Hello
everybody...Its blog time again….Winter is over, where is the time
going?
Since
being back at Yelvertoft a lot has happened. Jenny has been fine, but
me ..not so good. I had so much planned on the boat, but a slight
body malfunction resulted in, a night in hospital, one month in bed,
and a ‘procedure’ which thankfully put me back to normal !! Jenny
was brilliant as usual. Nursing me through a nasty time.
We
had planned for Infinity to go into the boat yard for the central
heating to be fitted
then
spend Christmas at Foxton, nice and warm, however it was all
cancelled due to me.
John
at Limefarm Marina started a major refurbishment on his yard which
required part of the mooring to be pumped out, the yard was blanked
off and nothing moved for a few weeks. Once back on my feet we
killed time, doing bits and pieces, Jenny made a pom pom rug, and I
just pottered ..playing a bit of music and trying to get back to
guitar.
We
were holding back in Yelvertoft and as soon as John was ready we set
off to get the heating sorted. A nice steady cruise to Rugby and a
stop of at The Barley Mow pub to see Simon and Kelly...I did a night
there as the Busking Bargee...literally singing for my supper.. well
free beer and a full Sunday lunch. I’ve been asked to play at their
wedding in October..well pleased.
John
is a brilliant mechanic but not the fastest worker and a few days
work turned into a few weeks work, but the job he has done is
excellent. We have had a major problem
with
the electrics on the boat and we were worried the batteries, new last
year, were
faulty
as they didn’t seem to hold charge. Just said to John ...sort it.
Turns
out the previous owners or mechanics had wired it up wrong, I couple
of new components and relays and switches all is fine. But one
problem was still there. The engine keeps eating fan belts.
Literally…. it will slip like crazy and snap a new one in
24hrs.
On
the way home another fan belt broke and we had to stay at the side of
the canal at Braunston, John came over and repaired it on the side of
the cut. The problem
appeared
to be miss matched pulley’s, very disappointed as the so called BMC
experts had looked and allegedly sorted the problem before. Will not
be using Callcutt Boats
again,
also advised a few people to avoid.
Once
back at home marina my wood work kit came out, replacing the wood and
bits removed during the heating installation. As I say about my wood
work...a blind
carpenter
would be pleased to see it !!!….. however its home to us. Darren
came over
and
laid carpets and relaid the bedroom one again after I had to work on
the walls.
sorry
bulkhead ..
So
finally we are ready for off …..yeeees…..err ...No ...Jenny had a
cold and I went down with a bad bout of tonsillitis...also it was wet
and windy making it not cruising weather.
Eventually
on the 19th May ...6 weeks later than planned we left for
our summer cruise.
First
stop Foxton Locks for a couple of nights, very apprehensive about the
boat, but
she
was good as gold. John you appear to have cracked it. Every thing is
working, charging, and running as sweet as a nut.
We
have planned to be out for a couple of months, returning to
Northampton mid July
for
Jenny’s brothers 50th wedding anniversary.
Starting
at Foxton we have cruised past for the first time, onto ‘virgin’
canals for us.
Filled
up with diesel at Debdale Marina, and then on to the River Soar..
first
time
on a river. Its is absolutely beautiful, very wide in places and
weirs which we
haven’t
really come across before. The locks are quite heavy and we were
lucky
enough to link up with a couple about the same age to share the work.
We
are planning about 4 hours a day on the move, enough to top up the
batteries,
but not enough to make it hard work. Had a good night outside of
a
‘Hungry Horse’ establishment, started off as an early doors
pint..ended up
as
a full blown night out..Sizzling Steak special..bottle of wine for a
£5.00 a
very
good one at that, well it tasted OK.
We
are meeting some lovely people and the houses we are are passing
are
absolutely beautiful, there is a lot of money in this area.
On
leaving the River Soar we crossed over the Trent and Mersey
canal
onto the Erewash canal about 15 locks between there and the end.
So
far the weather has been good for us. Until today, bank holiday
Monday
hissing
down with rain, but we do need water, tops up the canals.
The
reason we have come up to Nottingham is to have a meet up with Ashley
Chapman.
She is coming over tomorrow sometime with her little boy...Bobby.
Well
that’s it for now, hope you find it interesting, We are turning
around on
Wednesday,
returning back down the Erewash, as it is a dead end now.
Turning
right on to the Trent and Mersey and missing Birmingham for the
time
being, as when Northampton is out of the way we are heading for
North
Wales Via Birmingham.
TTFN
 |
| Foxton Locks |
 |
| Moored for the night on River Soar |
 |
| Mum, Dad and little cygnets. |
 |
| Some posh houses by the River Soar |
 |
 |
| Turning off the Soar towards the Trent |
 |
| Cross over from Soar towards the Erewash canal avoiding the yachts. |
 |
| Entrance to Erewash canal and we made it... |
