Coventry!

After several more days at S & K's house - sanding, washing, emptying the loft of loads of scrap wood and cutting back roses, we've bounced back again. Wednesday was the travel day. Thursday was shopping. Then we went to Coventry. We weren't sent, but now I know why, when we are offended by people, we might "send them to Coventry".

I HATE Coventry. Loathe the place. We've had the misfortune to have been there of necessity three times since we've been on Kantara, and it doesn't get any better. Traffic is thick and fast, signage confusing, even contradictory, and road markings likewise. The whole experience wasn't made any better by TomTom's verbal instructions not corresponding all of the time with her display, nor with the road signs, nor with Grace, who had her own idea of how things should be. One crossroads was totally devoid of stop lines, traffic lights or any other official device to stop pileups. Honestly! I was very grateful to those who were behind me. Not only did they not hoot, swear or give me the finger when I cut them up, changed lane dramatically or slowed down unexpectedly, but they also failed to drive into the back of me. Coventry's not all bad.

We went to this awful place to buy one bottle of  liquid paraffin aka mineral oil aka SKYDD . Time was, you could nip into the nearest Boots and buy liquid paraffin from the counter. Not any more. Pharmacies just don't stock it. Ikea does. But they call it SKYDD.

So what did we want it for? you may ask. Constipation? Skin irritation? Lamp fuel? Cleansing my hands? Nope. It's the recommended oiling agent for wooden chopping boards. Grace had recently sanded all four of ours (yes, I know, four) and we need them (all) to be usable on the boat. Thank you, Ikea. It was an adventure.

It rained last night. Quite a lot. And it's very windy this morning, though dry now. Michelle arrives tomorrow for a week's cruise. 40mph winds expected. Hmmm.

Getting hotter....

It was but a short taste of the Ashby, but Michelle loved it, so it was worth it. The next morning, we winded just after Basin Bridge and headed back whence we'd come. Michelle's knee was a bit better now, but our thoughts of visiting Coventry were dashed when Grace stepped into a space which had previously not been occupied by the end of the tiller and now was. She'd almost certainly cracked her rib, and was in a lot of pain.

It soon became clear that this was going to slow our return to Yelvertoft. There would be things that Grace normally did from the stern that she couldn't do now, so I was going to have to do those as well as my normal routines at the bow - handling stern and centre lines, stern mooring, closing lock gates, that sort of stuff. And she'd need to lie down and rest from time to time, too. Then Michelle twisted her getting-better knee, and that ruled her out of doing too much as well. Coventry was struck off the itinerary.

We carried on to Hawkesbury, filled up with water, and went looking for a mooring. There wasn't the smallest space available this time, so we moved on another mile to Caters Bridge 11, moored, and lazed and watched Wimbledon for the rest of the afternoon.

At this point, my photos become scarce. I guess my attention was on the injured crew now.

The next day, after a bad night's sleep, Grace's ribs were worse, and so was Michelle's knee. We would have to shorten each day's trip now, to allow time for them to rest. Fortunately, Michelle had the whole of the following week off work, so there was no hurry for her to get back.

Continuing through Ansty (why can't boats moor there??) and Stretton Stop, we moored again at Easenhall Bridge 34. Lunch, rest, Wimbledon. Sun, peace and quiet.

Down in the engine compartment, I noticed that the bilge water below the stern gland was deeper than it ought to have been. I'd been pumping it out daily, and that was fine, but I really needed to tighten the gland nuts a little to slow the drip. Also, there was a small amount of coolant in the bilges. I was aware of it, and watching to see if it increased. And we were both keeping an eye on the temperature gauge, too, but I couldn't find where the water had come from, so there was nothing else I could do but monitor the situation.

This decision was to backfire on me later.

We were alarmed by a boat that was reversing in to moor behind us. Not that the reversing was a problem, but rather that there was a very loud bang from the boat, and its engine stopped abruptly. I hopped out to help them back up to the bank. They didn't know what had caused the noise, but thought it might have been a log caught in the propeller. That could be very difficult to remove!

But they must have done it fairly quickly, because they left the mooring the next day, quite some time before us. Newbold Tunnel next, a lovely, sunny day, and a beautiful canal. We were pleased to see Nikki and Ralph on NB Miner Bill coming in the opposite direction, fellow tweeps whose boat we've seen more than once before, but whom we've never met. The meeting was brief, of course, but it's always good to see the faces of Twitter or Facebook friends.

At Newbold Quarry Park, we stopped. We'd been meaning to visit for years. There's no real mooring for boaters who want to visit this park, but we managed, with the help of passing boats that lifted us aground in their haste. Michelle and I wandered through the park for a while, very pleasant but nothing special. We were glad we spent the time there, though.

After lunch, we drove on to Rugby. Michelle sat and read under the shade of a tree while Grace and I did a quick shop at Tesco. Just 20 minutes after we left that spot, an alarm sounded from our gauges panel. The engine was overheating. Both of us had failed to check the temperature since Newbold. Grace steered Kantara into the reeds on the bank, and turned off the engine. Mooring was a challenge. The bank was badly, unevenly eroded, so there was no straight edge. Additionally, there were reeds and weeds galore that hid the water's edge very effectively. There was nothing for it - I had to jump! With the centre line in my hand, I launched myself as far as I could towards the towing path.

I landed on solid ground. Mooring pins had to be driven in amongst stinging nettles and other offensive plants, but a fairly secure mooring was made. There was no getting off for Michelle or Grace, however, so down came the gangplank from the roof - the first time it'd ever been used. Now I had to check the engine. It was hot! But there was really nothing I could see to suggest the reason for the overheating. The pool of coolant in the bilges was not significantly bigger. The water level in the header tank was fine. The domestic hot water wasn't hot, the skin tank was cold, and the filler cap had blown off the header-tank. I could only think that the water pump had gone. Time to call in RCR.

Steve the RCR man arrived within 40 minutes. He discovered fairly quickly that the fan-belt was loose, so the pump wasn't being turned. I was almost right, then. I pointed out to him that the belts had been checked by the RCR man who'd done the annual service back in November. Steve tutted.

He then discovered that the caps for the radiator and the header tank had been swapped, so the pressure cap was on the header tank and the simple cap was on the radiator. This explained to Steve, though not to me, why the header tank was still full. I shrugged. The RCR man had removed the caps back in November, I told him. Steve tutted. What was the name of the idiot who made these mistakes? I went in and got him the paperwork for that job. Steve looked at the signature.

"Oh!" he said, rather alarmed "That was me!"

Embarrassment ensued.

To his credit, having discovered the fan-belt tension issue, Steve then investigated the coolant leakage, and found that the rubber hose feeding the calorifier with hot water from the engine was split. I'd not found that when I was checking for the leak. He cut off the end of the hose with the split in it, refitted the good(ish) bit, refilled the system, tested it all for some time, and urged me to get the in and out hoses to the calorifier replaced. With that, he made his merry way back to his van half a mile up the towing path.

We moved on a short distance to a decent mooring, grateful for the work done.

The Ashby Canal in fab weather

Fab weather is what we awoke to on Wednesday, and fab weather is what we had all day long. Michelle's knee wasn't sufficiently recovered for her to do much walking, so we decided against going to Coventry, turned right out of Hawkesbury Junction onto the Coventry Canal, and set off towards the delightful Ashby Canal.

We'd been warned that the water was unusually shallow there. Would we get far? we wondered. It would have been good if we could trip down to Coventry on our way back, Michelle's knee allowing. Time wasn't critical, so it was a matter of wait-and-see.

The boatyard at Bedworth looked tidier than usual. There was definitely less junk there, and more intact boats that looked as though they were there for work to be done on them. The dressed mannequins that line the bank were fewer, and less of a feature.

Marston Junction, and the start of the Ashby. We were a little dismayed to see the Norwegians turning in ahead of us, but we passed them later as they pulled over to moor. Travel might well have been even slower if we'd ended up behind them!

The canal was shallow, though we didn't think it was more so than usual, and it made passing oncoming boats difficult at times. Bank effect was a frequent occurrence. But it was all very beautiful, peaceful, serene. Lots of boaters were enjoying it with us.

We stopped before Bridge 3 for a relaxed lunch.

And at the end of the day, we moored below Basin Bridge 22. The only disturbance was the distant barking of dog kennels.

Fab!

Starting with a splash

On Tuesday morning, before Grace and I were even out of bed, Michelle fell into the canal. Well, she washed one leg very thoroughly, and badly bruised the other knee.

"It's certainly one way to avoid locking!" I joked. She glared at me. She really enjoys the job, and wasn't going to be best pleased with having to watch me do it on my own - though I can be very entertaining!

It was a day of clouds...

and cows.

We moved on to Rugby, stopping for a short while to shop at Tesco. The stretch beyond, between bridge 59 and the aqueduct, has been very nicely restored where it used to be a badly broken bank. OK, it wasn't possible to moor there before the fix, but it's a shame that the opportunity wasn't taken to make this long stretch into a good 48-hour mooring.

Newbold Tunnel was still unilluminated. They really ought to replace that fuse! We stopped at Easenhall Bridge 34 to eat. Over lunch, there was much discussion about what we'd do when we met the Coventry Canal. Left to Coventry to see the cathedrals and whatever else we might discover Coventry has to offer, or right to the Ashby Canal? Michelle hadn't seen the city before, and would have liked to see the cathedrals at least, but her knee wasn't holding up very well, and there was some doubt that she'd be able to do the walking. I made the executive decision to turn right. How rubbish would it be to do the 10-mile journey in and out of Coventry with Michelle not being able to benefit from being there?

As it happened, we were able to moor at Hawkesbury before the junction. Every time we'd been this way before, that bank was totally full of boats. We moored close NB Ottawa whom we'd moored next to the night before. Another boat filled the gap between us. The young lady from the boat introduced herself as Isabelle, the social media manager of her dog, Tony, who tweets as @tonyonaboat. Tony follows me on Twitter. I follow him now, too. Well, I already follow @BoatHorseCracker‏, the boat horse on the Montgomery. I can't be specist, can I? Not at all PC!

A shout, "Grace and Roger!!" made us hurry to the side doors in time to see Sandy and Dave - the Fairies - go past, waving and calling out. They were with another boat that was ahead of them, so they couldn't stop to catch up, which was a great shame. They were on their way back to Barby from a trip to Leeds. Eleven weeks in total. Lucky them!

We ate at The Greyhound Inn, down at the junction, an excellent meal in a charming old building, then returned to Kantara for a sweltering evening of card games.

Restless...

...doesn't describe adequately how I feel at the moment. The weeks since Christmas have seemed incredibly long, and, although it's good to be spending time with our kids, we're more than eager to get back to Kantara. The worst of the weather seems to have passed (but who knows, eh?), we have plans for the rest of the year, and those plans are canal plans!

Being at the house has enabled us to get done a number of jobs which were needed here, or which we could do better here. We've had solar panels installed, we've investigated cavity wall insulation (and found it's not needed), replaced a shower pump (supplying two showers), and done a bit of gardening at times between downpours - Naomi's done more than that, bless her, and has just started a project to erect raised beds around the garden, in which to grow vegetables. Other, tidying and rationalising, work will be done as part of that, too. I've investigated a leak in the roof of the summerhouse, and await further heavy rain (although I really hope it doesn't come) to test my repair efforts. Grace has made several dresses for herself and Jess. We've been doing a fair bit of clearing out of "stuff", too, and discovered FreeCycle, an excellent way of finding good homes for things that are no longer wanted. I've just given away a couple of Kerria from the garden, and a TV a week or so ago. We have a couple of good charity shops just at the end of the road, too.

And I've broken my third exercise bike!

Looking back over the blog, you'll see that I bought my first one for use on the boat back in 2012. It developed a fault before the year's warranty expired, and i got a replacement... which failed within the year, so I got a replacement... which failed last week. Tesco Direct, from whom I bought it, have been very good about this, and replaced it each time without any problem, but they did say this time that they wouldn't replace it again, if I insisted on having the same make and model. So I've chosen another, and I'm waiting for its delivery as I type. Fingers crossed!

We were glad to be around when Said the Maiden supported Jim Moray at the Hitchin Folk Club. It was great for them to be supporting yet another top artist on the folk circuit, and their performance was magic.

 They're in the process of finalising their first full album, ready for their nationwide tour with Dave Swarbrick in April and May. Steve's engineering and producing the CD.

Of course, when we get back on the canal, there's no telling how much this deplorable weather will affect our cruising, but we have a number of trips in mind; to Llangollen, to Stratford-upon-Avon - we have vouchers for theatre tickets we're looking forward to using, to Brentford, and a trip to complete our intended Leicester Ring trip last year, visiting Coventry and the Ashby Canal.

We shall see!

Thursday, week 5

As we moved away from our mooring, under a warm sky, we decided to cut this cruise short. We were due to turn into the Ashby Canal today, and spend three or four days doing that 44 mile return trip, but, in view of the need to get our generator fixed, and to have a consistently good internet signal at a time when we both need to use the web a fair bit, we thought it prudent to return now to the marina. This will mean missing the trip into Coventry, too.

However, a cruise up and down the Ashby, and up and down the end of the Coventry Canal would make a good 10 to 14-day trip in its own right, so we'll get that done later in the year - no loss.

Moving on from our overnight mooring, we immediately passed an old BW yard, apparently now unused, but retaining much of its original charm.

Looking back at our mooring from the BW yard.

Thursday's travel was entirely without locks. In fact, apart from the very shallow one we will pass through just around the corner from where we are now at Hawkesbury Junction, there are only a handful of locks left to do on the rest of the trip - Hillmorton, Braunston and Watford. The canal meandered down towards Nuneaton through lovely countryside and woodland, very river-like at times in its breadth and general "mood".

Nuneaton is a disgrace, however, with a lot of rubbish in the water and on the banks, and graffiti on any available surface. The town itself is not inviting, and we moved through as fast as we could.

Just beyond the furthest reaches of the town, we were warned by several boaters of a sunken boat almost blocking the canal. That it is there at all is something of a disgrace, but it's unacceptable that it's allowed to be such a hazard. There was barely space for Grace to slide our 7' wide Kantara past, and that was through a lot of assorted detritus.

Exiting from the ugly sprawl of Nuneaton, however, we were back into attractive views, and passed the entrance to the Ashby-de-la-Zouch (its full name) Canal, at Marston Junction - we'll be back!

On the outskirts of the town of Bedworth, we passed the very tatty boatyard I wrote about last year,

but I had to take more photos of the amusing additions to the various boaty stuff which litters the place.

Our day's travel ended just beyond the town, at Hawkesbury Junction.

The sky was clear, the evening sunny and warm, and we woke to similar weather this morning. On now, towards Newbold.