A Good Days Cruising

The wind and rain this morning was hammering against the roof so hard we thought we weren't going anywhere today, but by 9.30 the sun was trying to come out. The good thing about the rain is we found out where the water in the bilge had come from. It turned out that the drain holes were blocked on the weed hatch, and a quick prod with a stick and a clean out was all that was required. We made the decision to move, a odd one for us on a Sunday, but it turned out to be a good one. We had about a hour cruising before we got to the first lock which would be the one of many today. The Marsworth flight is a series of nine locks which are quite spread out. We were very lucky that a boaters party had been going on the night before and they were all leaving this morning to go back up the flight, this meant that all the locks were in our favour and we soon got through them. We remembered this time to make a flask of coffee, as you don't get time between locks to make one. Bet this fellow could have done with a coffee, as he was taking a break from making toys and wrapping presents. On the second half of the journey a boat pulled out in front of us, so we got some help down the other nine locks we did today. The scenery down this section is just lovely with all the hills in the background. We had planned to stop at Slapton, but managed to get up to Church lock where someone has now bought the church and turned it into a house, pretty cool Huh. We moored up with the sun setting and a very pink sky but it had turned very cold in the strong winds. Al made a lovely Shepard's pie to warm us, before hugging the fire for the evening.
It really has been a good days cruising!!!!!

Christmas lights on

Yes we did have a bit of a lay in as we had to catch up on some sleep, but we did surface at around 9.00am. The first thing we did was put up our Christmas lights and a bit of extra tinsel around the place.Derwent6 also got it's Christmas ears and now looks like Santa's grotto. We then had to do a bit of cleaning, wood chopping and finished off making the Christmas cards listening to Christmas songs. It's just been one of those days where we've had some real quality time together. In the evening we snuggled up by the fire with all the Christmas lights watching the glamour of strictly..... Lovely!!

A Day full of Emotions

Blimey where shall we start!!!!!

On Thursday, (Derwent6's birthday) we made our way down to Kent and dropped into Oxford Street first to do a bit of last minute Christmas shopping. It was packed but we did manage to get most of it done. We then got the tube and train down into Kent. That evening we wanted to see our friends, Maxine (the singer on the right in the picture) and Maxine & Graham who own the restaurant she was singing in. It was Abba night and we just had a fabulous time singing the night away. In fact we had such a good time we didn't realise the time, anyway to cut a long story short we got to bed at 4.30am just in time to see dawn breaking.

We managed to get just 3 hours sleep before we had to get up because we had a funeral to go to. It was a sad day as it was the funeral of our good friend Jayne Woodgate, and as good friends have lots of friends, it was packed and we were lucky to get into the chapel. Jayne was a wonderful person, kind, caring, so much fun and very brave. We will always miss her.

We then went on to the Wake, and as Jayne would have wished it was party time.... It was good to see some old friends there, and the whole occasion reminded us all that we need to get together more often. For us after all, it is the whole reason for doing what we are doing....

We then went back to Al's parents with our heads still spinning from the day. At 6.30pm we got the train back to Tring and then walked the mile along the towpath back to Derwent6. When we got inside it was freezing and you could see your breath as we walked through to fire up the central heating. Within half a hour it was back to warm and toasty, but by this time we were falling asleep in each others arms, so with our last efforts after such an emotional day we made the bed and got into it... ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Happy Birthday Derwent6

Well Derwent6 is one year old today!!!!!! Hoorrrrraayyy!!!

We have had a fantastic year and long may it continue.... Well how can we celebrate as we're not wasting any beer or wine over the bow as we did with the launch. So maybe we will just rejoice in the saloon. We have decked the halls and bow with holly, and will be putting up tinsel inside. Derwent6 is very Christmassy..... Mind you the weather's not as good as it was at the launch, it was cold with blue sky's, but Derwent6 has coped in all weathers so she won't mind. At least she is getting a birthday wash.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DERWENT6 !!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Del & Al

xxxxx

Go when the sunshines

After getting rid of the rubbish and filling up the coal scuttle we set off while there were blue patches in the sky. We made our way through Gas Locks one and two, and then onto Northwood. The sun started to come out and it was a lot warmer then yesterday so we pushed on. We then passed a moored boat and a women stuck her head out the window and said we will follow you through. They helped us get through the last three locks and we then parted at Cowroast where we decided to get diesel and a gas bottle. They were really nice in there and had no problem with self declaration. We used the Chandrey and picked up a large bottle of Brasso (Derwent6 uses a lot of Brasso) and loo tank cleaner. We found a nice place to moor and gave Derwent6 a wipe down just before the heavens opened, how lucky was that!!!!!

We then put up the Christmas decs, and had dinner before settling in for the night with the sound of the rain tapping on the roof....Cozy!

Frosty Derwent6

Early start for us today, as we wanted to get up as far as we could making use of the good weather. Believe us it was bloody cold when we got out of bed this morning and you could see your breath on your way to the bathroom. Thank god for the 13.5 tog duvet. We set off with ice on the roof and the cloud carpet on the canal, it was beautiful. You can see here how frozen the rope was.....
We got to the second lock and Al put the windlass on the lock gate and it slid down the gate on the ice and Bang! onto the roof of Derwent6 (as it was going in the lock...) and then Plop! into the canal. We spent another half hour trying to fish out the windlass with the sea searcher and we did manage to retrieve it. Derwent6 suffered chips on the roof and gunwale and a scratch down the side, but they were soon touched in lol.

We then had some problems with the prop as we had lost drive, but on taking up the hatch found nothing. It appears it was a shallow canal with leaves wrapping their way round the prop and when stationary they just fell off. On lifting the weed hatch we did find that the bilge was full of water. Our bilge has got cobwebs in it because it is so dry so we stopped and filled with water while we soaked up the water. We never did find out where it has come from!

Del met up with a fat bird on the way Check out the four geese going up to the lock, lets hope they open the lock gates for us..... We made our way through Hemel Hempstead which was shallow all the way and we were nearly at idle for about four miles. We had now lost so much time, (but we weren't too bothered,) that we just about made Birkhamstead before dark. On stepping off the boat and mooring up Del trod in some Dog S**t (thanks for that) a good finish to the day. Well with eight miles and seventeen locks today we won't be doing much tonight.......

Al did get out her Advent candle and lit it....Only 24 days to go....

Not moving

Due to it pouring hard of rain this morning, we never got out of bed until 9.30am! Al then decided it was a good day to make the Christmas cards, while Del played with his birthday presents. The rain then stopped for a short spell in the afternoon, and Al walked to Kings Langley for a few provisions.
A quiet but enjoyable day pottering around.

We love every minute!!!

One of those catch up days today..The weather outside is bloody awful so we will be doing those jobs you leave till the last minute. We checked the engine levels, checked up on the banking and sent out a few e-mails. We also went through the snagging list as Derwent6 is coming up for a year..Yes a year, we hear you say..Has it gone quick? Well not for us because we have lived every minute of it and still love it from the minute we stepped on board Derwent6. To be fair to Fernwood, Derwent6 has been a gem and it is a credit to Fernwood that she has performed just the way we wanted her to. The snagging list is just trivial things which are easily rectified and part of the movement of the boat which goes through extremely hot and cold temperatures.
Well today Derwent6 is getting it's wash. People won't believe us but we have never washed the boat since we have had her. We just leather it off after a downfall.....
So today we didn't do much really, but with a telly signal, it was quite nice sitting round the fire watching the football and the dreaded X Factor. We did give the batteries a hammering though.

Chimney clean and village walk

Al had a bit of a lay in while Del cleaned the chimney. You have to have a long brush and clean the flue. With this you get loads of bits of soot all over the boat so it ends up being quite a task. The sun was out early but they said it wasn't going to last, so we were hoping it would wash down the soot on Derwent6 a bit later, tactics eh.

We then went for a walk into Kings Langley as we had to post some cards. We were amazed at how much they have here, like a Spar shop, Boots the chemist, Post Office, Launderette, two Pubs, Fish and Chip shop, two Indian restaurants, a Bakery, Butchers, and a Model shop. We then spotted that they were turning the Christmas lights on today and having fireworks. We made our way back to Derwent6 and in the afternoon had dinner and chilled for a bit before heading out to see the lights. It then, as predicted, started to rain and we thought the fireworks would be cancelled. We made a hasty retreat back to Derwent6 and the warm cosy surrounds. Al was quite pleased as Strictly was on telly so it wasn't a difficult decision. As it turned out the fireworks were in the field opposite us and we watched them all anyway sitting in the dayroom.

Getting through Lock 71

Once again we left early this morning because we wanted to get through North Grove lock (lock 71) before Monday 30th as it was having a new lock gate and would be closed till the middle of December. The first thing we noticed was it was a bit colder, so we lit the fire early. Also once again the sun was shining on us, a blessing, as we would of had to move rain or shine. We made our way slowly up through the first three locks as it was lined with winter moorings, and then we saw a familiar boat. It was Les on n.b Valerie so it was a chance to pay back that coffee we had on his boat a couple of months ago. Les was recovering from a back injury he has had and seemed to be doing very well, and is on the move again. Thanks for the company Les and we hope all the things you are doing go to plan. We then moved on through one of our favorite parts of the Grand Union, Grove Park. The sun was hot on our backs and at Hunton Bridge locks we were sun bathing on the lock gate and still found the time to do some sticking (sticks for kindling). We then got to lock 71 and it was blitzed with BW boats ready for Mondays start. Even the lock gate was ready and waiting in one of their boats. We then spotted some more wood and with the cold weather coming up we loaded the roof up. Derwent6 was very top heavy and rocking all over the place, but we couldn't resist getting it on board. At the next lock we had a small problem as we moored up too close to the lock gates and Del thought he would hold the boat, as there were no mooring posts. Al opened the paddles and they were a bit fierce. Del couldn't hold Derwent6 and it would have pulled him in, so he had to run to the back and jump on. By this time Al had closed one of the paddles and Del managed to line up for the lock. We never had time to get the fenders up and on entering the lock we lost one of them. Luckily we had a spare.
We then looked for a place to moor (a tip by Les) and it was just starting to get dark, a great time for Kingfisher watching, we spotted three, but our camera at the moment is not up to the great pic standard. We also made friends with Jack the Donkey and he was treated with a apple making Del hungry, good job we've got a lot of apples. We then had dinner and made the effort to get a satellite signal, the first time for three weeks, so we will be watching a bit of telly tonight.

Fire (and burnt buns)

We got up this morning with the intention of moving early but were halted when we were told the canal was closed because of a fire in a warehouse. We then left a bit later when it was clear but when we got there the firemen were still running their inspections as to the cause. If you look closely you can just see them behind the tree on the fire engine ladder and you can see where the windows had melted. We couldn't believe the weather still bright blue sunshine, though it was a bit nippy. Al then made some hot cross buns and burnt them, (still dribbling over the firemen), fire must be on the menu today. We made good progress, although the locks were all against us, and it was pleasant cruising with no drama's. You could see how much rain we had had over the last few days from this shot of the marina and this is not the entrance. We got to Copper Mill and noticed some wood chopped up on the towpath, so we stopped and put a few lumps of it on the roof. We then got to the next lock (against us again) and decided to top up with water while we waited. Who should be coming down but Ernie & Carol on n.b Ten Bob Note. It was good to see them both and we stood chatting for half a hour, (he wasn't on his knees all that time!). Three boats passed us while we were talking the most we had see for about two months. Have a good trip both of you and have fun. After leaving them we thought we would get as far as we could before it got dark and we managed to reach Rickmansworth. We moored up and had dinner and chilled after another busy day!