Thank goodness……

For the sunshine, its funny how all it takes is the sun to come out and you feel in the mood for doing jobs.

So this morning the boat has been cleaned inside and out by little ol me while Paul has set too and  the button he made two years ago has had a coat of bitumen and the new bow rope has been installed.

 

That looks better especially with the newly blacked bottom.

Where we are the tow path is above the gunnel so not good for painting, but once we move and if the weather stays fine that job will be done very soon.

The dogs have spent the day on the tow path with us and are now exhausted from doing absolutely nothing.

So from laying in the sun all day to laying in front of the fire, true what they say about it being a “dogs life”.

Yesterday we went to Daventry on the County Connect bus as Paul had ordered 3x 5 litres of engine oil from Autoworld. This shop is very good  they also get our filters for us well worth a visit.

Its been a while….

Just realised that it has been a week since I wrote anything, that's the trouble when you don't have an itinery and you are just ambling, the days seem to merge into one another. We are back in Crick, the day we moved was one we thought was the least blowy well that was a mistake as I think it must have been one of the most blowy. It was just as well we didn't have far to go, as we passed Yelvertoft marina we appeared to be “crabbing” across the canal but once the wind was back on the nose everything went okay. We have finally met up with Betty and Graham who we last saw the back end of last year Keith and Ann joined us so once again the intrepid six are together although it wont be for long. We plan to move from here next week once our visits to the doctors are out of the way. I also want to go to Kent to catch up with Jess. Jack is running in the marathon this weekend so good luck son I hope you get the time you are aiming for.

Its lovely here…

It has been so peaceful here, the weather has been against Paul painting so there has been plenty of fishing done, not that anything has been caught mind you.

The peace was disturbed yesterday by a helicopter flying low above us we  thought it was the police but looking closer we could see it was inspecting the power lines near by.

After a wet morning the sun came out so I took advantage and went for a wander with the dogs.

Very quiet here.

Before I took this the tree was full of crows one look at me with the camera and they all flew off. I have that effect on people too…

Boat in the distance.

Bow rope hanging out to dry.

Looks like a trip to the village stores in the morning for bread lets hope it stays fine as its quite a trek from here.

It’s oh so quiet…..

We left our mooring at the junction quite early this morning, taking advantage of the calm weather. We had a lovely slow cruise with a  milky sun just breaking through the clouds. The plan was just to get half way between the junction and Crick and that is what we achieved. There were a few boats about and I think the nice weather made everyone more amiable as there was a lot of cheery “good mornings”.

We still have a few things to do and with good weather forecast for the weekend hopefully these will be done. One thing that has finally been finished is the treating of the new cheek fender, at the moment it is drying out in the trees after having a good dowsing in a bitumen/white spirit mix next thing to go in is the button Paul made.

There has certainly been some work done on this stretch as the hedges have been trimmed to within an inch of their lives, it looks nice and tidy but it looks as though all the cuttings have been thrown in the canal, still at least the dogs don't get thorns in their paws.

Paul is chilling after 3 hours on the tiller the fishing rod is out and I have just come back from an nice walk to the village.

Let there be light!!!!!!!!

Our journey up the Welford arm was uneventful of course we met a hire boat at a bridge hole but then you would expect that wouldn't you. There were plenty of lambs and their mums in the fields inquisitive as we went past.

We moored up at the end of the arm Wednesday evening ready for and early start in the morning getting into the shed.

Thursday saw Les moving a boat out ready for us to go in, we had to go in backwards and as the opening was a bit tight there was a lot of shunting back and forth. Once the water was pumped out of the dock it was a really weird feeling sitting on terra firma. Only downside of being in the shed was NO TV and no natural light. How Paul lasted 3 days without his beloved tele is a miracle but we did listen to radio 4…………… At lunch time the surveyor came as we thought we would get the hulled surveyed while out of the water everything was okay which was a relief. Dogs weren't impressed with walking the plank but at least the walks nearby were mud free.

Saturday evening we managed the whole 100 yards to the Wharf Inn for a very nice meal. Then this morning it was all systems go flooding the dock again to let us out.

As we came out Les’s next customer was waiting to come in and luckily for us a Canal Time boat had left so there was a convenient space for us right at the end of the arm and it is so lovely to have daylight again.

What lovely friends we have…….

This morning saw us saying goodbye to Ann and Keith as we had a call last evening from Les at Welford asking us to get there Thursday instead of Friday. I wandered up to Oakfield while Paul was sorting out the canopy and getting ready for the off. Ann very kindly gave me a bottle of mulled wine. We were breaking ice for a little way although it was quite thin so our speed was sedate to say the least. As we approached bridge 17 we could see a person on the bridge waving at us, as the sun was in our eyes we couldn't quite make out who it was, lo and behold it was Ann she had walked over the hill and she was bearing more gifts. She came on to the the towpath and  gave us a couple of sausage rolls for our breakfast. Now how kind is that, she walked all that way and back just to keep us fed thank you Ann it was much appreciated.

Once past Cracks Hill someone had left before us and broken a path through the ice which was handy. The journey was very peaceful  but we seemed to be getting slower and slower so Paul assumed we had something round the prop and of course by this time we had a boat right behind us. At a clear spot Paul waved them through getting as far over as he could. I was keeping a watch out for the trees on my side when all of a sudden Paul shouts “how much room do they want” and the boat then hit us  pushing us into some very shallow water so there was nothing for it but to throttle up and they just had to wait until we found some armco which we did just near bridge 33. Once moored up Paul went down the weed hatch finding plastic and vegetation round the prop. We couldn't be bothered to move on again so we are settled for the rest of the day.

It has been nice to be on the move again although we did have to wrap up warm. The tow path isn't muddy which is another bonus and the dogs are enjoying new smells. There have been a few boats on the move but it would appear the Easter rush is over.

Brains of Britain we aren't………..

When the 4 of us were up the pub on Friday night we noticed that there was a quiz arranged for Sunday evening. Ann and I were all for it the two “old grumps” became very quiet and ignored the suggestion completely. But they got their come uppance when we were all chatting to Irene and Andy  (who are moored in front of us) Saturday and Ann mentioned said quiz, we’re up for it said Irene and if she noticed the groan from Keith and Paul she was polite enough not to say anything. Arrangements were made re times etc.

All day Sunday Paul was wittering about going to the quiz how he didn't feel well and did we have to go. Now I knew Keith felt the same so no doubt Ann was experiencing the same thing I was. But, I was resolute and we were going and that was that. We got to the pub in plenty of time with Paul and Keith  still questioning why they were there. Irene and Andy joined us, by this time the tables were filling up and you could just tell the professional “quizzers” and I can tell you we certainly didn't fall in this category. Well to say that our quiz skills were dire wasn't quite true as we did get some questions right and thanks to Irene and Andy we weren't totally ignorant. At one point when Paul was heckling the compare he was threatened with being barred from the quiz altogether which I think was his intention. Any way to cut a long story short we CAME LAST won a bottle of red for our pains. I think we managed to get 50% of the answers right. To add insult to injury the team that won the quiz also walked off with most of the raffle prizes. As we left the pub there was a chorus from the two “Victors” of “don't you dare ask us to take part in another quiz again”. All that aside we did have a lovely evening and we laughed a lot thanks to our fellow team mates.

You can tell we are back on the cut as it hasn't taken long for us to be jumping up and down as boats come to within a whisker of the side of the boat. There has been a lot of traffic in the ice and freezing temperatures, thankfully although the wind is bitter yet again the ice has gone completely.