Yet another mini-GiG

Tree of the day :- The Horse Chestnut, they are in full flower and are glorious this year.

We left Beale Park and headed towards Goring in a pleasantly sunny morning. Brenda appeared on the rear deck in time to pass her favourite house, just south of Goring.

Do the maths – we got talking to a 3 person crew who’d hired from Guildford a week ago. They said their intent was to get to Oxford and then return to Guildford in two weeks. As they were still short of their target they realised that early starts were now a necessity and had started out before the locks went from manual to electric – hard work before 7am. Then they were faffing about, trying to moor up, near the river Thame at 1pm in order to take luncheon. I suspect that they wont make it.

Once through Cleve lock Brenda took over to enjoy the lovely scenery, albeit familiar as we are now so close to home, and the super blue skies. Graham undertook to clean all of the windows, both layers inside and out, during this long pound – my hero!

We met up with Andy and Jan Greener aboard nb Whisper and spent a couple of hours in the garden of the Plough at Long Wittenham. Beware the landing stage at the back of that pub, the wood is getting quite rotten and dangerous in places. That said we got out the chairs, Andy found some splendid cheese, Brenda organised tea and some cake that needed eating up and we sat until the sun was called in for it’s supper.

Before we had finished we were joined by a superb little electric slipper launch who moored behind Jannock whilst they visited the pub. We bade our farewells and moved off, Clifton Hampden for us ready for Clifton lock in the morning.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

We never saw the fly-past

I was up and out by 6am to move the car from Datchet to Wallingford. Back by 8:20 and ready for breakfast. We bade farewell to Terry who set off downriver en-route to London and then cast ourselves off from the pontoon for our trip upstream. Henley straight was just that, very straight (and cold).  Parakeets above Henley, whatever next!

We crept up on the lockie at Shiplake and found him listening to ‘the wedding’ on a radio in his hut with the door  shut. Sonning lock was the first to show any form of decoration for the day and that consisted of an edifice resembling the Queen sat in the lock cottage garden as well as loads of bunting and flags.

We thought we heard some of the flypast aircraft  overhead but the clouds were so low we could not see anything.

At Caversham lock we could see and hear the Reading beer festival going on in the field next door, we considered mooring up and going there until we saw how far the queue for entry stretched. We would have had to queue for hours.

A few boats had bunting and balloons out, some even displaying the union flag! but for the most part it passed us by.

We did meet a boatload of Vikings who were using the occasion as a diversion to invade the country – longboat, NO it’s a narrowboat you fools.

We hope the royal wedding went off well; no family punch ups,  no corgis being sick after wedding cake and prawn vol- au-vents. We celebrated with escalope of pork in honey and mustard with a reduction of roast duck jus, followed by a lemon and white chocolate curl pavlova all washed down with strawberry cider after we had moored up at Beale Park.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Finding a missing boat

Thursday 28th April

Brrr – needed coats today. The tourist weather must be gearing up for the Royal Wedding no doubt – well, one should always wear gloves to a formal do.

First lock of the day was Bray where a visitor by car was asking the lockie if he’d seen a missing, presumed stolen, day boat. As we left the lock we spotted the missing boat , secured to the channel marker in the middle of the river at the end of the lock reach. We phoned Bray lock and told him where it was so he could let the hire-base know.

On through Maidenhead admiring more houses that we could not afford to own and then up through Bolters lock onto a very cold and wind-blown Cliveden deep. At Cookham lock we filled with water and then moored up after the bridge in order to meet up with Julian and Caro for an excellent lunch at the Crown. We said farewell and “get well soon” to J & C  and then paid a visit to the Stanley Spencer Gallery. All this year they are showing his Shipbuilding on the Clyde series, painted by commission during his time as a War Artist. They are wonderful pieces, on loan from the Imperial War Museum, reproductions don’t do them justice.

We continued, in better weather, on through Marlow and Hurley (where we spotted these two boats going downriver)  to Aston where we found Terry on Arun moored stern in against the upstream side of the Flowerpot pontoon. We slipped in on the downstream side and moored alongside him so that both boats had their bows pointing out into midstream.

We thought we’d seen and heard the last of the Parakeets as we moored up, being so far away from Shepperton. Oh No! Just as Brenda uttered her opinion on the subject five of the little blighters wheeled overhead screeching away as they went to roost. I wont mention what she said then!

Terry and I fitted navigation warning lights to the boat bows and then went up the Flowerpot for an evening leaving Brenda back on the boat. Whilst there I purchased a take-out of strawberry cider for her.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Staines to Windsor

Today we have mostly been looking at houses that we cannot afford, even though some of them are for sale.

Quote of the day “ I do not shout at my customers, I shout TO them !” – Old Windsor Lock keeper.

A leisurely start found me witnessing a southbound hire cruiser having a head on collision with an un-attended moored boat on the offside, opposite Jannock’s overnight mooring. As the hirecraft just left the scene I recorded all of the details and then asked the keeper at  Penton Hook what I should do. He took the information and phone Kris Cruisers as he recognised the name and could confirm it had passed through the lock just before the incident happened.

We continued on and then moored in Staines so that I could do a car shuffle from Hanwell whilst Brenda re-provisioned after our busy weekend.

At Bell Weir lock a very large and expensive gin palace pulled in along side us. The skipper pointed down at Jannock and said jokingly to his crew “ we’re OK because there is a really large fender here”.  Brenda replied from the front well deck with “ are you calling me fat?” which really made him think that he had un-intentionally offended her ;^)

The pound above Old Windsor lock contained a floating hazard :- a small hire dayboat with 3 males aboard that was completely un-predictable. They went fast and then they went slow and then they went around and around a lot. All with no regard for any other craft in the area. We were glad when they pulled into the afore-mentioned Kris Cruisers to return the craft.

We passed through Windsor and then Boveney lock and moored up for the night immediately above it in ‘plane spotters heaven’ below the approach path to Heathrow – now where’s my notepad and pencil?

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

and back to the Thames

Aaaaaargh! Shiver me timbers, and other nautical pish pash. What happened to the weather? Back to British summer-winter time today.

A cooked breakfast was in order as the wind was so cold when we surfaced, so :-

Recipe of the day – Eggy bread made with left over hot-cross bun bread, delicious.

We left Send church bridge, which was a wonderfully quiet mooring away from the A3,  and made our way back through Send and Pyrford back towards Weybridge. Note to self :- the towpath bank between Dodds footbridge and Pyrford marina looks like a good ‘first day’ mooring unlike the shallow section we chose above Cox’s Mill last Friday.

Quote of the day – “ If I see another pun on the word ‘Wey’ I’m gonna throw up “  Thanks Brenda ;^)

As we approached Cox’s Mill there was a small girl cycling along the towpath, with her Grandma following, who hit a pothole and took a dive into the river. We stopped and Graham helped recover lass and bike, supplied a towel to dry her off a bit and gave a very upset Grandma advice about getting her home to a hot bath and to watch out for tummy upsets.  So if your small child is cycling near water then a lifejacket is as much use as a cycle helmet! Neither is just daft.

Hold up of the day – Thames lock was out of action for an hour whilst they tried to repair a paddle that had dropped off the bottom gate. Having reported the cycling incident to the lockie, it seemed that a crew was en-route to fill the potholes in the towpath before we had even left Thames lock.

We finally said goodbye to the River Wey and arrived at Shepperton  lock to find Steve Haywood (renowned author of this parish) just leaving the lock on board nb Justice, on his way to the Cavalcade event at Little Venice. We passed through and treated ourselves to an ice cream from the kiosk whilst doing so as the sun had come out now.

We moored for the night in a too short spot at Laleham, near the Abbey, by tying  the stern to a convenient tree. After a dinner of ‘slow cooked duck’ we went for an evening constitutional around Abbey Park and Laleham

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Godalming or De Ja Veue?

Question of the day – Brenda to steerer of a hireboat sharing the lock  with us :- “Where are you intending to pick up your crew? “ Answer – Oh no, we’re going home today so I won’t need a crew!

With Jo, Adam and Alex as crew we repeated yesterdays Family Familiarisation cruise. The weather was equally wonderful but the day was much improved by there being fewer rowists with a death wish out and about. The chap who was projectile peeing off the back of a rowboat, in full view of the world and his wife, got frit to death by a blast of Jannock’s klaxon and hastily scuttled ashore to complete the task behind a tree. Alex and Adam got very handy as lock crew and Alex enjoyed learning to steer. Some passengers on the widebeam Guildford tripboat were impressed to see him at our tiller. Jo remembers these waters from boat trips with her family as a child and was able to tell us a lot about the area which was very interesting.

We dropped the crew off at Dapdune wharf and thanked the National  Trust staff for their hospitality and then headed down river to a quiet mooring near Send church bridge.

We were very pleased to see narrowboat hirers being given very clear and comprehensive training in two locks we shared today. Well done Farncombe and Guildford Boat Houses.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Maritime mayhem

Sound of the day – church and cathedral bells.

Our guest crew, Wally, Peg, Uncle Jim, Heather, Frank and Phoebe the dog arrived before the National Trust had unlocked the wharf and so I ended up doing gate duty for our guests as well as the crew and passengers of the Surrey County Council community boat. Jannock set off southbound, through Millmead lock and into maritime mayhem. Skiffs, rowing boats and punts akimbo filled the river out past Guildford rowing club. It was here that a rowing coach, concerned about his charge who was out in a single skiff, told Brenda to slow down. She replied “ but I am in neutral” . “I know” he replied adding “ but slow down anyway”.  We continued down the Godalming navigation, through St. Catherine's lock and into Unstead lock where a tiny boat, powered by an electric outboard, and containing four adults and a small child insisted on sharing the lock with us. This combination of 62’ narrowboat and 6’ rowboat made operating the paddles very difficult so as to keep them safe. Brenda expressed her concern that the toddler did not have a life jacket on, to which Grandma stated that she was holding on tight to the child. Brenda couldn’t help herself at this point and commented that if Grandma fell in then the child was sure to go in with her in that case. As we exited this lock, Terry on Arun arrived to go down on his return journey to the Thames.

We winded at Godalming wharf, having failed at Farncombe boathouse due to getting stuck on a large underwater obstruction, and then tied up for lunch at the wharf. The steak and kidney that Brenda had prepared in the slow cooker during yesterdays journey was excellent and enjoyed by all.  We watched the horse drawn trip boat depart and then met it at Cattershall lock on our return journey.

Our return trip included a very near miss with an out-of-control daytrip boat on which the steerer kept pushing the tiller the wrong way and Graham putting Jannock’s bows into the foliage, much to the disgust of the front well passengers, on a very sharp bend. We returned our guests to Dapdune wharf and then tidied up the boat ready for tomorrow’s repeat trip with another guest crew.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

And on to Guildford.

Silly answer of the day :- Did you have far to walk for your meal? No, we had a reservation!

After a very peaceful night we were up, breakfasted and ready  to go at 10am. Luckily so was Terry on Arun and so we set off up through New Haw lock and past the junction with the Basingstoke canal. Now Jannock was once again travelling on new waters. We shared locks with Arun until Triggs lock where there was a single boat entering as we arrived and so Terry went in with him and we followed on sharing the next one with nb Thumper.. At Bowers lock we rejoined Arun again because we let Thumper go in first and share with Terry’s previous partner. We finally moored at Dapdune wharf for the night and Terry joined Brenda’s brother Gary and his partner Carol for an evening meal aboard Jannock. As I was opening the gate for Carol and Gary to leave, the crew of another boat that is overnighting here were returning from an evening out and the question answer session quoted above occurred during the walk back down the drive.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

We called in at the Palace

Quote of the day :- Sod Kate Humble, I’m doing Parakeet watch.

Terry on Arun joined us last night at Kingston and so this morning Jannock set off for Hampton Court Palace while he did some shopping in Kingston. We then travelled up through Molesey and Sunbury locks and met up with him again at Thames lock on the Wey at 2pm. Brenda had been watching Parakeets coming and going from their nest hole in a tree, from her bed, this morning and so was pleased to see a couple overhead still. Once through Thames lock and £63 less well off we continued on through Town and Cox’s locks above which we planned to stop. It was a very hot day so we were pleased to moor in the shade, albeit a little shallow, for the late afternoon and evening.

Our evening took on the format of a B-B-Q, fuelled by beer and red wine whilst the passing towpath users looked on in envy (or amazement, who can tell ;^)  Brenda concluded the evening with a one person illuminated frog hunt.

Julian rang to tell us that Parglena’s planned visit to the Wey has been called off :^(   After doing battle with a broken swingbridge at Winkwell, three locks later Caro slipped down some steps and has broken her foot. Get well soon Caro – another one spending the bank holiday weekend plastered!

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Long Eastmas break – Day 1

Quote of the day – I’d prefer to see an in-date license?

We started at 2pm today and had Soddit Brian as an extra crew member because he wanted to come down through Brentford with us. As we were sorting out Jannock, ready to set off, a southbound Wyvern hire boat came past so I asked the steerer whether we could share the locks down to Brentford as we were just setting off. We took a while, stirring up a lot of unpleasant smells, extracting ourselves from the methane mine and then arrived at Osterley lock to find them just leaving and to experience the weirdest rain ever.

We filled with water above the gauging locks and then moved down to Thames lock with 10 minutes to go before our allotted 4pm time. At 3:55 the lockie arrived and the first two boats descended onto the Thames. We followed on the second locking and the lockie asked to see Jannock’s license. I pointed to the front window only to notice that it had shattered and was just a mass of crazed toughened safety glass which would explain why he couldn’t see the license. I jumped down in through the front door and extracted a license disk to show him. His response was “I’d prefer to see an in-date license” – I had only presented him with last years one instead of the current one which was languishing in the recently vacated mooring disk holder below – Ooooops"!

We left the Grand Union and turned right to head upstream, immediately running into quite deep waves caused by a mix of tide race and downstream traffic which was a bit bouncy for the first 10 minutes. On up through Richmond weir and onto Teddington lock  where we waited for while due to the lockie having to issue a temporary licence to the Wyvern hire-boat.

Brian was un-ceremoniously deposited on the bankside just before Kingston railway bridge so that he could find his way back to Thame whilst we continued up through both bridges and moored up on free 24 hour moorings on the starboard bank just above the road bridge. The next hour was spent washing the roof and starboard side of Jannock to remove the grubby deposits that had accumulated over the last couple of weeks. Terry Streeter (nb Arun) rang to enquire where we were moored as he was about to leave Brentford and so we greeted his arrival at 20:30 in the dark.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Dinosaur near Kings Langley

Bird of the day :- Majestic Herons

Not quite Jannock's first trip of the year, as she was turned round a couple of times for maintenance purposes, but a great way for me to spend my birthday doing what I love best.

We bade a cheery farewell to our boaty neighbours and immediately went into a lock share all the way down to Boxmoor where the other boat was stopping. Then on in absolutely splendid weather, a high summer day in April (when I remember this day 25 years ago - snowdrifts and a week of fog or even 3 years ago with cold and snow it's hard to believe how different one month can be)

At Apsley locks three boats were moored, two abreast, on the lock moorings - section 8 notices a-flutter - that made visibility and manoeuvrability a bit difficult entering the lock . If BW put them there then shame on you!

As we left Red Lion lock we found two canoeists tucked under the bridge by the bottom gate. they did not want to ascend the lock but we having a break whilst hanging onto the concrete bridge side. Jannock had to swing over to take the immediate bend and they were looking peeved as our stern got closer and closer to their canoe. They didn't think to remove their paddles from the water until Brenda shouted at them to do so before they got snapped. They did not seem to understand that they were in a very dangerous place. Lifejackets, helmets - of course not!

Brenda spotted the dinosaur looking over the bank near Kings Langley, I believe, although I never spotted it myself ;^(

At our chosen destination I found it difficult to get the mooring stakes in due to very stony ground and then managed to trip and fall between the bows and the bank , whilst tying up, giving myself a very nasty graze all down my shin. Not the best way to  end a birthday cruise because antiseptic gel really stings.

A ten year old bodge

On Friday we refilled the water tank, making good some water system faults that had occured during the winter months, and made Jannock habitable again ready for the start of the 2011 trip.

The remote pressure switch didn't switch the pump off at the correct pressure and a seal beneath the tap on the top of the hot water tank popped and started weeping water down onto the bathroom floor. The switch was easy to dismantle and repair and was sorted in about 10 minutes.

During the fault rectification stage I discovered a 'bodge' that must be over 10 years old as it must have been in place when we purchased the boat from Black Prince. The junction between a stop tap and an overflow hose near the hot water tank had been fitted with a new penny wrapped in PTFE tape to stop water leaving the tap into the overflow hose and then the cabin bilge. This was nothing to do with the pressure regulator mounted nearby and I am unable to work out why this particular modification needed to be done.

Red Nose Day - Do something funny for money!

Last week I put my change in the Sainsbury's collecting bin every time I

shopped. Today I found I still had a tenner in my purse so thought I'd

donate that too. No more collections in Sainsbury's, so as I was going to the

bank it could get paid in there. I finished my routine banking and then

asked to donate, like they said on the telly. The teller said they had no

Comic Relief slips, and hadn't actually had any at all this year.

Right.......

On to Oxfam. They still have a window full of noserabilia so it's a good

bet, like they said on the telly.

I approached elderly till lady and asked to make a donation to Comic Relief.

'Oh no dear, we only support Red Nose Day.'

'It's the same thing, Red Nose Day is a Comic Relief fundraising event,'

says I.

'It's finished now' she told me.

'I'm sure that they will accept donations now, and you still have their

merchandising on sale.'

'We don't have a donations form for Red Nose day, so you can't give to just

that charity, it will be for Oxfam or DEC. Or you can buy something, but

it's out of date now anyway,' was the reply.

A browsing customer with a huge and silly grin on his face came over to help

me out. His suggestion was a good one, buy a Red Nose and just forget to

take it home. The manageress also turned up at this point and agreed that

was the best plan.

Right, I decided I would buy a nose, and the manageress said I could pay

whatever I liked for it, that'll be a tenner then.

The till lady asked me to choose which nose I'd like and scanned it.

'That's a pound' says she.

I gave her the £10 and said I wanted no change. She asked if the £9 was a

donation to Oxfam. I said 'no, it's for Comic Relief'. She looked confused,

the browsing man's grin got larger and the manageress started to look

harassed and I heard a titter from behind the shelves.

The till lady then told us that if I paid £10 for 1 nose the till would be

wrong at the end of the day, so the manageress suggested I buy 10 noses and

not take them home. Good idea, that's what I'll do. Till lady explained to

manageress that that wasn't a good solution as I didn't want 1 nose let

alone 10, and by time the next Red Nose day came around there would be

different noses anyway so it would have been a waste of money.

Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhhhh!

Manageress and I assured till lady that it would be fine, just scan the nose

another 9 times. Till lady asked me if I'd like to choose a selection rather

than just have the one design. I am losing the will to be charitable by now,

but for pragmatism's sake agreed and gave her 1 of each to scan. Phew.

At that point the manageress decided that the poor till lady's dignity might

just have to be sacrificed and gently moved her away from the till. Mistake!

As she moved aside the wrong button was activated and my bill went from £10

to £1,000. Till lady nearly had the vapours, browsing man was now promoted

to laughing man. He asked where I was going to keep 1000 red noses.

I asked the manageress if Oxfam deliver. Till lady looked at me as if I'd

asked a very silly question. Manageress just smiled serenely and said 'only

in exceptional circumstances'.

It was agreed that since they could not deliver and I couldn't carry 1000

noses home she'd cancel the transaction and we'd just go with the original

10.

I finally got to hand over my £10. I got my receipt, and as I left the shop

I heard a little, elderly voice say' she's forgotten to take her noses' and

some stifled guffawing from laughing man and customer behind shelf.

Sometimes the urge to punch old ladies is very strong. But hey, I did

something funny for money and made at least 3 people laugh. If you didn't

donate yet, do it for me. PLEASE.

Brenda.

One fine day (how wrong can one be?)

The weather forecast was promising and so it was decided it was time to turn Jannock round. This was to achieve two objectives:-

1. Get her facing North so I can do a pumpout.

2. Test the recently fitted replacement gearbox before heading of for the summer.

We arrived at the mooring, fitted the replacement gas bottles and were ready to set off just as another southbound boat appeared through the bridge heading for lock 59. We agreed to share with them and partnered them down to Winkwell bottom lock where we winded for the return journey back to the mooring. The run south was good with the gearbox performing as expected although Brenda says the morse control is stiffer that it was previously. That'll be the extra 90 degree bend in the gear cable due the the new location of the actuating lever. On our return through Winkwell swingbridge it amused me to watch two cars, one either end of the open bridgehole, each determined that they would be the first to cross once it closed.  The car on the pub side finally had to concede defeat, and back off, as two more cars arrived down the hill and queued before the first car on the other side. Ho hum, it doesn't take much to amuse me.

By this time the drizzle that had started during our run south was now turning into a proper rain session and so we were we drownded by the time we arrived back at the mooring and both required a complete clothes change to get dry.

I am pleased to report that the replacement gearbox is a success, performing correctly during Brenda's turn at Winkwell and with no evidence of any leaking oil on our return.

I'll wait for another day to complete the pumpout, lubricate the gear cable and sort out the starboard side paintwork.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Another year recorded.

My January chore is done, I've copied all of the logbook trip information onto new pages on the Jannock website and uploaded them onto the server. As usual I would appreciate notification of any mistakes or broken links that I may have missed.

Here's looking forward to this year's cruising into which I have pencilled in the Wey and the Nene in order to get the most out of my Gold licence that has just arrived.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

A Merry Christmas from the Jannock's

Brenda and I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and happy new year so she's created a snowdome card and loaded it onto the Jannock web server - visit http://www.jannock.org.uk/xmas2010.jpg and all will be revealed.

We stayed on the boat last Saturday night so that we could attend the Bourne End Christmas dinner and I could have a drink. The secondary double glazing definitely makes a difference to the warmth within the boat compared to last years non-DG event. Whilst we were there I took the opportunity to refit the gear selector cable to the other end of the arm within the morse lever so she now goes backwards and forwards correctly in response to moving the lever. I then drained the water system and finished winterising the boat ready for this weeks predicted cold spell.

Now it's time to start updating the website again  with the info recorded in the logbook and on the blog  during the 2010 cruise.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Houston - we have a connection!

What is the biggest difference between a PRM 160 gearbox and a Newage Delta 20 gearbox?

The answer is almost four inches. Having installed the replacement gearbox last week I could finally install the missing link today - a nice shiny (expensive) lump of turned steel which connects the Aquadrive to the gearbox.

Here it is installed and working.

I have since discovered yet another difference! I now have to dismantle the Morse lever as it now works in reverse i.e. the propeller moves the boat backwards when the Morse control is shifted into the forwards position. Luckily this should just require the gearbox cable moving to the other end of the arm inside.

Whilst we had a reasonably warm weekend I took the opportunity to empty the hot water tanks as a further cold spell is forecast for the next week and I don't want it to freeze up. I'll complete the winterisation next Sunday after we've attended the Bourne End Christmas dinner on Saturday night.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

What's happening now.

Once we had returned to Bourne End I set about investigating the knocking noise coming from the transmission system that we have been experiencing at low revs. It appears to be from the PRM gearbox so I decided to remove it to investigate. I had checked the Aquadrive CVJ and fitted a new drive plate last winter so I was pretty sure it was the gearbox causing the noises. Once I had disconnected the Aquadrive from the back of the box it became apparent that there was a lot of play in the gearbox output shaft bearing. With the box removed the driveplate appeared fine (only fitted last winter) so I lugged the heavy gearbox home and set about finding out what the cost for repair/replacement was going to be.   Gulp  -  Refurbishment approx £800, replacement approx £1300

The following Thursday evening, whilst doing my routine searches on Ebay, I came across a picture of what appeared to be Jannock's engine bay. Lo and behold - someone was selling a complete Kubota engine and PRM gearbox from another ex Black Prince boat because the engine smoked a bit and they had purchased an new Isuzu unit to replace it. I managed to win the auction (well within budget) and with assistance from my mate Don the complete unit was recovered from Newbury back to home. The gearbox fitted to this unit was a Delta 20 which is a lot smaller than the 160 that I had just removed from Jannock but Ken, the previous owner assured me that the gearbox was fine, just the engine had problems.  I have fitted it onto Jannock's engine and am now awaiting the 4" bobbin that I need to fill the extra gap between the shorter gearbox and the prop shaft which I have sourced from TW Marine and should be here next week.

In the meantime I have done the figures for the 2010 cruising season:-

Total mileage 518.     Total Locks  507.    Total hours 277   Fuel used  348 Litres

that works out at 3.7 lock-miles per hour and 1.25 litres per hour.

More news about the gearbox and a test run soon - Watch this space.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

The Ultimate training day

There was a frost on the ground when we arrived at Marsworth for the run back to Bourne End and our home mooring. Today we had our neighbours, Mick and Gill, as crew. They have hired a boat for a week next April and wanted a refresher course as it has been 10 years since they last went on a canal holiday. You can't beat 9 miles and 20 locks, up and down, on the southern Grand Union as a refresher! As we were casting off we arranged with a passing boat to share the Marsworth flight with them but then had another boat pass before we were moving and so had to wait for the pair of them to ascend the bottom lock before we could start the flight. When Brenda arrived at the lock with Jannock she said that we had a partner who was busy winding in the entrance of the Aylesbury arm and would be with us in a short while. He was solo crewed and so Mick and I worked both boats up the Marsworth flight of seven locks. Once through the flight our partner was mooring at Bulbourne for a lunch appointment in the GJA so we continued alone.

After the summit, we then paired with another boat that had been watering up as we arrived at Cowroast lock. This couple had moved afloat in May 2010 in a new boat that the skipper has fitted out himself. His partner appeared glum and despite about 5 months of boating was still unsure about how locks worked. We shared all the way until 'the Boat' public house in Berko where they decided to tie up, without warning, after I had prepared Ravens Lane lock for two craft  :0(    We continued on alone which meant single gate working which is a lot quicker if you are not mob handed. At the 'Riser' we met Debbi and Simon who, having returned from their allotment, were on their way for an early afternoon pint.

Finally arrived back at Bourne End at 4 pm and then went and fetched the car from Marsworth in time for an evening meal before closing up and heading home.

Gill has written " Started our journey at Marsworth taking Jannock home for the winter. Weather cold but very sunny, a lovely day not that I did much work, I was kept busy making coffee and tea and watching everybody else work.  Mick helped Graham with the locks for a little while and handled the steering. Needs some more practice, I'm sure it will all come back to us. Graham's just got back from collecting the car and Brenda's getting dinner ready." in the log book.

I will do a calculation of this years lock/mile tally and publish on another posting.

Graham

www.jannock.org.uk

Well Done Milton Keynes IWA

Saturday 16th October

Fruit of the day - Damsons

After a grey week our journey started in glorious autumn sunshine. We recalled the weather forecaster saying "you will be unlucky to catch a shower!" We didn't , we caught two downpours instead. This picture, taken on my phone,  shows us approaching Grove lock immediately after the second one.

As we cleared Soulbury we were warned by a southbound boater of canoeists and a canal clearance day ahead, forecasting slow going. We saw none of the former and the latter only delayed us whilst they extricated their work flat off of an underwater obstacle (the 2nd motorcycle frame they had removed that morning) that had entrapped it. Gold stars to the Milton Keynes branch of the IWA and Wyverne shipping who sponsored the event.

The first and second teams we met are pictured below:-

 

We caught the third team up at Linslade lock where we shared with one of their craft. They were en-route to the Tesco mooring to retrieve trolleys using a grappling hook.

At Slapton Lock cottage there was a bowl of Damsons with a notice asking for donations to charity for them. I took a bagfull and placed all my change in the box. We picked up a lock sharer at Horton lock, a northbound boat that had winded at Slapton windy hole, who we shared with until they reached their home mooring at Vicarage farm. We knew there was a hire boat following them so we waited at Seabrook bottom lock for them to catch up and I usefully spent the time collecting many more Damsons from the multiple trees located on the offside of the lock. The Wyvern boat, Daffodil, then shared with us until we cleared lock 38 when we moored up and they continued. As I cycled through Pitstone bridge I saw the widebeam trip boat approaching so I stopped and warned Brenda of it's prescence. I still remember the incident she had with this one a few years ago due to the overhanging willow branches but this time the trees have been nicely trimmed back and my timely warning allowed her to hold back to let it reach it's mooring at the yard.