Yardley Gobion

The weather has been mixed but dry all day, dark storm threatening clouds gathered and disappeared without the storm materialising to be replaced by sunshine, then more cloud, warm and humid.

I had a walk into the village, there is a sign just before the canal bridge warning boaters to beware of elderly ducks crossing, just a bit of fun trying to encourage boaters to slow down as they pass the moored boats.

A 10 minute walk uphill to get to the village, negotiating the very fast traffic on the A508 first. The village is small but scenic as you reach the top of the hill and the green forming the junction you are met with this building ‘Stone Bank 1901’

I am not sure whether the name refers to the fact that it may have been a bank originally, or is built from stone and situated on a bank? it is difficult to see whether it is now a single dwelling or flats but it does provide the owner/s with a lovely view which would be better than this picture from the higher vantage point.

Thatched properties all over the place






and a small post office which was shut although these days lucky to have one at all.

The village pub 'Coffee Pot Tavern’ beckoned and a pint of Timothy Taylors ‘Landlord’ was purchased and consumed, a pleasant pub with a good menu at reasonable prices, it was not particularly picturesque so no photo, as I left the local Clog Dancing group were setting outside the front for the entertainment of the locals, village life J

Karl has been told his tiller repair will be done tomorrow so I am probably here for another day setting off on Friday.

Moving again.

A lovely start to the day meant shorts and short sleeves, new hat and sunglasses, at 10am I set off through Cosgrove lock (21) and then to the first stop at the services where I had a 40 minute wait for someone on the water tap so I could replace the 200 odd litres I’d lost yesterday, meanwhile I emptied the rubbish and both cassettes and then tank full again I moved off to wait for Karl who was filling with water at the point before the lock, he then moved to the services to empty his rubbish etc., we finally got moving properly around 1:15, here's Karl setting off  passing me fiddling with his camera.

A lovely cruise passing beneath Cosgrove bridge

Then leaving it behind me to carry on

past the Navigation Inn with lucky people enjoying a drink in the sun

and out into the countryside,

This is me leaning Quinquireme around a tight bend (motor cycle joke) with the spire of (I believe) Hanslope church in the distance.

I followed Karl and around an hour later he pulled over for lunch, not something I usually do but I probably should, it was nice to have a cuppa and a bite unhurried, in the sun with only the wildlife for company.

When we set off again this happened, when I am on the tiller taking pictures I usually snap two or three of each shot in the hope that one will turn out as I wanted, it's quite tricky sometimes and you cannot spend ages framing the picture ignoring what the boat is doing, so I took two quick snaps of Karl going through bridge 62 and by pure good fortune (or bad I suppose) I caught the same Heron in flight, in the first picture it has just set off from the bank, although I wasn't trying I was just too late and missed it's head.

In the second it is returning, this was two or three seconds later I did not even know it was there.

We arrived at Baxter Boatfitting at Yardley Gobion a little later.

Approachin Yardley Gobion

where Karl is having his bearing replaced on the tiller, I managed to sneak the last spot on the piled moorings so on chains again, love that so easy and secure, I put a load of washing on the go and had a shower and then sat on the back deck watching the boats and having a beer.
Another good day, cruising for a few hours in the sun and only 1 lock.
Kingfisher Marina is opposite and I will have a wander around tomorrow.

Tonights Mooring








Totals today: 3 miles: 1 Lock

Water in the wrong place

The weather has been decidedly iffy, Today has been lovely but Saturday it rained most of the day on and off, Sunday was ok but not great, however, to make my life easier for moving on I decided Sunday to fill the water tank, wind (turn around) and come back to my mooring facing the opposite way in readiness for another Tesco run. The tap was a bit slow taking an hour and a quarter to fill up but I wasn’t rushing and I was very well entertained by a hire boat attempting to wind right by me (the water tap is alongside the winding point) although the chap struggled he got around (helpers poling him off bow and stern) and when he had completed, smiling, he said ‘I bet that amused you’ I told him ‘it did, but you took your time and never hit anything!’ and then to finish off as he was talking to me and not watching what he was doing he nearly rammed a moored boat, shouts of ‘reverse, reverse’ from his wife at the bow saved him.
So this morning i set off on the Tesco run back to Wolverton, I remembered where the winding point was this time, two trips to the store, one for food, one for booze, when I got back to the boat I heard the water pump running, a quick investigation turned up nothing so I isolated it for a proper look later.
Back at the moorings the same spot was empty so I moored now facing the correct way for the onward journey. Last night Karen (N.b. Avalon) had messaged me to say she had arrived close by and she was, I now knew, about ten boats behind me, so I walked back and had a cuppa and a catchup. Late this afternoon she moved on heading for Stoke Bruerne, we may pass each other again later in the week, nice to see you again Karen.

Karen heading off.

Back at the boat I discovered the pump problem was in fact a leak on a fitting into the hot water tank, and it had very kindly deposited 200 odd litres of hot water into my nice clean dry bilge, so I bailed that lot out and fixed (hopefully) the leak, a test with a hot engine tomorrow will show.
I am moving on tomorrow with Karl (N.b. Lizzie Jane) we are heading for Stoke Bruerne and at some point going to go through Blissworth Tunnel in mini convoy, for both of us it will be our first tunnel and it is a biggy 3,076 yards (third longest in the UK) so a bit of a confidence boost knowing someone else is nearby in the event (hope not) of a breakdown.

It's been hot, hot, hot.

On Tuesday I was able to paint the small section of bilge below the stern gland but the remaining section was slightly damp in one corner so I left it a bit longer.

On Wednesday it was dry enough so I painted that section.

Today I painted the support rails which I had been standing/leaning on to get to the other areas.

So this is the before and after finished job, the discoloration you can see is the dust from preparing the last sections, I will degrease the engine tomorrow and wash out the whole bay to finish it all off.

There is just one rather large fly in the ointment , on Tuesday I noticed some flaking along the edge and thought perhaps my preparation had been a bit poor at the edge knowing I had more to do(it was back in Jan/Feb), but I looked at the Coo Var website and found that despite what the 'expert' in Brewer's had told me this paint is not straight to rust, so I can expect some rust to break through over a period of time.

I was surprisingly calm, life's too short to get bothered by it all, I'll just have to keep an eye on it and touch it in when it happens, at least for now it all looks clean and rust free.

It was lovely and warm so I took a walk along to the store and got some milk, bread and Elsan.

Karl (N.b. Lizzie Jane) had moored up here on Friday and he came along and we had a chat, he looked at the engine bay and said 'you could eat your dinner off that', I don't know bout eat it but with the weather today you could cook it in there.

In the afternoon I put away a load of winter clothing (well it is June!) and got out the shorts and short sleeves. I got my legs out for the first time this year (I am not a keen shorts wearer) and sat on the towpath but boy was it hot, after about an hour I had to go inside and have a nap.

I am staying put here the weekend and probably moving on Monday or Tuesday.

Lovely Weekend

The sun was shining and I was expecting visitors on Saturday afternoon, so I pottered about during the morning doing very little.
My sister Carol and her partner Peter had booked into a nearby hotel and I had given them the postcode for a destination near the lock but told them I could meet them at the Barley Mow if it was easier for the mini-cab, when Carol rang to say they were leaving the hotel and would meet me at the pub I set off and when they arrived they told me the driver had taken them to the wrong pub saying he thought the name had changed recently! luckily Peter checked in the pub and got the direction back to the correct one, so we walked back to the boat and we sat on the back deck enjoying a cup of tea and watching the other boats pass by in the sunshine, we had booked a table at the Barley Mow and had a very nice evening and a good meal, they got a cab back to the hotel and I walked back to the boat watching the bats flying over the water.

On Sunday morning they returned and Peter drove us on the second part of the weekend which was a visit to my Aunt's in Old Stratford, just a couple of miles away, we had lunch with my Aunt and cousin and spent an enjoyable few hours chatting and catching up, they dropped me back at the boat late in the afternoon and we said our goodbyes, it was a lovely weekend, thank you both for your company.

Today I decided to stay and try to get the engine bay painting finished, I dried out the two sections that are left to paint but it wasn't warm enough to dry it completely so I will have another look tomorrow.

In the afternoon I walked along the towpath to get some milk and started chatting to another boater about our various exploits and discussing boaty things, as it was nearing 5pm and I didn't know what time the store shut I said I better get going to get my milk and he said I've got two pints you can have, he'd bought it for an expected visit today which had been cancelled so he gave it to me, in my experience so far boaters are such nice people, I can't imagine stopping to talk to someone I'd never met before where I used to live and getting a similar response or even any response!

I was catching up on other blogs tonight and was delighted to see that Les had given me a mention in his blog here NB Valerie, I think back four or five years ago when I started reading his blog and thinking how nice a life it sounded and now not only am I here doing it but I have met him and Jaqueline and I have a bit part in his blog J

Engine bay repaint.... phase 4...

.....I think.
When I looked out of the window this morning it was raining so I thought 'that's put the kibosh on painting then' I thought the water would have got in the bay and I'd have to leave it, but the sun came out and about 10 o'clock I lifted the access cover and was surprised to find it was still dry.
Now if I ever say I'm going to paint the engine bay again someone either needs to come and give me a good slap or come and remove the engine first!
I got it done, as best I could, removing the rust and then applying two coats of Coo-Var, by about 3pm I was finished, and so was the painting in this section, there are two more sections to do and the bit underneath the hot water storage tank, whether I will ever complete this marathon awkward project is anybody's guess.

Partially cleaned

Another bit done

This is the hole I am working in, and that great big lump in the middle is the the engine, this was before I started any of it.                                                                                                





<<<<<<< Today I painted this bit here.












And this is it after today.

And I have put these two pictures up to remind myself it is worth it!

A quick look at Cosgrove

Last night I slept badly but because of that I didn’t rise from my bed until 8:45 this morning, the sun was shining and my first thought was ‘typical, probably missed a lovely sunrise.’
Breakfast sorted I decided to have a look around not sure where I was going as I hadn’t bothered with Google maps or anything else, I just headed off down the towpath. Past the lock and service point I saw a sign saying Horse Tunnel 1/4 mile pointing down some steps, so I thought I’d have a look, this is what I saw

It wasn’t 1/4 mile away it was at the bottom of the steps
The tunnel passes under the canal so you can get to the pub easier (amongst other things), perhaps years ago they stabled horses there, I don’t know, anyway it was very low, you would need to be a small horse or possibly a sheep.
Venturing on through the tunnel I found the Barley Mow but it was a bit early to visit so I’ll pop back another time, it looked quite nice but a delivery lorry prevented me from getting a picture, heading for the villiage I found my self going back over the canal via this lovely looking bridge

and then having walked down onto the towpath to get the picture I decided I’d carry on back to the boat, I wasn’t really in a walking mood still feeling rather tired.
Back at the boat the temperature had risen quite a bit and I have been waiting for a day like this to try and dry the engine bay out and continue where I left off with the painting and at the moment the boat is resting on the bottom leaning just enough to assist in keeping one of the three areas I need to paint free of water, so I lifted the engine cover and bailed out the water and sludge and left the cover off for it to dry, hoping that tomorrow the weather will stay dry and I can paint that section, the milk bottle is there to catch the drips from the hot water tank expansion.

It has been a lovely day but I am feeling very sluggish, I hope I perk up tomorrow.
I will have another wander and venture into the village, I am here for a while.