Is Spring Here ????

Woke up to a frosty morning again, but it was turning into a beautiful Spring day. We sat out in the cratch and had breakfast and then said goodbye to Paul and Lynne on n.b. Piston Broke.

We then chopped up the rest of the wood on the roof and went on the hunt for a bit more. The day was used up just chilling out in the cratch and waiting for Gosty (the coal boat) to arrive. The whole reason for staying here another day was so we could see the football in a pub nearby and of course it's Pancake Day. So in the evening we tossed a few pancakes and we pigged out on them before we walked up to the Red Lion pub and watched Arsenal lose to Barcelona... by default!!!!

We walked back to Derwent6 and brought ourselves a bag of Chips to drown our sorrows...

Up the three locks (that's enough for today)

We left this morning on a sunshine cruising day and soon made our way up the three locks at Hillmorton. They were all in our favour so we had no problems. When we got to the top, for the first time we saw a spot on the 14 days moorings and grabbed it quick, it wasn't long before n.b Piston Broke pulled up behind us. Well lets face it, we had done two miles....enough's enough!!! Del had already got out the chainsaw which was having trouble idling and before long Paul had the carburetor out and on the table of Derwent6. When we put it back together it still didn't run right but it was better than it was.

We then walked into the village on a mission to find a pub with Sky Sports for tomorrow night. We found the Red Lion did a good beer and had a large screen. When we came back we invited Lynne and Paul round for a drink or two, or three. We had a good chat about our lives bringing things up to date. They left at 8.00pm and we watched some telly with fajitas before going to bed.

To London to visit the Queen

We were up early as we had the 9.00am train to catch to London... We arrived in London at 10.20am and got the tube to Victoria where we met up with Bernie and Sarah. The reason was we are all big Queen (the Rock band) fans. There was a 40th anniversary exhibition in east London covering Queens early years, from how they started and their first five albums, going right up to the 1976 open air free concert in Hyde Park.........which Del had been to. We were all shocked on how great this exhibition was and we looked at some old footage and listened to demos and old sessions they had done. I bet not a lot of people know that Queen could have been called BUILD YOUR OWN BOAT or even THE MEN WHO BUILD BOATS. Now we know why we live on a narrowboat lol... It was Freddie who came up with the name QUEEN. If you're a Queen fan this exhibition is a must.........it's on until the 12th March, and it's free entry.

We then got back on the tube and went to Trafalgar Square and had some lunch. After a coffee in the afternoon we departed at Victoria. We got back to Derwent6 at around 8.00pm having to get back on a very crowded train. We chilled out with some telly in the evening where Al caught up with Dancing on ice and Del Match of the Day........Phew!!!!!!!

Relaxing Day

We had a heavy frost last night and it looked very pretty on the cut. Lucky enough it wasn't cold enough to freeze the water. After doing a few jobs in the engine room like tightening the stern gland and cleaning out the bilge, we set off to get rid of our rubbish and see how n.b Piston Broke had got on. When we arrived they had the engine running but Paul still had some minor leaks which were soon put right. Everything seemed to be working fine, but the final test will be when they decide to do some hard cruising. Paul and Del talked engines while the girls, Lynne and Al, talked living on a boat for a hour or so.

We left just as it was starting to drizzle as we had a gammon cooking on the stove. When we opened the doors to Derwent6 the smell was to die for, yummmmy!!! But while we were away Derwent6 seems to have got a bit of a bashing as we found a golf ball on the roof...Fourrrrr! Good job we weren't here really, there might have been a bent golf club....

Inspection for damage will have to be in the morning.

We then chopped up some more wood to last us over the weekend, but we seem to have a problem now with the chainsaw as it keeps stalling. Oh well, another job!

Girlie day in London

We were up at 6.30am this morning as Al was meeting a friend down in London for a girlie day. Del helped her, when off the towpath, to get out of her wellies and into her boots, and then she walked to the station. Del came back and finished off the greasing of the side doors, as we were on the other side of the canal now. Del then walked up to Lynne and Paul on n.b Piston Broke and their new pump had been fitted but they still had a problem. So Del and Paul took matters into their own hands and after a joint decision they decided to bypass the fuel filter. It soon became clear that the fault had gone and there was no air in the system, so the filter housing must have a fault. On close inspection a crack was found and a new one ordered with Beta engines.

Al was having a great day with her friend Joyce. They went to Oxford street for some retail therapy and had a good lunch in Prezzo's. Thanks for a lovely day Joy! Al got back to Del at around 6.30pm, and Del managed to polish the starboard side of Derwent6 while waiting Al's return. In the evening we just relaxed with some music.

Five Bloggers Gosh!

We were up early and Del was up doing maintenance work. He had all the doors off Derwent6 and lubed up all the hinges and catches also the side got a polish and the brasses on the starboard side got done. Then two more top boating bloggers turned up making five of us here at Rugby.

n.b. No Problem

n.b. Moore2life

n.b.Piston broke

n.b.Oakfield

and little us

We decided to be the first to leave at 11.45am and only travelled about a mile and a half before we pulled over. It was bitterly cold on the tiller and it looked too inviting inside watching the chimney smoking away. Anyway it was lunchtime!!!!!

We were soon joined by Sue and Vic on n.b. No Problem and later by Chas and Ann on n.b. Moore2life. Del carried on with brasses in the afternoon and Derwent6 was soon gleaming again (till the next shower).

In the evening we listened to the radio and went to bed early, as we had an early start planned for tomorrow morning.

Egg on their faces

With Al still down in Kent Del didn't have a good night. At 12.30am there was some noise outside Derwent6 and when Del looked out the porthole two lads were walking up and down the boats and a car was parked in the car park with rubbish all around it. Del then jumped out the boat in his underpants and watched the two lads tinkering with the end boat, but they couldn't untie it. It then looked like they were throwing stones at the windows of the houses opposite us, and were spooked by the end boats light coming on. Del went in to get some clothes on and the camera, but they were spooked again by the noise of the door opening on the end boat and Del getting back out of Derwent6. Oi ! he shouted and they run like rabbits back to the car (a red 52 plated Renault Clio by the way)

In the morning Del walked across the car park and picked up all the rubbish and noticed a big box of eighteen eggs which is what must have been thrown at the houses. On checking the end boat that was also covered in egg. They were so scared, I bet they don't come back tonight!! If they do we will be waiting!

Al got back home at around 12.30pm and we had a quick unpack before we headed off down to Pizza hut for an as much as you can eat buffet. We then walked over to Tesco's and gathered a few bits before getting back to Derwent6. We managed to get a tv signal for the narrowboat program "The boat that Guy built", on tonight.

Happy Birthday Mum

December last year this was a Birthday we didn't think we would have.

Happy Birthday to Pam (Al's mum), 82 years young today!!!

Al set off early from Rugby down to Kent to celebrate her Mum's birthday with her Dad, Sister and great Nephew. They had a lovely day, with a fish & chip lunch and chocolate birthday cake to follow.

Pam enjoyed every minute, and had lots of cards, presents and flowers.

A special day..........

A Six Hour Day

It was cloudy and we wanted to start making our way south so we set off at 7.15am. We soon got to Nuneaton and the council here really need to get their backsides in gear. The rubbish in and around the canal was horrendous, it is such a shame that in a stressful world, in this hard working town you can't go and relax around the canal that runs through it. You really did feel like stopping and picking it all up, it was like taking a boat through a refuse tip. The dog poo and graffiti was everywhere, this is where community service should come into action, then locals could look after it and catch the culprits doing it. Once we got through avoiding the telly's and the sofas we got back out into the countryside passing the entrance to the Ashby canal. We then got to Hawkesbury Junction and through Sutton stop and on to the Oxford. It started to get really cold as we headed through Ansty and Brinklow, but it was still lovely cruising and we saw our first lambs. After six hours we got to the pretty Newbold tunnel and pulled over for water just the other side.

We then moved up to Rugby and were meet by bloggers Keith and Ann on n.b Oakfield and were able to meet Paul and Lynne who also come from Kent, on n.b.Piston Broke. We were very kindly offered beers on both boats and ended up staying with Keith and Ann till about 7.30pm. We got back to Derwent6 and had something to eat, exhausted by the days cruising.

Gunners out of Bullets

We thought the weather was going to be better today, but as we got up it rained again. It rained all day on and off, with it being light then heavy. So our plan of moving was scuppered. It had also turned colder so we lit the fire and had a lay in. We eventually got up and had some brunch and prepared ourselves for Arsenal in the Carling Cup against Birmingham....Wish we hadn't!!!!!!

After the game we checked out that tree we found yesterday, and loaded it onto the roof. Al watched her Dancing on Ice in the evening and Del won't be watching Match of the Day.........

Rainy Day

With the rain hitting the roof we weren't moving today.. It just never seemed to even slow down and the towpath turned into a mud bath. So we caught up with some paperwork and updated some software as we have a good 3G signal here. The good news of the day is that we got a call from Alan Watts of Axiom Propellers and he wants to inspect the prop when Derwent6 comes out of the water for blacking, later next month. As you all know Derwent6 was one of the first narrowboats to have the Axiom fitted and we have been very happy with ours from day one. It has it's faults, but the benefits by far out way the faults. Axiom are working hard to sort out these faults, by us all giving them good feedback.

We watched the Rugby all afternoon and they were two great games with us beating the French.

The weather eased off at around 4.00pm and Del manage to clean some of the brasses and get some twigs for kindling. On doing so we spotted another tree down...... maybe look at that tomorrow....

Locking before the rain

Just like last night we had a beautiful red sky this morning which didn't bode well as we wanted to get up through the locks today. Anyway, we set off and soon passed Mo on n.b Balmaha and got to the locks. We were pleasantly surprised that they were in our favour and got through the first two of the eleven. We then spotted n.b No Problem and n.b Moore2life as we made our way up the rest of the flight. We could now see the new gates at lock seven which stopped us getting further south for the winter, but this lock still took an age to fill. The locks were in our favour all the way up as we passed three boats coming down, this sped things up for us, (not that we were in a hurry), but we were still thinking about that red sky and when it was going to rain. We had few gongoozlers (all be them ducks) when we got to the top. A fresh wind was starting to get up and you could feel rain in the air, but it was still pleasant cruising. We got to Hartshill and the weather was holding so we pushed on to Valley Cruisers marina, where we felt the first spits of rain. We just got moored up before it poured down.. The first thing we did was have a shower to get warmed up and the fire did the rest. We soon both fell asleep on the settee listening to the rain hitting the roof. We were woken up by a call from BW about our gold licence, they soon call you if they want your money........ so it won't be long before we can pick up our new licence...