Friday 5th April

For those of you who may be interested, it's the end of the (old) tax year today. Well, I used to be an accountant in a past life and these things stick in your brain, not that I use that much nowadays! I also read somewhere that in the old days taxes were collected on 25th March, a quarter day. However, with the introduction of the Gregorian calendar 10 or so days were skipped to bring the calendar into line with Church events. BUT, the tax collectors refused to acknowledge this change and stuck to collecting taxes on the old quarter day which, in the new calendar, became 5th April. Luckily times have changed and the old 5th April date has disappeared for ever.

Now, what's that got to do with our journey? Absolutely nothing at all.

A picture today of our mooring last night.

In the distance you can just see the lock gates and in the foreground the swans that helped eat our breakfast.
We set off at about half past ten and pottered along to Willington where we had lunch in The Dragon together with a welcome pint. After that we made our way through Burton-on-Trent and have ended up at Barton Turn for the night.
Another picture for you - a field of Llamas which can be taken on pack holidays.

We did see a bit of sun today and we are looking forward to tomorrow when it promises to be sunny!
Bye for now.

Thursday 4th April 2013

Not a bad day today. To say it was windy would be an understatement. To say it was warm would be an exaggeration. We did have occasional peeps of sun but only coyly for a few seconds from behind a dark cloud. BUT, it didn't rain - or snow - or hail. Spring is definitely on the way and that's official.
Here's a picture from yesterday of our departure from Pilling's Lock Marina.

As you can see, blue sky and a bit of sun.
We made our way through Loughborough, foregoing lunch at The Albion, and made our way down to Kegworth, a favourite mooring place for us. On the way though, we saw that many of the old trees have been severely cut back. Probably a necessity but it does made the canal side look very bleak. Also, no protection from the East wind that is constantly blowing across our path.

And, only because I know you're interested, supper was lamb chops (cooked under the newly repaired grill) mashed potatoes, cabbage and courgettes followed by red grapefruit.

Back to today.

Breakfast - eggs, bacon and toast - what more can you want on holiday? Decided to keep the fire alight all day today because the sky didn't look as if it was going to clear anytime soon.

We battled our way on past Ratcliffe on Soar, easily recognisable by the power station (still working) and navigated through the wind and waves (yes, waves on the canal system) just where the River Trent and the River Derwent meet up with the Trent & Mersey Canal.

It was great fun, especially when you're battling along at all of 4 miles per hour - you don't need fast cars for excitement! We certainly know how to live life to the full on a narrowboat!
By-the-way, the picture above is before we got to the big waves but it shows how much pruning and clearing has been going on and how open and exposed this stretch of the system is.
Stopped in Shardlow for a light lunch and then made our way up to Weston-on-Trent where we have moored for the night. We could have gone further but felt that the cold would probably have got to us and it wasn't worth the risk. Not sure yet what's for supper but we have a (working) fridge full of food from the butchers in Barrow, plenty of vegetables and a couple of boxes of wine. Sure we'll find something to do with all of that.

Wednesday 3rd April 2013

Hi, again.

As you can see, we are back on the road water again after a six month break - well, the weather hasn't exactly been that good, has it? Now, today and yesterday have been really splendid. A bit cold overnight and a bit breezy during the day but sunny most of the time.

Last time out you may recall we had problems with our fridge. Well, we sent it back for repair, had it returned and all seemed well until next morning when all the gas had disappeared from the cooling system again and we were back at square one. Anyway, to keep a long story short, we decided to cut our losses and purchase a new fridge from Inlander Low Voltage Ltd., who are based somewhere in Birmingham. So far, so good. Installed the fridge OK only to find it didn't work! Luckily it was only a disconnected fuse link which took a few moments to find and - bingo - lights, cooling and freezing action.

Today I also replaced the thermocouple that keeps the gas turned on for the grill on the cooker. It is a failsafe device that shuts off the gas if the flame goes out for any reason. Unfortunately the old one couldn't sense any heat at all and kept the gas shut off permanently. Well, that's repaired as well and I am a happy chappie.

Only one downside and that is the new horn that I installed last time out. It was working as we left the marina but not when we needed it at the canal junction in Loughborough. Ah well, need to keep one or two jobs in hand otherwise I will keep getting under Brigid's feet all the time - and we don't want that, do we!

Right then, that's all for today. I will try to post some pictures tomorrow if I can.

Friday, 5th October. Well, here we are again, back home in Bradwell-on-Sea and getting stuck into opening the post, reminding ourselves of birthdays, retirements and anniversaries with cards that have been waiting on the mat for us. Looking through letters and e-mails, pottering in the garden and repairing our wood burner so that we can get it up and running before winter really sets in.

Before leaving the boat, on Wednesday I delved around on the internet and found a company that can collect the fridge on Thursday, palletise it and take it back to West Sussex for repair. Whew! Now we wait to see what the problem is and if it can be sorted out. When it is sorted out I can then spend another day on the boat putting it back into place and testing it out.

Wednesday evening we had a lovely meal with Harvey & Helen at The Griffin, a favourite of theirs (and now ours). Thursday morning saw us packing up the boat, last minute bits of painting and cleaning, loading the fridge on to the lorry and then setting off on the 3 hour drive home.

Thank you all for following this 'retirement' blog. We hope that you have shared some of our enjoyment of what has been the longest time away from home for us both. The blog will continue but probably not on a daily basis. Cheers me dears!

Tuesday 2^nd October. Well, here we are on the last full day of our travels for the time being. A lovely start to the day with bright sunshine.

If you look closely just above the trees you will see one of the aircraft preparing to land at the airport.

Because it’s the last day, eggs, bacon and fried bread for breakfast. Got to keep our strength up!

Once again, the forecast not that good so we set off to make our way back to Pillings Lock. There are quite a few boats moored on the canal at Kegworth near The Otter pub. Some are modest craft like our own whilst others are more like homes in the water with conservatories and leaded windows.

The Otter itself was having repairs undertaken to an extractor unit on the top of one of the chimneys.

You can see that the safest way to undertake this work was by using a ‘cherry-picker’. I wonder how much all that cost!

We fairly charged along today as there were few other craft out and about. Also there weren’t many boats moored up, so no need to keep slowing down as you go past.

Passed through Normanton on Soar, a lovely stretch of the river but very few places to stop and explore.

On through Loughborough and safely back to the marina.

It’s been a wonderful time out for us and our daily diary means that we can relive the voyage when we get back home.

Monday 1^st October. Well, it’s been a very good day today. I know that I say that the weather forecast is always wrong but I do listen to them, really! Anyway, the forecast was for a bright sunny morning with the possibility of showers in the afternoon. And, for once, they were right.

The day started off bright and sunny, so a quick breakfast and off we went. We had a short delay right away when we came through a bridge to find a boat sideways on across the canal. We stopped and pulled it back into the side and replaced a mooring pin that had come adrift. This sort of thing can happen if a boat travels too fast past a moored craft. The waves created shake the pin loose and someone else is left to sort out the problem. I know I showed you a frog road sign earlier on but have you seen a sign like this?

The road runs very close to the canal, hence the warning. Emergency rescue today, Brigid’s gloves blew off the roof into the water. So, a quick touch of reverse, avoid all those other boats that appeared from nowhere, out with the boat hook and – recovery complete. After that, on to Shardlow where we stopped for lunch of homemade soup, cold chicken and tomato.

The chicken was left over from a roast we had for supper yesterday. After lunch, off again and here you can see where the canal meets the river Derwent and the river Trent.

The current was a touch stronger than usual but not too much. And here we are rushing forward under the M1.

This sign was most appropriate today with the current as it was.

If you were to go straight on it would be right over the weir which was quite lively. I like Sawley locks since it’s all mechanised and all you have to do is put in your key, press a few buttons and, hey presto, the lock empties itself, the gates open and close and your back doesn’t even twitch – lovely!

In this picture, the green traffic light confirms that the river is open and it is safe to proceed.

Near the end of the day the skies cleared and there was a lovely sunset.

Here we are leaving Kegworth Deep Lock and we will moor for the night just round the corner at one of our favourite spots.

The only downside is that we will be right under the flight path of East Midlands Airport. Never mind, we spent about 8 hours travelling today and covered over 17 ½ miles, so we should sleep well, whatever the airport tries to throw our way.

Sunday 30^th September. Fradley Junction to Willington – 14 mi 636 yd. The day started off overcast so we decided to put in a few miles today and make sure that we cleared the river section at Alrewas. That part of the journey proved not to be a problem. Yes, the river was running high and there was quite a current pulling at us past the weir but Polgara took it in her stride. (We do love our boat!) The bigger problem, well, not really a problem, more an annoyance, was that four hire boats were being recovered and other boaters were trying to make up for lost time. Consequently, at one lock we had a queue of about six boats trying to get through the lock. Then you get the genuine holiday maker in the middle who doesn’t really know how to work the locks yet and everything grinds to a halt. All the boaters were very good, helping out with the gates and paddles, trying to get things flowing smoothly. We reckon that the delays only added ½ an hour to our overall travelling time, so, can’t complain. One good point was that we got so fed up with sticking behind the same boats lock after lock that we stopped at The Bridge Inn (last mentioned on 4^th September when we sailed right past) for pizza and cannelloni – marvellous! Only one picture today and that was of the bridge before Alrewas.

We think that it was commissioned for the Queen’s Jubilee – it certainly looks a lot of fun! Also, forecast wrong again, no rain all day.

PS Looking back at the close of last night’s blog and the traffic – what traffic? We both went straight to sleep and were oblivious to any extraneous sounds that may have been going on around us.