You never know what you might see - CHECK THIS OUT...

When we left our moorings it was in thick fog, and there was a log jamb in the water next to us. A mixture of logs and weed had floated down during the night and parked itself next to TQ. No problem getting out though, and we made or way upstream in the fog toward Water Newton. The fog had nearly lifted by time we got there and the sun was gently warming the Autumn air.

Water Newton

Photos don't do it justice

Cobwebs in the lock gate

After Water Newton and in the distance we could see steam rising in large quantities. Its Thursday, the Nene Valley Railway can't be running steam today can they? They surley can, and what a surprise too.
Cop a load of this:-

Introducing The Duke of Gloucester

Apparently, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester visited the Nene Valley Railway yesterday and today the locomotive was doing some photographic work for the railway enthusiasts. It can't be denied, this is an amazing piece of engineering, it has a weighty presence that I find is quite astounding. You can sense the power and ability even though it was only trundling up and back the line a few times, easy work for this giant. There are steam engines and there are real steam engines, this falls into the category of the biggest and best steam engines.

There are some quite nice properties around here.

This one's empty, probably for sale.

Very Wisteria Lane

Oh! look, two blokes wearing the same hat.

It's a sign to indicate canoe portage. There's a lot of this goes on down the Nene.

TQ moored near Ashton Lock

As the Sun sinks slowly in the West...

Its been another steaming (literally) hot day today, and it looks like tomorrow is going to be much the same. Red sky at night - shepherds delight, red sky in the morning - shepherds house is on fire!

There again and back again

'Twas a foggy morning this morning, though it soon cleared and we've had wall to wall sunshine all day, and its been very warm. This is the first time we've had decent weather since we've had TQ, it makes a terrific difference.

Tonight is the first time we've seen TV as the aerial is broken so I've cobbled together an aerial from the base of the old one and a piece of welding rod I use for cleaning the gutter drain tubes under the deck board and weed hatch. It works perfectly.

The perfect bodge

The perfect result

Good news, the new Webasto is now in our possession and I'll fit it later in the week. More good news, the repair to the exhaust is still holding out. Even more good news, the bow thruster still works, though we only give it minimum use.

What have we done today? We've been back into Peterborough again and this time we went to Peterborough Boating Center to pick up the Webasto and fill up the diesel tank. Then we filled up the water tank on the Embankment. Then Lin went shopping in Asda again, more on that later. We ended up back at Alwalton Lock in exactly the same place (within a few millimetres) of where we were this morning. It's a lovely spot, only marred by the noise of the A1 trunk road, though we've experienced worse.
Now, shopping at Asda. We had steak tonight, finest rib eye, with onions. Unfortunately, Asda didn't have any disposable barbecues ("the season's over, you know") so Lin had to cook it in the grill. It was delicious, cooked right through and tender on the inside, with caramelised juices on the outside, all washed down with a glass of Abbot.

More tomorrow.

More trouble - minor this time.

We're not too keen on The Embankment, only really due to the Fairground, which isn't there all year round. The shining sun made things a bit better but it wasn't long before a mist rolled in and most of the morning was shrouded in cloud. We slipped our moorings and made our way to the sanitary station for water and a pump out. And the PUMPOUT IS FREE, YES FREE! The pump on button has to be pressed on the wall of the toilet block to get it to work, and it switches off automatically when done. When we left our moorings we did a 180 to get to the sanitary station, another 180 to ensure the port side of TQ is on the Embankment, and another 180 when we left to head out of Peterborough. The river is plenty wide enough here and its possible to turn in one, so its all very easy. To Asda then, to do a bit of shopping, (gotta be dun), and onward to Orton Lock, stopping at Alwarton Lock for tonight in the backwater beside the lock - ideal.

By lunchtime the sun came out and it turned quite hot this afternoon, there's a light breeze to slightly chill the suns heat - a bit of relief, really.

I decided to get down and dirty and investigate why the bowthruster has failed. So first things first, read the book, and I learned a lot from that. So off with the lid to see what's inside. Oh! dear, how sad, never mind.
There's 30mm depth of water in the bottom. That can't be doing it much good.

The bow thruster motor.

There's a cavity with the thrust tube and mounting for the mechanism which is bolted to the mounting. Various wires lying loose round and about, so I unplugged the control supply and the contacts inside are covered in verdigris. Not good for conducting electricity, a squirt of WD40 should help here. Next the fuse (checked - OK), cleaned contacts and replaced.

Too much verdigris here

Then check the brushes, Aha! here's the problem, the wire bonded into the carbon brush has burnt through very close to the brush. So how am I going to get around this I ask myself. Then I had a light bulb moment. Place the remaining wire under the retaining leaf spring where it touches the carbon brush. The spring will clamp the wire to the brush and make electrical contact. Right lets test it - on with the control panel, press starboard - YES! Port - YES! bodge accomplished. Hopefully it will do 'till we get back to Calcutt. Note to self (and anyone else who would like to know), Brushes as fitted:- 4 x Vetus part # BP1133. Note this brush appears to be for a 24v system, identified by it having one wire as in the photo:-

Also the brush holder appears to have melted slightly.
(This is one of the remaining good brushes)

Now I've a feeling the wrong brushes have been fitted, as it says in the manual all 12v systems have twin flyleads fitted to the brushes. This stands to reason as 12v systems draw twice as many amps as a 24v system, and therefore requires more wire to carry the load. The correct brushes should be Vetus part # 1134, with twin flyleads. Am I right or am I wrong?


I've placed the cover back on and noted one of the bolts has a stripped thread. Lets hope it all holds out.

We're here at Alwalton Lock

Back to Peterborough tomorrow to collect a parcel.

Its a lovely evening, me and my beer are going to watch the sun go down - cheers!

We're in Peterborough with time to kill.

We left Wansford this morning in bright hazy sunshine and slowly meandered our way to the first of three locks, Water Newton Lock. This is a very pretty place and the waterside church even has its own boathouse.

Just imagine the Bride arriving by steam launch

Gate open ready to go in.

Going up srteam you needn't open the paddles.

Water Newton Mill

Next is Alwalton Lock. This is quite pleasant here too and there are moorings in the bywater right next to the lock.

The final lock today is Orton Lock. Here the first signs of the city are evident. there is a golf course on one side and Peterborough Yacht Club moor on the South Bank. There's a lot of boats here, all tied up and no one about. The Nene Valley Railway terminates here aswell. Onward and still quite rural, there's no sign of Peterboroughs river heritage until we get to the railway bridges.

Spectacular cast iron railway bridge over the Nene

We moored on The Embankment next to a Fun Fair (not good) and in the afternoon there was some very loud thump thump music noise, so we picked up our mooring ropes and moved up through the High Road Bridge. There's a few more narrowboats here but the mooring rings are widely spaced and its a job to find a place suitable. I've had to join ropes together in order to make them long enough to reach.

A parcel has been posted to arrive at Peterborough Boating Centre on Wednesday, so we'll have to hang around 'till then to collect it. It's a new Webasto heater.

We've not had any TV since we've been on board (the aerial has gone open circuit) and I thought I'd try out our new satellite system. I think, no I'm sure I found the dot in the sky, but the receiver says no. I'm going to need to work on the configuration.

More tomorrow.

So much happened today...

What a day its been, we left our moorings at Fotheringhay at around 09:40hrs and chugged down stream without much in the way of plans.
  

Fotheringhay Church





 First we spotted some red kites. How do I know? They've got white patches under their wings and black wing tips. Also there's that distinctive vee tail. Impossible to take a photo, though. Whilst staring into the sky, we spotted some parachutists further in the distance. The aircraft doing the dropping was flat out all day making sortie after sortie with more parachutists.

It was very windy again today, you can tell by the way the trees are bending.
Paul McCartney sang "The willow turns its back on inclement weather"

At Yarwell Lock we moored up on the landings there and a fellow from the boat already in the lock said that the mechanism had broken and the guillotine gate had stuck half way down. He couldn't get his boat out of the lock because the gate was down too far, and he couldn't fill it because the gate wasn't down far enough. He'd phoned the Environment Agency and they were sending someone to fix it. After the risk assessment and the method statement had been written a work permit was applied for. Then a job sheet had to be issued and overtime at 2x rate (Sunday) had to be authorised...No, I'm kidding, they got on with it straight away and it wasn't long before we able to go through. Apparently a shear pin dropped out, its a mechanical fuse.

EA engineers at work. Well done fellas and thank you.




 

Our mooring for the night (48 hour)

A bit of additional information for you.

View over the railway bridge

Wansford Signal Box

Shortly after we arrived...good job I had the camers ready.






The driver is waving at Lin on TQ - He's pulled!



An aerobatic display

And to cap it all off, we had our own private aerobatic display by this pilot in the bi-plane - The perfect end to the day.

Day Seven...

Another smashing day today, it started off misty with clear skies and then clouded over for much of it until around 3pm when the sun broke through again, and it was warm.

The view from TQ at 07:00hrs today.

The very pretty Lilford Lock

The Church at Cotterstock

They like their churches around here, they're all large and well looked after, and so many of them. I'll blog a photo of Fotheringhay Church tomorrow.

Our current location

Its lovely here, you could hear a pin drop.

I didn't realise how long the River Nene is. CanalplanAC reckons we could go as far as Ely on the River Great Ouse, but we have to turn back on Wednesday as that is our halfway point time wise. In addition we have to pick up a parcel from a boatyard in Peterborough on Tuesday/Wednesday, and then I have to fit the new Webasto heater. All this is going to take time, so we're going to call it quits and fore go the Middle Level and the Great Ouse this time.

One thing I've noticed today, there are more moorings along this stretch of river than further South-West, some even have facilities.

By the way, the exhaust is still holding its own.


Don't miss another exciting episode tomorrow. (Hopefully).

The best day so far.

The exhaust is holding up nicely and the sun shone for most of the day - and it was warm with a lot less wind. First things first and Lin did some shopping in Wellingborough and posted a parcel while I washed up the breakfast dishes. When she came back we left our mooring and made our way to the first lock of the day, Wellingborough Lower Lock. This is unusual in that there are two ground paddles on one side and none on the other.

This viaduct is known as High Rail Bridge

 There's some spectacular scenery on the Nene and some secluded places too.

Big sky country

Seen at Rushden and Diamonds Football Club

 Take no notice what any of the books tell you, there is nothing here for the boater. In fact we're lucky to have moorings, and this goes for most places along the Nene. The books say there are moorings with services in many places, but in reality very little of it exists.



Irthlingborough Lock - Deepest on the Nene

 

Winding me wheel

It has to be said the weather has really made today, this doesn't happen to us - ever, so lets hope tomorrow is similar. I've just checked the forecast and it bodes well, although windy at times, and Wednesday is going to be sunny, 26C and 14mph winds from the South. No, that can't be right.

Tonight we're moored on the first public moorings we've seen with water available. It's at Islip on a little backwater very close to the main road bridge and only big enough for two narrow boats. Also, across the road is The Woolpack, (nothing to do with Emmerdale), where we had excellent fish and chips, two for less than £10.00. Might call in on the way back.

Weed, weed and more weed.

We'ed (accidental pun) been making good progress and enjoying the scenery when we came upon this:-

A bit of a problem

Unable to fully open the gates here!

OK here's the plan. We fill the lock, and open both gates to get in as it's impossible to get one gate fully open. Reverse TQ off the lock mooring and go back far enough to line up with the entrance. Give the engine a bit of gun and develop some speed (not too much, you need to stop the other side of the weed), power over/through the weed and place the engine in neutral and coast through the rest of the way to prevent the prop becoming entangled. Once stopped in the lock, tie up well to the bollards and engage forward motion and carefully increase engine speed to "blow" the weed back out and clear of the gate entrance. Now we can close the gates and operate the lock normally. However, we had to do this after:-

Down the hatch!

There wasn't much, but it was enough to make steering difficult.

Our mooring for the night is in Wellingborough on The Embankment. It's OK but the flourmill is a bit noisy.

Tonights mooring

Testing day and EA license

Today we tested the repair to the exhaust which Kevin expertly bodged for us. More of that later but first I have to purchase a temporary license, a special windlass for one lock and a key for most other locks, from the shop at Gayton Marina. I also purchased a guide for the Fens. Over £180 ouch, we won't be doing that again. So much for the 50% out of season discount. I think I may have been over charged and I'm going to query it with the Environment Agency. I needed to top up the water tank and we helped ourselves to the supply at the quay side. I found our new flat cassette hose ideal for the purpose as it rolls back into the cassette so easily and stows away as a flat pack.

Onward, and we made our way down the thirteen Rothersthorpe Flight Locks after the which the canal becomes very narrow and reedy. The water is crystal clear and you can see the bottom of the canal, and its quite shallow but we didn't get stuck. through the remaining locks and we join the River Nene into Northampton. We moored just after the pedestrian bridge to do some shopping in Morrisons and then onward into Town Lock. This is the first of many on the Nene and a key is required for this one. One thing that is a bit strange to us is that you can leave the gate open at either end when you leave the lock. The first three Locks have the more familiar gates and it's not until you get to Weston Favell Lock that you find the guillotine type at the lower end. EA insist you leave this open irrespective of the direction you're travelling.

We struggled to find a mooring for the night and the first place was in Northampton and we didn't fancy that, so we pushed on to Weston Favell where there were decent moorings but they were full, so we had to go on further to Billing where there is plenty of room in the secure Aquadrome. (£6.50/night).

Nice Marina

Open surroundings

Its been very windy especially on the more open stretches and after preparing/positioning for moorings at Weston Favell and finding I couldn't get in there, I had to back out and because of the wind, do a 360 to align TQ up for the lock.

Oh! yes, and I have to mention, Kevins superbodge has worked a treat. With a clean air filter and no more smutty exhaust gas, TQ is performing well again. I just hope another hole doesn't appear until the unit can be replaced.

Schmokin'

Well it all happened at once. The Webasto water heater failed, so no hot water in the mornings and no central heating at night, not that we need it, its been reasonably warm. Actually its been failed for some time The engine failed, or to be more precise the silencer failed and has been for some time it seems. There was a big hole in it and Kevin from PBS Pittams Boat Services came to repair it for us. And what a stirling job he did too, with fast and friendly service. Of course a new silencer needs to be fitted, in fact its just as well to replace the whole exhaust system, and that will be done at some point. What happened was...as I've said the silencer was holed and diesel fumes and smut filled the engine 'ole. This means the engine is drawing in its own (nasty) smell and reprocessing it, making the smell even nastier. As it draws air in the air filter captures all the smut which builds up and eventually blocks the filter. Now the engine can't breathe, but the same amount of fuel is metered into the cylinders with a reduced quantity of air hence the lack of power and the thick black smoke.

Air filter totally choked with soot

Kevin hard at work mixing the paste

That piece of tin next to the paste pot was formerly a beer can. Recycling at its finest.

Trouble with TQ and an emergency!

It's Monday morning and it's cold. Guess what - Webasto central heating doesn't work, so no hot water until the engine has been running. That's something else I have to look at. The other thing is the engine exhaust. It's leakng - badly. This means the engine is breathing in its own fumes. This is not good, your car would not pass the MoT and your aircraft would be grounded. But for our boat it's OK - NOT!


We left Braunston after taking a look around Midland Chandlers, (I bought an exhaust bandage to fix the leak), and made our way down to Braunston Locks, through Braunston Tunnel, straight on past Norton Junction to the Buckby Locks. As we approached the locks at Braunston there was a helicopter circling above and eventually it landed in an adjacent field. Turns out there was a bit of an incident going on at the canal side ahead. Apparently a woman had stepped off a narrowboat, slipped and fell hitting her head on the concrete quay side. All was well in the end, she was up and walking after the paramedics had done their bit.

We met up with a smashing couple today, Raymond and Jane aboard N.B. Kathleen Margaret, we twinned up with them to go down the Braunston and Buckby Locks. There are currently notices on most of the locks requesting that you wait an hour if there is just one boat, for another to come along so you can share the locks and save water.

We went ahead of our new found friends and moored up at The Wharf in Bugbrooke where they passed us shortly after. Hopefully we'll meet again soon.

I had a look at fitting the bandage on the exhaust but unfortunately I couldn't find exactly where it was leaking so I had to abandon that idea. The problem is, there is black smoke filling the engine hole and blocking the engines air filter. This means the same quantity of fuel is getting into the engine but with a drastically reduced air content resulting in reduced power and thick black smoke. (Even more to block the air filter). We're heading out onto the River Nene tomorrow, but not until the engineer at Carefree has been consulted first.
 

Air Ambulance in a field near Braunston Top Lock

Pretty country property at Norton Junction

OK then its Plan 'C'

Fenlands here we come. I've done some research and the necessary extra Environment Agency license is 50% off after September 1st - a bonus. (See this). According to CanalplanAC its 276 miles and 150 locks. All we have to do now is work out how long we'll be on EA waters and purchase the appropriate length license.

The journey to Calcutt was uneventful although our first real attempt at using our sat nav had a hiccup and I think that was our fault. Once sorted it was all fairly straight forward. This is our first visit to Calcutt and I'm very impressed with the service. One of the engineers even offered to lend us a special windlass needed at one particular lock, but unfortunately he couldn't find it. I've discovered there is a leak in the exhaust system, it's not noisy but fumes fill the engine room which can't really be good for the engine. Also there is soot everywhere and an unpleasant smell. I'll see if I can get some Gun Gum and a bandage to seal it up. Midland Chandlers are just around the corner, so I'll see what they've got. I also need some silicone sealant to stick the roof headlight back on and some 40mm plastic pipe fittings for my pump out waste hose.

This afternoon there was a tremendous amount of canal traffic, we had a hotel boat and butty leading us all the way into Braunston. There was quite a queue trailing, and we managed to get a space outside The Boathouse. Of course we had to go in and we had a very pleasant meal, two for one.

This mornings packing session

The old Pump House at Braunston

TQ moored at The Boathouse

Sunset at Braunston

We took a stroll down to the lock to see if BW had locked them to save water but they are all open, which means an early start for us tomorrow.

According to the BBC...

...It looks like Plan B will be in operation if their long range weather forecast is anything to go by. That coupled with the water shortage restrictions oop Naaf indicates a better trip dan Saaf. This is what they say at the BBC:-

Monday 19 September 2011 to Sunday 25 September 2011



A weather split


During this week we will start to see a bit of a split developing in the weather. Low pressure will dominate across the northwest of the UK, whereas more settled weather will take hold of the southeast. This means the northwest will feel very autumnal and can expect to see wet and windy weather but the southeast should see some drier and brighter spells.
The only spanner in the works could be the remains of further ex-tropical weather systems getting caught up at our latitudes, which, as we're seeing this week, can be a feature of the weather at this time of year.


Monday 26 September 2011 to Sunday 9 October 2011


The first frost?


As we head into October and our nights have become longer than our days, we will probably start seeing our first frosts in some sheltlered, inland spots.
Whilst rainfall and sunshine amounts are likely to be about normal for this time of year for most places, it does look as though western Scotland will see more rainfall than usual with eastern Scotland likely to see a little more sunshine. The southwest of England on the other hand may be in for a rather cloudy couple of weeks.

The decision has yet to be made.

Preparing for the start

Lots to think about this week, cat, vet, cattery, food, clothes, equipment etc. Roll on Thursday at 16:00hrs, "Yabadabadoo" as Fred Flintstone would say, Then its twenty five consecutive days holiday, twenty one of which will be chugging around the Leicester Ring, The Ashby Canal and the Market Harborough Arm. At least thats plan A. Plan B is to head on down to Limehouse Basin in London and back. Hopefully there'll be loads of rain this week to fill the reservoirs and canals and hopefully all of it will be at night so that it doesn't spoil the current users holiday.

Food grade flat hose cassette

We're going to try one of these, I'm fed up with wrestling that length of spaghetti from the front locker every time we fill with water. Yes, I know you have to unroll it all, but you have to do that with the spaghetti. We'll let you know how we get on.

Another thing I've invested in is a manual pump for the black tank. (Why do they call it black when its brown?) I refuse to pay £24.00 for a pump out when I can do it for free. Six pump outs and it will have paid for itself.

Self  pump out kit