Spot the blogger.....

.....soon to be two I understand.

Gonna evening dream when I get home....

I can't day dream as right now I don't have the time. OK so I am writing this before I leave work but I have been here getting close to 10 hours already...

I always get post boat blues after being on board and we had such a great long weekend, cruising in the autumn is so exceptionally good, anyone who has done it knows why and if you haven't don't bother starting now ;-)

Anyhow tonight I am going to drink wine and dream of not working and being busy like Bruce & Heth and no doubt all you other lucky (or brave) live-a-boards/retirees. I do not wish to seem disrespectful, especially as both are making homes in my neck of the woods, but I'd like your type of busy right now.

Take care and please don't take this post too seriously, I won't and will be back at work in the morning !!

PS I ended my weekend cruise yesterday with a quick rod and reel experience, a little bread saw me lift our a really great Chubb from about 6 inched from 'Don't Panic's' counter. It never ceases to amaze me the quality of the fish in the T&M. But Dave needs to know about the bailiffs at Willington....

A tale of two directions....

Last night the weather men could not make up their minds on the weather for the midlands. So it was when we woke to a perfect morning one way was sun the other was mist. We had both as we cruised to the east to Stenson in glorious sun then winded and headed back to the mist.....





Our mooring last night




Looking back to the gloom as we head towards Stenson

We stopped off at Mercia to get a few supplies, we shopped at the trading post to support them rather than stop in Willington itself. We saw Sanity again in her new spot then drooled over a 90k Hudson. I took to the galley to prepare pasta as Rachel cruised us out of Willington.

As we passed Shobnall I saw Granny Buttons in the services but no sign of Andrew, Rachel alerted me to him as I was walking on with Leia and we had a brief chat, always good to see and talk to Andrew.

Now we are at Branston water parks fire lit food cooking beer being consumed....


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Location:Branston

Thank you for not boating (well until after dark for a few)

Took a trip out to Willington today and met....... one boat, a Shakespeare hire boat just before we moored up. That's just short of 6 hours of cruising and only one boat , it was great, we passed Batron turns full of boats and no doubt Mercia is the same all safely moored up so we can enjoy the canal to ourselves. Having moored up just before it got dark about 2 hours later we were passed by three boats, cruising in complete darkness. The last obviously winded in Willington as he was the same boat shining a powerful torch into the margins - what he was looking for I'm not sure.

The water is so clear as there is no traffic, we saw four pike, the last one was well over 15 pounds and about two foot long, a real canal monster. We also saw a kingfisher as well as a cormorant ( don't they stay underwater a long time)

Just a great cruise so thank you to all those boaters who stayed put, plus BW for the Stenson stoppage ;-)

Nev

Ps if you can donate tonight to Children in need please do so, let's show we still have a sense of balance in this country supporting those who need our help, however tight finances are.

Willington walk

It was a really dull morning So the house got cleaned the loft sorted and food shopping done then we took a nice walk from Willington to Finden and back. The sun was out now and there were quite a few like minded souls doing the same thing.








There was one boat moving between the stoppages and it sounded just great in the dusk .....

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Privatisation.....

...not the canals, as we know they are going to be a charity. This is about hospital care... clicky here

It is the final straw I feel in the drive for profit over performance. Sure they will turn it around but it will come at the cost to the patient, and profit will be taken. I fully object to poorly run public services, I am in the semi public service now (Education) but with correct management and focus services can be provided that deliver value for money. If it goes private there has to be an element of profit that should otherwise have been used for the care of the patient.

My overriding concern is as this government put our last key service to the market it will eventually be run by foreign companies that certainly have the profit imperative.

Ultimately I feel ashamed my generation has squandered an opportunity to do better and my children will reap the harvest of austerity that is sure to come. I feel we will have a decade or even a generation of which there will be little reward other than hard work and pressure to survive financially and therefore socially.

Not much of a legacy really is it?

Nev

PS I did say it was not all about canals in my title ;-)

Dry as a bone

We were aboard the weekend of the 16th October and took a walk up to Kings Bromley with a picnic. Picnicing in the middle of October seems a little surreal but so is the weather.

The ground was bone dry - dusty even as can be seen in this pic....

The walk from Kings Bromly to Woodend Lock  is a real favorite.  These are our treasured weekend moorings as they are so peaceful, little pedestrian traffic makes it from Fradley this far so even more tranquility.

 Nev

Nev's got wood... !

Ok, sorry it is a little inappropriate title but I could not resist it.

This was a problem tree to me and I blogged about it here....clicky

My intention was to cut the rolls down I acquired and I recently took the chainsaw to them to make this nice looking pile...

They are now undercover drying some more ready to burn over winter. It will allow me to burn wood during the day and then use my coal for overnight warmth.

I feel better that the tree is going to be put to good use. It also has justified my purchase some time ago of the electric chainsaw. I'd prefer a petrol model but this one sorted some large logs working with the genny.

Nev

Chertsey makes it past Fradley - just

I was walking Leia this morning when I heard the thumping engine sound of a boat going into Common lock. It soon became apparent it was Chertsey making a dash (long dash) from the tidal Trent to Stretton via an engine repair and the Fradley stoppages tomorrow, Monday.

I introduced myself and had a chat with Hairy Neil and Paul who were the crew for the trip. It seems they has got involved with beer at pubs in Barton Under Needwood culminating in a late night at the Waterfront at Barton Turns marina.

They were remarkably fresh for their 1.30am bedtime ! I took Leia back to the boat setting Hunts for them, then got my windlass and helped lock them through Fradley.

So Sarah, the have cleared Fradley by about 7 hours as they left Shadehouse at 10am its a clear run to Stretton for the pairing with the butty.

It was good to see and hear such a fine boat..... temped you bet !

Chertsey passing Hunts lock waiting for Keepers

Out of Shadehouse with all the stoppage equipment sitting waiting until tomorrow....just in time, well done Neil and Paul

Free energy (ish)

There has been a rash of solar panel installs along our moorings. I had been mulling over the benefits for some while. I can understand a liveaboards opting for them but for  a casual use boat like ours??

One thing that was getting to me was having to run the engine before we left so the batteries were topped up, normally after our last night aboard. This just seemed to waste diesel as well as the lovely tank of hot water ! So I got to thinking how good it would be if we could walk away from Waterlily after a nights use of power and come back next time to a fully charged up bank of batteries, almost magic.
So I talked to my fellow moorers, talked to Shobnall and did my Internet research. I came close to buying from Andy at Shobnall but was a little put off over his answer to my question regarding MPPT v's PWM controllers. As I intended to have this panel for some time I wanted to get the most from it. I also read that PWM controllers were not giving the smartgauge 100%. I don't pretend to understand much of the jargon but I was sold on the fact the MPPT types get more out of the panel and into the batteries - simple decision then.

I opted for a 135w Kyocera panel and a sunsaver MPPT from Midsummer They were very efficient in the delivery and did not charge extra for the longer cables I ordered.

I did not want to drill my roof..... and was not too bothered at this time about angling the panel. I did want to be able to remove it for maintenance so I opted for taxi sign magnets from EBay (guaranteed upot to 70mph ??). Perfect fitting and I have it protected from theft with a very able cable lock drilled to the plank holder.

I did the install myself in a couple of hours. I left it just completed and was really pleased to come back 24 hours later to 100% on the smartgauge. It is great when a plan comes together.

In fact we have been on board three or four times now and not run the engine. Last time we lit the stove and had tepid water as well. I expect we will run the engine for its own good and to give us hot water but once we have a tank full I am hoping the stove will keep the water hot via the new calorifier I fitted a few weeks back.

A few bad pics as it was getting dusky when I took them. One thing I am impressed with it how little light there needs to be for a charge to go into the batteries. The controller has quite a few useful settings to support the batteries and it also has an RJ11 socket that allows me to collect 30 days of data off the controller as well as dynamic data if needed. Needless to say I have done the connections adn will post some stuff later on its performance.

The painting fund.....

I know we have only had Waterlily painted just over a year, but whatever you do the paint will fade/wear/get damaged. I am a fund saver type person so rather than get hit with another magnificent bill in about six years time I am going to start a fund for the next repaint. It is tempting fate as who knows what will happen in the next six or so years, but sods law says if I do not then six years will come by very quickly and Waterlily will look tatty again.

The added benefit is I can relax and not worry too much about the odd dink and scrape. There are plenty of boats that do not move in case they get marked I'm sure. I am at that time in my life the benefit of use it much more than the effort of maintenance - my motorbike is testament to that !

So say £75 a month going forward will be salted away under a mattress or even in a bank somewhere for 'the future'

Nev

Narrowboat Sylph

Time to kill so I took to seeing what our old Ownerships boat Sylph has been up to. I was intrigued to find out she is now not a shared boat anymore and is private ownership. I'm pleased she is still floating and hopefully she is being looked after in retirement. For sure I think the shared ownership boats are the real work horses of the canal system. The run close to 48 weeks of the year and do some big distances as most owners want to travel whilst aboard.

I think they were/are some of the best designed boats out there and well build - a small nod towards Alan Mathews knowledge of what worked.

I'd love to know who now owns Sylph - I think she is up Nantwich way - so of you know please get in touch.

Nev

No wonder boat prices are dropping

I'm ok, not fallen in or gassed myself, just life gets in the ways sometimes. I think that has been the longest I have been without a post, but I'll catch up with the blog this week.

The reason for the post title.... click here and be concerned

I thought prices were deflated because of the housing market, in reality those in the know understand the cruising possibility of boats in the future will be severely restricted because of the terrible waste of resource and opportunity BW executive have engaged in over the last few years. Simple really if the canals are not maintained they will shut to boaters. OK for fishermen and cyclists, now we know why it is canal not canals in the new trust title. I recon at this rate my grand plans for a retirement cruise will never be realised.

DIY update

I know most will not have slept well last night worrying about the success or not of my DIY project, well all seems to have been ok. We were not woken at night with the pump cycling away as the boat filled with water. Better than that after we ran the engine we had hot water plus the rads got hot as I'd left second loop open. This gives us another way of heating the boat. Just got to decide if it is worth adding an extra rad to the system now.

I will also look at wiring in the emersion heater element so on shore power or genny power we have another option for heating water.

One thing that is also better is that I have taken out a lot of copper and replaced it with plastic, better for the winter frosts and the last method of insulation was the yellow loft insulation that was horrid, it is now all lagged with pipe insulation. I think I'll cover it with some of the bagged type loft insulation as a belt and braces approach.

Before and after pics below. Note the amount of copper......









I have also added an expansion tank (the red tank at the top of the pic) this will take the expansion as the water heats up. The old system did not have such and I expect the expansion was managed by the accumulator on the cold side as there did not seem to be a non return valve installed?

Now on to solar panels.........

Nev


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Location:Fradley

Boat DIY

I blogged here about my waterworks problem on Waterlily. I received some sound advice and took the decision to do a full upgrade rather than a bypass repair.  I cannot see us upgrading boats for some time so we might as well have the benefit from heated water from the back boiler and hot water for longer. Plus the replacement has a immersion heater element that I will wire up for it we are on shore line or powered by the genny.

The Surecal Calorifiers in Midland Chandlers were a whopping £430 so I brought direct from Surecal for £350 I also made a good saving on an expansion cylinder that my system does not have at the moment. I ordered it when in Cornwall and it was delivered on time so top marks for Surecal.

A trip to B&Q for loads of fittings - good thing is you can take back what you don't use so I always over stock just in case. The biggest challenge will be the pipe runs as the old cylinder was fed both ends and the new one is all one end. I have oped for plastic as its simple and hopefully a little more frost resistant but it will all be lagged when completed. So an update later maybe.....

Cornwall sunset

Just sat and watched the sun melt into the sea........ What a great end to a really lovely day.




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Location:Tintagel

Stunning Cornwall

We are staying a few days at the Camelot Castle hotel. As hotels go it is one of the best I have stayed in for a long while. The location is stunning, the service is so friendly and attentive and the food has been excellent.









It is blowing through a storm at the moment and we have a grandstand view as our room overlooks the coast and we have panoramic views over the the island where it is reputed Arthur had his castle and up the coast to Boscastle.


Te plan later is to walk the costal path up to Boscastle and then catch a local bus back to the hotel.

If you get the chance you should have a stay at the Camelot Castle hotel in your bucket list.




Nev


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Location:Tintagel

Just awesome......

Close to if not one of the best days on a bike.








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Magnificent

On the way up Glencoe, touched by hurricane Irene, truly fantastic.


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Off to Scotland

A weekend away to Dunoon for me with a couple of friends. On the motorbike of course, those west Scotland roads are deserving of nothing less

Nev


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