Our first mooring of 2017 was one of our favourites. We
refer to it as All Oaks Corner because
it‘s next to All Oaks Wood near Brinklow.
Frosty Boating from Hillmorton to All Oaks Corner
Chilly Day at All Oaks Corner.
Last time we were there, the ewes in the field on the other side of the
cut had just given birth and we watched the new lambs gambolling down to the
canal for a drink. This time when we looked out of the window the sheep looking
back were way past their gambolling days and just looked cold and miserable.
The day after we arrived the canal froze over and remained frozen for most of
our stay.
Sunset at All Oaks Corner
When we walked back for the car, instead of following the
towpath we cut across the fields back to Newbold. If we’d got up a bit earlier
and got out before the sun had time to defrost the mud it would have been
lovely. Well it was still lovely, but in a very muddy kind of way. On the plus side there was a fallen ash tree
in the field alongside our mooring, so with the help of Dave’s Christmas
present...
...by the time we left most of it was on our roof.
Dave's Workshop.
This is our sixth winter on the cut and so far we think
we’ve got away quite lightly. The year before we moved aboard Legend other
boaters told us that the temperature in some places was as low as -15˚C
and the canal was frozen for seven weeks. That length of time without moving
creates a whole raft of problems and over the years we’ve tried to address as
many of them as we can to make sure that if it gets as bad as 2010 then we’ll
be prepared. One of the less savoury problems is this – If the taps are frozen,
having emptied the toilet cassette, how do you then rinse it? Our solution, which we had cause to test out
at Hillmorton services, is to take a bucket along and, after making a hole in
the ice, fill it with canal water.
Cassette rinsed, sluice flushed and a happy boat again.
As it was a new year, and as we’d bought a new duvet and
some pillows for when the kids came to stay, we felt we ought to embark on a
rather ruthless boat clear out, starting in the wardrobe and proceeding towards
the bow. This resulted in a bin bag of stuff going to charity shops and another
bin-bag going in the clothing re-cycling bin at the tip. There is now more air
circulating in the wardrobe and all the spare bedding fits in the cupboard
under the bed again. We have yet to address both the engine room (which used to
be tidy and now isn’t) and the bathroom cupboard.
Over the first January weekend we had a round trip in the
car. Our first port of call on Saturday was Great Haywood marina where Laura
and Alison were moored for the winter. We all went for a walk past Tixal Wide...
...and through the Shugborough Estate before returning to Large Marge for
delicious pork chops from the farm shop for tea. In the morning we had what is
fast becoming a tradition with the Margees; a pyjama party with bacon butties.
On Sunday we were off to Mytchett and a celebration meal out
with birthday girl Karen, birthday boy Andrew, Mum, Dad, Wendy and Alex.
No pyjama
party this time as Karen had to go to work on her birthday, but we got up and
made her scrambled eggs on toast and had pancakes for when she got home. In the
evening we were back to a very cold boat, where we sat and ate steaming soup...
...before snuggling into bed with hottie bottles while our little Morso worked its
magic.
The horrendous storm that had been forecast for the second
week of 2017 was, when it arrived, a bit of damp squib. There was some mild gusting, a light sprinkling of snow and then it went back to being grey and cold.
We walked into Brinklow and back along the cut where our day was cheered up no
end by some beautiful snowdrops holding their heads high and banishing the
winter weather.
Lindsay and Paul were away from their boat for a night so we
looked after Jack, their spaniel, while they were gone.
He’s a lovely dog and
it was a pleasure having him to stay, although we’re not sure he was all that
happy about the arrangement. Every time we went past our car he stopped and
looked at us as if to say “When am I going home?” In the morning Dave took him
out for a walk in the pouring rain and then just after they’d both dried out
Paul rang to say he was back. We picked Paul up from the station and took him
back to Happy Daze where Jack was a whole lot happier.
We waited till the
afternoon when the rain stopped before pulling the pins and setting off from
All Oaks to Ansty and moored up opposite the pub just as the light was fading.
On the way our trusty old Lister engine was a bit lumpy to start with, but it
cleared up after a mile or so and was fine the rest of the way. We put it down
to air getting into the fuel line from not being used for a fortnight, however,
two days later, when we set off for Hawkesbury Junction we found the real
reason. On the day in-between Lindsay and Paul saved us a very boggy walk or a
wet cycle ride back to our car. The towpath between Brinklow and Ansty is
rubbish at the best of times, but after a week of rain in the winter it’s like
a swamp.
We’d arranged to meet Bob and Mandy at Hawkesbury. They were
coming over in their car for lunch, so we wanted to get Legend filled up with
water and moored up in plenty of time. As soon as we’d finished breakfast we
set off but before we’d even got to Ansty water point the engine went from fine, to lumpy, to very lumpy, to stopped. With no forward propulsion and therefore no steering capability, we casually drifted into the mud on the off side. Why narrowboats seem drawn to brambles and overhanging branches is one of life's unsolved mysteries. With as much dignity as we could muster we untangled ourselves and like Venetian gondoliers gently punted Legend back across to the towpath. Once there, and with lots of "to me, to you", we carefully maneuvered ourselves round the moored boats to the water point. While we filled up with water
we pondered our predicament. Dave dipped the diesel tank and found that there
was still about 25 litres in it; we’d been purposefully keeping it low as we
were going to fill up in Hawne Basin when we get there, however, we’ve never
let it get that low before. We
wondered if perhaps we might have got to the point where the circles in the Venn Diagram depicting the end of the intake pipe and the surface of the contents of the tank had overlapped.
In other words we’d run out of diesel.
Plan a. Our first call was to the nearest boat yard, Rose
Narrowboats in Brinklow. The very nice lady told us that there’d be no problem
getting some diesel from them, but they could only put it in a 20 litre or
bigger jerry can, due to their pump foaming up with anything smaller. We could
get a jerry can from Screwfix, but at £20 each that made it rather expensive
diesel, and we didn’t really want to buy one because we’d have nowhere to put
it.
Plan b. Go to a garage and buy a couple of plastic fuel
cans, fill them with road diesel and put it in the tank. The first garage Dave
went to (Texaco) did sell plastic fuel cans, but at £7.99 each. For that sort
of money we might as well have a jerry can.
Plan c. Buy 2 plastic fuel cans from Asda (£4 each) and the
diesel from Asda (2p cheaper)
So that’s what we did. Two trips gave us 20 litres; enough
to prove our diagnosis correct and, once we’d bled the pump, get us going
again. All in all we were stopped for an hour and a half, and for most of that
we were filling up with water anyway so we were quite proud of ourselves. With
seemingly perfect timing we arrived at Hawkesbury Junction just as Bob and
Mandy were walking up the towpath from the car park. It would have all looked
incredibly well planned if we hadn’t already phoned them and told them of our
plight.
We had a lovely afternoon with Bob & Mandy, after lunch
we all went for a little walk up the Coventry canal, then they very kindly
bought us a beer in the Greyhound and gave us a lift back to Ansty for the car. Another boggy walk avoided - our friends are so good to us.
In the evening we got the Nicholson guide out to find the
next boatyard or marina that we’d be passing so we could get another 50 litres
or so. We needn’t have bothered. The next morning while we were eating
breakfast, we heard the steady thump..thump..thump of a traditional engine and
looked out of the window to see Mark on the fuel boat Callisto coming through
the stop lock, loaded to the gunnels with fresh supplies.
While we were making
our purchase, Mark told us that due to a delivery hold up that morning, he was
running late and should have been through Hawkesbury an hour and a half
earlier. We would have still been in bed and would have missed him. That’s Karma
being nice to us again.
We’re now in the lovely smug position of having a full water
tank, a spare gas bottle, enough diesel and two empty cassettes. The car is in
the car park just the other side of a very nice pub and there are bins,
recycling and toilets there as well . As far as boaters are concerned, this is
heaven.
And it Looks Pretty Too
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