The electrician came to look at our solar on Wednesday
morning – batteries were fine, solar panels were fine, a quick look at the
connections showed that the input from the panels hadn’t been wired up to show
on our State of Charge display. So it
turns out that it has been working and our batteries had been topping up from
the solar, but we just couldn’t see it!!!
(Which had been suggested by Richard in Nottingham a few weeks ago, and
we kind of pooh-poohed…..)…. Anyway, it
was quickly remedied and I now check the state of charge and solar output every
few minutes as it’s very exciting to see your battery levels go up without
running your engine. That sounds very
sad, but at least it’s taken my mind off my toilet obsession……. We decided to stay a couple more nights at
Weedon to get the varnishing of the shutters a bit further and on Wednesday
afternoon we received some visitors.
 |
| Beth, Dave and Mike enjoying a wee jolly on the GU |
As it was quite a nice afternoon we went for a couple of
hours cruise south through the Northamptonshire countryside before coming back
to watch the football in the evening. As
we moored up Mike’s phone rang, it was his first love, Fran, but instead of
answering he gave it to Dave to answer amongst much chuckling. They then proceeded to wind Fran up that he
had got their numbers mixed up/rung the wrong one, so when he then rang Dave’s
phone, Mike answered and the fun continued – poor Fran… I don’t know why he’s
still friends with him, they’re so mean sometimes. Anyway, Fran was stuck in traffic heading for
Luton airport, so popped in for a quick beer to while away a half hour or so.
 |
| Mike looking adoringly, as always, at Fran |
Jim and Ali were joining us for the football, so we had a
full house! Earlier in the week, I’d
suggested we cook the chicken we had for tea on the Wednesday as it would feed
the four of us; us and Dave and Beth, to which Mike replied, “They’re not
staying, they’re just coming for the afternoon.” As Dave put away a beer, it became clear they
weren’t driving home. “Are you guys
staying??” I asked. Dave looked at Mike,
“Yes – is that okay??” So I thought they
were staying, Dave thought they were staying, Mike clearly missed the point….. As the match became more and more
disappointing we decided it was better fun trying different snacks on the local
swan family. Jim discovered they liked
the jalapeno crisps best, and the babies like popcorn.
 |
| Mind your fingers! |
 |
| Popcorned baby |
Thursday morning saw us none too crisp and the day was spent
quietly. By Friday we had itchy feet and
decided to head off. Jim gave us the
pump out of all pump outs with a couple of huge rinses and letting it all run
until the tank was clear. Unfortunately
whilst filling the tank for the rinse, the light on the gauge didn’t come on to
show it full, and we only knew it was when water started coming out the airvent
at the side of the boat, destroying the charcoal filter in the process, making
it the most expensive pump out we’ve ever had. I also popped out with Ali to see her dad’s
paintings as I’d been looking for a ‘boaty’ picture for the boat. He has 2-300 at his and his wife’s house in
Long Buckby and though there were some with narrowboats and canal scenes, I
eventually plumped for seagoing boats in a stormy sky which reminds me of
Cramond harbour. You can see some of his
pictures here http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/Windsor-Morris/artwork/41196?return=Windsor-Morris/artwork/all
Or contact Windsor via this site if you’re passing Buckby
and would like to see more – they really are beautiful and varied in content.
After Fish and Chips Friday lunch with Jim and Ali, we
headed off, southwards first to fill up with diesel at Stowehill, then winding
and heading north to join the Oxford canal at Napton.
 |
| Local resident on the GU near Bridge 26 |
We stopped at the bottom of the Buckby Flight
to pick up some stuff from the chandlery and wait for someone to pair up
with. Two boats arrived and in a mix of
communication, we ended up letting the first one go up alone while we waited
for the guy on the second boat to go to the shop. He took longer than the five minutes he said
and Mike started to get very agitated, to say the least, and finally just went
into the lock and was about to start going up when the guy reappeared. Mike wanted to go without him anyway and
catch the one in front two locks up now, but I said we shouldn’t, we should
wait. So we fell out and the guy had to
do the flight of locks with Mr and Mrs Grumpy.
At the top lock, Mike was back in full charm mode with the
young female presenter of a German TV crew who were having a pint in the The
New Inn – all his bad temper wiped away by a pretty face and tight body…… I
looked like that 25 years ago….. Anyway,
I wasn’t amused, especially as he was so immersed in conversation that he didn’t
hear me shouting to take the rope and I was bouncing around in the lock while
the other guy came in. We moored up at
Norton Junction (again – seems like only last week we were there – oh wait – we
were!) and I went off for a run, although it was very hot and running was quite
hard work. When I got back to the boat,
Mike was making the tea but had noticed that the chicken was sizzling a bit
more than usual. I suggested turning the
heat down, but he had it turned right down, and the dial on the door was showing
over Very, Very Hot!! We switched it off
realising that the thermostat had gone.
Everytime we seem to leave Weedon having got everything broken fixed,
something else seems to break within 24 hours – very frustrating. As the oven is working, we just have to
switch if off when it gets too hot, we will keep going until we can organise
someone to come out and sort it. On
Saturday, after bacon butties and coffee we headed off through the Braunston
tunnel where we passed four boats, one of whom had a crew member on deck
unhelpfully shining a torch into the faces of the oncoming drivers. I asked him not to do it, but when we buddied
up with the boat behind us to do the locks on the other side, he’d done the
same to them!! We locked down with
Tiggerish Moments (Tasha, you’d have loved their Tigger artwork), stopped at
Midland Chandlers for some paint, then backed up and turned off to the left on
to the Oxford canal. We’ve been looking
forward to doing this as it was our first trip when we set off two years
ago. It’s a really pretty canal and we
were looking forward to doing it now we are a bit more experienced – we’d be
able to enjoy it instead of sh!tting ourselves!
We moored near Napton (Bridge 111) on Saturday night having
arranged to meet up with Karen and Neil and Buddy the dog from Chalkhill
Blue. They met us there and then we
cruised on for a bit to The Folly pub at Napton. It was completely rammed when we got there
and we ended up at the end of a long, long line of boats, on a wild bit of
towpath. Unfortunately it was so busy at
the Folly that they weren’t taking any more walk-ins for food, but they were
having a charity do in the garden and there was a bar-b-que selling
burgers. That would have to do. Three pints in, we would’ve eaten
anything. Someone, and I’m sure it wasn’t
me or Mike, suggested a last, fourth, pint, which seemed like a good idea at
the time but not so hot the next morning.
By the time we stuck our heads out the door, we were the only boat left,
as everyone else had raced off to try and beat each other up the locks…… We went on to get water at the foot of the
flight, had breakfast and then headed off up Napton locks. It’s a lovely cruise, with beautiful scenery
and the warm, sunny day made it most enjoyable.
 |
| Mike doing Lock 13, near the herd of buffalo |
 |
| The Napton water buffalo keeping their distance from boaters with cameras this time!! |
 |
| Cow photobombing on the right :) |
We went all the way to Fenny Compton, with the last mile or so taking an
hour as we caught up on a boat which was making its way on tickover, which was
really very frustrating. Not that we
race along the canals, and this one is slower as it winds and is quite shallow,
but you can go faster than tickover. The
last 10 minutes of cruising was done in a heavy, sudden, cold shower of rain,
but slow boat finally pulled over at Fenny for water and I passed them and
pulled into the very last space in Fenny Compton. As we moored up, the chap behind came out to
say hello and remarked we were lucky, someone had just moved off 10 minutes
before. I’d forgotten the stress of busy
canals! In the evening, our friend Alan
rang, and we met him for a quick drink at the Wharf Inn and they’ve invited us
for food at theirs tonight. It’s been a
bit cooler today and just as I got another coat of varnish on the shutters,
torrential rain appeared for three minutes, followed by clouds and sun. We did have an exciting start to the day
though with a visit to Lee San for some spares for our self-pump out kit.
 |
| My recurring nightmare where I'm bursting for the loo but none of the cubicals have doors is brought to life!! |
No comments:
Post a Comment