Two boat family

We now have 110 foot of boat (s)  Only for a limited time as poor Waterlily will be up for sale soon.

We completed on Percy today. Jill and Tony Redshaw are a really genuine nice couple and it is a privilege to take their boat on for as long as we can before he is passed to someone else to live with !

For some photo's click here..... clicky me for Percy

I'll keep posting on both sites for now and will keep Waterlily blog live until she sells. ;-(

Take care

Nev

Meeting the bloggers

As tomorrow should be the hand over of Percy... See here for the details  I nipped over to Waterlily at lunchtime to collect some essentials for the cruise back from Braunston. As I approached Hunts lock I met Maffi helping Geoff  lock down to the coal boat. What a really nice pair of fella's they both were. Unfortunately I was on a tight timescale so was limited in the chat I could have.

Good to meet two entertaining and much read bloggers at last.

Maffi striking a pose...

Geoff taking Seyella out of Hunts lock

Come visit....

As time progresses my ramblings on this blog will hopefully cease as we enjoy and develop our ownership of NB Percy.

I have a very good following - see you all over there on the right, I'd like you to come visit my other blog and keep me going with your comments and observations  as well as some useful advice.

I can't promise it will all be honey but like the best blogs it will be warts and all.

See you on the other side.

Nev

Insurance - who do you use...?

So getting close now.. the list is done for what I need to complete before Friday....and insurance is up there.

We use craftinsure for Waterlily at the moment. Costs us about £120 per year. I have just completed the on line quotation for Percy and it is coming out at £225 with a £150 excess, down to £191 with a £300 excess.

The other company I am drawn to is Towergate..... they give options:

The Breakdown option appeals as at the moment we are paying for RCR £155 for their silver cover.

I have just printed off the towergate policy docs so some bedtime reading.

I'd be interested in who you use and why?

Thanks

Nev

At least there are no ridge tiles on a boat

Last night at the bricks and mortar address we found our roof was leaking.....not much we could do at 11pm so this morning saw me up on the roof resetting three ridge tiles. Plenty of wind to add to the risk assessments with the method of access being revised to access to the dormer roof via my next door neighbours garden.

Just another example of the ease of living aboard..... yes I know there are plenty of other day jobs to take up the time, but I need as many reasons to liveaboard as possible !

So question is will the new raft of rain wash out my hard work today? But with all the flooding about that is a really small problem.

Hopefully move Percy on Friday, Boating !!

Meet our new boat

I did not want to temp fate. Now we have the results of the survey, no big issues we are on the home straight so I'll open up the link to my new blog all about NB Percy.....

Click me and tell me what you think.....

Nev

2 cylinder Lister in Braunston tunnel

Not really a video, more a snippet of audio as today we cruised through Braunston tunne aboard a boat powered by a 2 cylinder Lister - CS2 to be precise.

More tomorrow hopefully

House maintenance v's boat maintenance

So today has seen me sorting out the central heating at home. Yes I always wait until the cold weather starts to do this. Over two weekends I have sorted the cold radiators so the house is now very warm.

I reflected on the respective maintenance demands of house v's boat. They are very different and I think the house beats the boat hands down. There is plenty to fettle on a boat, and I suppose it depends on the install.

You don't really want to know about our Vokera boiler etc at home as this is primarily a boaty blog. So the boat....We (or I as I do the maintenance) are attracted to simple and if possible varied systems for our boating. Many will advise that a solid fuel stove and back boiler are in the main bullet proof. In fact the best advice is not to have to rely on a sole form energy for the whole boat. It is of course personal preference and also personal risk management.

Waterlily has a very effective back boiler with a pipe stat controlled pump. Hot water from the calorifier via the engine or via the back boiler... two loops in the cylinder. Battery charging via the solar panel and engine.

So here is the interesting bit... well it is for me anyhow. The boat we are having surveyed on Monday is pretty much the same with the exception of no water tank.... it has a gas water heater. Now I don't favour this as in my mind if you have to run the engine to charge the batteries you get hot water also. But if you do not have to run the engine as you have wind or solar you get no hot water. The real benefit of a gas water heater is instant always on hot water (as long as you have gas and who runs out of gas??) It has been an issue for us when overnighting on Waterlily and not being able to have a shower in the morning before work - or have a cold shower as when we arrived on the boat the batteries were fully charged from the solar.

The potential replacement boat has a bath - fantastic. My fibromyalgia sometime demands a good soak.... with the water heater there is no limit to the amount of hot baths - apart from what water you have on board.

Anyhow, it's good to have options and simplicity. Hopefully shortly I can really expand on the other boat in detail and tell you why we went for it.

Enjoy tomorrow it sounds like it is going to be a nice day !

Survey booked

Hopefully not tempting fate, the survey is booked for a week on Monday. We will be helping the current owners move the boat to the yard for the survey.

I hope he is as good under the waterline as he is above.

Trying not to get too excited but it is difficult, I really don't want to be disappointed again!!

Margaret Wells

She died yesterday, she was my mums good friend, no relation. We grew up knowing her children and she always lived in the west end of Derby where I have lived in or close to all of my life. She was a nice person lived a good life, a traditional life, I know what that means, and now she has passed on.

This is for me to reflect on when i re read my old blog posts.

RIP Margaret, we will miss you but not as much as my mum will.

Is it just me....

There seems to be a higher number of bloggers taking winter moorings this year than in the past. I suppose it could be the bad ( read ice) winters over the last couple of years. I can understand the attraction of connected water and reliable power. Those here at Hunts who live aboard don't have too many home comforts. There is a dedicated water supply but it is over on the lock landing and does freeze up, and that is if you can get to the point if the canal is iced over.

We are aboard with the fire going and the boat nice and warm. I know that is a big step away from 4 months of natures attrition. Good luck to all who live completely off the grid and those who are in or headed towards marina security for the worst of the weather.

It's such a long way away from those heady days of summer, well we did get a few, where the boat was so difficult to cool. I think our weather and swings of light and dark make our country so interesting, I'd not want to live anywhere else.

An offer has been made and accepted....!

Not going to give any more details....some distance to go yet but watch this space...

Four more years

I worked (for the paying job) on the boat yesterday afternoon waiting for Jeff Greatwood the local BSC engineer to come and check Waterlily.

He was, as before, very helpful and patient with all my questions. He has some history with Fradley having run Swan line for 20 odd years. He still lives in Alrewas and gives it a good review.

Having done all the tests and calculations for the ventilation he declared there was nothing to stop him giving me another 4 years of BSC

If you want Jeff's details just click the photo to enlarge it, highly recommended. The only painful part was the loss of £150 !!

After work, well the battery died on my Macbook, the light was fading and Fradley was back to boaters only, I really like this part of the day at Fradley. I took Leia for a walk up the woods on the offside.

This hire boat was on the move in near darkness, I was a little envious. There were a few boats on the move today, scuttling through the area before the stoppages on Monday, it really will be quiet then.

Gas locker and safety certificates

So I have my four year boat safety booked for Monday PM. This was my post when it was last done....wow has that 4 years passed quickly.

Anyhow the test can't be done without testing the gas systems and at the moment my boat is a gassless boat as the two cylinders are removed for the locker painting - problem. Well a bit dramatic really as over a couple of weekends I have emptied the locker and wire brushed it and then treated the bits of inevitable rust, then last weekend I primed the space. So after work today I hotfooted it, well drove over, and after learning my lesson with groin strains and bad backs I literally painted it from the inside. A slight squeeze but quite a nice place to be, especially as the wind was up and the temperature had plummeted. I painted all but where I was crouching then lifted myself out and leaned in to complete the job, very satisfying.

The test will be tomorrow afternoon when we go back to the boat and have a overnight stay, we need the gas back for cooking and for the boat safety to be completed on Monday.

In between we are going to view two more boats tomorrow. I almost felt guilty as I locked up Waterlily tonight, she is a very nice boat !!

I'll let you know what where and the thoughts after we view.......

Lock in

.... not of the beery type, not sure they happen any more with the new relaxed licensing laws?

No this refers to the stoppages. At Hunts we will be locked in literally between the Junction Lock repairs and the Alrewas lock repairs. We cannot even cruise up and down the 2 mile stretch as there is only one winding hole just below Bagnall lock.

I understand and support the works being done. However some planning would have helped keep the canal open if they had done Woodend rather than Junction at the same time as Alrewas lock.

It is a particular problem for one of our neighbours. Mandy from NB Don't Panic has had her fair share of drama recently being helicoptered off the moorings with a badly broken ankle. It means when she returns to her boat she possibly could be stuck without diesel or pump out, seems this will be resolved by the help of people on the mooring, plus hopefully some support from CaRT mooring and enforcement staff, watch this space. 

The locks at Fradley do need some attention so the repairs will be well received.

Sick to the bottom of my stomach

Wow.. how do I write this without resorting to a major rant.....anyhow here goes, might be of interest to some.

You might remember this post.....clicky here

Well on Monday I received this.....

Dear Mr Wells

Please forgive this unsolicited email, but we thought you might wish to be informed that L'Attitude Adjustment is now available again after the agreed sale failed to complete.  If you would like an appointment to view, please let us know.

Kind Regards

ABNB Team


How delighted we were. Straight onto the email and arranged a second viewing on the Wednesday morning at 10am.

Viewed, loved the boat again and within 6 hours of viewing the boat we had made an offer quite close to the asking price and within £500 of the price the boat had been sold for previously. On the home straight now, finances secured and advised ABNB of this with an offer to buy the previuos survey to speed things up.

Then we got this......

Dear Neville & Rachel

I can confirm receipt of your email and that I will discuss with the vendors the details of your offer.  As you probably know, they are in Canada at present therefore we have to take account of the time difference for phone calls etc - I will let you know as soon as possible the outcome of the conversation.

One complication has arisen in only the last few hours - the previous interested party had been asked to contact us regarding the refund of their deposit, but have instead, today, informed us that they have reconsidered and wish to put forward a new offer.  In these circumstances (when more than one offer is received in the same working day) both offers must be put to the vendor and their decision reported back to each of the interested parties (no details of any offer can be revealed to any other party, of course, for ethical reasons).

I can fully understand that this will be a frustration to you, taking into consideration the previous circumstances, but we have done nothing to influence the timing of these events and can only proceed in a manner designed to be as fair to all parties as possible. 

Kind Regards



Now call me cynical...... add in your own perception of what was happening here.

Just now received this......

Dear Neville & Rachel

I have now received the vendors' decision regarding the two offers put to them for L'Attitude Adjustment, one of which was the offer from yourselves.

I am afraid that I have disappointing news in that they have instructed us to accept the offer of the other party.  I am particularly sorry to disappoint you a second time regarding the same boat, and empathise with you that the timing of the receipt of the other offer was very unfortunate for you.

I can only hope that another suitable boat comes onto brokerage in the near future, and wish you well in your search.

Kindest Regards



The timing of the other offer was 'very unfortunate for you' I'd have to agree with this 110% What to make of it ....well that is down to your own interpretation.

We are so very frustrated. Its not just about all the time taken in viewings, time taken off work, financial arrangements etc, but the dreams that get shattered in an instant.

Well onwards and upwards as they say. I think I need to get out on Waterlily sometime soon!

Canals in Scotland?

My beautiful wife organised a week away for us as part of my 50th birthday. So last Saturday saw the new workhorse Honda CRV loaded to the roof literally with the two of us Leia the dog, Tom and with a stop off in Leeds to collect no2 son Callum.

I had kept them all on the insurance so we could share the 10 hour drive to Whitehills on the Moray Firth . It was a good drive up the A1 then through Edinburgh, over the Forth bridge up past Perth, Dundee then via Aberdeen to our destination.

This is our cottage - Wale cottage right on the sea wall

The beaches around here are fantastic, made more so by the lack of people on them. On Sunday after a leisurely start we walked the Beach at Cullum.

Here is the family .......it was so nice having them with us

Sunday night was clear as a bell so at 11pm Callum and I drove 50 miles (!) to what is supposed to be one of the darkest places in the UK.... except the Moon was waining so it spoilt the party a little.

This is the Milky Way I am told. I took it by putting the camera on the telescope with a 60 second exposure.

We saw a few shooting stars as well. It was worth the 100 mile round trip if only for the total peace and  beauty of the location we stopped at. We also saw Deer, Badger, Owl, Rabbits and Fox. We got back 2.30am cold but well happy.

On Monday (as the lads were leaving us Tuesday) we went clay pigeon shooting, not something I or the lads had done before but very enjoyable. I was the least accurate with Callum winning the competition .... well  we are blokes after all.

This is the action shot of Tom pinging the first clay then moving onto the second....

The winner getting his "Clay" trophy from Rachel

Monday evening we got an amber alert from Aurorawatch uk, that subsequently turned into a red alert. It was the night between two clear nights our bit of coast had cloud cover. We drove till 1.30am up and down the coast to see the lights but were unlucky not to. There was a spooky green glow to the cloud and at one point a shaft of green light came through a break in the clouds but it does not constitute a viewing so we will have to come back !!!

Due to work commitments both lads had to go back home on Tuesday and both has chosen different times and modes to do so.... Tom flew back and Callum being a student got a £40 train ride home to Leeds. This gave us a day in Aberdeen, granite city I think it is called. The Esplanade is worth a visit, once again lots of empty beach.

It is the supply centre for much of the North Sea drilling operation, lots of ships coming and going.

A bit bigger close up .....

Wednesday saw us walking along the beach to Banff. Another fantastic walk along empty beaches.

Here is the canal link......

Banff was where Tim and Shane Spall overwintered in 2011 as part of their around Britain tv trip. They had Princess Matilda repainted in the ship year we visited yesterday at Buckie. Banff is a very nice place, just the right size with beaches to die for. If I had £150,000 I'd be viewing this property, right on the sea front....

It was about 7 miles round trip, the harbour at Banff is very picturesque I can see why Tim and Shane chose it.

The town is very nice to, certainly the lower part away from the main road.

We went west on Thursday, to past Buckie where we did have the whole beach to ourselves. The tide was just turning and it was revealing the beach as we walked.

Leia is in her element here......

Mind you there is always someone who wants to spoil the peace and quiet.

Today (Friday) is very stormy.....and poor Rachel is down with a chest infection, so it is a reading coffee drinking relaxing day. We may do a distillery later....or we may not. Whatever is has been a great few days break. 

Canal Royalty

It's something you hear about when people refer to the old working boatmen and women, and rightly so. They had a hard life and the latter workers stuck at it and in some ways bridged into the next 'life' of the canals. This new life is characterised by the live-a-board, those who take a brave decision to move aboard, yes I think it is brave to step aside from the umbilical cord of bricks and motor and all the connectivity that comes with it. So these people are the new generation and in my opinion true custodians of the waterways, they look after it for me while I am at work ;-)

So today I met canal royalty. I have hailed Les on a couple of occasions when doing our own bit of cruising. I then started to read of a true romance (and I'm a bloke remember) his princess lived thousands of miles away, living a completely different life. I started to wonder if was reading fact or fiction, it was so unlikely but so worthwhile, especially as the two life journeys had been so seemingly difficult. The writing was compelling, the story was absorbing, as soon as a blog entry had been consumed you were left waiting and wanting more update, the next instalment.

Like all fairy tales this one had the very best of endings, the English gent gets his bride and the princess gets to live in her stately home.

So back to today, I visited that stately home and it rivals the best. It's one full of love and laughter. Its represents everything that those desiring to live-a-board must aspire to. It was certainly helped by the lovely smell of baking cake when I was invited aboard!

We chatted for a good couple of hours about life, boats, culture plus much much more that will no doubt come to me in reflections as the days pass.

So in my book this pair are canal royalty as they represent so many canal users but they are at the top of the tree in their story, their use of the canals and what came over most was the love of the life they lead. Better not shout about it too loud otherwise there would be a massive rush to buy boats.... and I know how hard that can be !

I came away inspired, certainly by the lifestyle but I think more so by the obvious love and affection between the pair, it was nice to see the last chapter of the book in real life. Long may they cruise the waterways.

Boat viewings - dissapointment

After our recent failure to buy a very nice boat I lined up a couple more viewings - same builder - the now defunct Severn Valley. Why this builder, well they were latterly based on a decent shell and the layout and standard equipment installed appeals. 58 foot, trad, diesel heating bath, expandable bed decent kitchen good engine, good electrical install...some have bow thrusters....

Problem is the two I have viewed, one at Kings Bromley marina and the other at Ellesmere were very disappointing.  I recently read a thread about selling boats and the seller was criticised for not showing the engine bay. I agree this is the signature area for how well a boat has been looked after/maintained.

The two I looked at this weekend were messy, compared to the one you would have eaten your dinner off. Interesting thing is there is a run on decent boats at the moment they are selling, no doubt with the demise of so many builders good second hand boats are in demand - plus it seems life afloat is getting popular again... or people see it as a cheap way to live?

No problem, it was a nice 160  mile trip out on my bike today. Called in on Waterlily, she is a great boat, just not long enough for me but if we cannot find anything soon we will give it up and stick with what we have, she is not at all bad.

Chirk and Wales beyond

Unfortunately not by boat. It was in our new (old) car. We have parted company with the ever unreliable VW polo and brought a little bit younger Honda CRV. It is part of a master plan of relocations..... but in reality is a want as much as a need. However so far it has got no2 son back to Leeds with all of his 'stuff' and as the post title describes a recent long weekend to Wales.

It was to take my father -in-law back to Wales where he had lived for 40 plus years and where Rachel did a lot of growing up. We stayed in a great guest house Bryn Elltyd   please give the link a click, you will be impressed as we were, even though we stayed in the pig sty and my father-in-law stayed in the Hobbit hole. It is based in some fantastic scenery with the steam railway running at the end of the garden.

We started the weekend with a stop off at Chirk castle.... worth a visit, I'd have preferred a walk by the canal but I am saving a lot of the Llangollen canal for when we visit it fully on our boat.

A short walk from the guest house took me into this lanscape....

I know steam trains saw off the canals, but who can resist all that fire, water and engineering....

We did electric mountain on Saturday which was also very impressive and the secret bunker in Nantwich on Monday on the way back. I opted out having done it before and took Leia for a walk by the canal, stopping at Adderley top lock and helped a flurry of boats through.

All in all a good weekend, even if the canal links were tentative. But we do not have our parents for ever so it was also nice to be able to be apart of a visit back to Wales.