Out of Order

This posting is out of order because I forgot to include the fact that I'm slowly replacing all the existing plastic curtain rails and wooden curtain retainers with brass fittings .. shiny huh?

We nipped over to Welford to see the state of the reservoirs .... still not good!

Preparing for a freeze

Just in time, we managed to get over to Quo and drain down the hot and cold water systems.

The engine cooling and central heating systems have anti-freeze in them, so are OK to leave over winter, but the hot and cold water pipes are vulnerable to freezing and have to be carefully drained.

It was this time last year that we took over Quo, but the weather was very different, it was the big freeze-up, and Whilton Marina had already winterised her so all the water tanks were empty.

I started the drain-down by just opening a hot and cold tap until the main cold water tank ran dry, then using my spare pump to drain every last drop from the tank, and an old towel to dry it out.

To my surprise, the hot water tank was still full of water ... hmmmmmm .... back to the drawing board. 

Luckily, my second attempt to drain it worked, I took the outlet off the boat's water pump and fitted it to the inlet of my spare pump, then opened the boat's hot taps and started the spare pump ... Bingo ... the tank dutifully emptied, and Quo is now ready to face whatever this winter brings.

We popped over to check on her on Christmas eve, ran the engine and mopped up a small quantity on water from the engine bilge ... I suspect a small leak from the gutter that drains around the engine cover ... I'll check it out when the weather is a bit warmer .... otherwise, she's in good order and we noted that the water level was up in the marina, boding well for a cruise in the near future.

It is the tuesday after Christmas, and we went for a walk along the towpath near Newton Harcourt, and noted that the water levels at Spinney Lock were fine, with water running down the spillways. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before we can get Quo out and about again.

Booze Crooze

I run a small guitar strumming session at the local pub on Monday nights, and we now have a hard core of 5 regulars, Paul, Mark, Bob, Dan and me.

We decided that what we needed was a long session with our guitars and a bottle or so of Jack Daniels to bring out the real music (a la Rolling Stones), my thinking was that a narrowboat would be an inspirational place to do this, so I set it up for last Saturday.

Liz was brilliant helping me to sort it all, and made a large pot of yummy stew and gorgeous cheese straws for our trip.

Come Saturday morning, knowing I had to stay sober(ish) anyway, I picked up the other lads in my car and off we set for Debdale, burdened additionally by guitars, beer and nibbles.

The weather was better than we could have hoped for, especially when compared to this time last year, and we cast off about 10.30am under clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine..... my only concern being the highish wind, as Quo does not handle well in crosswinds.

We cruised down to Foxton, and followed another boat through the first swing-bridge, then we (Paul & Mark) did the honours on the road swingbridge for them, featuring our first "key in the canal" incident, easily rectified, as I'd just fitted it with a cork float ... whew. We chugged out into the countryside past Foxton and moored-up.

The next several hours were spent sitting in glorious sunshine, eating, drinking, talking and making music ... it was absolutely brilliant! So carried away was I that it was 3.30 before I even thought about our return, and the sun was setting fast, so whilst the rest of the "crew" continued to make music I cast off and scooted down to the winding hole by the A6.

Turning was "interesting", with the wind doing it's best to run us aground.

Paul's punting expertise saved the day, but not my Aussie cowboy hat which blew off and stayed stubbornly dead centre of the canal and always moving faster than Quo could go in reverse, so I abandoned it to it's fate ... maybe next summer it will feature as a good base for a Moorhen's nest :o)

Running against the clock, and the wind, I pushed the engine harder that I've ever done before and it behaved immaculately, with just one brief incident when the prop choked with leaves, rectified by a blast of reverse.

Paul got us smoothly through both swing-bridges, and as I chugged slowly through the second one in the fast-fading daylight, I became transfixed by the lights of the Bridge 61 Pub directly ahead, drawn like a moth to a flame, so we moored-up outside. They had a roaring log fire, and the atmosphere was great, so we settled in with a jug or so of Adnam's finest for what seemed like hours.

It was proper dark when we re-emerged .... a clear star-strewn sky overhead and a half moon to the south.

We could have walked back to Debdale, but I decided to make my first attempt at night cruising so on went the tunnel lamp and off we set.

Unfortunately it was still quite windy, meaning I had to keep the revs up, otherwise I'd have gone all the way on tickover. Some of the guys were sitting out front playing guitars (the acoustics as we passed under bridges were wonderful I'm told) as I was treated to a shooting star and the ghostly sight of the local swans, floating mid-canal, illuminated suddenly by our light.

We made it cleanly back into the Marina, but the wind made a fool of me when trying to reverse on to our mooring, ending up with the stern in the right place, but the boat at 90 degrees to the mooring. Once again Paul's punting came to the rescue and in she slipped.

It was an absolutely brilliant day, and I can't wait to repeat it next spring, especially the night cruising!
Bob's photos