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Soon to be….

A move down to ‘the smoke’. Such a casual thing….

Just 4 days sailing and £40 worth diesel. Approximately, in both cases. If the weather changes, (drastically), that may change the temperament of the old Thames.

Boards

On the canal and river system, they have these things called, warning boards.

When the boards are on red, you’re not meant to travel.

People do, but the ‘powers that be’ don’t sanction movement on red boards, it’s kind of frowned upon as unnecessarily dangerous.

After periods of particularly heavy rain, you might see the boards turn to red. The majority of the time, they remain on amber or green.

This trip down the Thames will depend the boards remaining off RED.

Preparations

Currently making my preparations around the pig Place ready for my departure to London tomorrow (Monday).

The first day will be spent on the Canal system.

On the Oxford

I need to move right the way to the bottom of the current canal, the Oxford canal, to somewhere just North of Oxford called ‘Dukes Cut‘.

Dukes cut is an entry point onto the Thames.

Joining the Thames here will mean I won’t have to traverse the town of Oxford in the boat. It basically skirts below.

Last time I did the other option, going through town. Stopping having a look around, getting back on with it the following morning.

Since I’ve done that before, going through ISIS lock, the Thames lock in the main town area, I’m wanting to try the other this time.

You can read the blog I did last time I was in Oxford.

On the Thames

Once on the Thames, you can travel much faster.

The Thames is deep. Always 6ft or more, whereas the canal is always 4ft or less!

A deep draft means a fast boat.

I believe the speed limit is 6mph allowing for traffic of which there is a lot on the Thames.

Make it down

To prepare for the Thames I need to make sure that the engine doesn’t overheat. Also, any moving parts that need to be greased.

Today I spent the morning checking the oil levels in the a) engine b) gearbox. Both were low and needed topping up.

Greasing the nipples. Yeap, best job ever, and they weren’t even mine! Bonnie Nipples. I gave them a good old greasing. There are two.

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Topping up coolant: Coolant is not your friend if there is none.

These are the immediate checks that you need to consider if you don’t want your boat blowing up, although the greasing may not be required, it seemed like a good to do as my hands were already dirty! These need doing sometimes. Water can seep in through a badly maintained rudder stem which is the one on the left.

Shopping

Tomorrow, I need to get some shopping in the morning. Empty the rubbish.

As soon as that is done I’ll set sail.

This blog will be re-named ‘Bonnie in London’.

Part 1

Got off to a slow start.

Now have the essentials, as you can see.

Honey, loaf of bread, lettuce, apples and whiskey!

Weather has changed from Mild to Mild with Showers. Can’t really drink beer and wine in the rain, so decided that maybe a nice whiskey it front of the fire at the end of a day of sailing might be a better option.

As long as they remain showers, this should be fine.

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