Stafford to Penkridge

We woke early this morning and double checked everything was ready for our re-launch. The winch guys arrived at around 8:30 and started getting organised putting out their signs, getting the cables organised, getting hi vis on and having a cup of tea. We were second in, so we watched as Horace was lowered down the slip way and floating again, the cables were then tied to LJs cradle and down she went.

That's Horace back floating

Here comes LJ

And she's floating again

Empty hardstanding, not for long though there were two boats waiting to go up

I am very impressed with Stafford Boat Club, it is very well run and they really do go out of their way to help.

Back on the canal looking towards the covered dock with the slipway beside it

The hardstanding is just behind the tress

It was very chilly this morning with a bit of breeze which made it bitterly cold, once back floating James had the task of reversing past all the boats moored in the arm, then we were on our way.

We needed to get through Penkridge and up Filance Lock today as it has a winter closure on it starting tomorrow. When we got to Penkridge Lock it started to rain but we continued on, then through Filance and that was it.

Our first lock was just round the corner

It's mushroom time of year

The road is very close to the canal here

And slowly past a fishing match

Round the corner and some more, that's the M6 bridge we've just gone under

Keeping an eye on passing boats, just before Penkridge Lock

And the last lock of the day in the rain

As it was around lunchtime we went off to the Star Inn in Penkridge itself, James had read somewhere they did reasonably priced food there. As it was Sunday they were serving roasts which at £5.50 we both went for that and very good it was too, all home prepared and cooked and really really nice, would definitely recommend a visit.

Yummy - this made it all worthwhile

After picking up a few bits in Sainsbury's we headed back to LJ and are now cosy for the evening in front of the fire.

5 miles and 6 locks
TOTAL 682 miles and 621 locks

Blacking - Day 7

The final day so just a few finishing off and pottering bits, the front fender was re-attached and final touch up bits of red and blacking where it meets the blue. The rear dodger was cleaned and put back into place and the weed hatch re-sealed.

Just a last bit of tidying up in the morning then we are back in the water.

LJ as a duck sees her

Blacking - Day 6

No photos today, I forgot to take any and when I suddenly remembered it was a bit too dark. Anyway it looks pretty well the same - blue boat with black bottom sat in the same place on the hard standing. 

Today the second coat went on the tunnel bands and the front yellow nose and blue gloss below the gunnels on the hatch side. James sorted out the front button fender, earlier in the year the chain from the centre of it broke and we made it though most of the year being held on with rope as a temporary repair. It's really not that easy trying to get to the front fender when the boat's in the water. 

Poor Dudley is getting very bored of it all now.

Blacking - Day 5

Very quick today, as it's more of the same.

The third and final coat of blacking went on so plenty of time to cure before going back into the water. The tunnel bands had a first coat and the front yellow bit too. We also managed to get one side of the blue done as well, before it got too dark.

Blacking - Day 4

Well I thought I was getting out of a bit of work today - we needed a couple of bits from a DIY shop and B&Q is the closest at just under two miles, I was just saying to James I would go first thing in the morning when we had a message through from Pippa, a friend of ours, who happened to be moored up in Stafford but had her car with her and was off to the shops, did we want picking up and going with her! How could I refuse that offer, so at 10am this morning off I went, thinking that had got me out of work. 

We also had Mark come to look at our wobbly tiller, I was surprised at how basic the tiller works - for some reason I thought there would be bearings and the like but actually it's just the rudder attached to a long pole through a hole in the back of the boat where the tiller arm is attached there is a collar in the hole which had worn so he replaced that and also the cup which holds the whole thing was slightly worn so he sorted that too. Now the tiller feels more stable but not too stiff to move. It should hopefully make steering a little less jolty.

When I got back from my shopping spree James had done the first blue gloss coat, then we were both on to work with the second coat of blacking.

Blacking - Day 3

The day started with washing off the Fertan and letting that dry. Then is was the first coat of Keelblack. James did one side and me the other and we were done in one and three quarter hours. It is not much thicker than water and very easy to apply with rollers. When it goes on it's a very dark brown which then dries to a matt black. You are able to re-coat once it's touch dry but as we have plenty of time were not doing the second coat until tomorrow.

The other thing done today was undercoat over the red oxide primer for the gloss.

It stayed dry again today but no sun unlike yesterday so it was feeling a little chilly but not too bad. 

James getting a head start

What a transformation

First coat finished

Getting the undercoat on next, ready for the gloss

Dudley supervising

Blacking - Day 2

Well not much to report today, we have mainly been watching paint dry!!

After a busy and tiring day yesterday we had an easy day today. James put the Fertan on the other side and made sure all bare metal bits were covered. I did a quick sand down of the tunnel bands, and put Red Oxide primer on the bare metal bits to be glossed. Then the sun came out and we watched it all dry.

Blacking - Day 1

We popped up to the club house at Stafford Boat Club last night, well it would have been rude not too, there were only a few people there, but it gave us the opportunity of meeting some of the members, including John who takes care of all the bookings for the slip way and also Frank who was on duty this morning to haul LJ out.

There were two boats ready to go back in and we were the first of two to come out. As we were moored in the arm we just had to wait for the second boat to pass us then it was our turn to go up.

Heading for the slipway 

Up she comes

As soon as we were up the pressure washer was checked then the hard work started. James started the washing whilst I removed the front and rear buttons, then it was onto scraping. We had a quick lunch stop and got the rest of the scraping finished this afternoon.

And she's up and in place

James getting to work with the pressure washer

We are trying out Keelblack this time instead of the usual thick bitumen so all the bare steel and any rust patches need to be treated with Fertan first, James got it on one side today as well. Feeling pleased as we are slightly ahead of our schedule. 

So much seems to have happened...

...over the last week, we've even managed some boating!

BACK IN BLACK

No not my all-time favorite AC/DC album from the early eighties but LJ back in a lovely thick coat of protective blacking. Whilst Dean was doing an excellent job with roller and brush Deb was making the most of the free electric hook-up (first time since June last year!) to cook a massive roast, crispy pork, loads of veg and the last of our scrumped apples in a tangy apple sauce. Even though we ate at lunch time it finished us of for the day. Dean did a great job of the blacking, two good coats and another hour or so going over the base plate welds and the bow thruster tube with a brush nailed to a piece of wood as the protective grids aren't removable.

Steve did his best not to laugh at me after finding our oil leak. I had told him I suspected a possible issue with a loose dip stick. And joked that the only other thing I had done was change the oil filter. 'But I doubt its split and I always check the oil seal came off with the old filter' - ah not last time I didn't! I had hurried the messy filter into a carrier bag and binned it. I've changed a few on LJ and probably hundreds on my motorbikes and always checked for debris and any old oil seals. Oh well at least nothing serious. I'll be honest, I didn't think I would be too impressed with the service at Debdale as the price was so reasonable, you get what you pay for. Well not this time, I feel we got a lot more. Plenty of yards would have charged £390 just for hauling out and putting back so I think Debdales £396 all in for a 60ft boat is well cheap and the whole yard works well together with Nicky organising everything in a particularly calm way. Back in on a sunny Friday we decided to back track and moor up the Market Harborough arm.

Back in Black

Still shiney

Not bad for a thirteen year old

Dean was brilliant!

Ohhhh I do like a nice roast dinner

OLD MAN SHOES

I really had no alternative, my open weave trainers are hopeless in the chilly wind of autumn and completely pointless in the wet. My walking boots are great but wearing them all day is, well, wearing. Crocks are ok for quickly popping on to the bank. So after years, no decades, of my dad saying something like 'you don't want to buy those, you want something more like these' I have finally given in and bought some brown Clarks for delivery to Pips. Half price on Clarks website and delivery included. Oh well just need the pipe and the bus pass now.

TALKING OF BUS PASS

Deb nearly qualifies for one now! No she is still twenty odd years off the usual date but her hearing has been tested again by the NHS and classified as 'Moderately Severe'. Once she is up to severe, she gets a free bus pass. In the mean time she is entitled to 30% off rail fares, including Oyster card top-ups in London - Bonus. As her hearing is so bad I qualify for travelling at the reduced 'child' rate as her carer! I hope carer doesn't involve too many extra duties though. We've been regular travelers to Reading hospital recently and whilst we think their audiology department is far better than Poole's the guys looking after Deb have said her consultant in Poole was one of the best in the country and three of the four people we met had been trained by him. I guess its just another post code lottery as Poole don't provide hearing aids to people in Deb's position the only alternative being a quite invasive operation with medium success rate in the short term and an expected long term success of about five years. Our last appointment (last Monday) was for hearing aid fitting and testing and we are both happy to say that Deb is now 'back in the room' The senior consultant audiologist was great and soon had the devices tested, programmed and explained and we were off back up to Foxton. Mouse buttons still click, my old trainers still squeak, people talk (in Catherine Tate's phraseology) 'a load of old shit', I crunch my cereal loudly oh and I still burp a lot - its been a quiet few years.

MEETING WITH MATES 

After getting back and checking LJ was all ok after abandoning her for another long weekend, we headed off to see Mea and Les (blog link) aboard Blue Moon. We arrived later than intended (by a few hours) and headed off for a bite to eat. Blue Moon has a fantastic mooring overlooking a marina entrance but with loads of space and no adjacent neighbours, ideal. It was great to catch up again before they head to Torquay, Poole and on to their paradise island home off the coast of Thailand for the winter. See you in 2014 guys.

OFF TO TOWN

We had a great mooring a just outside Foxton but fancied a change of scene so headed for the basin in Market Harborough last Tuesday. It was a lovely little rural trip and by the time we were on the basin service moorings the sun was out and summer was back, it was a windless evening with the temperature in the twenties. We sat on a bench at the end of the basin eating our Chinese takeaway, bliss. My fortune cookie said I would receive great fortune the next sunny day, yeah right. The next day was sunny. Heading back from a quick look around the very impressive town I was shat on from a great height by a grinning pidgeon. Right that's it, time to buy my first lotto ticket for the last two years. Well luck is subjective I guess but the cookie and the poop weren't pointing me in the direction of the lottery. We did have as couple of very near misses on the way back to Foxton though with hirers in a bit of a hurry to get back to base at the end of this particularly twisty stretch and I consider myself lucky every day. I managed to give both sides of LJ a quick wash off before mooring on the new two day moorings in Foxton. The volunteer ranger/traffic wardens have clocked our number even though neither of them were totally clear how long two days is. They did say that their patch was just over 5km round trip though. I don't know how enthusiastic they will be in mid winter, but presuming the 5km covers there and back for 2.5km of moorings that would equate to about 150 moored boats on new restrictibe mooring times. Are Foxton locks THAT popular with boaters, I think not.

Mill pond like

Lots of nice gardens on the way

High on the list of favorite towns so far

Even the only empty shop had welcome to Market Harborough picture from local school children