Braunston Workingboat Show

Captains Log


Canal Date                 23rd June 2011
Travels                       1 1/2 Miles
Current Location      Braunston

Summer Solstice - The longest day and therefore the shortest night. Not for me, I have developed a cold, I was awake much of the night with a sore throat and blocked nose and sinus pain. I know, I am a wimp. I got out of bed at 7.15 this morning, I had had enough by then. I thought I may be better in a chair that rather than lying down. Now because I had a bad night and woke up early, I woke up grumpy. She soon followed me out of bed.

After breakfast we moved the boat to a better mooring. Only a few hundred yards, and then we went to Braunston. We called into the pub and had a beer and ice-cream. That helped my sore throat for a while.

Wednesday - After breakfast I turned my attentions to the toilet vent pipe. In the warm weather the toilet vent smells every time the toilet is flushed. I have tried all of the chemicals and potions available to various levels of disappointment. I have now found that there is a carbon filter that can be fitted in line. This could be the answer. Before I shell out £80.00 I want to make sure that I can fit the filter without major works to the boat. The vent pipe is hidden in the substantial construction of the bed. It is not the easiest part of the boat to get to. After a lot of stripping away trim and constructional timber I found the vent pipe. I thought that this was going to be the hardest part of the job but when I did find it, it turned out to be different to what I had expected. The pipe is 2” gas pipe, not the ¾ rubber hose that I imagined that it would be. This would make it very difficult to go from the steel pipe down to the ¾” fittings on the vent filter. Job abandoned for the time being. When I re-assembled the bed, I made sure that I converted the top to an easy access inspection cover for later use. After a complete failure at the back of the boat, I turned my attentions to the front. The Maxi-view aerial that was original fitment had never performed well so I thought it may be a good idea to feed the signal amp direct from the external TV aerial. That way it could be piped throughout the boat. After spending an hour or so empting the cupboard, removing the door, removing the access panels that I fitted previously, making all the correct fitting to the co-ax. It was no better! It would appear that either the maxi-view amp only works with the maxi-view aerial or is in fact not working at all. I ended up putting everything back to how it was.

A complete day of working on the boat and nothing at all achieved. So no change there then!

I am still just about alive; I have at least triple pneumonia, gangrene of the throat, and headaches in both my chest & head. And to make matters worse I have a snotty nose! Needless to say, I slept a lot in between working on the boat.

re-tracing our steps

Captains Log


Canal Date                     20th June 2011
Travels                           8Miles 11 Wide Locks
Current Location         11/2 miles South of Braunston

Well, as nice as the Blue Lias pub is, All of our friends that joined us in their caravans have now left. The pub has had more of our unearned cash that I would have liked. (We did eat and drink in there most days, well, it would be rude not to) Time has come to move on again. It was a nice morning with no cloud or wind, so different to the weekend. After a truly professional turn at the Blue Lias you know, the sort of turn that you can do so easily when no one is watching, but is impossible when being observed. Well this one made me feel quite proud. We set off again to retrace out recent path. Although it is exactly the same stretch of canal it does look very different when travelled in the opposite direction. Perhaps it is the sunshine. We shared the Stockton locks with another boat which was steered by a lovely 80 year old lady who had little or no idea. It would have been very much quicker on our own but we are not in a hurry so it was just amusing to watch her get it wrong every single time. She was a good sport, bless her. The next set of three locks we shared with a much more able boater, with the help of his crew we flew up them. The weather was truly superb, with almost constant sun shine. We moored about 1 ½ miles south of Braunston so we could run the generator to do a bit of machine washing. However, all this enjoying ones self is very tiring so after we  moored we both fell fast asleep and by the time we woke up it was a bit late to run the generator, especially as other boats had moored near by. The weather has now changed. It is very cloudy and looks very much like a thunder storm may be brewing!

Tomorrow we shall move on to Braunston if there is any moorings left, and have a look at the working boat weekend. If it is full, then we shall continue on.

Arrived At the Blue Lias Pub!

Captains Log


Canal Date                                15th June 2011
Travels                                         10Miles 13 Wide Locks
Current Location               Blue Lias Pub (Stockton Locks)

Arrived safely at Blue Lias Pub. A very welcome sight after all those wide locks. As usual, every lock was against us. We waited to share the locks after the first two. That made it easier for us all. The boat we shared with gave me a bit of a punt as he came into one of the locks. That was followed by the unmistakable sound of expensive lead crystal glassware smashing. I will learn from this and fit a travel lock on the high level cupboards.
The weather has been mixed today. First it was cold then wet, then wet & cold then warm and then warm & wet, then sunny. We even had it sunny & wet for a while!
I have summer clothes and winter waterproofs on the counter.
There is a classic car meeting her tonight, so we will have to take our camera with us when we visit the pub.

We will stay here until the M.R.O.C. event has finished on Monday.
Our plans of going along the Oxford Canal and then along the Thames is up for reconsidering. We have been told that the lower Oxford is low on water and mooring is very difficult. I do not want to be looking for moorings hour after hour. We shall do a bit of research and then make a decision.