Continuing South.....

...... and an unusual gongoozler.

With my engine charging situation remedied thanks to Ed Boden I set off on Thursday to continue  coddiwompling south at around 9:15, it was a beautiful bright morning as I passed through Leighton lock (27) and made for the Tesco moorings at Leighton Buzzard.

Two trips to the store to stock up with groceries and a trip to the petrol station for some fuel for my generator and I was heading off again.

Just before Grove lock who should poke his head up from an engine hole but Ed Boden, small world, he walked back to his van while I was dealing with the lock and asked if all was well, that’s not bad PR ;-)

Off again passing Grove lock Marina

At Church lock it looked as if a boat was ‘loose’ just ahead but when I got there it wasn’t, just moored on a bend the other side of the lock.

It was a lovely day to be cruising on the canal although I seemed to be alone, I didn’t pass another boat on the move at all.

The Whipsnade lion (on zoom) looked as though he could do with some attention, a coat of white paint, I only just spotted him in the distance as it almost blended into the surrounding greenery.

I was tempted to moor up between Slapton and Ivinghoe Locks, there was plenty of nice room but a fair bit of it was in the shade so I decided to press on.

More beautiful views

and just before the first Seabrook lock I spotted this chap having a good old look at what I was up to from his raised vantage point!

 I made the decision to stop where I was on the journey northwards, between lock 36 and the swing bridge but on arriving at the lock I could see the moorings ahead looked fairly busy so I backed up a bit and moored before the lock, a nice quiet spot with the sun on the solar panel and just me for company, lovely.

On Friday I emptied the wardrobe (again) and began priming the new wood and then undercoating all the inside which I think I will just paint in white gloss for brightness.

Today I was getting ready to move on and having a cuppa on the stern deck when a boat came through lock 36 ahead, they left a gate open for me assuming I was about to move off, so I thought I had better take advantage and set off, it was only 8:30 though!

So off through the ready lock and on to the swing bridge, I decided to try a new method as there were no pedestrians to open it for me, so  I edged into the towpath just before the bridge and tied the bow on a longish length of rope to the bridge railings nearest the towpath, I then crossed the bridge and pushed it open which pulled my bow over and forward with it and enabled me to hop back on at the bow, walk along the gunnel and cruise though (having untied my rope first ! ), I then reversed back to the offside past the bridge and hopped off and closed it, job done, it worked quite well, the only issue was keeping the bow from striking the bridge as it moved forward and over but with this bridge it was quite simple to fend the boat off, I will see if it works as well on other bridges.

Job done and I'm happy.

Past Cooks Wharf I was now heading for the Marsworth locks (37-45), nine in all, and as I was in no rush I was enjoying the calm before reaching them.

My luck was in at the first one, a boat was about to come down but seeing me and with the lock in my favour the crew waved me in and told me to stay aboard while they locked me through, lovely.

At the next lock a Canal & River trust employee was adjusting water levels so he set the lock for me and helped me through that one, what a nice start to the flight!

Arriving at bridge 130 just before Marsworth junction, I met Jules Fuels coming the other way, they came through the bridge first and left me plenty of room to slide past before moving across to service a boat with fuel.

I was through the junction and starting up the flight proper and at lock 40 a boat was just leaving so I slowed down and waited when who should poke his head up out of the boat alongside, yes Ed Boden again, no getting away from him now!

Ed's in the boat alongside me.

The locks came thick and fast.

With no other boats or help around it was just a steady relaxing climb up the locks, and by around midday I had reached the Top Lock.

My mooring awaited as I want to watch the Six Nations England game this afternoon, hope I have a signal or I may have to watch it in the pub L

A lovely end to a tiring but pleasant morning's cruise.

Totals this post: 10.5 miles : 19 locks : 1 moveable bridge

Charging update

After a fairly in depth analysis of my charging system the fault was found to be a short on a small live cable from the alternator, it had nothing to do with my using the hoover at the same time as the washing machine, purely coincidental.

Pleasing to have found it and equally pleasing to know it was not due to my stupidity 😀

More trials and tribulations.

I left my Giffard Park mooring on the 28^th February and cruised back to Fenny Stratford, it was bright and dry but decidedly chilly, I found out after about an hour’s cruising that I wasn’t properly dressed for the cold but I pressed on.

I liked the front window arrangement on this boat.

Passing beneath the many bridges around Milton Keynes.

Not a view motorists above get to see.

Real monstrosity's some of them. 

Before arriving back at the visitors mooring I texted Karl to inquire of the mooring situation, he replied that the space I'd vacated two days before was still empty so I pulled in there keen to get below and get warmed up!

I intended to move on Thursday 2^nd March but it was very blowy so I stayed put and did some shopping instead, Friday it was raining so again the decision was made to stay and I walked to Travis Perkins and bought some more wood making a start on the wardrobe framing to eventually carry a pair of sliding doors.

Saturday it all looked much brighter so having had a final coffee with Karl and said our goodbyes I headed off through the lock to the service point where I did the usual empty and fill.

This new boat had a familiar name, it will probably look better once it's sign written.

It was a pleasant morning cruising along.

By midday I was getting hungry so I looked for a suitable stop and pulled over for lunch, while I was there I put a load in the washing machine, all was good with the world.

Lunch stop mooring....

...that became a longer stay.

After lunch I decided as it was so nice I would stay and carry on with my wardrobe, I began by moving all the clothes and dismantling what there was to allow me to sand all the surfaces within the wardrobe, the engine was running still because I was using the washing machine and the batteries were showing 100% charge, I used my palm sander (240v) to do the sanding and then got the hoover out (240v) to tidy up a bit of the dust, I then carried on with making up the frame, all seemed to be going reasonably well, once the washing load was finished I switched off the inverter and put the hoover and sander away, I glanced at the battery monitor and was surprised to see the reading was now 86% but assumed it was just because of the useage of hoover etc. Half an hour later I looked again and it was still 86%, damn, that’s not right, for some reason it wasn’t charging.

The joys of boatlife and batteries! Being an expert (not) I started investigating, all the little lights seemed to be glowing in the correct colours as they should be, next checked the alternator, that ‘seemed’ ok, next check the batteries, yep big black things all looking fine, now begin checking voltages, I don’t know much about electrics but I do know you should have the same voltage going in and coming out of a fuse, I have 2no. 100amp fuses in line from the two alternators, one was ok (starter battery charging) one was blown (domestic battery charging), I dunno how but I presumed I had overloaded it!

The upshot of this was no domestic battery charging, luckily I have a generator for just this eventuality, so that was put to use, the downside was I only had about 2litres of petrol and no service station for miles around, oh well can’t be clever about everything.

So methinks no wasting ‘lecky, no TV, no radio, no laptop, conserve what I have for lights,pumps and fridge, good job I have a Kindle and a wine box and thanks to my foresight clean clothes once they’ve dried!

Sunday after a couple of phone calls I headed off to buy a replacement fuse, the nearest place was 4 miles away so the bike was bought back into service, fuse obtained and heading back a sharp right turn downhill on a slippery surface saw me end up on the ground, being me I did what I always do in these situations, I leapt back up, brushed myself down and checked the bike for damage all in the space of a few seconds, 'nothing to see here people, it was intentional, just testing my safety equipment', and rode off again,  half a mile further on I noticed blood dripping from my hand onto my jeans, back on the boat I cleaned myself up, two grazed palms with a nice triangular flap of skin on the blood leaking left hand, a small graze on the chin and a large dent in my self esteem. The next day lots of aches but I’ll survive.

I fitted the fuse and..... it promptly blew again, quite an efficient way to dispose of £10 (£10! I know, shocking, but it is a big fuse) but proving it was not just the fuse, time to call upon an expert!

I phoned a marine electrician I had met before but being Sunday I had to leave an answer phone message.

Yesterday I waited till 9:30 but got no response to the message so I phoned a well known mobile marine engineer who was also more local, answer phone again so another message.

I decided to move further South, 3 reasons, 1: nearer my eventual destination for this trip, 2: nearer a petrol station and 3 good access for the engineer.

The cruise itself was pleasant enough and dealing with Stoke Hammond lock (23) no problem apart from having to clear vegetation debris from behind the gate to allow it to open fully.

Next came the flight of 3 Soulbury locks with the Three Locks pub alongside.

Bottom lock of three Soulbury Locks, pub adjacent.

There was a single hander coming down already in the middle lock and he had set the bottom lock for himself so I waited for him and locked him through, that also meant the middle lock was ready for me with one gate left open, at the top lock some debris prevented the bottom gates closing so I had to mess about before eventually clearing that and then continuing on.

Nice artwork.

I reached my stop just beyond The Globe pub, leaving a good space behind me in case I needed to run the generator and looking for a gap in the trees to allow the solar panel a good line of sight to the Sun.

Current mooring:

During the afternoon the solar panel managed to get the domestic battery bank charged so I was happy again, but still conserving power by not using anything unless absolutely necessary, in the late afternoon the local engineer rang me and arranged to visit on Wednesday pm.

Today I carried on with the wardrobe, finishing off all the framework and preparation apart from the doors (I have to source sliding gear), so it is ready for painting, when I get the paint!

The sun has been very warm and again the solar panel has charged the batteries, with the hope of a repair tomorrow I felt confident to fire up the laptop and update the blog :-)

Sorry it was such a long post, needs must though.

Time for a catch up.

I’ve been a bit lax with the blog of late, partly due to a weakish internet signal and partly due to me just not sitting down to do it.

We left our mooring at the bottom of the three locks on Tuesday 21^st but the night before I looked out of my side hatch to see this.

I assumed someone was late taking down the Xmas lights but looking at it next day I think it was just for illuminating the stern of the residential moored boat, not a great pic but in reality it looked very nice.

We cruised through open countryside making our way towards Fenny Stratford with me leading the way.

Arriving at Stoke Hammond lock I was pleased to see a gate open and then realised it was being worked on by a couple of C&RT employees,  I held back a bit but they waved me in, Karl followed, there was a slight delay while they adjusted the collar on one gate to stop it wobbling around and once they had finished we went on out way.

Passing another life boat home.

And reaching the outskirts of Milton Keynes, you know you are getting close when the Poplar trees start to appear in long straight lines along the towpath.

Fenny Stratford lock (22) with its swing bridge across the centre and the Red Lion pub alongside heralded our arrival at our destination and there was a lovely 2 boat length of visitor mooring just beyond the lock.

We moored up, had coffee and another day was done.

Mooring:

I had intended to stay just until Thursday but storm Doris had other ideas and in the end I stayed until this morning, passing the time with a visit to the pub, and some work on the boat.

I walked to Travis Perkins and bought some timber and constructed a rack to go in the wardrobe for Sweaters, T shirts, socks and pants (that is man knickers not trousers to my American readers, I think), shoes below. I also moved the shower waste pump which was under the bed and was now exposed just outside the wardrobe, so with alterations done it is now inside the wardrobe and easily accessible, before I had to remove the mattress from the bed to get access to clean the filter, a regular maintenance item.

Karl needed to adjust his stern gland (it prevents water entering the bilge where the propeller shaft enters the boat) but on lifting his engine cover he found his bilge pump had ceased working, so a replacement was sourced and obtained and I helped him fit it, all is good now.

This morning I said Cheerio (for now) to Karl and headed off alone, I wanted to get rid of some more debris from the bedroom (old dismantled mattress etc.) fill with water and then wind (turn around) and I knew that the service point at Giffard Park was ideal for this.

You can tell where the pubs are, little clutches of boats always nearby.

C&RT had sent out about a dozen ‘tree down’ notices for the GU canal thanks to storm Doris and cleared and re-opened the canal before I left, but there was still evidence of the damage, debris in the water and a couple of trees still partially blocking the canal.

I don’t know if this boat was lucky to be missed or if he had moored up behind it after it fell.

It was very breezy still especially passing the Campbell and Willen Parks in Milton Keynes, although the children seemed to be enjoying the rides at Gullivers Land which is a small theme park for younger adventurers.

Arriving at the service point there was a boat in the middle of the two spaces but when I slowed and asked how long he would be he offered to pull back to allow me in, the water pressure is very slow so it was almost an 1½ hours later before I could head off and wind coming back to moor up in time to watch England play Italy in the 6 Nations Rugby, lovely jubley.

Tonights breezy mooring:

Totals this post: 11 miles: two locks: 1 moveable bridge

An even shorter run....

... but with some locks.

Karl was in need of water and wanted to move to the bottom of the 3 locks where the tap is situated.

Yesterday fitted in with my schedule of charging the batteries every alternate day incorporating this with a move when appropriate.

It was 11am before we were ready to set off on this epic voyage J

I went ahead and set the first lock and after both boats were in and the gates closed left Karl to deal with emptying the lock while I walked ahead to set the next one, the three locks here have no landing facility between them so you have to prepare the one ahead to allow you to leave one lock and enter the next without stopping in the pound between them.

With all the walking and lock work and chatting to gongoozlers I forgot to take any pictures.

Karl left the bottom lock first and moved onto the water point while I closed up and then moved ahead to find a mooring leaving the first mooring near the tap free for Karl to use when he had sorted his water needs.

After mooring I needed to run the engine for a couple more hours (the short hop wasn’t enough) to charge fully and later in the afternoon we strolled back up to the Three Locks Inn to quench our thirst after the exertions of the trip down.

Current Mooring:

That's Karl on the water point, left of picture.

Totals: ½ mile : 3 locks

This morning I decided to take a walk into Stoke Hammond for bread and milk and to stretch my legs, half a mile along the towpath then off down the country lane for a further half mile.

Not much traffic on my route to the village.

Stoke Hammond is a small thankful village.

The reason it is a thankful village

With a very unappealing looking pub, to me, (any pub displaying “Live Sport” is like displaying “Do Not Enter”)

But a very handy village shop.

I have a bit of time to kill before winding (turning around) and heading back again to where I moored over Christmas, more family events mean it looks as though the first half of 2017 is going to be spent travelling up and down this section of the Grand Union canal to enable easier travel back to Surrey, I can’t go by another route because winter stoppages ahead prevent it.

I have began stripping out the bedroom in preparation for the re-fit (as yet still undecided what it will be like), there’s lots of old MDF and timber to slowly dispose of and two halves of mattress which made up the bed, I disassembled one half (quite a chore) and disposed of that, but there’s no rush so at the moment it looks like a workshop, but I will get it done someday!

Now what to do this afternoon, oh yes, wash the floors....mmmm.....maybe.