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22 Bar Street Banbury
Potholes in Northamptonshire

Potholes in Northamptonshire

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Are pretty shocking. Northamptonshire county council went bust in 2021. It’s services have been suffering ever since. Perhaps one of the most noticeable of these is the state of the roads, which seem to be something of a running joke.

After going out working last Thursday, I’ve got this little bit of content illustrating exactly what I mean!

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Shocker.

Claiming for damage caused by potholes

By the time I’d got out of the village, which was under 2 minutes, the tyre had deflated enough to be on the rim.

That’s not generally consistent with something which can be repaired.

That night, I wrote an email to the council and ordered the tyre.

I got a reply the following day.

I’ll keep you updated as to what goes on with this…

Now into Twyford wharf

After spending 3 weeks in Spiceball Park, in central Banbury, I’ve moved around 3 miles south.

I’m now at Twyford Wharf.

Mooring at Twyford Wharf
Mooring at Twyford Wharf

With the windows, the road noise is now non-existant.

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Flooding on the Cherwell at Clifton
Mooring at Aynho Wharf

Mooring at Aynho Wharf

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Not a bad stop.

Close to the amenities.

I tend to moor away from the road, probably 2 min walk up the towpath which suits me better.

You get better solar, the mobile signal is better and you don’t get intrusions from the odd idiot coming over the bridge beeping their horn.

As I wake up, I can look out across the field.

The sound of the trains are blocked by the industrial units which stand between me and the dual railway tracks.

Moved up

I moved slightly up, by about 14m. The sound of the trains woke me up. It was only the length of the boat. When you enter into ‘line-of-sight’ of the trains, you get all the noise.

People say you get used to the sound of trains. I’d rather not have it in the first place.

I’m now here behind the sheds and I can’t hear a thing apart from the odd noisy duck.

Mooring at Aynho Wharf
Mooring at Aynho Wharf
View toward Cherwell from Aynho Wharf
View toward Cherwell from Aynho Wharf

Although I get a tad less solar, it’s worth it.

Mooring at Souldern wharf

There’s one more stop about a mile south from Aynho. It’s close to the village of Souldern down a windey farmers lane.

Walking down the canal, I took these pictures.

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Spring Sunset in Spiceball Park
Spiceball Park – In the winter

Spiceball Park – In the winter

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Winter moorer’s paradise… Spiceball park.

That’s right, it’s got pretty much everything. Parking, broadband, shops, good solar, working TV and radio. The whole shebang…

In comparison to Spiceball summer mooring, when it does indeed have all these things plus; banging and whistling all hours day and night from the factory opposite. Fine Lady bakery.

During the winter, moorers are allowed to remain on the 2 day mooring for 2 weeks!

This is away from the factory and actually bumps Spiceball Park up quite considerably in terms of livability. It’s even got a metalled pathway! You don’t need to get everything covered in mud when you get off the boat!

Here’s a picture of Spiceball Park.

2 Day moorings in Spiceball Park
2 Day moorings in Spiceball Park

The leaves, or lack of them means that solar energy is free. To a point.

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Denham Lock - Me at the Locks - Grand Union
Deep Lock Dead

Deep Lock Dead

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For now.

I arrived there last night to find the place closed and my path north blocked

The picture is me at the closed lock entrance.

It’s called Denham Deep Lock. It’s above Uxbridge. As you can see on the map, it marks the end of LONDON proper.

Looking at the CRT Stoppages and Closures , it’s not just closed for a couple of days, more like 1 month or so. It’s due to re-open on the 10th of December!

Looks like I’ll be finding another way home!

Down, across, up

Yep, that’s it. More down (to Brentford Tidal Lock), Across (to Oxford), Up (to Banbury… again :[ ).

I was looking forward to living somewhere new.

Still every cloud.

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Narrowboat watertank rust
Painting a narrowboat water-tank – The third coming…..

Painting a narrowboat water-tank – The third coming…..

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** Update 5th June, 2021.**

Corroded watertank
Corroded watertank

How long does Vactan last?

I’d say the last coat, (of Vactan), stopped working around 12 months ago. That’s around the summer of 2020, so it lasted around 2 years.

The symptoms of it stopping working were; flaking into the watertank, sinking to the bottom, and after some time, maybe a year, going into and clogging the waterpump filter.

That is: the very thin coating that is Vactan eventually flaked off, sometimes taking a coat of the Rylards beneath it, sometimes not, coming free from the sides of the tank and falling to the bottom…

Dirty narrowboat watertank
Dirty narrowboat watertank

This is what the watertank looked like as I started work on it.

It’s a combination of the paints that I’ve talked about lower down in this post. As you can see, some of it has been flaked off, either by me going around with my

Triangular headed scraper
Triangular headed scraper

or come away over the course of time.

There isn’t much bare metal, nor is there a lot of the original iron oxide that I put on there to start with.

It took from the 27th July 2018 to get fully to this point. So 3 years.

Prep for a brighter better future (for your watertank)

In my case, the prepping is already done…

The majority of the paint remains intact on the layers beneath. To prep in this case, I need to remove the flaking paint. Then make sure the surface is good to receive another 2 coats of Vactan.

Doesn’t take long. Maybe an hour to get it all off.

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Gayton Marina

Gayton Marina

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Due to adverse weather conditions, expected, I’m moving away from the Continuous Cruising this winter, onto the Marina.

It’s the first time for years… The last place I moored at was Barton-under-Needwood over three years ago, when I was fairly new to boating.

Barton Turns Marina

Barton turns marina
Barton turns marina

Was where I used to live.

I always got the impression that Burton was full of criminals.

The marina was alright. I went out a couple of times to the bar and had a few meals in the restaurants. I lived there for about three months from May until August maybe.

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Buckby Wharf - Grand Union Canal
Muscott -> Long Buckby and Google Pixel stops working

Muscott -> Long Buckby and Google Pixel stops working

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Or thereabouts.

Actually Buckby Wharf.

Google Pixel 2 – Red light comes on and stops working

That’s right my phone, pictured below. Left it on charge overnight. Shortly after I got up in the morning, whilst it was still on charge, the red light came on and started flashing and the picture of the battery sign came on the screen.

google pixel 2
google pixel 2

Checked the Google Support website. “The battery is fully discharged. Re-charge for at least 30 minutes then re-try”.

I knew this was not the case, because it had been on charge, and when I checked the cable, it was attached securely.

So…. The phone had just stopped working. …

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