n.b. GUELROSE

And back home for a few days.....

2011-05-23T20:56:00.002+01:00

What has happened to the weather, gales, rain, and then sunshine. Trying to steer the boat in the wind over the last couple of days has been hard work!

We made it up onto the Ashby Canal, met up with our friends, had a very good day and then battled back throught the winds and are now back home... In a couple of days I set off again with the 'lads' for the BCN Challenge.

It has however been an interesting few days...... BW have obviously been active in the Fazeley area as all the continuous moorers have moved on from Fazeley... although the usual 'culprits' can still be found not too far away, however, boaters now passing through have plenty of space to moor overnight before continuing on their journeys.

The Ashby Canal has not changed one bit, it is still shallow and it is till a lovely rural canal. But it too has its problems.... for instance, on the way up there was a boat moored where it said 'mooring for water point only' and on the way back the boat was still there... maybe it has a big watertank but I could not see the hose connnected to the water tap... A few yards away are 48 hour moorings, I could have sworn that one of the boats on the 48 hour moorings was there last year, and the other one was definitely overstaying the 48 hours.

In other areas however the 'rules' seemed to being obeyed.

GUELROSE is on the move again!!

2011-05-18T20:21:00.002+01:00

Would you believe it. GUELROSE has not moved since September last year, and as soon as we set off, it starts to rain. It has not rained in Hopwas for the last couple of months so why today?

Anyway, we are off out for 6 days, meeting up with some friends on the Ashby Canal in a couple of day boats! You will be sure to recognize us as we will all be wearing the same T-shirts!

A simple cruise today, Glascote Locks, no queues for a change, then on to moor in the countryside between Polesworth and Bradley Green, and only 65 metres away for a geocache!!

Tomorrow, it is Atherstone Locks, then on Friday it is onto the Ashby Canal and meet our friends on Saturday morning before doing it all again in reverse.

Then it is back home for a couple of days before the lads and I take on the BCN Challenge! We have not done it since 1999 and the format has changed somewhat, but, never mind, discounting me the average age of the crew is 34 so they can work all the 65 locks on the first day, I'll co-ordinate!!

And so to Beale Park....

2010-08-13T19:05:00.003+01:00

I have now safely arrived at Beale Park which will be my 'home' for the next 3 weeks.

Up early this morning and had my shopping done by 8 a.m.! Then it was time for a Tesco 'big breakfast', 8 items and an orange juice for £4. I definitely will not be needing lunch today!

As I left Tesco's mooring nb SANITY AGAIN, with Sheila and Bruce pulled in and took over my spot. Then it was up to Better Boating for a bit more diesel at 80/20 split. Caversham Lock was my first ever river lock to be cruised solo - I had previously managed narrow and wide locks solo, but never a river lock. All went well and I was on my way up to Mapledurham, here I had to hover above the lock, with the wind blowing, waiting for the jetty to clear so I could get in to take on water, pump out the loo and dump the rubbish. Whoever designed the location of these facilities is obviously not a boater - they are far too close to the lock and create many problems!

Whitchurch Lock came and went, and then the approach to Beale Park - so many boats here already and lots of 'old' faces to meet again. Then it was time for coffee with Sandy (nb JACARANDA) and blue Sheila, (n.b. FAIR'FA) with her new name RACQUET!! She and Sandy's other right hand helper (sorry - I forgot your name!! from nb BRIAR ROSE - I know your husband is GEOFF - I even know your car!!!) are now to be known as UNHINGED and RACQUET!!

A walk round the site - it is surprising how much equipment has already arrived. TARDIS was there (our trailer that stores so much equipment hence it's name) and the tea tent was already erected and the Carpenters workshop marquee was in the process of being erected.

Then it was back to the boat to set up my 'office'. Our real office does not arrive until Monday and until we get electricity in it we cannot start to use it... Tomorrow morning at 0900 hrs is the Elf'n'safety lecture then we start for real.......

See you soon

Business as usual

2010-08-12T22:32:00.003+01:00

I have now taken up residence on GUELROSE again. The children have now left after their week aboard (children!!! they are in their thirties!)

As is usual, I now cannot find anything in the cupboards as it has all been moved to different places. Tomorrow it is restocking in Tesco's at Reading before cruising solo up to Beale Park and starting work on Saturday.

Fuller reports re the site building will follow in due course......

A short day... and handover

2010-08-05T23:10:00.002+01:00

A leisurely start to the day today, cruising from Beale Park to Tesco's at Reading.

Saw yet another Kingfisher today on the outskirts of Reading. We also noticed that they have already started building the site for the Reading Music Festival, but, to give them their due the Festival does open a few days before ours.....

Once at Tesco's it was time for a handover of the boat to our son, his family and friends. GUELROSE is now in his 'capable hands'. I shall be returning to the boat next Thursday so there will be no blog update until Friday 13th!! when I arrive on site at Beale Park and the work starts in earnest.

And so we reach Beale Park

2010-08-04T21:51:00.002+01:00

After leaving Abingdon we were subjected to a very heavy shower of rain that lasted for the best part of an hour, then the sun came out and I dried out. A little while later the black clouds appeared again so I donned the full waterproof gear, and, guess what, we had a few spots of rain and that was it!

After six hours cruising (I got the GPS out and checked my speed downstream - wow - 4.5 mph!!) we got to Beale Park and checked out some of the moorings and we were able to get into them okay. However, since my last visit to plan the moorings, some of the trees, bushes and vegetation have grown a bit. Never mind, we will be able to sort it hopefully.

Tomorrow it is on to Reading and hand over the boat for a week to our son Jon.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY... The river is a real source of wildlife, we have seen numerous varieties of the usual ducks, coots and moorhens, plus quite a few Crested Grebe, an Egret, and today we were delighted to see three different Kingfishers, at Abingdon, Benson and Beale Park.

Service with a smile.....

2010-08-03T20:24:00.003+01:00

It's our own fault, but, we really wanted to go up the Thames for a while, and, as we have to be in Reading on Thursday, today had to be quite a long day....

We stopped below Eynsham to dump the rubbish and empty the porta loos and then continued on down the Thames. The weather was reasonable, sunny spells and in the afternoon a couple of short showers. We passed some more National boats, ARACHNE, our boss ON REFLECTION, and Rex Wright on AMY EM.

We also had our first experience on operating a Thames Lock using the new system, opinions are currently reserved!!

A quick stop above Abingdon Lock to top up the water tank, and then below to moor up. Some chance!!! Apparently if you do not get here before lunchtime you have no chance!! BUT, every cloud has a silver lining and there is always a knight in shining armour just around the corner.

On the offside are some moorings which say private, but, they are not any more. Also. the charming man who runs the outboard motor repair centre leases some of the moorings, and, he will let you moor there for free if you ask. I needed some gas and some blue for the loo, which he sells, so the deal was done. An added bonus was the recreation ground nearby with plenty of doggie bins so the dogs were happy as well.

Just sitting here now listening to the church bells ringing......

Tomorrow we will moor at Beale Park, if we cannot find a mooring there then I have real problems over the Bank Holiday weekend!!

The Upper Thames.....

2010-08-02T22:20:00.002+01:00

You can tell that the Bank Holiday Weekend and the National Waterways Festival is getting closer, yesterday we passed SANITY AGAIN, today it was FLORRIE KENDAL and FAIR FA.

Unfortunately we were only able to go up the river as far as Shifford Lock where we topped up the water, then winded and started back downstream. We have to be in Reading by Thursday afternoon as our son is having the boat for a week. If any of you are on the Kennet and Avon Canal from 5th to 12th August watch out for GUELROSE - the person in charge will not be me although you may be excused when you see what you think is a much younger version of me!!

Another lovely days cruising, some of the bends up this section of river are great fun in a 70 footer!! Another field mooring in the middle of nowhere, beautiful evening sunshine and a magnificent sunset. What more can one ask for.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY..... If you remove the narrowboats from the Upper Thames there will hardly be anything else left - I know a lot of cruisers cannot get past Osney Bridge but even so they are so sparse up here.....

Tragedy et al.....

2010-08-01T19:55:00.002+01:00

My birthday was on Friday, I went to sign on to the internet to get all the hundreds of good wishes from my fellow facebook fans, but, the computer battery was almost dead and when I plugged in the charger it did not work!!

It was like having my arms and legs cut off - no computer - no Internet access - nothing!!!

Luckily, there is a happy ending to this story. I had a surprise visit from my 2 children, their spouses and my four grandchildren who insisted on taking me out for a meal. They all went home that night leaving the eldest granddaughter with us, but took my computer with them. My daughter returned next day to pick up the granddaughter and brought with her a replacement charger. JOY!!

So here I am, back on the Internet. We stayed at Thrupp from Friday morning until Sunday morning, intending to leave reasonably early. But, saying goodbye to Chrissie and Richard of DIGITALIS took time, then MAFFI turned up and had a chat, so, all in all, we left later than anticipated.

We eventually got onto the Thames, did a self pump out at Eynsham, (£8 is really good value these days) and, taking the lock keepers advice went past the pay moorings where we saw SANITY AGAIN, and moored up in a field which is apparently free....

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY... It is really peaceful here, if they could only get rid of the planes at Oxford airfield it would be even quieter.

Wednesday 28th/Thursday 29th July.....

2010-07-29T22:18:00.003+01:00

Wednesday 28th, not much to report, cruised a couple of miles and worked one lock.

Went to Sovereign Wharf for diesel, and, I know it has been published elsewhere time and time again, but, diesel is 70 pence per litre, you can declare what you want, BUT, it is only cash or cheque (no plastic) and they are only open Monday to Thursday, 1000 to 1600 hrs.

The evening was spent with a friend we had made at a previous National. There are so many eating establishments in Banbury to choose from for its 46000 population, but, the TOP WOK chinese buffet was our choice and it was fantastic.

Thursday, left early, so did every one else. Got to Nell Bridge Lock and found a queue, one boat had been in the lock for over an hour as the bottom gate would not shut..... suffice to say common sense prevailed and a good old fashioned 'flushing' of the lock solved the problem, however it did delay us for 2 hours.

We carried on and on, eventually we moored up, after 9 and a half hours cruising, but had only covered 14 miles and 10 locks, a journey that should not have taken us much more than 6 hours.

Tomorrow will be a short day.... it is my 60th birthday and Thrupp is our destination...

The best laid plans...

2010-07-27T18:54:00.003+01:00

Today was supposed to be a short day. It started badly and did not get much better. As soon as I cast off the 'shower' started. After about 2 hours the rain stopped, and we reached Claydon Locks, and guess what? You guessed right, there was a queue of boats waiting for the lock. And that was how the day continued, queuing at most of the locks.

Our original intention was to stop at Cropredy, but, with probably 2 miles solid of moored boats there was nowhere for us. On and on we went, until we eventually decided enough was enough and dug the mooring pins out of the locker and moored up not far short of the M40 motorway near Banbury. Someone had moored here before us and had already trimmed the bank leaving a perfect soace for a 70 footer.

Our planned 'short' day turned out to be 8 hours cruising (including a 30 minute service stop). Tomorrow we are going out with a 'new' friend we met at the Autherley National. He now lives in Banbury and that is where we are meeting him. Banbury is now 2 miles and 1 lock away from us, theoretically that is an hours cruising, but, on this canal, who knows?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.... why do BW manage to build service stations in the most awkward places imaginable. Take Cropredy for example, now, if my 70 footer was articulated it would fit into the service area perfectly. However, to reach the water point with my hose means the **** end of the boat is sticking out into the canal blocking other boats. Never mind, the water flow was good and I wasn't there too long!

Queuing at Napton.....

2010-07-26T16:51:00.003+01:00

Moved onto the South Oxford Canal today, reached Napton Locks and found 4 boats already waiting to go up the locks. Whilst we waited we filled up with water, emptied the loo, dumped the rubbish and Jenny went to the little shop next to the Folly Pub to get a newspaper.

The couple in the little shop are really friendly and stock all the basics you could need whilst boating. There is another shop in the village but it is a bit of a walk away, that shop is also a post office and has been for sale for nearly 4 years. The Folly shop is much more convenient, the lady in the shop says she is going to write a book about all the peculiar items they get asked for, she also says that a few boaters obviously get a surprise when they get back to their boats.... the couple keep their own milk (for tea and coffee etc.) and their own spread for their sarnies right at the back of the fridge, but the customers still pick up the half used containers and buy them!!

Anyway, back to cruising, it took us 3 and a half hours to work the Napton flight, (including waiting time) there were that many boats about.

Now we are moored in the middle of nowhere between Marston Doles and Fenny Compton at we call 'our aerial mooring'. From here you can see for miles and miles......

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Our 'normal' cruising day is about 4 hours, so, when we get a delay like we did today, we still have plenty of time. Today, however, we met a hireboat intent on completing the Thames ring in 2 weeks... Why do people still try to do this... I know the boat costs a lot of money to hire and you want to get your moneys worth but surely, you don't get a chance to see anything apart from the canal and river, what about all the lovely villages and walks.....

Day 4

2010-07-25T15:14:00.002+01:00

I really must think of a more original heading in the future.....

Short day today and a short blog to go with it. Left Hillmorton, worked the delightful Hillmorton Locks and and on through Braunston, mooring early afternoon a little bit short of Napton Junction

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY Why do I cruise on Sundays! You would have thought I would have learned my lesson by now. Between Hillmorton and Braunston was one long procession of private boats out for the day and hireboats leaving their bases in the Napton/Calcutt area. Monday tomorrow and normality will return.

Day 3......

2010-07-24T20:15:00.002+01:00

A leisurely start today..... it was about time I cleaned the brass so that is what I did. We set off about 11 and stopped at Rose Narrowboats for water. The yard was a hive of activity as engineers and cleaners prepared the hirefleet for its next batch of 'owners'.

Whilst there I purchased a new seal for the porta potti (£9.93!!!!!).... I really must fit it before we get to Beale Park otherwise Elaine and her crew on the Lavendar Boat might well be wearing..... well, it does not not bear thinking about!!

After shopping at Tesco's in Rugby (the walk to the store seems to be getting longer or am I getting older) we set off again.

Then it was on to Hillmorton to moor for the night, where we saw a procession of Viking Afloat and Rose Narrowboats as the new crews find their feet...

By the time I set sail tomorrow they will be long gone.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: What is to stop me going to the supermarket garage with my plastic 5 gallon containers, buying white diesel at £1.15, putting it in my tank and then when I get to a boatyard just adding red diesel at domestic rate?? Will it work, will my engine like white diesel? The fact that I would only save about 9p a litre on propulsion probably makes it not worth the effort, but, is itg legal?

The cruise continues

2010-07-23T21:21:00.002+01:00

Day 2 of our cruise, and, it was rather remiss of me to forget that yesterday was a very important day.....!

n.b. GUELROSE came of age yesterday so......

HAPPY 21ST BIRTHDAY GUELROSE, and here's to the next 21 years (hopefully)

Very little to report today, except that it did not rain. Atherstone Locks were completed with very little trouble and also very little traffic. Is it summer? If so, where have all the boats gone?

2 boats passed us before we cast off and only 2 more boats passed as we climbed the rest of the flight.

Reaching Hawkesbury we found it as congested as ever so continued through the stop lock and onto the Oxford Canal. We eventually moored up on the embankment past Ansty next to the railway, the view is great, and the trains do not really bother us.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: We have now covered about 30 miles of canal. In that time we have seen at least 20 'continuous moorers' (I know as we came this way 6 weeks ago and the same boats are in the same place) Is it time for BW to change their licensing and mooring policies? The average towpath mooring is probably about £1000 (based on what I pay for a garden mooring,) multiply that by 20 boats equals £20000, and, multiply that by the mileage of canals in this country (is it 3000 miles? ) divided by my 30 miles makes 100 times £20000 which equals some £2 million that BW should be getting but isn't. Or have I got it wrong some where??

Continuous cruisers are not the problem (when circumstances are right I shall be one) but continuous moorer are another story.......

GUELROSE is moving.....!

2010-07-22T21:55:00.002+01:00

n.b. GUELROSE slipped her moorings at 1130 a.m. and within 5 minutes it has started raining. GUELROSE is now heading for Beale Park on the River Thames. I have spent the winter months since October 2009 planning and drawing moorings for some 500 boats that are attending the National Festival at Beale Park over August Bank Holiday weekend. The moment of truth is drawing nearer - will my plans work or will it be a disaster. Only time will tell but I sincerely hope it is the former rather than the latter!!

Anyway, back to cruising and having to get used to the slow speeds of internet access via a dongle after having the pleasure of wireleess broadband all over the winter months....

Reaching Glascote Locks we joined the back of the obligatory queue for these locks, but, why does this happen? I don't think it was helped by someone getting impatient and working down the lock against the flow to end up with 2 boats in the same pound between the two locks... when will they ever learn that this does not work! During the hour or so I was waiting we had torrential rain, thunder and lightning. It really was quite a show! Once through the 2 locks (it only took 1 hour 35 minutes) the sun came out and shone for the rest of the day.

We are now moored just above the first 2 locks of the Atherstone flight, good tv picture for the wife and a reasonable signal for the T mobile internet connection.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:- when will people learn the right way to moor up a boat, putting the mooring lines at 90 degrees to the boat just does not work.

Another thought maybe tomorrow - I have lots of them I want to air.

Look carefully - what can you see??

2010-06-02T21:04:00.002+01:00

A slight distraction from the main purpose of my blog, but, I could not resist this picture taken today at the bottom of my garden in Hopwas.

Now, down to the main purpose of the blog, GUELROSE will be on the move again next week!!! After having not moved since October last year!!! we shall be setting sail on Wednesday next week to take a trip up the Ashby Canal and back. This will be followed by another cruise in July when we will be taking 2 weeks to take the boat down to the Thames in readiness for the IWA National Festival at Beale Park over the Bank Holiday weekend. (I shall be at Beale Park for 3 weeks as I am the new Waterspace Manager - this has entailed learning a lot of new computer programs including Microsoft Access and Turbocad - just the thing to pass away those long dark cold winter nights!!)

In between us taking the boat down to the Thames and going to Beale Park my son will be cruising the boat on the Thames and Kennet and Avon Canal for a week - times have changed, a few years ago it would have been him and a few mates and several dozen crates of lager - now it's the wife, two children and friends also with children!

Hopefully, dongle permitting (if I can remember where I put it) I will be posting a few updates of our travels. You get so used to the speed of wireless broadband that waiting for the dongle to connect is like watching paint dry. Now, also, where did I put that extension lead which means I will be able to locate the dongle on the highest point of the boat..... Ummmmmm?

Speak to you soon

And so to Curdworth

2009-10-09T22:10:00.002+01:00

Another long day in store today, 2 miles and 8 locks to be worked.
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It took us just over the 2 hours as I had to do 4 caches on the way as well!!!
.

We reached Curdworth just after 1.30 p.m. and moored up. I spent the afternoon cleaning the boat and the brass as my son and his mates were taking over the boat that evening and I like to leave the boat how I would like to get it back!!!!

The new crew duly arrived and we sopped over, we took the car, they have the boat. 20 minutes later we were back home and indoors, it had taken 6 hours by boat.

Tomorrow GUELROSE is heading for Birmingham where the lads are having a night out on the town!! Then they will work it back to Hopwas over the next 2 days.

That was probably our last cruise of the year, and, as we no longer live on the boat, I will have to go through the process of winterising the boat, something I have not done for many years......

October Cruising

2009-10-08T20:05:00.003+01:00

There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe the weather today so I will just use the one - wonderful!!!!

A long days cruising today, we left Fazeley, had a quick pumpout at Fazeley Mill Marina (quick is an enigma - you get caught up talking to Corrinne and a quick pumpout expands to 45 minutes!!)

It took forever to get to the bottom of the Curdworth flight of locks as I insisted on doing some caching on the way, by the time we stopped for lunch I had only found 2 out of 6, 2 I just could not find and the other 2 there were too many people around.

Afternoon was nuch better, we did all of three locks on the Curdworth flight, finding 4 out of 5 caches in the vicinity, and also found a mooring near the Dog n Doublet. I shall try and find the missing cache in the morning before we leave.

As I said before, a long day. 4 miles and 3 locks, tomorrow could be even longer, 2 miles and 8 locks, and maybe, just maybe, a few more caches on the way

On the move again

2009-10-07T21:09:00.003+01:00

Allbeit for a short time...... i.e. three days.
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My son wanted a last cruise of the year, he and his mates love going to Birmingham for the weekend, but...... they didn't have enough time to get from Hopwas to Birmingham and back in 3 days, so mum..... and dad..... could you take the boat a little way for us!!!

So we packed up a few bits and pices, and, oh, by the way dad, could you do a little bit of shopping for us (the bill came to over £140!!) as we will not be up much before ten on Friday evening, and set off from Hopwas cruising all the way to Fazeley. Tomorrow we shall do a few of the Curdworth flight, finishing them off on Friday. We don't really mind as it is a few days away and gives us the chance to do the Drayton Bassett and Curdworth series of caches on the way.

More tomorrow, internet connection permitting.

Huddlesford Boat Gathering 2009

2009-09-20T20:21:00.002+01:00

Every two years (is that biannual or biennial? or are they both the same?) Lichfield and District Canals Restoration Trust hold a boat gathering at Huddlesford Junction on the Coventry Canal. The event is held courtesy of Lichfield Cruising Club who kindly donate their clubhouse and grounds for the event. The main organiser of the event is Sue Williams of LHCRT and the amount of effort she puts into this event must be highly commended!!

My part was a little bit easier than Sue's, I had to harbourmaster the historic boats, trade boats and LHCRT members boats moored between bridges 82 and 83. All other boaters were expected to find their own moorings on a first come first served basis, although, owing to the number of boats attending this year, we may have to seriously consider extending the organised moorings to cater for the visiting boaters in future years.

The event was only a one day event, and was open to the public from 1000 to 1600 hrs. Most boats arrived on Thursday or Friday preceding the event. Under the guidance of my mentor, Pat Barton , I attempted to sort out the historic, trade and LHCRT members boats, and, hopefully, most of them were reasonably happy with my efforts.

Trade boats included The Cheese Boat, The Fudge Boat, The Ice Cream Boat, TR Boat Handling, Smart Stitch (who embroider your boat name onto T shirts and Polo shirts, ) Fox who sell giftware and Ian Smith Chandlery who sell, well, chandlery!

Historic boats that attended included President and Kildare, Nutfield and Raymond, Swift (part of the BW Heritage Fleet), Marquis (an ex BCN? Tug), Hawkesbury (one of the last Woolwich boats to have been built?), Monarch (another ex Fellows Morton and Clayton steamer that has been a steamer, then a diesel, then a steamer and back to being a diesel with butty Grimsby, Trout, Dove, Bream, Tipton, Corona, and Minnow, complete with its beautiful sounding 9 hp Bolinder! (My sincere apologies to any historic boats I may have missed out).

Another boat at the gathering was A J FELGATE, a Truman Enterprise Narrowboat Trust boat that is charity based for youth groups, plus, of course, all the other boaters who turned up and helped to make the day a success.

On the actual day there were numerous stalls trying to tempt you to part with your hard earned cash, as well as displays by the Knot Tyers Guild and a display of historic cars (I believe there were about 70 of them!) who definitley put to shame the display of historic cars at the IWA National Festival at Redhill!

During the event the LCC clubhouse was open to all and was selling an excellent real ale especially brewed for the event by Blythe Brewery in Staffordshire appropriately called L & H Bitter.

During the evening the ladies of LCC prepared an excellent meal for all of us, followed by entertainment provided by a jazz group called Funktionality. I am not a great lover of jazz, but this group were good, and considering their ages, one was 16, 3 were 18? and one was 23, they were brilliant!

All in all a very good event, and once again, a special mention for Sue Williams who put so much into making this event the success that it was!

Almost Home

2009-09-08T17:08:00.003+01:00

You can tell we are almost home - we get a decent connection on the internet for the first time for weeks!!

Yesterday was another day of waiting at locks, although only two or three boats at a time ahead of us. Found a mooring in Alrewas and had a little wander around the village via the butchers, just had to have one of their pork pies and some of their sausages!!

No queues today but we made very slow progress - I was 'caching' all the way up the flight. Moored up for the night just short of Hopwas Woods - a mile from home!! Got to make the most of it!! Winter is a long long time.

Out again the weekend after next for the Huddlesford Boat Gathering in aid of the LHCRT and then 2 weeks later GUELROSE gets a younger crew as my son Jon and his mates take her to Birmingham and back for a long weekend.

Speak to you soon

Returning Home

2009-09-06T19:36:00.002+01:00

Is it Sunday already? Where ndoes the time go? Friday was spent cruising from Shardlow to Willington, passing on the way n.b. Granny Buttons but no sign of life on board. Perhaps he had been out prowling with his camera again in the wee small hours and was catching up with a bit of sleep!!

As an aside, whilst getting ready to leave Shardlow on Friday morning, a conker, complete with its prickly covering, decided to detach itself from the tree and land immediately behind me. No problem, you might say, but the thing was the size of a cricket ball and if it had hit me on the head...........

We reached Willington at 1500 hrs to find the main moorings full up, but, being Willington, there were plenty of towpath moorings still available although further from the facilities. Later that afternoon my niece drove over from Chruch Gresley, picked me up and took me to Redhill to pick up my car which I drove back to Willington, all in under an hour, the boat journey had taken several hours!! That evening we went for a meal at the Green Dragon with Jerry and Helen from n.b. Josephine. The meal was cheap and cheerful and filling!

Saturday was spent driving my car to Church Gresley, picking up my niece, her husband and son, and taking them to Birmingham Airport where they were flying off to Spain for 10 days. There flight was due to leave just after 3 but I later learnt that their flight was delayed several hours, goodness knows what time they eventually left! No such problems on the canal, or so I thought!!!

That evening I set off to find 3 caches in the Willington area, the first I couldn't find (but neither could anyopne else over the last 3 months - is it still there - I doubt it.) The second one I found easily but time I got to the third one it was getting dark. I was in the right place but the light had gone and I just could not find it.

Sunday was an easier day, we moved up to the facilities, filled up with water, emptied the loos and dumped the rubbish. Whilst there, we were moored alongside another boat who were pumping out their loo. Why is it that boaters always end up talking about toilet facilities???

We left Willington just before noon and pottered along slowly, worked through Dallow Lane Lock with no problems, passed through Burton on Trent and reached Branston Lock to find six boats waiting to go through. Where had they come from?? I went up to the lock and helped the boats through, some people just don't seem to do this and soon it was our turn. We passed through the lock, cruised a short distance and moored up at Branston. I then went off and did another cache, not really realising how far away it was. Tomorrow we will do a few more.

Returning Home

2009-09-03T20:17:00.002+01:00

This morning we woke up to the sound of wind, more wind and even more wind. Jenny was not inclined to move at all, BUT, if we stayed and it rained more and the wind still blew, would we be able to get off the rivers before it was too late?

Anyway, we spent the best part of a couple of hours drinking coffee and putting the world to rights with Jenny and Tony off of N.B. TOM TUG. About half past noon I decided it was time to leave so off we wnet, up to the lock and tried to rurn round. Whether it was the current, the wind or just me, I made a real pigs ear of it and took ages to get round!!! Then it was up the Soar, no problem, onto the Trent, no problem, and through Derwent Mouth lock and up to Shardlow to moor, no problem.

After walking up to the post office in Shardlow to pick up a paper we wandered back to the boat and on the way picked up a takeaway menu from the Tandoori Nights Indian Restaurant. Just after six we made the phone call, 25 minutes later I picked up the meal, and WE must admit, it was absolutely gorgeous. Thank you Tony for the recommendation.

IWA National -Redhill

2009-09-02T22:14:00.003+01:00

This will be my last blog under this heading, tomorrow we leave the site and head back towards Hopwas and our home mooring. We will not be the first to leave, many of our friends, colleagues and co-workers have already left.

In my view the festival was quite a success, I do not know how many visitors passed through the gates and how much profit, if any, the IWA made out of the festival.

I spoke to many of the traders over the weekend and most reported good sales. A couple of traders were worried that they would not have enough stock to last until Monday and one sent out to his son in law to bring more supplies.

Monday night was spent in the beer tent (yet again) although the selection of real ales was by then strictly limited. The Beatles tribute band, THE BEATLESS, were quite good and audience participation was excellent - we all seemed to know the words of the songs, probably showing our age in the process!

Tuesday, four of us hitched up the jet float and flat, worked up through the lock, and stripped out all the scaffolding and stagings on F section.. The flat was almost on the point of sinking under the load, it had two inches of freeboard and three inches of water in the flat! The evening was spent in the WRG tent, where the wergie chef, Allie, created a medieval type banquet based on Robin Hood. After nibbles we were presented with a trio of meats comprising large chunks of beef, pork and turkey accompanied by large amounts of roast potatos. The deserts were not quite so medieval but were very nice as was the cheese and biscuits.

Wednesday, we dismantled all the scaffolding we had erected on the trade moorings before going back up river to strip out the ferry stagings. As we returned down river we stripped out all the H frames from the stagings and had the lot finished by lunch time.

It had taken us the best part of two weeks to put in place all this equipment, and only a day and a half to strip it all out.

Tomorrow we set sail, heading for the Trent and Mersey canal, and ultimately back to Hopwas, more of that later.

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-29T20:52:00.003+01:00

It's ten to nine on a summers? evening!! It's cold enough for me to consider lighting the stove. All this talk about global warming - well, I can assure you all it is not happening at Redhill!

At least it has stayed dry but the wind in this part of the world is second to none. Now, back to the matter in hand, THE NATIONAL. After several last minute panic jobs to be done, the IWA National Festival and Boat Show 2009 finally opened. The weather was fine and dry, although windy, the gates opened at 10 and the punters started streaming in through the gates. After carrying out a few last minute jobs I ventured onto the festival site, for the first time this year!

After a pastie for lunch I left my wife doing a 2 hour shift in the food court cleaning the tables, the word 'scrubber' came to mind, but, needless to say this was not pursued for very long!

After her shift she managed to venture into one of the exhibitors tents where she managed to spend a small fortune on 'christmas presents' for the kids. Having not enough cash on me to pay for these goodies, I had to leave the site by car, pop into Kegworth and avail myself of the cash machine outside the Co-op.

That's about it for the time being, in a couple of days we will start taking it all down again.

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-24T21:30:00.002+01:00

Apologies for the lack of communication over the last few days, we have had so much to do that by the time I get back to my boat, have something to eat, I want to go to bed!!!

My work has been much of the same over the last few days, building landing stages on the steep banks of the River Soar to enable boaters to access terra firma.

Today has been spent trying to sort out the pontoons for the exhibitors boats and historical craft, plus sort out some means of securing the disabled moorers pontoons to dry land. The main problem is that from the pontoon to dry land is 8 metres, and health and safety dictates that the maximum span for a gangway is 4 metres so tomorrow we have to build more landing stages which will protrude at least 4 metres into the river.......

After tomorrow I will put on my other hat and become a harbourmaster, this will be much easier and will hopefully enable me to spend more time on my blog.....

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-19T19:46:00.002+01:00

Oh - the joys of being on the B.O.D.S moorings - an electricity supply and water!!! I have it on good authoority that B.O.D.S stands for Builders, Operators and Dismantlers - if that is true then it is a very apt title.

For us in Waterspace today was much the same as yesterday, EXCEPT..... the cake that Pat bakes us each day is a different, we've had fruit cake, lemon cake and today a Victoria sponge with blueberry jam filling, it is definitely a hard life being on Waterspace!!

Tony took an early bath today allbeit he only sat in the water managing to keep his feet and top dry, the sight of him wandering around in boxers whilst waiting for his shorts to dry has had to be censored from any photographs. The order of a baptism in the River Soar seems to be oldest first, then next oldest, I should be alright for a few days then!!!

We managed to finish the hold offs and landing stages on F section today and tomorrow will start on D section. My mooring as harbourmaster is on D section and I have already put the order in, I want decking, pretty little solar lights, a built in BBQ and the grass mown, electricity and water would be a bonus but I know that that will not happen.

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-18T19:53:00.003+01:00

Progress was rather slow today as we have changed our work site - we now have to work through Ratcliffe Lock to get there!

Once there, we had the added problem of overhanging trees where the moorings were supposed to be. We marked out the moorings and then decided to move one block as their mooring was right where a willow tree decided to send its branches 20 feet out into the river.

Meanwhile the men from the Slea Navigation were busy with their brush cutters - the stinging nettles form a 20 feet barrier between towpath and waters edge.

Our morning was complicated by Rees deciding to perform a backward flip into the river, He did not quite score a perfect 6, and in the afternoon when we had our tea break complete with cake, we thought Rees should have had Dunkin Donuts!

Lunchtime meant working back down through the lock and after lunch back up through the lock.

Needless to say, after a marina worker arrived with chainsaw and removed a couple of problem trees we got on with our work, the six feet wooden posts that form the basis of the H frame landing stages can be pushed five feet into the mud by hand....... the scaffold poles we need for the hold offs will need to be somewhere near 5 metres in length........

More fun tomorrow!!!!!

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-17T19:48:00.002+01:00

Work on WATERSPACE started in earnest today! After a lot of tooing and froing we eventually got started on what we really had to do, build access for the visiting boats and also build a system to keep them from ending up on the bank should the river flood!!

Apparently Cliff from n.b. REST HARROW, a retired Thames lock keeper is infamous for getting a pontoon into places other pontoons have never reached!!

We breasted up the pontoon alongside his narrowboat and in a few minutes we were crashing into the trees and bushes overhanging the river which were getting in our way. After a bit of deft use of the bow saw there were very few branches to hinder our efforts of building landing stages for the visiting boats.

I really wish I could show you pictures of what it was like but internet speeds do not allow this at the moment although I do believe Cliff has captured the interesting moments on video!!

Working on a pontoon on the river really makes you aware of the need for health and safety lectures and the need to wear a life jacket. Common sense also tells you that if you carry your mobile phone in your pocket you will end up in the water but if you leave the phone on your boat you will stay dry - I took the best option and left my phone on the boat and stayed dry

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-15T19:33:00.004+01:00

How things change overnight, I thought I would spend the day erecting security fencing, but, I am actually part of the Waterspace team and this year there is a lot of work for the Waterspace team!!

Today was spent moving pontoons and boats, and then marking out moorings, tomorrow who knows what we will have to do but on Monday we start work in earnest. Each set of boats on some of the moorings have to have scaffold poles affixed to keep them away from the bank and to allow for changes in river levels should we be unfortunate to have some of that dreaded wet stuff that I dare not name, then each set of boats need a little jetty to allow them to get from their boats onto the site, some need forward access, some need rear access.

The whole system has been planned so that even if the river level rises by two feet we will still be able to safely get from our boat onto land and the boat will be on a safe mooring.

The only problem with all this planning was surveying the site which was covered in two foot high stinging nettles, and believe me, theyreally do sting!!

However, once the tractor and mower are fixed, it only needs a shear bolt, but no-one knows where they are and how to fix them as the one person who does know has done a disappearing act for the time being.

Speak to you again tomorrow!!

IWA National -Redhill

2009-08-14T19:25:00.003+01:00

I was hoping to publish some pictures again this year showing the developement of the site from a field to what amounts to a thriving village of probably a thousand souls. However, the internet connection is not that good for downloading photographs so you may have to wait until I get back home to my wireless broadband before you can view the pictures.

Today was a quiet day, workers boats arriving, the inevitable Elf'n Safety talk and signing your life away before being issued with a wrist band that allows you access to everywhere on the site, it is a bit like being a criminal and being tagged, everyone knows who you are and where you are going!!

After moving a couple of boats around I helped Bob and Jeff from the plumbing team to erect the tea tent, one of the essential jobs to be carried out first, followed by a bit of unloading of plumbing gear from the TARDIS and then the inevitable fencing duty!

Tomorrow will see more fencing duty as the main show site has to be fenced, - nevertheless it is nowhere near as big a task as last year at Wolverhampton where we had to have double security fencing with special security fixings!!

Shall I try and download a photo - oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, if not, I will update you tomorrow.

IWA NATIONAL - Redhill

2009-08-14T08:49:00.003+01:00

Thursday 13th August 2009

I arrived at the festival site at Redhill in the shadow of the great cooling towers of Ratcliffe on Soar and quickly settled down back on the boat, stowing away all the essentials, clothes, food, beer and wine!!

Several other boats were already on site and after a while I was told I could move down to my temporary mooring on the BODS. I say temporary as, although I work on site before and after the festival, for the three days before and during the festival I put on a different hat and become a harbourmaster, necessitating moving to a different mooring and then after the festival moving back to the BODS.

2009 National

2009-08-12T21:52:00.001+01:00

Not long now before I an resident agin on GUELROSE... Photos of the national site will follow providing I can get an internet connection in such a rural area....

2009 National Waterways Festival - Redhill

2009-08-09T21:25:00.002+01:00

n.b. GUELROSE has now arrived at the national festival site at Redhill following an eventful journey.

Birmingham and Wolverhampton were passed without any problem, before going on to Great Haywood and Fradley. The river section at Alrewas was well into the green, and then came Thursday!! Several hours of heavy rain overnight played havoc with the river levels!

Arriving at Shardlow my son found no moorings - everyone was moored up - the Trent was in flood as was the Soar.

They eventually found a mooring, and next day, after telephoning the lock keeper they ventured onto the Trent, with a view to spending a day on the Erewash. The turn into the Erewash was apparently something else with Guelrose's engine revving at maximum to extricate them from going broadside down the Trent.

The crew were not impressed with the Erewash although the water was clear and the fishing was good. After a stop for lunch they moved back down to Trent lock and after a telephone call on Sunday morning to confirm that the Soar was open they eventually made it to Redhill where I was there to meet them to sort out the transport.

Guelrose is now all alone at Redhill but I will be joining her on Thursday morning to replenish the store cupboards in preparation for my three week stay at the national.

Photographs of the site will follow once I am safely esconsed on board Guelrose.

Guelrose on the move - soon!

2009-07-29T19:04:00.002+01:00

Come Saturday GUELROSE will be on the move again, allbeit crewed by my son, his wife and several of their friends over 9 days. She will be travelling into Birmingham, then to Wolverhampton, up the Staffs and Worcs to Great Haywood and then down the T & M to Derwent Mouth. A short excursion on the Soar will be followed by the boat being left (hopefully!!!) at Redhill where I will take her over for the two weeks prior to the National and for a few days after.

As per last year I hope to show several photos of the site, starting from a field into what amounts into a little? village with several hundred inhabitants.

Hope to see you all there, for those of you who cannot join us, watch the progress through my blog.....

Birmingham or bust!

2009-06-06T21:32:00.003+01:00

Well, the lads have reached Birmingham albeit wet and cold. Halfway through the day came the plaintive call, Dad, how do you light the diesel stove?

Anyway they got there and are now well and truly out on the town (or city)

They set out about 10 and had the misfortune to end up behind an hotel pair, the first 7 locks on the North Statford took 2 hours, under normal circumstances they would have waltzed through them in 45 minutes!

Tomorrow, when they eventually get up, they have the Farmers Bridge 13, Aston 11, Minworth 3, and some of the Curdworth 11. That should keep them busy for a while!!

Last day today.....

2009-06-04T17:42:00.002+01:00

Just a few more hours cruising left on this trip so we did not leave our mooring until 1130 hrs. Took it easy through the six remaining locks and moored up at the convenient Tesco's alongside the canal at Emscote.

Tonight, our son Jon and three of his mates are taking over the boat so our location is ideal for the changeover and also ideal for them to restock the alcohol store!!

I imgine they will take advantage of the cafe in Tesco's for breakfast tomorrow morning before setting out for the Hatton 21. They are routed Grand Union, North Stratford, Birmingham, Fazeley and back to Hopwas Monday afternoon so the journey should keep the four of them busy for the next four days!

So, if you see GUELROSE over the weekend, it is not me. Not that you will recognise her as I still have not finished the painting I started last year and she is still waiting for her new signwriting. More of that later.

The GRAND Union Canal!!

2009-06-03T20:34:00.004+01:00

Just below Bascote Locks on the Grand Union Canal is a mooring suitable for a 70 footer. There is no room nearby for anyone else so if you want to be alone and go back to nature that is the mooring for you! Luckily, when we got here it was empty so tonight it is ours. There is nothing else here, apart from the various birds, the occasional biplane flying over, and the farmer checking out his sheep on a quad.

Also, bearing in mind this is the GRAND UNION, where are the boats? We were going down the locks, the Calcutt 3, the Stockton 9 and the Long Itchington 2, we met up with a lovely couple on a boat at Calcutt and shared 13 locks with them. They were from New Zealand , they live in New Zealand and come over here every year for five months of our summer to cruise the canals. They moor over winter at Crick when they go home for their summer. What a life!! I am trying to remember the name of their boat, it is named after a pure white heron from New Zealand and was something like WOTUKU, apologies if I got it wrong.

We were the only two boats going down the locks, we started at Calcutt about 1030 and are now moored below Bascote Locks, the time being almost 2100 hrs and nothing else has come down the flight! As to those going up, we could count them on two hands, BUT, our progress was slowed by the increasing number of moored boats. On the approach to Stockton there are so many moored boats that progress was severely limited. It seems as though most of them go nowhere, I don't know whether the adjacent road and ample parking had anything to do with this!!

I know that BW say that more and more boats are being licensed each year, BUT, how many of them have a recognised mooring and how many of them actually cruise the canals!! I know there are numerous genuine continuous cruisers and I follow their blogs on a daily basis, but so many others are taking the **** and BW seem to be doing absolutely nothing about them. It seems to be that if you are licensed and have a recognised mooring that you pay for, BW check you out but if you have neither, nobody bothers about you!

Enough doom and gloom, tomorrow we will be at Warwick and my son and his mates take over the boat,. Good luck to all that meet them!

Things to ponder

2009-06-01T22:23:00.002+01:00

Usually when I am out boating I try to publish a blog each day, however, when cruising the Ashby Canal getting an internet connection is definitely a hit and miss affair.

This blog will cover the last few days, for a start, which town/city qualifies for the worst canal frontage in the country?

Having recently travelled through Nuneaton, I think there will be very few challengers. They have made nothing of their canal frontage and the amount of rubbish in the canal makes the local tip look underused!

As for the Ashby, it is still very shallow, still very busy and still has a lot of "continuous cruisers"!! But the countryside is still great.

On Saturday we were joined at Sutton Cheney by two day trip boats full of friends and acquaintances. (Is that spelt right - I don't think so? Where is spellcheck when I want it) there were 36 trippers in total hence the need for our boat as well, ages ranged from 2 years to 84 years. The two day boats went first followed by GUELROSE. We were the lucky ones, we picked up all the comments about b****y day boats!! Nevertheless, we cruised up to the winding hole just past Market Bosworth, had a BBQ lunch and then cruised back to Stoke Golding, (Whoops - probably just disclosed the location of the day boats).

Sunday was quieter, just the 5 of us, Mum, the wife and of course the two dogs, Alfie and Lewis. Progress was slow, the canal was shallow, there were so many moored boats etc...... Our favourite mooring near Burton Hastings was already double booked, so we had to go on as far as Bulkington Bridge to moor, passing a miserable so and so on the way who complained I was well over on his side as I came through a narrows of an old bridge hole, my wife's comments to him are unprintable and people like him should not be on the canal full stop!!

On Monday we came off of the Ashby, down to Hawkesbury and onto the North Oxford. We found a nice mooring at Newbold on Avaon and can thoroughlty recommend the chippe in the village/suburb/town.

GUELROSE is still moving...

2009-05-28T20:45:00.002+01:00

When you are landbased you take for granted the speed of connection to the internet..... however, as soon as you get inside that steel tube called a narrowboat internet connection speed seems to go out of the window. At the moment my dongle is hanging in the side hatch giving me some sort of service....

A leisurely start yet again today, but, surely, isn't it what it all about really, moving from here to there at a leisurely pace and mooring up in the countryside enjoying what looks to be the promise of an glorious English summer.....

We cruised for 4 hours today, taking our time up the Atherstone 11 as there were a lot of boats coming down as we were going up, we cruised as far as Hartshill where we moored up at 1500hrs. It was a beautiful afternoon and we cleaned the brass and polished one side of the boat, tomorrow we will polish the other side.... probably.,

After that, it is onto the Ashby Canal, and on Saturday it is the day boat cruise, more of that later

GUELROSE is on the move......

2009-05-27T22:41:00.002+01:00

Allbeit briefly, we are out for 9 days........

When you live on a boat it is easy to go cruising, just pull up your pins, stow the ropes and off you go. When you move onto the land and want to go cruising it is entirely a different matter! What clothes do you take, what kitchen implements (i.e. saucepans) have I taken from the boat and put in the house etc.....

It took us all morning to sort out the bits and pieces so it was 1300 hrs before we managed to start cruising. We arrived at Glascote locks after one and a half hours to find the usual queue, after waiting for an hour it was our turn to lock. We then cruised on and moored in one our favourite locations in the middle of nowhere just before you get to Bradley Green, just us and the dogs until a hireboat decided the mooring was good so moored up as well!

Tommorrow it's the Atherstone 11, then maybe a mooring at Hartshill.

Today's totals were 9 miles and 2 locks, with 5 hours cruising, just 2 lock miles per hour, quite slow even by our standards.

Watch out for an update tomorrow.

Going Ashore

2009-02-18T20:30:00.002Z

I have no doubt that few of you have followed my blogs through the last couple of years but to those who have, I say a huge thankyou!

Circumstances have dictated that we move off of nb GUELROSE that has been our home since April 2001 into a house, my father has passed away and my mother is suffering from Alzeihmers so we have to move into the house to look after my mother for the next few ?? years.

Consequently, we will not be cruising much so there will not be much of a blog. GUELROSE will revert to her original role of being a holiday boat, for the time being!!!!

If anything of interest crops up, rest assured, I will publish it on my blog.

Meanwhile, I shall continue to follow my favourite blogs, Granny Buttons, Sanity, No Problem, Gypsy Rover etc.

What is a liveaboard?

2009-01-15T21:41:00.004Z

GUELROSE is still moored at Hopwas and the engine is still not going, however, Diesel Dave, late of Streethay, is on the case and is coming to fix my problems soon . Apparently the problem I am experiencing with my starter motor not disengaging from the flywheel is not that uncommon, so hopefully I will at least be mobile enough to go and get a pumpout soon!

I am not that worried as Jenny and I are off to Les Menuires in the French Alps for a weeks holiday in a ski resort. I am not going for the skiing, I am more interested in the apres ski and being on the piste!!

Now to the main theme of my blog...... Liveaboards......

To my mind there seems to be various categories of liveaboards and continuous cruisers. Obviously the main liveaboards are those that have a residential mooring and go off cruising when they can. Brandywine and Thistle are just two examples. Then there are the genuine continuous cruisers such as No Problem, Gypsy Rover and Sanity. Granny Buttons obviously fits into one of these categories somewhere along the line!!! The one thing that stands out about the boats I have mentioned is there standard of maintenance. They all seem to be loved and are all maintained to a very good standard (yes - I know Granny is badly in need of a paint job but I am sure that Andrew will sort that out very soon!!) Then there are the other boats like the one's that have been moored in the same location for the last three months....... These people obviously have no love of the canals and see a boat as a cheap and convenient place to live, their maintenance standards are far lower and the roof of many of them looks more akin to a scrapyard than a narrowboat....

Yes, I admit I am jealous, I would love to be a continuous cruiser but circumstances prevent that from happening at the moment. But one day it will happen....

But, what really p****s me off is that the residential boaters pay their dues, the true continuous cruisers continuously cruise, the likes of me pay their licence and mooring fees, but the ones that moor for three months in the same place and have no love of the canals and treat a boat as an alternative to a house, pay nothing..... Why do I bother to pay my fair share when they don't!!

Happy New Year

2009-01-08T22:01:00.002Z

I know it is a bit late but I would like to wish you all a very happy new year.

GUELROSE is still laid up at Hopwas - I have a starter motor problem that I need to solve - i.e. the starter motor does not work hence the engine will not start and therefore I cannot move even if I wanted to! I might have to resort to posting a question on the Canalboat website, www. canalboat.co.uk - it has to be cheaper than calling out an engineer to solve the problem - I cannot take it to a boatyard to solve the problem as with no starter motor the engine does not start and therefore I cannot move.

The car still works though, so I made a trip to Wheaton Aston to buy some red diesel for the diesel stove. The mathematics worked out at a 56 mile round trip costing about £6 in petrol to buy diesel at 51.9 pence per litre. I bought 148 litres of the stuff, even if I could get that amount locally in cans it would cost at least 62 pence per litre, I will leave you to work out the sums but at the end of the day I saved a few quid and had a nice trip out in the car!

Now, back to that problem with the starter motor........

The Price of Diesel

2008-12-09T08:26:00.002Z

Took a short trip down to Fazeley Mill Marina yesterday for the usual services. Filled up with diesel @ 62 ppl as it all went into my heating tank in the front of the boat. I did not need any diesel for propulsion as I filled up in October and have not really been anywhere since so I signed the form as 100% for heating.

Now to the point of this post, supermarkets are now selling diesel at under £1 per litre compared to £1.05 at marinas. What (apart from the obvious hassle) is going to stop me filling my cans at the supermarket, and then filling up my engine tank with white diesel? How is HMRC going to know that I get my engine diesel from a supermarket?

Things can go wrong.......

2008-12-04T21:23:00.002Z

Whilst we are moored up for the winter I like to run the engine for a couple of hours every 7 to 10 days. I put the key in the ignition and turned it, the starter turned but the engine would not start. It would appear that the starter motor was not working as it should.

Next were the options, take it to a boatyard where they would probably charge me an hours labour to take the starter motor out and another hours labour to put it back... there's a £100 pound gone before I start.

EXCEPT, the engine would not start so I could not get to the boatyard anyway. The other options were to call out an engineer (more expense) or take out the starter motor myself and get it fixed. Taking out the starter motor was very easy, disconnect a few wires, take out three bolts and there it was - out. Now, where could I get it fixed? Unfortunately at the same time as the starter motor on the boat failed the power assisted steering rack on my car decided to play up and failed the mot. Speaking to the chap from the garage who was fixing my car, he said, why don't you take it round the corner to Tamworth Auto Electrics - they will fix it.

It's encouraging when you go into a workshop and put this object on the counter and the chap behind the counter recognises exactly what it is and what engine it came from. A quick inspection and he said the clutch has gone. Would you like it fully reconditioned at the same time?

In for a penny, in for a pound so I said yes. Two days later I got a phone call to say my starter motor was ready for collection. I went to collect it and there was this object, all clean and shiny, repainted, and looking nothing like the sorry object I had taken in a couple of days previously.

For the technical boffins amongst us, the clutch had gone, the bushes were worn down to virtually nothing, and the armature needed regrinding or something! The chap said it was a wonder it had worked so long - I replied it was only 20 years old. At the end of the day I paid £120 for the repair and got something that resembled a brand new unit, which, apparently, I could not have got as they don't make them any more! He then said that the reconditioned motor would probably outlast me!

Today I refitted the starter motor, turned the key, and the engine started. I'm happy!!

The River Years

2008-11-30T18:38:00.002Z

Has it really been that long since I posted something on my blog? It is amazing where the time goes when you are retired - how did we ever find time to go to work?

As promised, I am going to bore you all with tales from yesteryear. Due to circumstances Jennie and I can no longer go cruising for several months at a time so all I can do is reminisce about the good old years!

1958 was the year it all started, many years before I introduced my wife to a waterway life. Mum and Dad hired a converted lifeboat called GOOD FAITH from Robinsons Hire Cruisers at Maidenhead Court Boathouse. Murphy's law dictated that as it was October the river was in flood and we could not cruise at all. The owner however was very generous and as the boat was not booked out for the following week we could have the boat for nothing for the second week! However, Dad was on weekly pay and had to get on his motorcycle combination and ride back to Stockbridge in Hampshire to draw his holiday pay for the second week, then we could eat. We cruised all the way to Goring and back in a week and were well and truly bitten by the cruising bug. We never had a refrigerator on board, Dad kept his beer cold by putting it in a nylon shopping bag and hanging it off of the rear of the boat, and as for the loo, we had better not go there.

These being my childhood years I am a bit hazy about the years that followed or is that due to my advancing years?

After GOOD FAITH we really went upmarket and hired a cruiser, BELLATRIX STAR, from Bates Cruisers at Chertsey. This was a bit like going from a Springer to a Kingsground! There followed a succession of boats, GAY JACQUELINE, a 42 foot wide beam cruiser, brand new, hired from Bushnells in Maidenhead. Rumour has it that is was built in mahogany at Appledore in Devon. Somewhere along the line we hired JADE from Banhams Boatyard in Cambridge and cruised a lot of the fens. Then there was the week on SANS CELIA hired from Tovil Boatyard at Maidstone on the River Medway. Apparently the boatyard is still there but no longer hires out cruisers but still does day hire.

During those days I often looked at Maidline boats who offered canal cruisers such as MAID MARY SONJA. It is with regret that we never hired one of these and ventured onto the canals in the 60's as by the time we got onto canals it was the 70's and things had started to change.

As an aside, I noticed in Waterways World that a canal cruiser built by Maidboats was up for sale for the princely sum of £5000. To my mind that must be an absolute bargain.

Then there was the lads cruise, three of us hired a cruiser from Bushnells of Maidenhead in 1970. The boat was called GAY BELINDA, we were all 20 years old, who would hire us a boat these days at that age and who would have the nerve to call their boats GAY something or other?

Then I got married and boating holidays went on hold for a couple of years, until 1973 when our canal cruising started. The canal cruising started from Trevor on the Llangollen Canal with a 40 foot boat called HALTON. More of that, with photographs will follow.

Two minute silence

2008-11-09T16:28:00.002Z

Hi, it's me again! Really surprised today! A boat came through the Lichfield Road bridge at Hopwas just on 11 a.m. today. The boat was n.b. BLUE ORCHID. The couple on board stopped the boat, turned off the engine and stood on the towpath for two minutes to observe the silence. Quite a poignant moment and one I have not seen on the canal before.

A long weekend away

2008-10-20T20:03:00.005+01:00

We have just returned to our mooring at Hopwas after a long weekend away. We left Hopwas on Friday and cruised up to Fradley where we met up with some new friends we had made at the National Festival. We then cruised together to Alrewas and moored up for the weekend. A nice meal was had at The Crown in Alrewas on Friday evening, followed by a fairly long walk to the National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday. We ended up walking right to the far end of the arboretum as we had just started our new pursuit of geocaching.

On Sunday we both moved back to Fradley where I met up with Bruce and Sheila from nb SANITY. They were on their way back to Alrewas for a few days.

On Monday morning Sandra and Paul on nb KANDAHAR left Fradley to return to their mooring at Stafford. We left later to return to Hopwas.

To most people KANDAHAR is the second city in Afghanistan. BUT....HMS KANDAHAR was one of several K class destoyers built in 1938 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1939. After a relatively short service in the Indian Ocean and then the Mediterranean KANDAHAR left Malta with several other warshops to intercept an Italian convoy off of the coast of Tripoli, one of the warships, HMS NEPTUNE struck a mine and started to sink. KANDAHAR went in to rescue the crew and also stuck a mine. NEPTUNE sank almost immediately and KANDAHAR sank much later. Other warships were called back from the rescue because of the uncertainty as to where were the mines.

HMS NEPTUNE sank with the loss of over 700 lives, only one person survived. This was probably, and still is, the greatest loss of life in one warship in the history of the Royal Navy.

Anyway, we left Fradley, found a geocache near Fisherewick on the way back, and are now moored up for the best part of the winter.

IWA Festival Site, Pendeford Park + 7 weeks

2008-10-13T20:37:00.003+01:00

I needed a few bits from a chandlery today, and, being a nice day, I thought it would be nice to go for a little drive with the wife and the dogs. First stop was Pendeford Park, it was amazing how nature is gradually taking back what we did to the site in under 3 weeks. Obviously the bit where the funfair drove in is a little bit muddy still, and the main entrance area still has some way to go, but the rest of the site already shows little evidence that we were ever there. The dogs, Lewis and Afie, enjoyed a good romp around the park, and then it was back in the car and down to Limekiln Chandlery to buy the few bits we needed. The weather was lovely, and Pendeford Park was drier now that it ever was during the run up to the festival. Murphy's Law I suppose!

Not long now before we are off cruising for the weekend, can't wait.

BW spending more money.....

2008-10-07T22:08:00.005+01:00

For as many years as I can remember there has been one of those sort of zig zag gates on the towpath by School Bridge at Hopwas. It is one of those things designed to stop motorcycles using the towpath. I really should have taken a picture as a picture is worth a thousand words.... It has however not stopped the motorcycles as there was a 12 inch gap (30 cm for the purists amongst us!) between the woodwork and the canal. Today BW have fitted a metal extension to the gate, protruding over the canal slightly to stop the motorcyclists? or is it for health and safety reasons? My point is though, how long will it stay there. How long before someone decides to try and forcibly remove it. I'll give it six weeks at the most! Anyone wishing to start a book?

Not long now before we set off cruising again, albeit only for a long weekend. It will be good to be cruising again. We need diesel and a pumpout. Plus I have just taken out a second mortgage for four new leisure batteries so I will be interested to see if they work alright as the existing ones seem to be a little bit tired. We are not going far, probably as far as Alrewas to meet up with some new friends we made at the National. There is no doubt about the fact that canal boating is a very social event, and despite the bad press regarding the modern canal boater being anti-social, there are a lot of people out there who still talk to other boaters and still want to make friends. So, to all the friends I have made over the years and to the ones I will meet in the future, good health!!

National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas

2008-09-19T20:43:00.002+01:00

Whilst not directly connected to canals, the National Memorial Arboretum, http://www.thenma.org.uk/, is only a stones throw from the Trent and Mersey Canal, and the River Trent flows through the grounds, so in my view, it counts as a canal orientated site.

I took the old folks up there this afternoon for a couple of hours, just to get them out in the sun and fresh air, and we could easily have spent four or six hours there. It was really interesting and anyone passing through Alrewas on the canal should put it on their must visit list. Entry is free, the car park costs £2, blue badge holders park for free, basically the car park charge is to raise money to tarmac the car park.

I was not aware the site has been open for the last ten years and is gradually evolving. What really amazed me was the scope of the memorials, we are not just talking about WW2, there are memorials before and after that, covering everything from the Boer War to the recent troubles in Ulster.

What really amazed me was the Armed Forces Memorial which lists every serviceman who has died in the service of our country since 1945. The inscriptions are current up to 2007, but what really worried me was the vast amount of space available for future inscriptions.

All in all, it is well worth a visit.

Modern technology catches up with Guelrose

2008-09-18T13:05:00.004+01:00

For the last 2 years I have accessed the internet world via a T Mobile datacard that cost me £20 a month and gave me a reasonable access to the web. Today, I bit the bullet, and have upgraded to a web'n'walk stick. Wow, what a difference, no need now for an external aerial (it cost me the best part of £70 - anyone want it?) and the new plan costs me £5 per month less. What a result! The new system seems to be much quicker and after 12 hours trial I have no complaints - yet!

Wednesday 17th September 2008

2008-09-18T13:05:00.003+01:00

It is so nice to have a spell of fine weather at last even though I am suffering from man flue! This morning, Wednesday, we left our mooring at Hopwas and cruised down to Fazeley Mill Marina where we were taking part in a charitable cruise for servicemen injured on duty. The day was organised by Corrinne who manages the marina. Corrinne is actively involved in http://www.purplesalute.org/ a non profit making organisation giving the ordinary people of this country a different way of helping servicemen of all kinds. On our arrival a minibus had already arrived from the Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham, with three servicemen, Ally, Jim and Mike, together with an entourage of medics, nurses, and physiotherapists (these were also members of the armed forces) Three boats took part in the cruise, n.b. DIGITALIS (http://www.digitalis.org.uk/) , n.b. THE BLESSED BEE who may or may not have a website, and of course GUELROSE. We all set off in fine weather and cruised along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal for about a hour as far as Kingsbury Water Park, where we winded and then moored up for a while, giving everyone a good chance to see the myriad of water birds on the lakes. Unfortunately one of our visitors was in a wheelchair and was not able to get off of the towpath to take in the views, a section of towpath having been washed away in the recent rains.

After a while we all set off on the return trip and just to make it all better the sun shone. Once back at the marina our visitors were transported to the Three Tuns pub in Fazeley, where the landlady, an active supported of The Purple Salute, lad on an excellent buffet. After a couple of drinks it was time for our visitors to board their transport and set off back to the hospital.

I am in no doubt that all involved, including the boat crews, had a very enjoyable day out. Our thank must go to Corrinne for organising the event.

What's happening now?

2008-09-12T20:41:00.005+01:00

GUELROSE got back to it's moorings on 31st August and has not moved since. However, in the meanwhile, Jenny and I have managed a two day trip to Dublin, staying in a hotel overlooking the Grand Canal, there was a lock to the left of the hotel, a lock to the right of the hotel, and a tram station over the canal, but where o where were the boats?

I spent several hours longingly gazing at the canal waiting for a boat to appear (okay, maybe a few minutes) over a period of time but no boats were to be seen. The canal appears to be navagable and the locks seem to be in working order but where were the boats?

On Wednesday 11th September we returned to the boat and were amazed at the water level in the canal. It was at least six inches above normal. Bearing in mind that the pound we live in extends from Fradley to Glascote locks and also takes in the Brirmingham and Fazeley to Curdworth Locks, we are looking at some 15 miles of canal, multiplied by the width of the canal multiplied by the 6 inch increase, then we are looking at a serious amount of water that has to go somewhere?

That's it for now, our next cruise will be next Wednesday, 17th September, when we will be taking a client of the military hospital based in Selly Oak for a days cruise, more of that later.

What next?

2008-09-04T22:09:00.002+01:00

I am now back at Hopwas and will not being venturing far over the next few months.

EXCEPT, there is one important event to still take place on Wednesday 17th September. Corrinne ,who manages Fazeley Mill Marina, has organised a day trip for soldiers injured in Iraq and currently receiving treatment in the army hospital at Selly Oak, we will be taking part by taking some of them on a cruise.

There will be several boats taking part (I do not yet know how many) but it should be a good day out for those taking part....

This reminds me of a friend of mine from Somerset who organises every year, a trip for widows of servicemen, who are having a holiday at the British Legion home at Weston Super Mare. We have taken part in the past and up to 20 boats have taken part. The day starts with a coachload of people coming to Bradford on Avon, being shared out amonsgt the various boats, and then going for a boat trip.

My memory of the only time I have taken part is receiving on board two Welsh sisters from the Rhonnda Valley who had us in fits of laughter all the time they were on board. We picked them up at Hilperton Marina and cruised to Bradford on Avon. A visit to the the pub where they and their manager insisted on buying me pints, was followed by dinner on board, then a cruise back to Hilperton where they then boarded their coach and returned to the home in Weston Super Mare.

Once all our guests had returned we all had a BBQ at the marina. Unfortunately the marina has now changed hands and, although the cruise still takes part, it has had to be altered considerably and the social gathering after the cruise is no longer what it was.

IWA National 2008

2008-09-04T21:52:00.008+01:00

This shows some of the land based exhibits....

And some of the stalls.....

This is the lavendar boat, very important to us as it empties our loos and takes away our rubbish

This is the view of the boats on A section and the exhibitors moorings taken from bridge 2

This is the site as I left it, condensed down to a security fence around the tardis and a few bits and pieces....

And this is another part of the site, now deserted..

I will return to the site in a couple of months and take some more photos of how it is then....

31st August 2008

2008-08-31T22:20:00.003+01:00

Fame at last!! Last night we moored on the approach to the aqueduct over the River Trent near Rugeley. A boat went by, n.b. 4Evermore, and said, are you the Guelrose with the blog! Everyone has their 15 minutes of fame, maybe that was ours.

We left Rugeley and got to Fradley where it took us two hours to work through the three locks!! Then it started raining!! Another three hours later and we were back at our mooring at Hopwas.

Tomorrow it is off to Portsmouth for a funeral, then a few days on the boat before we spend a couple of days in Dublin.

The week after we are taking part in a cruise for disabled military personnel from the military hospital at Selly Oak organised by Corinne from Fazeley Mill Marina.

Saturday 30th August 2008

2008-08-30T18:40:00.002+01:00

GUELROSE is currently moored on the approach to the aqueduct near Rugeley. Signal strength for my datacard is very low so everything is taking a long time to download so no photographs tonight. Once I get back to base, and after a visit to Portsmouth for an unscheduled funeral, I will get down to entering a backdated log of the IWA festival with accompanying photographs.

We left Autherley on Thursday morning after spending the two days after the festival ended removing pontoons from the water on Tuesday, they had to be stacked three high and they were rather heavy! Wednesday was spent removing most of the fencing we had taken several days to erect a few days ago!

Thursday night was spent near to the M6 motorway between Boggs Lock and Rodbaston Lock. The evening was spent with new friends we had made at the festival. Friday night was spent at Tixall Wide, there were lots of boats there but for some reason 90 feet of space was left next to some other new friends we had made. It was a beautiful balmy summer evening, with barely a ripple on the water. A hot air balloon took off from Shugborough Hall adding to the entertainment. We spent the evening on the towpath, illuminated by scores of candles, had a couple of drinks and reminisced about the festival.

That's it for now, will not be able to publish another blog until Wednesday at the earliest.

IWA National Festival 2008

2008-08-27T21:25:00.002+01:00

I know I have been a bit lacksadaisical about my post over the last few days bit I have been very busy helping to build the site, then I had to be q harbourmaster for five days, BUT, I have taken loads of photographs, and, if you will forgive me, I will do a backdated version of what has gone on over the last few days.

2008-08-18T21:30:00.003+01:00

Despite the weather (the site is rather waterlogged) there is a social side to our gathering.

Tomorrow night is a cheese and wine party, I like cheese, I like wine, should be a good night.

On Wednesday Annie is organising a chinese takeaway for up to 100 people! The local takeaway should be boosting it's profits that night.

Which brings me onto the boost to the local economy, at it's height during the festival, there will be over 320 boats and an equivalent number of campers in the locality, they all have the eat and drink and the boost to the local economy must be good......

Speak to you soon

2008-08-18T21:22:00.002+01:00

More marquees are appearing......

And more boats are arriving....

Problems are also arising, this afternoon I moved over to my official festival mooring but due to an underwater obstruction if I would have been where I was supposed to be my stern would have been sticking out six feet into the canal .... which would have meant that with triple breasted boats opposite there would not have been much of a channel for through boats to pass. No problem you think, just move up a bit, then everyone else has to move up and there is only a finite space available....

2008-08-18T20:57:00.002+01:00

A few more marquees are starting to appear....

And a few more boats....

We have now moved over to our official festival mooring, well almost! Unfortunately there is an obstruction in the canal which would have meant that our stern was sticking out 6 feet further into the canal than it should have. No problem you would have thought but there is, that would mean the navigation channel would be severely reduced as there are the equivalent of triple breasted boats opposite. So yes, we could move forward but then so would everyone else have to... and is there the space available to do this? Thank god I do not have to reorganise this.

On the brighter side is the social side, tomorrow there is a cheese and wine party, I like cheese, I like wine, so I should be happy.

2008-08-18T20:39:00.004+01:00

This picture shows the beer tent.....

So does this, you can see how big it is....

These are the pontoons where the exhibitor boats will be sited....

And now the pontoons are in the water (or rather a fraction of them)

Monday 18th August at The National

2008-08-18T19:51:00.001+01:00

Things are moving a bit slowly at the moment. The inclement weather is not conducive to vehicles moving over the site to do what they have to do. However, I have been able to get on site and take a few more photos. I am going to try and download them onto the blog and get them into the right order with the right comments!

See you in a minute!!

Sunday 17th at The National

2008-08-17T20:27:00.003+01:00

Hello, it's me again. I have to be careful as there are two of us doing blogs on the same subject. Luckily, however, although we work together some of the time, our end jobs are quite different. I will leave Bruce Napier on Sanity to do his side of the job and I will concentrate on mine. My main job is concerned with Waterspace, i.e. the mooring of visiting boats to the National Festival.

Overnight we apparently had quite heavy rain that has left the festival site quite waterlogged. I must admit that after all that fresh air, a days hard work and a little glass of red wine, I did not hear much overnight!!

So much so that the site today is waterlogged. Many of the marquues have been erected including the beer tent - I really must take some more pictures and put them on the blog. The rain has meant that most people cannot get onto the site to do their job. However, my task today was to help mark out the moorings for the visiting boats and as all that entailed was a pair of walking boots, a surveyors wheel, and a can of spray paint we were not hindered by the weather.

Tomorrow I do not know what I will be doing but on Tuesday I will have to go and check all the mooring sites on our section (the Shroppie), ensuring that they are all marked up appropriately so that when visiting boats arrive they will know where to go.

On Wednesday I will put on my other hat and become a Harbourmaster for A section. This entails greeting all the boats in my section, ensuring they moor in the right place and dealing with any pronblems/complaints they may have - if I canoot solve their problems then I always have my Waterspace Manager to fall back on!

I will try and take some more photos tomorrow - the site is progressing well - to quote Canal Boat Magazine www.canalboat.co.uk the boats are being craned in, exhibitor stalls are being lugged across the site etc. Maybe I am at a different site in a different world but what they say is not happening yet!!

Speak to you soon

IWA National Festival 2008 Day ?? whatever

2008-08-14T19:32:00.003+01:00

I've lost count of the days I have been here, I have been so busy!

What amazes me about this event is the age of the volunteers who help to put the site together. I have been working with Roger, Bruce, Margaret, Bill, Tony, John, Martyn (hopefully I have not missed anyone out!!) and the age range is from the fifties to the seventies. What amazes me even more is that one of our crew works from a mobility scooter.

We are now known as the heavy mob!! If it needs shifting or lifting, be it sandbags, washing machines, ovens, fridges or freezers, just call on us and we will be there!!

I have a couple of days off from the heavy mob as I will now start to do the job I really was recruited for - i.e. working for Waterspace. Tomorrow and Saturday I will be helping to mark out all the mooring spaces on the Shroppie. I had started this earlier in the week and then BW came along and mowed the towpath and guess what happened to all my markings!!!

No more photos as yet, I must do some more soon, most of the marquees are now erected including the beer tent so the site is starting to take shape

IWA National Festival 2008

2008-08-12T21:10:00.008+01:00

I have been hard at work again all day on the site. We have been erecting the security fences and because we are in a residential area we have had to put in a double security fence. That is all done now, I have no idea what is in store for us tomorrow.

The first of the marquees arrived today and it is marvellous to watch how they are erected. To me it seems like a giant jigsaw puzzle but all the pieces come together in the end.

I have taken a few pictures of the site as it is and hopefully will produce some more in due course.

This is the view of the main site.

The second picture shows where the funfair will be and most imortantly, where the beer tent is. The will have over 40 real ales on sale over the weekend. I wonder how many I will be able to sample!

I don't know why the photos are not appearing where they should, if you know how to do this pleae help me!!

Something is going very wrong here now as the picture do not seem to be appearing in the right order.

This shows my boat on what is to be the exhibitors site. i.e. all the new floating exhibits.

My last photo shows what is to be a marquee. Why oh why are my photos not in the right place!! Hopefully now sorted thanks to your advice)

Day 1 (for me) at the National Festival Site

2008-08-11T20:44:00.002+01:00

At last we have had a day without rain!! Today was my first working day as a volunteer at the National Festival Site at Pendeford Park, Wolverhampton. No photos as yet - been too busy - hope to take some tommorrow although as yet there is little to show apart from the compound where all the materials necessary to build the site are stored. However, we did get the outer security fence installed today, tommorrow should see the inner security fence also installed. I wonder whether the fence is designed to keep us in or to keep others out!!

I have not previously been involved in setting up a site, my only previous claim to fame is being a harbourmaster at the 2006 National at Beale Park, Pangbourne. I didn't realize how involved it was. Today was also spent checking out one of the many mooring areas for visiting boats, seeing if we could fit in all the boats in that particular section and making out the limits of each boats mooring.

Tomorrow I think will involve more security fencing and maybe checking out and marking up another mooring area.

I am really enjoying working on the site and have met a lot of interesting people who have far more exeperience at this sort of thing than me.

Maybe I will be able to profile a few of them along the way!!

IWA National Festival 2008

2008-08-09T21:26:00.002+01:00

Well, we made it to the site, eventually! We left Hopwas about 1000 hrs on Friday and had an uneventful cruise to Fradley passing just 21 boats in the 3 hours it took us to get there. Then our problems started, because of the number of boats it took us over 2 hours to cruise through the 3 locks. After that it was a bit easier. We reached Colwich Lock about 7 p. m. and there was no queue whatsover. It was nice to see a couple of hot air ballons floating in the evening air in the Colwich area. It was then onto Shugborough Hall to moor up for the night.

Next morning we decided on an early start, up and away by 0630 a.m. BUT, we were not the first boat to move, another one passed us just as we were about to set off and as we reached the junction at Great Haywood another turned onto the Staffs and Worcs in front of. That was to be the pattern for most of the day, one or two boats in front of us at every lock. Add the weather, sunshine very early, a lot of rain later, a dry spell and then more rain - what a day. BUT, that was the least of the problems. Between Shutt Hill Lock and Otherton Lock there were literally hundreds of fishermen practising for a forthcoming fishing competition.

BE WARNED, on Saturday 16th August between 1100 hrs and 1600 hrs there is a National Angling Competition being held on this stretch of the Staffs and Worcs Canal. I can also vouch for the fact that not all of them will welcome boaters!!

We finally arrived at the Festival Site just before 6 p.m. after eleven and a half hours cruising. Over the last 2 days we have cruised more than we would normally cruise in a week. Those were the days!!

Watch this space for updates on the growth of the Festival Site.

Guelrose on the move?

2008-08-03T19:28:00.002+01:00

Next Friday n.b. GUELROSE will cast off from its mooring at Hopwas and over two days will cruise more miles and locks that she would normally cruise in a fortnight! We are off to the IWA National Festival at Pendeford Park on the outskirts of Wolverhampton. A chance remark made by me back in October last year and I am now enrolled into helping getting the site ready for the thousands of visitors expected.

What I hope to do, and you must understand that I am an amateur when it comes to blogs, is to try and record on my digital camera how the site transforms from an open park into a festival site. I will then try and download those photos onto my blog for all to see!!

Wish me luck - more to come later

No news is good news??

2008-07-23T20:49:00.002+01:00

Hello again, I didn't realize that it has been so long since I last made an entry on my blog!

Obviously if there is not much happening then you cannot report much I had a quick chat with Andrew of n.b. Granny Buttons (www.grannybuttons.com) as he passed on his way south. We had a useful chat about boats honeypotting around mooring sites with adjacent car parks!

Over the last few weeks I have been trying to give one side of the boat a repaint. On the advice of a painter who used to work for a local boatyard I decide to give Rapidpaint of Birmingham a try, (it is very local to me and cheaper to go and pick it up rather than have it delivered). There narrowboat site is www.narrowboatcolours.co.uk ! I must admit that one side of the boat is starting to look rather shiny.

Soon I will be on the move (Friday 8th August to be precise). I'm heading for the National at Autherly Junction and have offered my help for a few days before the Festival actually starts. I only hope that they don't work me too hard!

I shall also be an assistant harbourmaster on the site at the festival so if any of you visit the festival, feel free to come and chat with me. The missus makes a mean cup of tea and has been known to bake some rather lovely cakes to accompany the tea!

Have BW got psychic powers?

2008-06-12T19:50:00.002+01:00

Would you beleive it? The day after I posted my pictures of the vegetation growth on the Ashby Canal I was cruising near Hinckley and what did I see? Yes, you guessed right. There was the BW mower heading south on the canal! Murphy's law or what!

Veg Pledge continued

2008-06-10T21:12:00.005+01:00

This has gone a bit wrong. The first photo shows just around the corner. I obviously have a few problems with my blogging to sort out!

I promised that I would publish photos of the vegetation growth on the Ashby Canal. Hopefully they are here. The first one shows my 70 foot mooring, kindly trimmed by a predecessor, hopefully future moorers will continue the trend.

My second photo shows just around the corner. Bearing in mind I have two golden retrievers, the vegetation is at least twice as high as them.

The Veg Pledge

2008-06-09T21:05:00.002+01:00

Has the veg pledge been abandoned? It certainly seems like it if you cruise the Ashby Canal. Once you turn off of the Coventry Canal at Marston Junction the vegetation seems to take over. In some places it is four or five feet high and obviously has not been cut at all this year. I suppose I really ought to take a picture and attach to my blog - maybe tomorrow!!

Luckily on the approach to hospital bend at Burton Hastings someone with a 70 footer had been here before and cut back all the vegetation, I cut back a bit more with the pair of shears I always carry. Are we all going to have to carry strimmers in the future to do BW's job for them?

All I ask is that the next boater to use this mooring does his bit of gardening.

As for the weather, it's gorgeous!

Speak to you all soon.

GUELROSE is on the move!!

2008-06-08T20:15:00.003+01:00

Having persuaded my sister to come up and look after the parents for a few days Jenny and I have taken the opportunity to escape on GUELROSE for a few days. Obviously we picked the right weather!! We left Hopwas on Saturday 7th June and had a long day of 4.25 hours to cruise to one of our favourite moorings in the middle of nowhere between Polesworth and Bradley
Green.

The next morning was her birthday (Heinz varieties is the obvious clue) and after a cup of tea, cards and pressies in bed it was back to cruising. We took a leisurely cruise up the Atherstone 11 and then moved on to Hartshill to moor up for the night. Tomorrow will probably see us going onto the Ashby Canal and probably mooring at hospital bend in Burton Hastings, another one of our favourite moorings. Our moorings are obviously dictated to a certain extent by our two furry friends, Lewis and Alfie, a pair of hairy golden retrievers.

Once again, it is soooooooo good to be on the move again.

SZpeak to you soon

Twenty Questions

2008-05-28T19:41:00.002+01:00

Here are my answers to twenty questions
1. Macclesfield Canal
2. If it is a canal and has locks I love it
3. The wife obviously
4. Something by James Patterson, I can't quite remember the name
5. Dawn or dusk in summer
6. All those boaters who do not pay mooring fees and moor all winter round the corner from me for nothing whilst I pay my dues!!
7. Now but a few years younger
8. 1977 - they told me breakfast was served so I jumped for the bank with rope, mallet and mooring pin, ... and missed!!
9. A pilot in the RAF
10. I'd be insane
11. Different
12. A glass of sherry, a fine red wine with my dinner and good fishing.
13. Investment to protect something that is wonderful and could be even better
14. Who are you? (or words to that effect!!)
15. A combination of both
16. Once again, a combination of both.
17. Canals, if I wanted to cruise rivers all the time I would have a gin palace, (by the way I do have an optic mounted in the boat serving gin!)
18. Hopefully still cruising and living aboard.
19. Retiring at 49 and living aboard, having two lovely children and three even more lovely grandchildren.
20. Finding the satelite for sky television when England are winning -almost impossible

mobile phones

2008-05-04T16:51:00.002+01:00

I know you are all eagerly awaiting reports of my cruise in 1973 accompanied by photographs but demands from my children required a visit to Portsmouth to do some decorating for one and to help install solar heating panels for the other!

The crux of this story however is mobile phones.

We seemed to be paying quite a bit for our mobile phone service so I wrote to our service provider requesting to cancel one of our contracts. A few days later I received a call from the service provider.... and, guess what, I ended up with three times the minutes at half the price! Obviously it pays to threaten them!

What's going on - nothing!

2008-04-12T20:20:00.003+01:00

Jenny and I have been cruising the canals since 1973. We have been liveaboards since 2001 and therefore I have started this blog. Unfortunately due to family circumstances we are not able to cruise much at the moment and hence I am doing most of my cruising secondhand and have little to report. So...... at the expense of boring you all I am going to report on our cruises since we started cruising on the canals back in 1973 and will try and scan photographs onto the computer and then onto my blog, for instance, how many of you have actually cruised through the now defunct and dissappeared Thurlwood Steel Lock with photographs to prove it, I have, and somewhere I have a photogpraph or two which I will publish on the blog.

Were canal bridges made for this?

2008-03-17T19:40:00.005Z

Hi, been a bit quiet of late as there has not been much to report until today!

Consider the scene, 1430 hrs, Monday 17th March 2008, quiet little village of Hopwas,

Staffordshire with a canal bridge over the Coventry Canal which carries the A51 road. The bridge has a weight limit of 7.5 tons.

I'm reliably informed that this little lot weighed about 80 tons, it obviously got stuck and closed the road for three and a half hours before they managed to get it moved.

Amazingly it seems that there was no damage caused to the bridge. Those canal engineers of two hundred years ago obviously knew how to make bridges!

Every man to his own trade

2008-02-24T15:40:00.003Z

I suppose that to be p.c. I should say every person but I am from the old school! Now, my mooring is rather nice, at the bottom of mum and dads canalside cottage with all facilities on hand should I need them. There is however one big problem, or rather two of them, two large trees next to the canal and although canal frontage is over 150 feet, no matter where you position the boat, part of the boat is under a tree with all that comes with it i.e. sap, leaves, bird droppings etc. My son says no problem dad, I'll come up for the weekend and give you a hand to 'prune' the trees. The bonus from this visit is that I get to see my lovely daughter in law and even lovelier grand-daughter! Of which I have two I must add! I suppose I ought to mention at this point the lovely grandson as well - enough of all that - back to business. We started to cut bits off of the tree and then realised that it was not quite the simple task we had envisaged. Plan B came and went as did C D and E. We got as far as T and the Tamworth Herald - advert for a tree surgeon. A quick phone call - he'll come and have a look. We were expecting an exorbitant price but he quoted a price we could not refuse. When can you do we ask - now he says. All I wanted done was for the tree to be seriously pruned - I am quite happy to spend the next few days clearing up the bits. He came, he was quick, he was like a monkey swinging through the tree and within one and a half hour the paper stuff changed hands and he was gone. Now all I have left to do is cut up all the branches - come next year I will have so much wood to burn - and it is all free - well almost apart from the cost of the tree surgeon. Which brings me back to the point of this story - every person has their own forte and it is best left to let the professionals do the jobs that they do well. Now, what do I do well apart from........... I cannot think of anything at the moment!

Are BW still wasting my money?

2008-02-17T18:45:00.002Z

Took a little trip out this weekend, left Hopwas with some friends, down to Fazeley Mill Marina for a pumpout and some diesel (68 pence per litre) and up to the bottom of Curdworth Locks. A nice walk round Kingsbury Water Park and then back to Fazeley for the night before coming back to Hopwas on Sunday. The temperature dropped to -7.8C and we had to do a bit of ice breaking on the way back!

Between Fazeley and Curdworth I notice several hundred yards (or metres) of bank protection works. These consisted of the rolls of coir with water plants planted therein to protect the banks. Great you would say. But, why place them on towpath banks that have been piled? Whilst I agree that steel piling is not the most aesthetically pleasing item in the universe I see no point in wasting money to protect steel piling!!! Maybe I am missing something here and would be most pleased if someone could enlighten me.

Back to the subject of cruising, it was cold and sunny, there were very few boats around - winter cruising has a lot to say for it and waking up this morning to see a heavy frost, the sun shining and ice on the cut takes some beating.

Fame at last

2008-02-15T20:52:00.002Z

They say that everyone is entitled to their fifteen minutes of fame - I've just had mine - I got a mention on granny buttons log www.grannybuttons.com and got a couple of replies to my blog! It is good to share our problems with others of a similar persuasion. It has been a lovely week weatherwise, lots of boats passing by as it is half term this week for a lot of schools and the same next week for others. There have even been some hireboats and timeshare boats about but Canaltime are conspicuous by their abscence - has something happened to them? Maybe some lock closure has prevented them from reaching me. Challenger seem to be still cruising as do Shakespeare Classic and a couple of Anglo Welsh have passed by.

I managed to get away for a couple of hours the other day to cruise up to the winding hole and back, tomorrow it is out for a couple of days, down to the marina at Fazeley with some frineds out for a day trip, a pumpout and some diesel for the roomheater - what price will it be now? - a night away and then back to normal.

Granny says that to maintain a successful blog you must publish something at least once a week - I've made it just!! - I have lots to say and publish in the future so please keep logging into my blog. I may be a bit quiet on the blog next week as my daughter is coming to visit us on the boat, complete with granddaughter, grandson and dog - that will be three dogs - if you want an idea of what the dogs are like look back in Grannys blog to dogs on Guelrose.

Spring

2008-02-08T20:37:00.000Z

What a lovely day it was today, almost like spring!! Cleared all the rubbish off of the roof and gave the boat a wash - looks like new again even though it is almost 19 years old. You never know, if tomorrow is the same I might even get round to cleaning the brass and taking a little cruise, just up to the winding hole and back.

Surprisingly there are a lot of boats about today, whilst I was cleaning the boat and working in the garden there must have been about a dozen boats go by, one of them was brand new, I saw it in the workshops at Harveys the other day and now it is cruising. It was called 'No Direction', hardly an appropriate name for a boat as far as I am concerned, it must be going somewhere!! As to where the rest of them were going who knows. Apparently it is half term next week for a lot of schools in the area so I will no doubt see lots of boats in the next week. Half of the enjoyment of canals is sitting and watching the boats go by.

Progress

2008-02-03T19:51:00.000Z

Maintaining a blog is obviously a sharp learning curve. I have now figured out how include a link to another website in my blog. All I need to do now is work out how I can change the dates on my drafts to the dates they are actually published.

That's all for now, off to London tomorrow to see Mama Mia, it was a christmas present from the kids. Booked a hotel for the night through www.londontown.com at a great discount and got the train tickets through www.thetrainline.com - can you believe it was cheaper to buy two singles rather than a return!

Having a Stretch

2008-02-01T15:29:00.001Z

Everyone knows that 57 ft 6 ins is the optimum length to cruise the Pennine canals, i.e. especially the Calder and Hebble and Huddersfield Broad. However, it can be done in a 60 footer - if you go the right way round. We did it in 2003 prior to having a 'stretch' in 2004. Now we are 70 feet long and cannot do the Pennine canals any more. BUT, by having a 10 foot extension we managed to increase our living space by in excess of 20%. And, if you are a liveaboard, 20% is a lot more space, bigger bed, by going across the boat you can have a 5 foot or even 6 foot wide double bed!!, extra wardrobes, extra drawers, second toilet, separate cabin for the granddaughter to sleep in when she visits, the list is endless, Do we regret it? No, we don't, it took longer than anticipated, cost more than anticipated but in the long run was well worth it. I also now have somewhere to escape to from her who must be obeyed! A picture of the boat after the stretch is available at www.flickr.com/photos/78944572@N00/438067925. Apologies for the advert!

Time for a change?

2008-02-01T14:51:00.000Z

When we first became liveaboards we upgraded the heating system on the boat from an Alde boiler running finrads to a diesel room heater. The Alde system was fine in Spring and Autumn but was not man enough for winter conditions. At the time diesel was 22p per litre and the Alde was much more expensive to run on Calor Gas. How things have changed. The last time I bought diesel for the heater I had to pay 70p per litre. Whilst filling up with the diesel a chance comment by the boatyard employee ("Do you know it is now cheaper to use Alde central heating than to use a diesel room heater") got me thinking. After working out the sums I came to the conclusion that he could well be right. However, what alternatives are there? Working out the costs of various heating systems I came to the conclusion that with what I am paying for diesel per year would buy me 135 bags of coal!! Now, I don't know how many bags of coal you all use per year, and can you really find all that lovely free wood lying around to bolster the coal? Maybe the answer is a multi fuel stove with a back boiler supplying one or two radiators (would I need a pump?) By my reckoning the multi fuel stove might well pay for itself in two years.

Getting there slowly

2008-01-29T19:42:00.000Z

I know that this is all a bit amateurish but we all have to start somewhere. I am learning, albeit slowly. I have now managed to post a picture of GUELROSE onto the blog. This photo was taken at Snarestone on the Ashby Canal. Further photos will follow which will hopefully be in keeping with the text! Unfortunately this blog will not be a blog of what we are doing now. Elderly parents needing a lot of care has curtailed our cruising so this will be a little bit more of what we and ours did over the years since GUELROSE was built. I have written a couple of small articles for canal society bulletins, I am not too sure of copyright laws but as I wrote them I seen no reason why I shouldn't be able to repeat them here, although in a somewhat abbreviated form.

2008-01-29T19:39:00.000Z

How it all began

2008-01-28T23:09:00.000Z

N.b Guelrose was built by Colecraft in 1989. It was originally 60 feet long but was 'stretched' to 70 feet in 2004. My wife, Jenny, and I have lived on the boat since 2001 and have extensively cruised the canls of England and Wales. This will be our story.

It all began for me in 1958 when we hired a converted lifeboat from a boatyard at Maidenhead on the River Thames. We later went on to do the Fens and the Medway. In 1973 we ventured onto the canals. This was to be my wife's first boat trip - we have not looked back since.