End of March 2014

Hello everyone!

Where does the time go? Our time here at Cosgrove has flown. We have to leave here next week. 

At least spring has sprung and there are some beautiful days. Yesterday was not so good, rain again! 

It would be nice to have reasonable weather to start our trip next week, but who knows?!

We aim to go to the Peak District, via Rugby, Tamworth, Stoke on Trent.... The Caldon Canal is a must apparently! 

The first part of our journey some friends are joining us so that will be fun to have company. Especially with all those locks! I did them on my own four times in the few months and they are a killer! We are dropping in on some boating friends at Blisworth, spending a couple of days there....

The exact schedule has not been decided because it doesn't matter. We do think we will come back here at the end of October for the winter though. Everyone is so friendly, plus it's convenient for many reasons. Our Doctors surgery, Dentist, Vet etc... And our friends of course!

Meanwhile we have to sell some stuff again! We are getting good at that though, if we can down size from a four bedroom house and garage, then we can down size a bit more! The land rover with its contents is for sale. However one lovely friend is storing some of the equipment in her garage. 

With a bit of luck the land rover will go quickly but if not, Gordon is looking after it until it does sell. 

A then we will buy a small van in the autumn to get about in. 

The diesel and coal topped up. Dog food ordered. A big supermarket shop to do at the weekend and our repeat prescriptions to collect from the surgery. Then it's ready to go! 

I will write a diary throughout the trip so you can follow us on the journey. Wishing you all a great summer, let's hope it's a sunny one!!

Cosgrove Moorings

Hello all!

How wonderful it is to see that forgotten shinny yellow thing up in the sky! A beautiful afternoon.

Crossing fingers the worst of the wet and windy weather is over. It won't be of course forgotten by others in the country, waiting for homes to dry out, insurances to respond and the work to be done. Builders, plumbers, electricians and decorators will be working hard over the next few months. 

We have been here at Cosgrove since about the 2nd / 3rd of Febuary, managed to get here in between the storms and avoid the river Tove at its worst. The river under the aqueduct was of course flooded and a has only just gone down enough to walk all the way round the quarry. 

The dogs love running through the flooded fields though, however three muddy dogs back on board is not so good! Thankfully the tap is not far away and with the help of my short hose with 'gun' at least they are clean! Thank heavens for the engine room with coir matting. 

Enough of that!

We have bought a permit from the Canal and River Trust to stay here until the end of March. It is so much better than Barby Moorings that we were in at Rugby. The mud there must have got worse since we left and it was horrendous then.

The beauty of here is it's in the country but not far from all of our friends and things like our Doctors, Vets etc... We all have appointments with all of these over the next few weeks. Preparing for our next venture starting in April. We are heading north to Yorkshire we hope. 

There have had a couple more teething problems. Today a man has come to take one of the batteries away, it wasn't  charging. A new one is on and it's made an immediate difference. When they have tested it we will be told if it was a duff battery or something we have done to damage it, in which case we will have to pay for the new one. Cross fingers it's duff!! 

We have also had a small water leak coming through and it's stained the tongue and groove. None of these things are serious, just irritating. 

It's half term for a lot of you. It gets very busy down this towpath when the suns out! Kids on bikes in pushchairs and being pulled along by parents saying you will walk!! 

Who's enjoyed the Winter Olympics? We have both been following it more than ever before! Whow! The girls have done well, haven't they?! Curling tomorrow! Daren't watch!!

The snow boarding and skiing has been fantastic. Some of the ice skating too, the little 15year old Russian girl is wonderful. 

I have rekindled my knitting skills! And at present doing a tapestry. What next?? ! 

Geoff has just discovered Candy Crush! So I may well be a CC widow soon! 

I hope you are all well and looking forward to spring....

That's all for now folks! 

Thursday 9th January 2014

Happy new year to you all!

So, how was Christamas for you? I do hope you all remained healthy.

Ours was definatly a first. It was great! Strange though as no long hectic days up to the last minute.

We left Barby Moorings on Thursday 20th December and headed to Cosgrove. Arriving Sunday 23rd.

Spending the Saturday evening at Blisworth,, where we caught up with old mates. Excellent take away! 

 

The intention was to tootle down through MK between Christmas and New Year, however as it was so wet and had friends visiting we decided to stay put. A super surprise when a cyclist stopped by! 

Boxing Day and New Years Eve was spent with a lovely friend in Deanshanger. Superb! 

Thursday 2nd  we set off early to come back. The water levels were high, going through a bridge hole was a new experience for me, the flow was so strong and fast it was taking me backwards! Geoff took over and eventually we got through. Further up where the river Tove flows into the canal was another full throttle and straight ahead!! 

We started the Stoke Bruerne flight and stopped two locks from the top as it was getting dark.

Next day pressed on to Blisworth, the the Buckby flight, Braunston and back into the marina yesterday, Wednesday 8th Jan.

The owner of this marina left a voice message to say they had put another boat on our pontoon till Wednesday, so would eve use another pontoon..... We decided to stay out until our own pontoon was free.

We paid for three months which ends this month. So unless the canal is frozen we are leaving, never to return!! Instead we are doing that journey back down to Cosgrove. We have have bought a permit to moor for a month on the visitor moorings at Cosgrove. 

Then apply for another for the month of March. After that we shall cruise further afield. Leeds /York maybe. 

The Canal and River Trust have experimented this year to see if the permit for these winter moorings was popular. From what we have seen so far it's a great idea and so easy! If they continue to do this we shall certainly think seriously about it for next winter instead of a marina. 

I am not even going to mention the rain, wind and mud! We must all be sick of it. But not as bad as it is for some poor people with flood damage to their homes and business' . My heart goes goes out to them. 

Next weekend we are off to family in Ipswich. A fun time will be had by all!! 

More next month when we have returned to the MK area... 

Sunday 8th December 2013

Happy Christmas everyone! How is your preparation going? All done? I am so proud of you!!
Getting into the festive spirit by watching all the cooking programmes? Ha ha!!
In my world this is the first Christmas in several years that I have not been up to my ears in hair! I would have done all my present shopping, wrapped and delivered by the end of November in the past, not this year! So disorganised!! Having said that, we are cutting back a lot this year so not much to do......

Geoff's brother and wife came for a visit this weekend. It was lovely to see them and have a good catch up! Just went down to Braunston, turned, went into the country, moored up until this morning then got back into the marina about midday.

We are still not enjoying this marina as much as Blisworth, but as Geoff is not working nearly as much, we are going to be 'out' as much as the weather allows over the next few weeks. Starting with this coming Wednesday 11th off out till Sunday or maybe Monday 16th. However we do have another Webasto, Central heating problem, so when Sam comes out to look at it we need to be access able.

Our Christmas plans, ( weather permitting, no ice! ) are that we leave her on Thursday 19th, heading for Cosgrove, outside Milton Keynes. Stopping at Blisworth to visit some old mates! Watch out...!
We hope to get a nice mooring at Cosgrove to stay a few days. We can then walk to Karens in Deanshanger for Boxing Day. Then swap venues as she and George will come to us for New Year. In between we will tootle through MK and hopefully catch up with Corinne on Avanti!

We spent a week down in Hawkinge, Folkstone with my Dad while my sister had a week off. It was funny being in a bungalow, it doesn't rock!! Most of the time we just kept Dad company, we had a take away with my brother and his family, he also took us to the woods where he helps to raise pheasants. On the way a brunch!  That was all nice to catch up on all their latest news.
Geoff had never been to Whitsable so we took Dad on the Monday, they had oysters and I didn't!!
 I also cooked a Sunday roast, I know, that sounds strange! But our oven doesn't seem to get hot enough for roast potatoes to crisp.

Well folks that's about all my news for this month. So I will leave you, wishing all of you a very Happy Christmas and an excellent New Year! Maybe we will see one or two of you during our trip.....
Our best wishes to you all
Julie, Geoff, Darley, Mr Muppett and Archie xxxxx

Saturday 9th November

Will it ever stop raing I ask? I know we need it to float but come on...! Mud, mud glorious mud!!

Well it is here at Barby. Pot holes and ruts full of water in between the mud. The dogs get filthy. It's a major operation to walk them and wash the mud off. We have bought a short piece of hose to attach to the tap with as spray on the end. 

Unlike Blisworth to get to the towpath is quite a long walk on a very busy lane, with no path. I have decided not to do it on my own with three dogs to get off the road. The construction lorries don't help! 

So I take them round a couple of fields, it's boring from my point of view. But I throw a ball on a rope for the boys and they love it!! 

We have bought a OS map of the area so when Geoff stops work, which won't be long, we can try some longer walks. 

Today we have come out the marina, Whoopie! Went down to Braunston, turned and came back about 20mins., then moored till tomorrow. We both love being out on the canal. Even the rain has stopped and the sun is trying to shine!

There are three alpacas keeping the grass down on the island. The dogs gave them quite a side ways look to start with but ignore them now. They have to be kept on leads anyway of course. 

Thursday November 21st we are all going to visit Dad. Jacqui is going away for a few days so we are going to keep Dad company. It will be interesting to see how all the dogs get on, but I am sure after the initial excitement they will settle. 

Well that's about all my news, not much happening at the moment! Take care all of you and stay dry!!

Julie 'n crew

Well, good morning everyone,

I do hope you are all safe and no damage from the storm. It was not as bad here as they predicted but further South has been worse I think.
We lowered the satellite overnight, just in case, I laid in bed listening to the rain in the early morning and when Geoff let the dogs out for an early wee he loosened the ropes as we were a little to one side.
Being in between locks, the water level changes, especially overnight with no activity. There has been several boats going through this morning though, half term so fairly busy!

This is just a quick update on our journey so far. The plan had been to go from Blisworth marina to Barby marina, then Tuesday back to Braunston to go into dry dock on Wednesday. The propeller is to be changed. However we made a snap decision and changed our minds yesterday.

Saturday we left in drizzle but by the time we got to the Buckby flight it had stopped. With two Gayton hire boats in front of us that had not worked a lock before we knew it would be a slow process. The boat that came in with us was NB Mollie M with Maffi and his crew, Mortimer Bones and Alex. During the flight we learnt that there was a boaters gathering at the New Inn at the top of the flight. With this in mind and knowing there would be lots of boats moored up around the Norton Junction area we decided to stop before the last lock. That was a good call....!

Sunday we left early through the last lock and down to the Braunston tunnel, through without meeting anyone! Whoopie!
Came down the Braunston locks with a nice family on a weekend break. Just before the last lock there was a slight confusion, mainly due to the wind taking boats where they didn't really want to go!!
We pulled over to keep out of the way and realised the dry dock was in front and to the right, before the last lock. This is where we made the snap decision to stay here till after the prop change.

We have television and internet but almost no phone signal. But that's not too bad. Geoff and the dogs found the office and told them we were here. We will walk up to the village either later or tomorrow.
Just at the moment it looks like rain again...

That's about it for now so will write more when there is something to say!

September 24th 2013

Hello everyone, it seems autumn is upon us. Last week it was so cold so quickly! Today, now I am sitting outside at a bench on a grass bank. Indian summer? 

At last we have some dates in place. Saturday 26th October we leave Blisworth Marina to go to Barby near Rugby. In so many ways I will be quite sad, I have started to make some friends here and enjoy our walks, there is several different directions to go. However it's is expensive! The next marina is almost half the price. 

 We will get there on Sunday 27th. Geoff is going to go to work on the Monday as we have to take Willow Too back down to Braunston on Wednesday 30th, just for a new propeller, it not a big job, but easier out of the water, so going into dry dock for a few hours. He will do his Wednesday gardens on Monday that week.

Last weekend we went out just for an overnight adventure! Of course we couldn't go far but it was nice to get out. We will probably do the same this weekend. 

I have been blackberrying and made jam, also crab apple jelly and chutney. Yesterday made sloe vodka and gin! Apparently it needs to be kept for a year, so sometime before I know if its good or not!

We have tested the wood burner and its great! The first couple of times it took ages to get going but not a problem since. Cooked my first casserole on the top!

Beacon Boats had their first 'gathering'. September 7th, only 4 of the 17 boats built where able to get there, but all the owners went except two I believe. It was a smashing evening, buffet food and lots of talk about boats and exchanging experiences. It was great to put faces to all the boat names including the build for 2015! That is nameless as yet though. 

While we were out last weekend who should almost, but not quite 'bump' into us? Windsong!! Very nearly back to their marina from the trip up to Barrow deep lock and the gathering! It was a quick catch up over the stern!!

Then Sunday morning a boat we came down the Buckby flight with some weeks ago stopped and we had coffee and catch up. So as you can see we do a lot of chatting!! 

Well that's about all my news for now, 

Oh by the way, if any of you would like to know, Willow Too's review will be in Novembers issue of Canal Boat magazine. Probably in the newsagents mid October.

Our best wishes to you all

Julie, Geoff 'n crew!