Back online!

Well it's been a while. Last time we were up at the boat I was having connectivity problems with my 02 dongle i.e. it wouldn't! Continual "no network available" messages, even in places where I'd had one before. Back home, a trip to the 02 shop and a chat with their instore "guru" lead to the conclusion by him that it "is not working". Gee I'd never had guessed. It was sent away for repair and eventually a new one was despatched. Well guess what guru? No network available! Luckily, having taken advice from fellow boater, Terry of NB Coracle,  who moors nearby, I had equipped myself with a T mobile dongle, as apparently, they  actually have coverage in this area. (Staffordshire). Interestingly I did explain to the 02 assistant when I  purchased the first one where and how I intended to use it, but nobody told me they had virtually zero coverage in this area. Wonder what the job spec is for being a guru? So now on my 3rd dongle and reconnected to the blogosphere. 
Getting boat ready to overwinter, touching up scraped paintwork, and enjoying the slanting winter autumn sunshine and the comfort of the woodburner in the evenings. Life is good.

Wish we were there!

Having left our beloved boat and come home for more physio for the knee, I'm now wishing we'd stayed aboard and not found ourselves in east London at this moment in time amongst the riots. Never seeen anything like it....as soon as physio is over  we're off.

Visiting old haunts.

If you find yourself on the south Oxford canal near Napton on the Hill you can now feel free to visit the Folly Inn, under completely NEW management ( the previous incumbents having done a moonlight flit owing several thousand to the brewery apparently!) It now has a warm  and welcoming atmosphere, a much extended and improved menu  i.e. you can get something which ISN'T a pie! Also roast dinner served on Sundays 2 till 4 or sooner if it runs out! Ales on tap last night included a St Austell ale and Old Hooky. What a relief to find a pub re-opened and better than before. The neighbouring shop is useful too, all sorts of useful bits and bobs, locally made sausages, second hand books to swap or buy for 50p. You can order a paper for the following morning and they do cash back. Result. We need more places like this along the cut. Use them or lose them!
And the windmill on the hill seems to rotate around you as you follow the contours...well worth a trip up the hill if you're feeling energetic.

No moorings and no signals!

The day started well with a fairly bright morning. We passed rapidly through the bleak backwaters of Nuneaton, which, frankly, is the best thing to do!  More rubbish in the canal and graffitited bridges than anywhere else we have been. The town seems to have no other interest in the canal and its heritage and no welcome is extended to passing boats. However we had to be impressed with its extensive and well tended allotments. After taking on water and getting rid of rubbish at Hawkesbury  junction, we left the Coventry canal via  a stoplock which only raised us 6 inches onto the rival North oxford canal. Back in the day, this was where they were able to levy a toll on boats working their way throught the system, checking the loading and charging accordingly. Pushing on through Ansty, a commuter village within roar of the motorway, we discovered  a boat loose across the canal. We moored up and Mike ran around trying to secure it. There was no mooring pin and not much more than a tangle of thick string to do the job.He managed to make it fast after a fashion and we wondered how many other boats had just nudged their way past and left it to waft about. What if it were your boat?  By this time we were being drenched by fairly steady rain, but could find nowhere to moor till well after Stretton. There  was space on the moorings, but people had moored with not quite boat sized gaps in between. We moored right on the end of the section against a concrete bank...not good and in the wind, we banged against it all evening, despite our fenders. is it really to much for people to moor up with a bit of consideration for others, or at least offer to shove up and make room. Lit the fire to dry out and cheer ourselves up.you can't beat a real fire!

A late start.

5 hours , 11 locks.
Woke early to the sound of torrential rain on the roof, so turned over and went right back to sleep. It persisted through most of the morning and we heard brave souls starting up and heading off, including one brave hire boater passing in shorts, tee shirt, flip flops and beer in hand! The English are so stoic when it comes to weather: it was obviously a case of  "I'm on holiday, I'm going to enjoy myself come what may!"

We decided that, as we don't have to be anywhere, nor arrive anywhen, we would wait until it eased off a little. We eventually set off after 12 and climbed the  eleven locks of the Atherstone flight without getting more than slightly damp. At the top end of the flight we moored up and popped the local shop cum post office for a few items. lo and behold , over the road was an excellent fish and chip shop. They cooked us huge pieces of haddock and a mountain of chips! (If you want your fish freshly cooked, leave the cod, go for haddock. 9 times out of 10 they will cook it freshly for you, whereas the cod may have been sitting in the hot cabinet for several hours) no ccoking for us tonight! Now moored up near Hartshill in brilliant evening sunshine. 

The Bull at Polesworth

Turn your clocks back 40 years if the juke box is to be believed! But a nice pint of Marstons to be had if such is your bent, and food including curry served from 5.30. Notice up for West ham v West Brom match to be aired on big screen tv. Thought it politic to keep quiet about our origins, not wishing to provoke an intercity incident. A lovely lazy, hazy day with no locks. Bliss.

Hopwas

Back where we wanted to be.

Thursday July 14th . 6hrs . 3 locks. (two in our favour!)
After several weeks struggling with the physio sessions for the "new" knee, missing one through illness(me) and one through annual leave (them) the prospect of the sessions stretching ahead in to August and not getting away on the Great Escape before the school holidays begin was too much. So I've taken two weeks official holiday from them and we are away on our beautiful boat for nearly three weeks! Hurrah. We've decided to head down the Coventry canal and take a jaunt down the Oxford to visit old haunts. Our previous (share) boat Wild Kitten is moored down there and we realized that we miss the winding beauty of the southern Oxford. But we've moored tonight just short of Hopwas, between Hopwas Hays wood and the River Tame. A beautiful,quiet spot.The fridge is the noisiest thing I can hear....apart from doves billing and cooing. I'm sure we will renew our aquaintance with Virgin trains before long. But for now, things couldn't be better.

What a way to spend a day.

Today is my 60th birthday! How did I get to be that old? I don't FEEL 60! Well,ok, when my knees are giving me jip, I suppose there were times when I feel older...but  I'm not ready for old fogeydom yet. I can remember when being 30 sounded positively ancient...as Sandy Denny asked "Who knows where the time goes?"  But what better way to spend the day than on our boat, on the canal. It's been very windy but at least it stayed dry. We certainly met lots of boats along the way. Hire boats,just setting off on their canal break,  day boats full of enthusiastic people who forgot to tie them up, and didn't notice they were half way across the cut! Plus there were plenty of people taking their boats out for the first time this season. So the canal not as quiet as we've been used to of late, but it makes it interesting. And now my other half is cooking me a nice dinner and opening a bottle of wine. No better way to spend the day. Apologies to friends and family who can't be with us. We'll celebrate later in the week.

are we having fun yet?

Didn't it rain?!

So after a day in the marina, me and my gammy leg finally set sail this morning with Mike doing all the running around (no change there, I hear him mutter!). Of course, as soon as the bow of the boat exited the marina , the rain began. Not just little spit spotty friendly rain, oh no ! Big, fat,soak you to the skin in two minutes rain! But hey, we're out on the boat and heading off towards Stone after a six week enforced no boating hiatus, so who cares? And it didn't stop there. We passed through bands of rain and brief spells of sunshine when we steamed gently. So May is the new April, I have a new knee and we're back in business. Moored up for the night beyond Sandon lock and at the centre of a typhoon. Ok, slight exaggeration, but very windy. Woodburner alight, wine opened and stirfry on the horizon. Woohoo!

What a week

What a week to be in hospital having a knee replacement when we could have been out on the boat! But the deed is done and all appears to have gone well. Home within 6 days and all going well..so hopefully not too long before we can get back to the boat, even if it's only in a sitting around capacity!

More of the same...it can't last..

Woke up to  mist on the water at 7.20 a.m. As the sun began to burn it off, the first boats of the day went past, more boats than we have seen in the last three days put together. It was noticeable that several of them made no change of engine noise and NO they were not hire boats! It seems that some private owners do not know that they are supposed to slow down near moored boats, even if they might assume the owners are still asleep. Later when we were underway, I noticed on several occasions that oncoming boats made no course corrections as thy headed towards us, but came full tilt down the middle of the canal. I often tell non boating friends that ,on the cut, the age of chivalry is not dead. After today's experiences I'm beginning to think it's not very well!

Oh what a beautiful morning....

Had a brilliant couple of days up the Coventry canal and along the Birmingham and Fazeley. Haven't had a chance to do much blogging as my dongle, though dangling cannot seem to keep me in connection with the airwaves. Keep getting half way through typing only to be disconnected and lose it all. Ditto! ditto! which is frustrating,,,wonder if o2 was not such a good choice? Maybe I should try another provider.

Making the most of it!

I'm going into The Royal London hospital in Whitechapel on April 18th for a TKR or total knee replacement and  so spending the last two weeks of my "freedom" on The Great Escape seemed like a spiffing idea. So here we are back at Great Haywood aboard our home from home and very nice it is too.  Had a very filling meal at The Clifford Arms: their signature dish of local ham , egg and chips. Ham slices thick enough to sole your shoes with,  runny yolked egg and crispy, hot chips accompanied by lovely slices of proper crusty bread and butter...oh and a very acceptable glass of red wine. Mike's got the woodburner going and we are seeing how long we can stay awake! We've made it past 9.30 p.m. which is a result. It seems as though our bio rhythms re-tune as soon as we come aboard and we need to sleep when it's dark, and get up....well, whenever we feel like it! Some bits and pieces to sort out tomorrow and then we will be off. I'm already trying to work out how I can get up and down the steps with a gammy leg. The thought of missing so much of the spring and early summer cruising time almost put me off having the op but I suppose common sense will have to prevail.

When life looks easy street, there's trouble at your door

So there I was all set to get my knee replacement op in March,when out of the blue , I started getting pains in my chest..... After a trip to the Chest Pain clinic and being wired up to ECG and echo machines, they tell me I may possibly have had a heart attack! So now I have to have an angioplasty and the knee op is on hold for at least a year while they sort me out. Meanwhile I was told to " carry on life as normal just not to overdo it!"  I wonder if that involves hauling a narrow boat about?

Snug as a bug in a rug

We only came up to the marina to check how the Great Escape had fared during the extreme weather conditions..... Fortunately all is well and we  were not greeted with burst pipes. But it was such a lovely day, once the mist had burned off, that we couldn't resist just a little trip out to re charge the batteries, The boat's or ours? No contest. no better way to unwind than a few hours chugging along the canal. We have moored up for the night in a beautiful place called Tixall Wide on the Staffs and Worcs canal. Having banked up the wood burner with off cuts from the silver birch in our garden at home , we have battened down the hatches for the night with a nice bottle of Californian red and all is right with the world...for now.