Category: Narrowboat

It’s been a while…

Hello from Crop and the Fairport Convention.

And I’ve been busy at Cropredy’s ‘Fairport Convention’.

Not an intentional stopover in as much as more of a co-ordinated arrival.

Due down

This way after my engine stop up in the Northern reaches. Cropredy is kind of the first real stop on the section of canal that I now habit.

Crabridy

Or Cropredy is some people call it.

It has many things to recommend it, especially if you happen to drop in when the festival is on, which I did.

Being on the boat, I was able to enjoy it from start to finish without charge, or accommodation charge, to be more clear.

Continue reading “It’s been a while…”

A birthday nightmare at Calcutt Boats

A happy birthday to me from the people at Calcutt Boats.

Not really what I was expecting when I agreed to book my boat in for blacking.

During my stay:

  • Booking was recorded as just hull blacking: On the phone I asked for a blacking, service and mooring. I confirmed this by email, to which there was no reply. When I arrived, I was told there were no moorings available, despite the fact I’d organised to have the carpets cleaned which meant moving all the furniture around and some of it off the boat. It was claimed they ‘hadn’t received the email’. I had asked for the service on the phone and confirmed it all by email. They claimed they didn’t receive that.
  • Washing up was stolen from communal area: Not a big thing you might think. When the boat was on the crane and I wasn’t allowed to do any washing or release of grey water from the sides of the boat, I did a bit of washing up in the communal area. Within the space of 2 hours, I had the only 2 mugs I own stolen plus 3 sharp veg. knives and some spoons. I don’t have any more mugs. Now I will have to go out and buy some more.
Damaged wheel hub
Damaged wheel hub
  • Car vandalised in the carpark. Parked my car under the tree in the carpark overnight. The next morning I arrived to drive off the following morning, and noticed the wheel had been damaged.
    As the car was parked directly next to a piece of derelict machinery on the side that was damaged. No vehicles were able to come alongside and I have difficulty looking at the way that damage comes from the inner wheel to the outer wheel, how such damage could be caused.
  • Negligent engine service by boatyard. The boat was returned to me after the engineer had said it was ‘good-to-go’. This was after he had had problems completing the service on it. He left the engine half done after starting work at 4.30pm. Not turning up the following day like he had promised when he did a turn up, he did about 1/2 an hours work on it and said the boat was fine and ready to take away. It wasn’t. Bonnie made it 300 yards before it broke down.

What a birthday treat from Calcutt Boats! I was in some trepidation about spending my birthday up on stilts on the boat. Now I know it was a bad idea.

Letter of complaint

I had to write a letter of complaint to the owner, Roger.

Broken down after a service at Calcutt
Broken down after a service at Calcutt – Here’s a picture of where my boat had broken down at the top lock.

To be fair. Work on Bonnie was given priority over some of the other jobs that needed to be done by the boatyard.

It took roughly 1.5 days to sort it out completely.

Continue reading “A birthday nightmare at Calcutt Boats”

Tysoe windmill

Is located on the Northern stretch of the Cotswolds. In Warwickshire.

It was a hilly ride and the wind was against me on the way out.

By the time I was coming back, the wind had died. That’s the thing about wind, unlike the hills, rewards for effort put in against it are often stolen. There is no pay-back.

Today was one of those cases. In my face, then gone, more or less, for the return journey.

Still… The sun was out. Cycling in the Cotswolds is something people pay money for.

In this case it’s right on my doorstep.

Be a shame not to take advantage on my one real day off.

Tysoe Windmill
Tysoe Windmill
Cotswold in the distance Compton Wynyates house on the left
Cotswold in the distance. Compton Wynyates house on the left
Cellar door is the best word combination in the English language according to Donnie Darko
Cellar door is the best word combination in the English language according to the film Donnie Darko
What stands behind me is a machine
What stands behind me is a machine
View out across the Cotswolds
View out across the Cotswolds
Tysoe Windmill
Tysoe Windmill
Tysoe Windmill
Tysoe Windmill
Twyford Wharf
Twyford Wharf

Weddings and Birthdays

Since I’ve just been turning around in the boat, my last 3 stops retraced back. That means on the last 3 journeys, I moved from Pig Place to Aynho, then back to Pig Place again.

CRT Warning

CRT sent me a warning email about not moving the boat far enough.

As a continuos cruiser, you have to move 21 miles or more direction wise in any year of your boats operation. This counts as the licencing period, which may run from June to June, for example…

Once you reach the June, the annual period re-sets. My licence came due whilst I was at Pig Place and when I had turned around and came back, it was in a new year.

Effectively, they’d sent me an overstay but, due to the fact my licence had renewed, it was invalid.

Got onto them. They changed it pretty rapid, which is a good thing. I was none too happy.

Not sure if the recorder, an individual who walks up and down recording the length of stay of boats from the towpath, had recorded it wrong.

That’s what I’d put it down to anyway.

I decided not to do a post about my location but about weddings and birthdays, which we seem to be having a lot of….

Kerri’s 50th

Kerri, my big sister, has had her 50th in the last few days.

We took her out to a restaurant in Cheltenham, with the family.

On a Monday, it was a fairly low key affair, and we were all finished up and in bed by 11pm.

Kerri's 50th at Muse, Cheltenham
Kerri’s 50th at Muse, Cheltenham Left to right Aurelia, Tal, Maggie, Me, Mum, Kerri, Craig and Finn.
Kerri blows out birthday cake
Kerri blows out birthday cake. Very small one while everyone watches. 😂👍
Kerri's 50th
Kerri’s 50th – Left to right Craig, Mum, Finn, Kerri, Aurelia, Maggie, Tal, Dad
Pages: Page 1, Page 2

Back at the Pig Place

‘Where the dear and the antelope play’…

Or just pigs.

We have some buffalo in the field opposite.

So it could be, ‘where the pigs and the buffalo play’.

Aynho Wharf

Had to go to Aynho Wharf. For water.

Turned around.

Came back up again. Took about 2.5 hours from where I was before.

The water takes forever to fill up at Aynho because of the low pressure.

Solar and the cost of living

Able to do all my cooking on solar now the sun’s out.

That means I only use the gas now for:

  • Washing
  • Showers
  • Washing up

Made a 13kg calor last for 4 months last time.

Gas. A gas bottle is £40 now for 13kg. When I started boating in 2016, it was £28.

Equates to around £10 per month for gas.

Electric is free.

Diesel. I bought £75 in January. Might have to get some more in July to get me up to Calcutt boats, in Napton. That’s £12.50 per month.

So.

All in all, £22.50 currently in monthly overheads on the boat.

Narrowboat Ropes

Had a slight bit of wear and tear on my front and rear ropes.

As you can see, the rear rope is frayed and the braiding is coming undone.

I’ve tried to strap it up with some handlebar tape.

It’s really starting to become a hazard, especially in locks, where it can become entangled in things such as the rail bar, or not fly through the air properly because part of the rope become entangled on your hand as you try to throw it.

A danger.

Frayed mooring rope
Frayed mooring rope

For this reason, I had to take a trip up to the Chandlers.

Continue reading “Back at the Pig Place”