was my target mooring and it was busy but space on the end for me, I moored up and the heavens opened again.

I had a cup of tea and waited for the rain to stop then walked along the towpath to see if this place was suitable for my fridge delivery, I was pleased to find I am only about 500 metres from the Pub car park, so back to the boat and rang Ely Boat Chandlers.

Delivery would have to be to the pub itself, the car park was not an acceptable address ?? (whats up with these people), so back to the pub where I felt obliged to purchase a pint of Abbot Ale, and the young lady behind the bar was most obliging, evidently they get asked to take in delivery’s quite often. 

Pint finished walked back to the boat and placed the order ‘online’. The heavens opened again this time with sound effects, a few minutes later Ely Boat Chandlers rang me to say delivery would be tomorrow between 9 and 5, so waited for the rain to stop again and back to the pub again to let them know, and now just wait for it to arrive.

On the way back from the pub I was just glancing at the other boats when I noticed this on the boat in front of me

No not the name, although that is good (re-read it!) they were born at the same place, possibly the same builder, 

although totally different boats there are similarities, the cratch frame is identical to mine, and other little bits look the same, if I see the owners I will ask them about it. 

Battyeford is a village in West Yorkshire near the town of Mirfield, with connections to the river Calder and The Calder and Hebble Canal how Quinquireme ended up on the Basingstoke Canal I don’t know but I guess it’s not that strange, they do, after all, move about J

So a good day, dodged all the rain and achieved my destination and purpose, fingers X’d that the fridge arrives undamaged and proves it’s worth when installed.

Total Today: 2 Miles : 1 Lock

Leighton Buzzard and Solar Update

It was always my intention to replace my 240v fridge with a 12v one, but after having fitted my solar panel I was a little optimistic that I wouldn't need to, but having tested it for a few days now I find I have to switch it off overnight or run the engine next day. The primary concern for me is if I wish to leave the boat for a day or two I don’t want to return to flat battery’s and a stinky fridge full of rotting vegetables and sour milk.

The problem is not just the fact that it’s a 240v fridge but that it is a fairly old inefficient one as well ‘B’ rated, a modern ‘A++’ or ‘A+++’ (how many plus’s will they eventually add?) would probably be as good as a 12v one but if I am replacing it anyway I think 12v is the way to go.

For those interested here’s how it all pans out (skip this bit if volts and amps are not of interest).

Getting accurate figures is difficult but this is my understanding of the situation now and what it should be after a 12v is installed.

Currently my fridge is rated at 70watts, although it is 240v stepped up from 12v via the inverter, so watts/volts=amps 70/12=5.83amps then allow for the inverter being inefficient (gets vague here I’ve read anything from 5% to 75%) say 25% =1.45amps so total draw = 7.28amps per hour, the fridge cycles on and off so assume it’s on 50% of the time, 7.28*12=87.36 amps per 24 hour period, I have 6x 110AmpHour battery’s of which roughly 30% is actually useable so 220amp hours and I don’t want that to drop below 50% charge if I can help it, so 110amp hours ( soon disappears doesn’t it). You can see now that with roughly 110Ah available 87.36 for the fridge is a very large chunk, add the water pumps, lights, maybe CD player or a bit of TV and hence the need to run the engine daily.

Ok the solar has improved it, dramatically, but what if I choose to leave the boat for a couple of cloudy days, back to that stinky fridge. So a 12v Shoreline fridge of the type I need has a rating of 27.36amp per 24 hour day ( I know they lie, but you have to accept something’s!), that’s less than a third of the draw of the 240v one and no need to have the inverter on 24hours a day (with risk of failure), so my available 110amp hours without any input from the solar should be ok to keep the fridge running for 4days, and the solar on an average day will easily replace that loss, so in theory during the summer I should never need to run the engine just to charge the battery’s and in winter probably only every third day at worst. But the Big plus is the fridge will be on 24hours every day, not as now off overnight.

Right come back all those who skipped that bit.

So having got sorted with a Post office to accept parcels I ordered the wiring bits to run a 12volt supply around to my fridge position, I also ordered a remote switch for the inverter, (at the moment to switch the inverter on/off means moving the stairs to gain access to the electrical cupboard, a bit of a pain twice daily). The wiring turned up yesterday lunchtime so it was get down to running that from the battery bay to the fridge recess in the afternoon, having completed that job I walked back to Grove Lock to see if Carl was there, he was and after a chat he suggested a pint at his ‘local’ in Leighton Buzzard, so I set off walking (about 30mins from his boat) and he came whizzing along later on his electric bike, they zip along at 14mph, we went to the Black Lion in the High Street where he was greeted as if he’d been to the Amazon not Aylesbury, anyway after a couple of pints I left them to it and returned to cook and eat, that being done by 7pm I promptly fell asleep waking at 10:15, I hate it when that happens!

Back to the post office today I collected my inverter remote and while I was there this delightful wedding car was doing a few circuits around Market Square (where the Church and Post office are located) and I couldn't resist taking a snap

 

it had a bubble machine somewhere at the rear much to the delight of the children present and a few adults J and the exhaust tailpipe was in the shape of a heart, awwww. 

Back on the boat a 10 minute job to fit the switch and a lazy day followed, apart from dusting and sweeping throughout, this afternoon Gary on the fuel boat came along so I waved him down and took the opportunity to top up, just about 50 litres but I like to keep it full when I can and give the trade boats my business, I misheard him and wrote a cheque out for £20 too much, he pointed out my error immediately, honest chap, thanks Gary.

I am staying here tomorrow and moving on Monday weather permitting to try to find a mooring with vehicle access nearby  to get the new fridge delivered, fingers crossed. 

Leighton Buzzard is a very pleasant town more ‘boaty’ than Aylesbury but not quite as much as Berkhamstead, and I have enjoyed my time here and the peaceful mooring away from the town.