The South Africans are coming - From Yorkshire!

Once again, we were glad to welcome Liz's niece Joanna, husband Martin and their lovely kids Amy and Christopher for a day-trip on Quo. Having grown up, married and had the kids in South Africa, they took the bold decision a couple of years ago to up-sticks and move to UK. Their lifestyle over there was wonderful, but they viewed the future with some alarm, and moved to Wharfdale in Yorkshire.
The first couple of years have been an uphill struggle, but they are getting there, and, most importantly, the kids love it here!

Joanne, James & Amy at Kibworth Locks

Martin and Liz C

Captain Christopher

Geoff bringing Quo into Kibworth Top lock

Geoff at the tiller, Lizzie in an advisory capacity

Lunchtime mooring. Ready to ride the C&RT wave.

We had a great day, along with Liz's brother Geoff and his wife Liz (she is next to Lizzie in my mobile phone's address book and has received one or two amusing texts).
Geoff loves the boat, and revels in taking the tiller and I'm happy to indulge him.
Loaded with party food, weset off at 10am from Debdale on a beautiful sunny day, heading north through Saddington tunnel (Geoff particularly enjoyed steering through there) then down several locks to moor up for lunch just south of Pywell's lock.

At this point, a C&RT guy appeared saying they were going to have to let some water down to correct a shortage at Kilsby and not to be alarmed when the boat went up and down.
This was great, and the kids loved it as the water swirled and Quo bucked and reared on her ropes, rising and falling about a foot! We didn't loose any time, as we had stopped for lunch anyway. After we'd eaten, we chugged to the turning point just past Crane's lock, turned and slowly retraced our steps, everybody mucking in on working these particularly heavy locks.
After 9 hours afloat, we chugged back into Debdale a very happy bunch indeed ... another great day on Quo!

Tanked-up

At last we've refilled the water tank!
The time bandits were about again, and what was planned for a 10am start slipped to 12.30, meaning that the cob shop where lunch was coming from had closed. Undeterred we set off for Quo, and once aboard immediately set off for Foxton.

En route, Lizzie heated some water and washed out the water tank ready to fill up at Foxton, and on arrival, we moored right next to, but not on the water point. 
Hunger got the better of us so we went up to the Inn for lunch and once again time slipped as we waited nearly an hour for our food, doubly frustrating as James and I were meeting Bob Whale to play some tunes in the garden of  the Bridge 61 pub, and by the time we got back to Quo, someone else was on the water point.

Lizzie kindly offered to stay behind and fill the tank when able, whilst James and I did our stint with Bob. We love playing at Bridge 61 because it is like a rehearsal with people overhearing you rather than listening, and they showed their appreciation for most of our efforts ... I'm glad to say that we are definitely getting better at performing, more relaxed, and it is more fun each time. We jokingly thought of calling ourselves "Bob Whaley and the Mahlers".

Six o clock soon came around and reluctantly James and I left Bob to perform alone. We had left Liz's car in the visitors car park near bridge 60, so James went home that way, and I went back to the boat.
Liz had successfully filled the water tank to the brim, and it was now just a case of opening the tap and allowing the pump to fill the system, whilst we kept a watchful eye out for any leaks.

Once again, Quo was up to the mark, the Calorifier refilled in no time, and I bled all the air from each tap in turn without incident .... what a joy to have water on tap again.
We immediately turned and headed back to Debdale, where my reverse mooring was the best yet, requiring no poling, pulling or pushing, just straight back under power on to our pontoon :o) ... Quo handles much better when the bow is lowered by a full water tank.

With the boat squared away, we were actually able to wash our hands at the sink, in HOT water ... bliss.

Satellite Shenanigans

Work and weather are once again conspiring to keep us away from Quo :o( .
However, one thing I did was to buy a satellite TV kit and thus the saga begins.

For some time, I have been contemplating replacing the TV aerial with a Dish, as the aerial was mounted at the back of the boat, with a long cable clipped to the port handrail running all the way to the front where the TV is and when on the move, the aerial lay on the cabin roof, and acted like a magnet for the centre rope when mooring etc. ... it had to go. The dish could be fitted to some existing holes where the roof overhangs the front doors, just above where the TV is.

Now I know that every spring for the last few years, Aldi have sold the Ross Satellite kits, so I waited, and waited .... I am not, unfortunately good at patience, so I soon started to trawl Ebay ... Bingo!
A couple of weeks ago, I got one for £40 + £10 p+p, never used and in perfect condition said the seller .... I should have been a bit dubious of the seller, as, not only was he called " Sexysam", but he was obviously a caravan owner to boot! :o)

 

To cut the long story short, the kit was indeed in pristine condition, but after about 4 hours of trial and error trying to find a satellite signal I was beginning to think that boats and satellite dishes just don't work together. I looked on both TV and boat forums without any real conclusion .... and then, last Sunday, Aldi started selling the kits again, so I took a gamble and bought a new kit for £59.99.

After the trials of the previous kit, I knew exactly what needed to be done to set it up and within 5 minutes, I was watching Freesat TV in high definition .... hurray!
The Ebay kit was obviously faulty, so substituting parts from the working kit to the duff one, I deduced that the LNB was the problem, and rather than prat about posting the kit back, the seller agreed to a £10 refund, part of which I used to buy a new LNB ... so I now have a spare, fully working kit .... any takers?

We went over to Quo this afternoon and I completed the installation, removing all the old aerial cabling, and re-routing and tidying the new ones. I was surprised by how "movement-proof" the system is, no amount of rocking the boat interrupted the picture, and I think that the dish can stay up on the move, by turning it sideways on it will act like a gun-sight.
Tomorrow, we hope to fill the water tank for the first time this year, and have a quick spring clean ready for a family outing later in the month. With luck, the weather will be OK in the afternoon, and friends Bob and Lesley will join us for a cruise down to Bridge 61,  hoping to play some music in the garden later, can't wait!

At Last - Some boating!

At last, we've had some decent boating weather and we did our best to make the most of it.
A flying visit (by car) to Midland Chandlers on Friday secured some fresh water tank blacking, followed by a quick bite in The Boatman and an up and downer to Foxton Locks, during which a Sparrowhawk gave a brilliant flying display down the towpath past us at head height, then darting into a thicket to disappear.

After work on Saturday, I was able to put the first coat of blacking on the tank, but the sunshine made it really difficult to see what I was doing :o) 
The male swan gave us a visit as he waited for his eggs to hatch we gave him a tiny piece of cake and he showed his disdain.

As a reward, we had a quick cruise to Foxton and back.

Sunday afternoon saw me putting on the second coat of blacking in the tank, once again followed by a cruise to Foxton, past the Marina swan's nest, resplendent with half a dozen signets. We were joined for the return trip, just after sunset by Liz's brother Geoff and his wife Liz, a particularly lovely trip in the half light. 

Monday afternoon was our first decent cruise of the year up to Saddington Aquaduct, where we were able to moor up in the feeder channel. The sun shone, the birds sang and we just lazed about for an hour or so in that particularly beautiful spot. Strangely, only one other boat was there, by the spillway. Normally you can't find a mooring there when the sun is out. 

The return journey was beautiful, the wind had gone, so we just pottered along at 1000 revs in the warm sunshine. With the new silencer, at that speed, all you can hear is the distant mechanical clatter of the engine from under the soundproofed cover, meaning that you can still hear all the canal-side birdsong .... just wonderful.

Spring has sprung - Hurray!!

I was determined to take Quo out today come hell or high water, and luckily, neither of those were involved.
Liz was working all day at the FIPT Museum, so I dropped her off then shot over to Debdale, fired up the
heating and the engine and set off single handed for Foxton. The first half mile or so featured a bunch of morose anglers, spaced one every 50 yards ... I even saw one catch a fish ... but only he and one other made eye contact or spoke .... everyone else I met was happy and chatty as the weather was at last looking decent.
The engine was set to 1200 revs and Quo chugged slowly along with barely a ripple, the new silencer completely eliminating any exhaust noise allowing me to watch the Rooks overhead repairing last years nests, and listened to the songbirds staking their claims ... bliss.
A fox meandered through a field of ewes with lambs without any drama, I was surprised how little attention they paid each other. 
Finally I moored-up between the water point and Rainbow Bridge (ALL the visitor moorings up to that point had boats moored on them) and luckily there were no other moving boats about, as the wind funnelling through the bridge pushed the bow across the canal as I was securing the stern. I had to use all of my (over)weight on the centre line to get her back to the bank ... note to self ... tie the upwind end of the boat up first. 

New Silencer - I want to paint it Dayglow Orange!

Colourless Countryside

That done, it was off to Bridge 61 for coffee and a bit of lunch, then off up to the Museum to see how Liz was getting on - the whole site was very busy and it looked as though the Harley Davidson owners were out in force.
Back to the boat, I just chilled and listened to Just a Minute, before upping anchor, turning and heading back to the marina at tick-over ... so slow that walkers were overtaking me, but I loved it!
Once more past the grumpy anglers and reversed onto the mooring ..... job done.


On thing struck me today ... I have never seen our countryside looking so colourless .. It looked more like Afghanistan than rural Leicestershire, the grass is a really dull greeny-brown and not a hint of green in the trees and hedges. Also, all the woods and spinneys are "see-through", they have no substance at all, just bare sticks.

Hospital Silencer

Dropped over to Debdale to give Quo a look-over and quickly decided that the wind still had a bit too much of an edge for a leisure cruise to Foxton and back. 
That decided, we just ran up the heating and the engine for 20 minutes or so ... basking in the lack of noise from the engine ... Steve certainly did a fine job and for £50 or so less than the quote :o)
At 1200 revs, you can talk in whispers on the rear deck, and because the new, much larger silencer has been tucked under the deck, the engine is actually more accessible ..... all in all it was money well spent.
Pictures to follow.

When we finally do get cruising, Quo will be a completely different boat thanks to Debdale Marine. I know lots of boaters moan about the prices charged by marinas, but as usual, you get what you pay for.
Everything Debdale have done so far has been done well, and made the boat better than when she left the builders, especially their suggestion to extend the rudder.

Easter ! Brrrrrrr

After an early start - we had remembered to forward the clocks - we spent the morning helping out at the FIPT Museum at Foxton Locks, setting up a couple of Gazebos and some tables for the serious volunteers to freeze in run money making raffles and lucky dips etc to help out the Museum funds.
It started off as a glorious sunny morning, but soon the clouds rolled in and the whole site took on a very cold and bleak look, with patches of snow stubbornly resisting.

Once done, we scooted over to Debdale to see Quo, as Nicki had rung on Friday to tell us that they had finally fitted the Hospital Silencer.
Sure enough, they have made a very neat job of shoe-horning something the size of an oil drum under the deck on the left hand side of the engine room and the pay-off was evident from the very first turn of the starter. Set to 1200 revs - our normal cruising speed - there was no engine exhaust noise at all !!!
 All that could be heard was the mechanical noise of the valve gear and the usual clatter of a diesel engine, and even this will pale once I've finished installing all the soundproofing to the engine bay .... I would love to achieve almost silent cruising.  
We weren't able to take her out for a proper test because the marina was iced over in places, and I could see no point in carving off our new blacking, the ice will soon be gone, then we can get this year's narrowboating  properly under-way ... can't wait !!!