Day 3......

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

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.....!

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??

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

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!!!
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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!!!!

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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.

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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.

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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......

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October Cruising

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

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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!!)

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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.

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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.

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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

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On the move again

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!!!

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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.

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More tomorrow, internet connection permitting.