Only loose boats to hold us up today.

(With both boats - posted by Alan)
(Post is for Thursday 17th May)

Tycho - Sickle's twin - I failed to get a shot with both in, unfortunately.

Another fine day that made both the canal and its surroundings look stunning at times, but it was never actually that hot - I started the day in a pullover, expecting to shed it quite early on, and in practice I never did.

About to leave Berkhamsted

We didn't start particularly early - David had taken a trip to do things at our house last evening, and not actually returned to the boat until midnight.  As he occupies one of the back cabins we can never really move the boats until he gets up!

 Approaching the rising sun

There is nothing that notable to report really, other than the continued frustration of people who can't tie their boats up properly.  We witness much use of inadequate stakes in soft ground, often with a foot of slack in the ropes to guarantee the boat moves freely back and forward as a boat passes, to give the best possible chances of the stakes being pulled out.  Today we had no sooner stopped to re-tie a large wide-beam boat that was blocking our path than we moved forward again to find a narrow boat doing the same.  The stakes were short, bent and totally inadequate for the ground they were in, and David was trying to hammer them a bit straighter before making the best of a bad job.

First of boats blocking our path.

There really do seem to be lots of loose boats these days, and I'm far from convinced most have had their stakes tugged out by speeders.  In many, (most?),  cases I would say the moorer is responsible because of their hopeless attempt at tying up.  I have to admit that because it is really quite difficult on much of the canal to stop with two heavily draughted ex working boats that we do not necessarily stop for boats obviously loose at one end, but not actually blocking our path.  Each one takes considerable time, and often some risk, to retrieve and sometimes you can't actually find a stake to use to retie to, so can anyway do nothing.

And the next - "Glad All Over" - A Dave Clark built boat - get it?

I suppose what has surprised us a lot is us so far simply not having seen any other boats actually on the move travelling to the same major festival as we are.  Hundreds of boats attend "Ricky" - I have no idea how many travel from the North, and how many from the South, although the evidence is that there are far more of the latter.

This appeared to be a pedal powered litter pick, but he didn't explain!

In the evening we moored at Kings Langley where a couple of friends from New Moon Morris also had their boat, so beers and chat were enjoyed until really rather late.  I really must learn to drink less beer - if I did, I might not have to get up so often in the night!

I hate this inappropriate development at the old Nash Mills site.

Retired Waterways tug Sickle passes tug Aynho, still at work with CRT

Berkhamsted to Kings Langley
Miles per boat: 6.8, Miles both boats: 13.6, Locks: 17
Total Trip Miles: 114.5, Locks: 56

A better day.

(With both boats - posted by Alan)

One of only 3 surviving Grand Union swing bridges.

I apologise that my last two days of postings have very much concentrated on our failures to get along at the rates we hoped might be possible - perhaps too gloomy for what I acknowledge should be, (and generally is), fun.

Marsworth locks

Firstly I am aware that many who go canal boating specifically do not set themselves any particular deadlines about how far they want to get in a set time.  They would say it should never be about rushing, and that anybody who sets targets is doing it all wrong, and denying themselves the relaxation that canal boating can give "why be in a rush" or "it's not a race".  I have absolutely no problem with that view, and for many it us undoubtedly the right one - in fact I have some considerable sympathy for it.

Marsworth again

Consider however the situation where various fixed appointments are competing for your time, and you actually do not wish to miss out on one thing you want to do, in order to do another.  A big thing in our life, where the situation permits, is to try to get our historic boats to any appropriate festival we can manage.  This at the very least sets a time by which we need to complete a journey - if we are not at an event by the time it starts, we will miss some or all of it!  However we also have a considerable commitment to New Moon Morris, a Morris dancing side based in Ivinghoe, Buckinghamshire, but which also attends fixed events, with similar constraints - if you are not there in time, you miss it, but also potentially let down the people who were in time.

Ducks at Marsworth

So our personal calendar has to consider what canal events we will do, also what Morris and Folk events, then try to ensure a plan that those we commit to, we actually get to.  Last weekend New Moon Morris had agreed to do an event, and Cath and David at least, (myself less so, as I'm no dancer!), were needed for the numbers, due to quite a few others not being available.  This coming weekend we are booked into Rickmansworth Canal Festival.  A canal planner showed that we should have enough time, once we had travelled to the boats, to make the boat trip from Northamptonshire to "Ricky", so we hoped not to have to work long days.  Given our rate of progress, we can still be where we need to be by a certain time, but the length of the days has caught us out, or at least  it did yesterday and the day before that.

Some interesting curves to steer around at Marsworth.

I was worried about today - it was a lot more locks, and I thought the same might happen, as lock working is decidedly slower with two boats instead of one - twice as many gates to open and shut, for a start, as a single narrow boat can pass through broad locks with only one of each pair used.  However today we have come very much nearer the time predicted by the planner, so wherever we are losing time, it doesn't seem to be the locks.

Marsworth yet again - a very smooth ascent.

I would judge we have had "a good day" today, and if we can replicate it over the remaining two days I will be well pleased.  I think we have thirty more locks to do, in two days - we did nineteen today, so put that way it doesn't sound too bad!

Waiting for Dudswell bottom lock.

Amd in Dudswell bottom lock.

 










Ivinghoe to Berkhamsted
Miles per boat: 9.0, Miles both boats: 18.0, Locks: 19
Total Trip Miles: 100.9, Locks: 39

It should have been an easy day - but somehow it wasn't, (again!)

(With both boats - posted by Alan)

Setting off from our overnight mooring in Fenny Stratford

I have gone for more or less the same title again!

Below Stoke Hammond lock.

We are not doing very well, or at least not doing very well at being able to achieve timings we might have in the past with an easier boat.  I am reluctantly starting to think we need to adjust any estimates we make in the future to be considerably more pessimistic.

Three Locks

Unlike yesterday we were started by a reasonable time, but we still ended up finishing unrealistically late.  We are eventually managing to get to where we really need to be on any given day, but the days are proving to be long ones.

"Ajax", which we failed to purchase has got very much dowdier since.

Some of where the lost time is going is obvious, and not all of it is "boating time".  With hindsight we spent longer shopping in Leighton Buzzard than we should have done, and also too long over what we had planned to be a quick meal.

River class butty "Yeo" is much improved already by a new owner.

Boating-wise we had some obvious hold ups as well, including one thorough grounding, where it took quite a while to get "unstuck".  We also ended up wedged between lock gates when trying to run breasted up, because of debris behind one of the gates that was preventing it fully opening, (somewhat daftly, I thought they would just fit - I was wrong!).

Horton Lock

To end by being a bit more upbeat, it was a delightfully sunny day, and the dredging recently carried out by CRT in the pounds both below and above Grove Church lock has made passage with a deep dtaughted boat considerably easier than it previously was.

Between Ivinghoe locks

 

Swan insisted on locking 7 cygnets through with our boats

 

I was informed of swans, and gates not fully opening.

 

We almost went in, but stuck hard like this.

They seemed unperturbed about getting squashed by boats.

Waited for gates to open, and off they went - it appeared planned!

Cath led for the very final part

Fenny Stratford to Ivinghoe
Miles per boat: 14.1, Miles both boats: 28.2, Locks:12
Total Trip Miles: 82.9, Locks: 20

It should have been an easy day - but somehow it wasn't.

(With both boats - posted by Alan)

First lock of this trip.

A slower start today than we should have made, had we realised how long the day's travels would actually take.  The canal planner we use, (CanalPlanAC), indicated something like seven and a half hours to get to where we are now - the reality was more like nine hours.  We are finding we are not that slick at working both boats together again for the first time in a long while.  In particular we seem to have a habit of trying to moor where "Flamingo" will not come close enough to the bank, and it seems no matter how slowly we make the attempt "Flamingo" is very able to become grounded in a way that takes a lot more effort than we would like to get going again.

The dogs are getting quite good when they are told to stay down.

Curiously some areas are intensely busy, others massively less so.  For example there was no viable mooring space anywhere between Cosgrove lock and the Wolverton Trunk Aqueduct.  There was however space that was definitely non-viable for mooring deep draughted boats - as we proved very conclusively!  However here at Fenny Stratford - usually very popular, there are very few visiting boats at all.

We generally use Flamingo as the towing boat when breasted up.

Both boats have held up well, although we are a little surprised that with me leading on "Flamingo", Cath has on occasions found it hard to keep up with ne on "Sickle".  We tend to think of "Sickle" as the faster boat, but not always it seems.

Approaching the last of 7 Stoke Bruerne locks.

Given how much longer today has taken than plan, we are now a little concerned that the target we have set ourselves for tomorrow may prove too much for us - today wasn't supposed to be a hard day!

Cosgrove lock.

Cath leads on Sickle across the aqueduct.

The steerer is a long way away if you are on the front of Flamingo.

Flamingo overtakes Sickle, as we often find it easier with Flamingo in front.

Stoke Bruerne to Fenny Stratford
Miles per boat: 17.5, Miles both boats: 35.0, Locks: 8
Total Trip Miles: 54.7, Locks: 8

Finally Travelling Again

(With both boats - posted by Alan)

Setting off

After all the disappointments and lost trips of last year, we are determined to get some boating in, and not just spend all our time working on the boats.

It actually needed multiple car trips from home to the mooring to get all three of us, including David, and the two dogs, along with everything we need for a proper trip.  But by some time approaching 5:00 pm we had both boats started up, and were finally ready to head off.

Arriving at Stoke Bruerne

We actually worked out that due to everything going on last year, this is the first time Sickle has moved since July.  Cath steered her today, and fortunately everything seems OK, despite the long period of no use.

High House Wharf to Stoke Bruerne
Miles per boat: 9.8, Miles both boats: 19.7, Locks:0
Total Trip Miles: 19.7, Locks: 0

Bathroom Progress 2

(Boat Flamingo - posted by Alan)

Back in early march I was able to report we had managed to spend enough time on board to start on a rebuild of the bathroom - it was covered here.

Other commitments have meant we have not been able to spend huge amount of time on board - in fact on our most recent trip up we were there less than 2 days.

None-the-less we have been making slow but steady progress, and now have most things in place, other than cupboard doors, and also there will be no replacement of the current ceiling until we are finally ready to do it for the whole boat, (this is probably many months away yet).

Much of it still needs painting, but we managed to get some vinyl flooring down on our latest visit, and finally it does start to look more like a bathroom than a workshop.

It's probably easiest just to post pictures to give a general idea.

Bedroom Refresh

(Boat Flamingo - posted by Alan)

Eventually, I think, we will probably completely refit the bedroom area on Flamingo.

Mostly new paint and new bedding.d caption

However in the meantime we have been living with the previous owners unfinished efforts.  Where anything was painted at all, it was mostly in primer, and generally in patches, with no overall areas covered.

Also the removal of the failed heating system had created quite a bit of additional damage, and we also found that false backs in cupboards were wasting quite a bit of potential storage space.

Some weeks back I spent some time repairing and improving the cupboards and adding an extra shelf to the main one.

Looking towards bathroom, which we are refitting.

We decided that even if we do eventually do a full rebuild, it may not be for some considerable time, given all the other priority jobs that need doing.  So we decided it was worth painting the current arrangements properly, even though it would take quite a while, and we might spend a fair bit on materials.

We are well advanced with that now, though there are still areas around and below the bed to tackle.

We even decided to buy some new bedding to replace the rather tired old stuff we were using, that had seen much service on the previous boat.

We feel the make over has been worth the effort and cost, particularly when we no longer have to wake up looking at a patchwork of primer and unpainted wood!

For comparison, this is what we bought......

There were no lights fitted - just a few hanging cable ends.

The part painted look.