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Category: Continuous Cruising

Living on a continuous cruiser on the UK canal system under CRT rules.

Moved from Cropredy

Moved from Cropredy

So, after months of repair work, I’ve finally moved from Cropredy.

Water-pump

Waterpump
Waterpump

I seem to remember doing a post about this not so long ago. My engines’ water-pump had definitely failed and needed replacing. The waterpump I bought before Christmas and I hadn’t got round to fitting didn’t fit and the man I bought it from at ukboatyard.co.uk wasn’t prepared to give me a refund.

I hadn’t used it but the pulley-wheel wouldn’t fit on the pump because the screw-holes didn’t align. This meant. It wasn’t possible to drill out accurately because the pump housing in the way.

I was told to ‘drill the pulley wheel out’ by the guy at ukboatyard. Very useful. Now I have a new and useless waterpump, pictured above.

New, new water pump

That’s right. 1 for sorrow, 2 for joy. Except not really joy in this case. This one didn’t fit either!

This time it wouldn’t fit in the engine casing. The pulley-wheel did, however, fit on fine. After 2 or more hours loosening screws, wobbling round and trying to figure out what was stopping it. I came to the conclusion that it was developing some abrasions on the edge. These were being caused by me trying to force it, and it making contact with the engine casing which was preventing.

I took out the old waterpump, put it on some notepaper and drew a trace around the edge of it with a pencil.

I then took the new water pump and traced that also. That gave me some idea of where the shapes were not matching exactly.

Rather than send it back for a replacement, (no guarantee that that would fit either!), I decided to use brute force. A very useful tool in challenging engineering situations. I took the angle grinder out, put the pump on the bench and ground 3 mm off the edge of it, which turned out to be the wrong edge! Ground some more of the other correct side. Took about 4 minutes of grinding in total

This seemed to have the right effect. Snapped in like a charm.

From then on in, it was all downhill. Fit the fanbelt, tighten it up. Put some new coolant in. Start the engine. Run the engine a bit. Put some more coolant in. Tighten the fan belt a bit more.

Job done!

Took months to do it though.

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Black swan event in Cropredy

Black swan event in Cropredy

So here it is.

Black swan - Cropredy
Black swan – Cropredy

Handsome fella isn’t he! The next boater along tried to tell me it was a goose {variety} when I arrived. This came with a heavy smell of bullshit as he also suggested that they flew over Upper Heyford on their migratory path. Upper Heyford is 8 miles away. In nautical navigation terms, 8 miles or so is insignificant…. Smells like bullshit.

But anyhow, it is a black swan. They originate in Australia and don’t fly anywhere. It has been suggested that it was an escaped specimen from an ornamental garden which seems much more likely.

Swan meet-up
Swan meet-up

Here it is, chilling with it’s not so distant relatives.

Windows

An old window from Caldwell Windows.
An old window from Caldwell Windows.

So, I’ve been meaning to replace my single-glaze ‘hopper’ style windows for a while.

These are aluminium framed with a tilting slat at the top which can be opened. The rest of the metal on the boat is polished steel.

The windows were never in fitting with the rest of the boat. After we painted her, they didn’t look so great, whilst the rest of the boat looked really good.

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Mooring at Forge Farm

Mooring at Forge Farm

Forge Farm is an organic farm located at the bottom of the Claydon flight near Cropredy.

I’d stayed in Cropredy for a while, longer than I should, but, I was out of the village and people don’t really notice. That’s the reason that this blog is late. I usually do them when I moved, which was last Sunday, from Varney’s Lock down to Cropredy Marina, for some coal and water, and back up here.

Mooring at Forge Farm (Snow version)
Mooring at Forge Farm
Mooring at Forge Farm (Snow version)
Mooring at Forge Farm Docks

BMC waterpump failure

A few weeks ago, I had a bit of a problem with my cooling system. You may remember, I did a blog about it https://www.michaeltyler.co.uk/adventures-in-banbury/ . The coolant basically ran dry. One of the pumps had become distressed because of the lack of water which made a loud rumbling sound, a bit like thunder, thunder in the engine room. This gave me a bit of a shock at the time. When I opened the cover, a load of steam came out and I could see the coolant had been sprayed all around the engine room.

Waterpump

I’d discovered on my journey to Cropredy marina that the waterpump is none too healthy. The friction caused from it overheating and rubbing against the engine housing has buggered it’s bearings. The spindle moves around on its axis which causes it to make a squeaking sound. It’s not going to last long. It can damage the engine in the meantime, so I had to bite the bullet and buy a new one.

Takes about 40 mins to an hour to fit a waterpump. Drain out all the coolant. Getting the pump out is the easy part. Dealing with the coolant pissing out all over the place, more difficult…

Another job to add to the list.

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Autumn cometh…

Autumn cometh…

And this is as far North as I go. On the Oxford canal during the course of my cruising year, unless I’m taking a trip further afield, the bottom lock on the Claydon flight is as far as I get.

It’s called Varney’s Lock.

There are pre-roman irrigation trenches in the field, some wild geese which honk (and bite people if you get too close). It’s open country-side and there is no noise. Nothing but the sound of nature and the odd passing boat.

Varney's Lock - Oxford Canal
Varney’s Lock – Oxford Canal

The mobile signal has improved significantly since my last stop over some time ago, April 2023 it seems, looking at the previous post in my blog https://www.michaeltyler.co.uk/easter-in-cropredy/

Solar is reasonable. Parking is 2-3 minutes away. I have to put my walking boots on the walk across the field at the moment. The weather has remained inclement and the cows have meant that parts are muddy and not compatible with work footwear. It’s a small sacrifice.

Shroom-quest

I went looking for mushrooms yesterday. Here’s some I found whilst visiting houses in the Witney area. They were in a common grassed area in a residential cul-de-sac. Very quick to cook and release a mushroomy flavour. Buoyed by this freebie, I attempted to scout the fields for more yesterday. The wet weather has meant the streams are pretty full. You can see where they’ve actually been flooding out into the fields by the mounds of wet leaves they’ve deposited, randomly. The effect of the full streams meant it wasn’t possible to get where I wanted to go, around the edge of a wood, because it wasn’t possible to jump the stream. I’ll have to take a footpath up there rather than make my own way over.

Fresh field mushrooms
Fresh field mushrooms

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Here in Cropredy

Here in Cropredy

I’ve finally made it. This is the final northernmost part of my journey on this stretch of the Oxford canal.

Going any further than Varney’s lock, the next stop up, takes you up a flight of locks called Claydon Flight and into Warwickshire.

Above Claydon Flight

The communications are not good, little windey lanes, bad parking. Added to that, the mooring is poor until you get to Fenny Compton which is the first village in Warwickshire.

I don’t like Fenny Compton. It does have some positives, like a marina and pub. The 14 day mooring is often full, meaning you have to go out into the wilds to moor up. Fenny itself is the last stop before you get to Napton, which is a good 8-10 miles away. In between, there is virtually nothing, just fields and HS2. Lovely cruising country. I’m not cruising, I’m living day-to-day. Doing day-to-day stuff, and for that purposes, it’s pretty, and pretty impractical.

For this reason, I don’t go above Claydon as it’s simply a waste of time.

Suits me fine.

Prolonged stay in Banbury

There was a canal fare. I overstayed a little, just one week so I could hang around and go the fare which was staged over Saturday and Sunday 5/6th.

Mug Shot

Ventured out in Banbury a few times to sample the nightlife entertainments. Went to this bar place called Ugly Face, or Baby Face, or Mug Face. The guy that owned it had started it with his family and grown it organically from a coffee shop into a bar. Always seemed to be people in there which is more than could be said for a lot of the other, brewery sponsored pubs in Banbury. Definitely worth a visit if you happen to be in town.

The weather

Whilst I was in Banbury was absolutely shocking. Where I’m located is up toward the top end as you’re driving out of town. It’s next to what they used to call the old Alcoa factory, a big employer in times gone by.

Mooring up here, you’re out of town and due to the proximity of the nature reserve and the relative quite of the grazing field on the left and the non-developed industrial land of the old Alcoa factory, it’s pretty quite. If I want to walk into town it might take around 20mins.

The Cherwell is also close and there is a small stream that runs through the woods that feeds it. During the rains, I took these pictures.

The stream – Before
Nature reserve - one the right
The stream – After

And here’s one on the exit stream to the reservoir.

Grimsbury reservoir
Grimsbury reservoir – Before
Grimsbury reservoir
Grimsbury reservoir – After

As you can see, the area virtually turned into one big lagoon. And remained that way for some days.

The Cherwell had flooded the area to the South of Spiceball. Lidl carpark was under 4ft of water. Also, the water-point and elsan area.

The Bridge people - Banbury
The Bridge people – Banbury

Remember these people? Under the bridge? All their stuff got flooded. That area under the bridge where you can see them standing was under about 3 foot of water.

I guess all their gear got damaged or ruined. I feel pretty bad for them.

I don’t think I saw them again.

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Adventures in Banbury

Adventures in Banbury

Welcome to Banbury!

When I went down to the car this morning, someone had parked very close behind me. Maybe 4-6 inches away. I moved the car to do my shopping, and parked it up again to unload and noticed the scratch damage on the bumper. This has appeared since I parked it yesterday at about 4pm.

There’s some real scumbags around. For sure.

Banbury’s newest edition

Are these under the bridge people.

The Bridge people - Banbury
The Bridge people – Banbury

They’ve set up camp next to the CRT waterpoint. During the course of the day, they drink and urinate and generally relax or look around in the bins.

I arrived on Sunday. They looked like regular churchgoers.

Had a brief conversation with the one pictured reading, as it happens, a communication from the Police. He read it aloud whilst I was eating my lunch. The other’s had gathered around to hear. Basically, they’d been told to move on, or they would be moved on. He didn’t go into the reasons, just read out that was the upshot and the dates.

When I was putting my glass in the recycling, one of the guys shuffled up and had a piss in the corner right next to me. Like it was a public cubicle. Didn’t even go under the bridge. Had his piss, went back and carried on with his stongbow super-strength.

So yeah, another great selling point to the attractions of Banbury!

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Back in Twyford Wharf

Back in Twyford Wharf

Next to the M40.

Probably about 500m from here. There’s kind of a hillock separating us, but you can still hear it, more or less, depending on the wind.

Went cycling around Banbury which is where I took the photo for this post.

Whilst working there the other day, I saw this?

I didn’t capture the first part on my phone, but the larger spider was making the web when the other smaller one came from a fissure in the wall and attacked it!

Whilst I went to the car to get my phone, it had wrapped it up.

False widow or Steatoda eats it’s friend

I’d not seen that before.

Also, I saw this badger. It was running toward me over the roadbridge and clearly didn’t hear me coming over the sounds of the traffic.

YouTube player

Moved

Only a parish, which is the requirement by the CRT.

In the meadows, there is no parish. I guess here in Twyford, there are a few houses and a little bit of industry.

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