WET, DRY, COLD AND WARM (ish)

Winter continues on 'ROSY'. I won't whinge about the weather - the last few days have been a bit annoying, but generally it has been 'not bad'. Certainly Fanny the Woof and I have had our usual walkies without having to don rain-wear, though sometimes that entailed waiting for the drizell to cease. Basic food shopping is a 15 to 20 minute walk up to a Tesco, or a 40 ish minute walk up to Rugby. The staff at Willow Wren are very friendly and helpful. 

I've been sorting out the doctors and dentists, the former with the help of Veronica. I tramp up the towing path to Newbold on the first Saturday of each month, to hear Eric wield his guitar etc and sing the pop songs of my youth. He sometimes plays a song that I don't recognise, and that usually turns out to have been popular during one of my over-seas stints. I've been reading quite a bit, especially the free-to-very-low-cost books for my Kindle. I kept Mike George happy by reading his 'California or Bust' - he had hoped to find employment over there, but at the end of a year all he had was the experience, so he wrote about it.

Those of us who live on our boats generally find it necessary to have a base for mail delivery and the like. For many a long year Veronica has been doing this for me, so it  is always a pleasure when she comes over for a 'live' visit.

I've just spent a couple of days watching 'Coast'. A few years ago there was a TV series of a chap who walked round the coast of mainland Britain - England, Wales and Scotland. I have it on three 120 min DVDs, and watch it every 4 or 5 years.

Err . . . That's about it, except to say that I am slowing down, and my really adventurous cruising days are over. My 'plan' (?) now is to cruise for 2 or 3 hours and then to moor up for 2 to 3 + + + days.

That's all, folks!!

WINTER CONTINUES

I have just re-organised the interior of 'ROSY'.

Before the re-org, the interior - starting from the front - was:

1. The living room, sporting: shelving for my 200+ library, the music centre, the  CDs, DVDs and cassette tapes, a sturdy coal box, a Morso stove, a space that houses an (IKEA) easy-chair on one side and what looks like a comfortable sofa on the other, but which at night can turn into a double bed, followed by a sink (with cupboards below) and a fridge on one side and a gas stove (including an oven, food preparation table and cupboards below on the other.

2. What was originally a bedroom, with 2 bunk beds (one above the other) on one side and a wardrobe on the other.

3. The bathroom, which is armed with a bath-cum-shower, a small sink, lots of shelving for bathroomy things and a magic, gas-fired box that turns cold water into hot water. 

(There is a central heating system, powered by the Morso stove that heats up these three spaces. I was 'warned' that this was not possible, but it was. The secret was to ensure that the proper gauge piping was used, that it went slightly up-hill all the way from the stove to the bathroom, and that the Morso was working well).

4. The engine room (including the tool depository).

5. The traditional back cabin that provides a cross-bed (that has to be set up each night), a side bed (that is a seat during the day and a bed for children at night) cupboards and a coal fired Epping stove that incorporates an oven and a hot plate for cooking. (It also has the cunning flap that was supposed to prevent a perverted father from interfering with his children at night).

Up until 2 or 3 weeks ago, Fanny-the-Woof and I slept in the back cabin. However, the Epping was playing up (and, indeed, was falling apart), so we abandoned the back cabin, and set up shop in the living room. I wish I had done this years ago, at least in the winter. The new regime gets me in and out of bed very much more quickly, and causes me to spend about a third less money on coal.

As some of you will know, for the past few years I have been paying infrequent but reglar visits to doctors who have been helping me deal with my short term forgetfulness and type 2 diabetes. I have now been warned that the former is getting worse, and will eventually be termed Dementia. I am, naturally, not too happy about this, but it is my intention to stay on 'ROSY' and to continue to go cruising, though restricting myself mainly to the Oxford Canal.

That's all for now. Toodle pip!! Bill

 

IDLENESS

Over the last few months 'Rosy', Fanny the Woof and I have been leading a very quiet life in the Willow Wren branch (off the Oxford Canal). It takes 20 minutes to walk up to Tesco for provisions, and only 3 or 4 minutes to walk down to the juntion with the Oxford Canal and its towing path. I have had a very indolent few months, reading lots of books, visiting the nearby cinema at least once per month and walking with Fanny.

I am regularly asked 'Isn't it cold in the boat during the winter'. I have a variety of answers. No. 1. If it was cold inside I would be elsewhere.

No. 2. I have 2 coal fired units on 'Rosy'. The one up front keeps the living room warm (where I live during the day) and the one at the backwarms up the place where I sleep.

No 3. Yes, it is cold in the boat, but I find that a coal fire eradicates the problem.

No 4. I did not realise that I look stupid enough to spend entire the winter freezing to death.

There are some great advantages in being moored up on 'proper' winter moorings. Most importantly, I do not have to run the engine for 30 to 40 minutes each morning and evening to charge up the batteries. I also take the opportunity to cram all of the 'professional' visits into the winter break, leaving the rest of the year available for cruising. Hence my diary covers dentists, doctors and other such ne'er do wells! It is also useful to be able to tap-in to the boaty engineers, who can put to rights the occasional tweaks that 'Rosy' requires.

Right. That's all folks!!

Toodle pip!!

BACK AGAIN!!

The last post, as I recall it, covered the retreat from European waters, way back in late spring. Since then I have been twiddling around the Brinklow, Rugby and Braunston areas. I had a wonderful 2 week break in early September, when a friend invited me to help him move his narrow boat from where his kids had dumped it, to where he wanted it to over-winter. The waterways involved were those in Brittany! They are rarely cruised by British boats, mainly because they are disconnected from the main French canal network. Having now 'done' them, I suggest that if you have a chance of cruising them - take it. We saw most of it in our 2 weeks. There is none of this 4mph speed limit, so in the wide, deep waters the boat can fly along. The boat attracted a lot of attention from passers-by, along the lines of 'Why is your boat so narrow?'

Brittany does not attract many Brits, so its a good place to go for a holiday. Apart from the canals, there are some bits of proper sea to swim in, and the old, huddled together, car-less quarters to explore. 

Since returning to UK, I have stayed in the Rugby area and, indeed, have booked a winter mooring within walking distance of Tesco.

This is being written at Newbold famed for its tunnel. Not too far away there is another tunnel - now disused and blocked up. It is the original tunnel, that was used before the straightening of the canal. A kind person has hacked a hole in the bricked-up entrance, so with a torch and a camera you can get to see inside it.

That's it for now.  Back soon!!

ROSY IN EUROLAND

The last post, as I recall it, covered the retreat from European waters, way back in late spring. Since then I have been twiddling around the Brinklow, Rugby and Braunston areas. I had a wonderful 2 week break in early September, when a friend invited me to help him move his narrow boat from where his kids had dumped it, to where he wanted it to over-winter. The waterways involved were those in Brittany! They are rarely cruised by British boats, mainly because they are disconnected from the main French canal network. Having now 'done' them, I suggest that if you have a chance of cruising them - take it. We saw most of it in our 2 weeks. There is none of this 4mph speed limit, so in the wide, deep waters the boat can fly along. The boat attracted a lot of attention from passers-by, along the lines of 'Why is your boat so narrow?'

Brittany does not attract many Brits, so its a good place to go for a holiday. Apart from the canals, there are some bits of proper sea to swim in, and the old, huddled together, car-less quarters to explore. 

Since returning to UK, I have stayed in the Rugby area and, indeed, have booked a winter mooring within walking distance of Tesco.

This is being written at Newbold famed for its tunnel. Not too far away there is another tunnel - now disused and blocked up. It is the original tunnel, that was used before the straightening of the canal. A kind person has hacked a hole in the bricked-up entrance, so with a torch and a camera you can get to see inside it.

That's it for now.  Back soon!!

BOTTOM BLACKING

I left Brinklow Marina in high spirits when we went out for our first cruise in 2014. I cannot say that I am a big fan of marinas, but as marinas go, the Brinklow one is pretty good - if you want a quiet life. Exiting the marina, and in foggy weather, we made it as far as Newbold. The next day was another short cruise to the Rugby moorings, from where I topped up with provisions. The next day took us up to the golf course, and the following one saw us at Hillmorton, a full 5 miles in 4 days from Brinklow Marina!

I had to wait a few days until Dave Bixter - who runs the Hillmorton boat yard - had room for us. Whilst I was away from Rosy, a boater T-boned the moored Rosy - as I discovered when I happened to be on the other side of the canal, and saw that a chunk of paint was missing from Rosy’s upper works. Fortunately, it was on the same side of Rosy as all the other crunches, so Jeff - the Hillmorton boat painter - only had to tweak one side of Rosy, the other side being un-damaged. How he did it, I do not know, but it is impossible to see where he had to touch up the hull. When Dave was ready, we got into the dry dock. Rosy’s bottom half was blacked - it needs doing every 2 or 3 years - and various other bits ’n’ bobs were also completed, namely:

  -  My old ’Sterling’ inverter (it changes 12 volts into 240 volts) only gives a ‘square’ sine wave from which (for example) my computer cannot re-charge. The new Vitrinox inverter costs more, but gives a pure sine wave.

  -  Rosy’s gang plank - which I sometimes have to use to get ashore - was showing signs of wear. Indeed, it broke in two as someone was using it to get onto Rosy in the dry dock.

  -  Six new anodes were welded on to Rosy. The anodes help to maintain the integrity of the hull (I think).

  -  The local van Gogh was called in to sign-write Rosy’s Small Ships Registration (SSR) number. This number is not required on the UK canals, but is required on the mainland European canals.

  -  I had a cover made up to fit over Rosy’s pigeon box (it admits light into the engine room and helps to alleviate engine room smells). Mine is fine - except that admits too much rain water. The cover will go on when we moor and rain is forecast.

Whilst all this was going on, I got to know the inside of the nearby ‘Badsey’ café quite well, as various friends dropped by, and the café does very good ice cream, coffee, tea, snacks and food.

Dave Bixter then enquired if I wanted my old French gas bottle back. Eh??! Apparently, on my return from France - in September 2008 - I dumped it on Dave’s junk heap, and there it has remained. It’s now back on Rosy!

MASTS AND FLAGS

This is a little quiz. What is the memoire that the following aide memoire helps you to remember?

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas (or Pears, Puddings, Pies etc, anything so long as it starts with a P).

(Answers at the end of this post)

Today will be my last day in Brinklow Marina. Tomorrow we head up to Rugby for a bit of shopping, and thence up to Hillmorton, where 'Rosy' is to have her bottom blacked. Last autumn I was in the Hillmorton boat yard to have 'Rosy' repainted. At the time I had no intention of leaving the UK, so I had Rosy's SSR (Small Ships Register) Numbers painted over. Now I need to get the painter back to paint them on again.

I also have the boat insurance bandits wanting a hull inspection done sometime soonish, so I can have that done as well.  Ah yes! There is also a lot of water sloshing about in the bilges which needs pumping out and finding out where it has all come from. I assume it is the result of all that rain, but how is the rain getting into the bilges? I think there is far too much water to assign it to 'condensation'.

Also last year, I ditched Rosy's mast and tabernacle. I don't think a mast in compulsory in Euroland, but it is a boating etiquette to fly the national flag of the host country from the starboard cross trees. This is tricky to do if you do not have a mast. At the stern, of course, the flag of ones country of origin is flown - the Red Ensign for Brits. So we need a new mast and tabernacle - though, with luck, the old tabernacle might still be lying around. A 'tabernacle' is a fitting, screwed onto the deck, into which is placed the bottom of the mast.

I used to fly, in lieu of the Red Ensign, the flag of the Army Sailing Association. I was entitled to do this, but only in exchange for money. Certainly the flag was a talking point, but swapping a fancy flag for a bit more French red wine seems to me to be a better use of scarce resources! Visitors thought so as well, very much preferring a glass or 3 of wine  than an inspection of a flag.

I am finding it tricky to locate a source of decent, white string. I had some on 'Rosy' but it has disappeared. I need some to lash a short length of tubing onto the back of the rising length of the tiller, and into which is placed the bottom few inches of the Red Ensign flag pole.

(Quiz answer: Each initial letters is also the initial letters of a planet (e.g. E = Earth). The aide gives them in the order of their distance from the sun: Mercury being the nearest, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto).