A lovely way to spend a Bank Holiday (real time)

Spring Bank Holiday. One of the nation's eight annual major opportunities for torrential rain. But this year, we didn't get it. OK, it wasn't fabulously warm and sunny, either, but we've had worse! And Saturday morning was positively pleasant as we drove off to the Crick Boat Show.

It was packed! We were there as the gates opened at 10:00, and very glad that we'd bought our admission wristbands in advance. We joined a fast-moving queue of those who had pre-paid and simply had to show their bands to an official as we walked past. Those wishing to pay at the gate had to wait a long time.

It's a few years since we were last at the show. We went this time with a shopping list, and had seen and done all we needed to within four hours. I bought a sun hat, hoping upon hope that I'd actually have need of it in the coming months. Grace bought some more, beautiful glass earrings from The Glass Barge, who had made some to order for her a couple of years ago. I got a windlass, recovered from a canal and refurbished - nice idea! And we bought a pair of 10 metre ropes to replace our manky centre ropes. And we bought a pair of bath towels. A bit mundane, you might think, but these are made of a lightweight fabric which absorbs water very well, but dries very quickly. And dry, the towels roll up into a very small roll.

There were some major investigations to do, too, and we spent time looking into the possibility of replacing our ancient and probably not very efficient (to be tested!) solar panels. We found some exactly the same, and these would be able to be fitted on the existing roof brackets. Useful. We also chatted with Mike from Debdale Marina about his molten zinc spray process, which we're considering having done to Kantara.

And then there was the not inconsiderable matter of the replacement inverter. We knew exactly which model we wanted, so it was simply a matter of sourcing it at the lowest price possible. It's pricey.

But our very first quote was way less than we had expected, and we left the stand with a business card bearing the scribbled details; make, model and price. No-one could match it, so we returned to the dealer just before leaving, to make the purchase.

"I made a bit of a mistake", said the man, sheepishly.

Despite our frequent references to the name and numbers involved in the description of the inverter (and he did frequently have to be corrected when he talked about the 24v model instead of the 12v one) and despite the fact that he had written the correct details on the card he gave us, he had given us a price below the price he paid for it, and no less than £400 below his retail price. But he's a man of his word, and he honoured the agreement! What a gent, and what a bargain we got!

Our friend Michelle arrived at the marina an hour or so after we got back to the boat, and we set off almost straight away to make the most of the time she had with us. We were only shortly out of the marina when a lady on a moored boat waved as we passed, calling out to us that she'd read "Life with our feet under water", and follows this blog. Unfortunately, we'd passed, and it was too late for me to see the boat name.

"Keep up the good work!" she shouted. How nice of her!

We only got as far as bridge 27, but it's a lovely place to stop, and we spent the night there. It was an evening of good food and drink, chat and card games. A nearby cuckoo declared very loudly and repeatedly that it was spring. We enjoyed a night of peaceful sleep. This is a very quiet spot.

On Sunday morning, we made our way to the Welford Arm, where we moored outside the marina. I'd booked a table at The Wharf Inn, and we enjoyed an excellent Sunday lunch there. Towards the end of the afternoon, we left the Arm, and moored for the night just south of the junction.

And this morning, we returned to Yelvertoft. We met a couple of famous boats on the way. Derwent 6, Del and Al, have been boating and blogging since 2006. Veterans, one might say.

SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2006Boat BuilderWhere do we start! At the moment we are researching boat builders (shells & fit out) and planning to make a decision at the end of this week. We need to start the ball rolling if we are to realise our dream!POSTED BY DEL AND AL AT 7:37 PM 0 COMMENTS

They waved cheerfully as we passed each other.

photo - nbalbert.blogspot.com

photo - nbalbert.blogspot.com

Grace had seen that NB Phyllis May 2 was up for sale recently. She was the second NB Phyllis May owned by author and lunatic adventurer Terry Darlington, whose books we've read.

photo - narrowdog.com

We met this boat, still very clean and shiny, despite her adventures. at a bridge. As you do. As we passed each other, Grace called out to the skipper,

"Terry Darlington's boat?"

"Yes!", cried the skipper. "Just bought her!" Then he recognized us. "Kantara! I've read your book!"

We passed another boat, moored, called "Enterprise". Grace commented that if we'd bought her, she'd have painted stars on the sides. I'd have had to call myself Captain Zlog.

The weather was chilly and dull, but the countryside was beautiful. We felt sorry for those at the Crick Show today.

Michelle left us after lunch, with fingers crossed for an easy journey home, back down the M1 and M25. It had not been so good on Saturday. She'd needed the break, and it'd been really good to share it with her. It was a great weekend.

Cruising soon!

Incredible! A hot, dry, sunny Bank Holiday Weekend! Excellent weather for the Crick Boat Show, which we went to on Saturday. We walked again, this time without injury - last year I sprained my ankle very painfully right at the start of the return journey. As last year, we bought a number of bits and pieces, including various very special, tasty edibles. Mostly, we learned a lot about various equipment and technology, and looked into a number of mooring possibilities for the time when we decide to move from Yelvertoft and base ourselves on another canal.

We're going back to St Albans today for a couple of nights. The car needs service and MOT, and I want to have it done by our usual Marsh Motors, where all but our first car have been serviced. It's well worth the return journey.

We plan to set out on Saturday for Sawley Marina on the River Trent, where we will be doing our two-day Inland Waterways Helmsman's Certificate course. After that, we'll continue anticlockwise around the Leicester Ring, which we failed to complete last year. The whole trip could take us five or six weeks, and we're really looking forward to it.

Nothing new really

Early in our time on Kantara, I wrote a rather idealistic post about the weather, basically saying, if I remember rightly, that it's just one of those things that boaters have to put up with, and we just smile and get on with life regardless. How naïve that was!

The fact is that, though there are stalwarts out there who cruise the UK's inland waterways throughout the year, come rain or shine, hail or snow, Grace and I are not that hardy (or is it foolhardy?), and we feel very much at the mercy of the weather. While chugging along the canal in a strong wind may not be too bad because of the trees and hedgerows along most of the banks, we still have to get out of the marina! 

At the moment, we need warm, dry weather. Without it, we can't paint the hull and we can't have our cratch cover repaired. Well, we could but for the fact that we have developing plants on the foredeck at the moment, and don't want to run the risk of adverse weather damaging them - it may well have been frosty last night, for a start.

In fairness to us, we could be cruising. The weather's not that bad, and we've certainly been boating in weather far worse than this in past years. But it's just not convenient to be on the cut at the moment, since we want to attend the Crick Boat Show next weekend (and already, nearby moorings are closed to casual would-be users), and I have to have the car serviced and MOTed next week. We're banking on better weather the week after the Show, that the painting and cratch cover may be done then.

Meanwhile...

We still feel the need to have the bubble stove on for a few hours each day.

The weather forecast is hopelessly wrong, promising good weather when we have bad, and bad weather when we have good. Yesterday there was a strong wind for most of the day.

Using a couple of the free cinema tickets we get in exchange for Tesco Club Card vouchers, Grace and I saw "The Great Gatsby" the other day. Grace enjoyed it more than me. I found it rather tedious, and light on content, and I couldn't help wondering why Peter Parker was in it. Tobey Maguire really can't be anyone else, it would seem.

A Midwestern war veteran finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbour.

Oh, and I finally got around to taking the two gas canisters out of the bow locker, and removing the piece of old carpet on which they had been standing. As I had suspected, the carpet was not damp, and the painted floor underneath only had mild surface rust. Nevertheless, I replaced the carpet with plastic tiles which stand on feet, away from the floor, and which have lots of drainage holes across their area, and won't need to be concerned about the possibility of rust developing in future.

The Crick Boat Show

It rained very hard last night, and it's raining still, albeit a fine drizzle. It's what the BBC weather forecast predicted for today several days ago, and I'm feeling very sorry for those who bought tickets for the Boat Show for today.
We went yesterday, for which the forecast had been "white cloud". Well, it was cloudy, but dark, threatening clouds all day long, although the threats came to nothing, much to our amazement. So our day at the Boat Show was not a wet one, and we enjoyed six hours of leisurely wandering around, looking at all of the trade stalls, and buying a number of bargains - fender ropes and deck mats being the most specifically "boaty".

A fender is a cylinder of plastic or rubber, hanging down to protect the side of the boat from damage from bumping when moored.

The deck mats - heavy, thick rubber ones - will replace the plastic ones we fitted a few weeks ago, which turned out to be a total flop. As soon as the hot weather arrived, they softened, expanded, buckled and distorted, and became totally useless. I will be complaining to the manufacturers and the dealers from whom we bought them. So will a couple of boaters I met yesterday who, coincidentally, had had the same experience with the same mats. He had stepped down off the bank onto the foredeck where his mats were laid, and they moved away from him under his feet, causing him to fall backwards. They are clearly not fit for purpose.

Rubbish!!

We walked to Crick from the marina, little knowing that we might have bought heavy goods which would need to be carried home. The mats, two of them, were the offending heavy items, which I started to carry back to Yelvertoft, one on each shoulder. Unfortunately this only went well as far as the bottom of the steps down from a scaffolding bridge across the canal at Crick, where I trod on uneven ground, and turned my ankle painfully. A bit further on, Grace took over one of the mats, making my progress a bit easier, but my ankle, although not at all swollen, is rather painful today. That, coupled with the kind of weather one doesn't really want to be out in if it can be avoided, means that we will be spending a cosy day on board. The temperature is stupidly low for June, and we have the stove alight!

A day out

Colin was supposed to come and see us yesterday, to look at a welding job we need to have done to a hatch on the aft deck, so we stayed in all day, waiting for him. He didn't come. Never mind, we did get lots of jobs done, including fitting roller blinds in the galley and shower room, clearing junk from the fore lockers and correcting the list to port which had been bothering us. Having heard nothing from Colin, we went out today. There was no point going anywhere in Kantara, since we need to be here tomorrow for the Crick Show, so we drove out to a couple of National Trust properties.

Baddersley Clinton...

We've visited Baddesley Clinton and Packwood House twice before, but they're both those kinds of old houses which are so full of character that you want to visit again, and, since they are only a couple of miles apart, if you see one, you just have to see the other. They are both Tudor homes, and quite delightful - particularly Baddesley Clinton. Both of them have many of the features of grand, stately homes of the era, but are simply much smaller, with a great deal of interest and charm.

Packwood House...

It was an excellent day out, and the weather was great for the purpose. We go to the Crick Boat Show tomorrow. Let's hope the rain stays away for that, too!

A short cruise!

Well, life's a bit quiet at the moment. We're currently painting the fore deck, and laying new, non-slip, waterproof flooring, to replace the old carpet tiles. We've also been looking into the TV/DVD possibilities for the boat, and putting detail to the plans for the shower room refit.

Kantara is due at Roy's workshop next Monday. We had planned on setting out in the middle of this week, to give our selves time to sail down to Braunston, pass Roy's place and carry on for a day or two, before turning around and mooring for the two weeks Roy needs to do the refit. For which time we go home to St Albans... for some serious gardening, I think!

However, the five day weather forecast says that the rest of this week will involve heavy rain, and that's not conducive to cruising – unless we don't mind getting sodden, which we do feel is best avoided on a daily basis. So it looks as if we'll simply set out on Saturday, take it easy, and get to Braunston early Monday. Until then, we await several days of canal-filling rain!

Oh, and we've just bought tickets... well, wristbands actually... for the annual Canal Boat Show at Crick in May. This is going to be something of a strange experience for us this year, because, having attended many times over the past years as would-be boat owners looking at boats for style, design and engineering ideas, we will be going as owners this year. And as such, we won't be looking nearly so much - if at all - at the boats, but rather at the things people put in boats - like a really neat toasting grill which sits over a gas hob burner, which we first saw years ago. This year, we hope to buy one. And there's the matter of TV, too, and FreeSat and... oh, all sorts of stuff. Furthermore, we'll be walking there this year!