Canal Cruising

    NAPTON ON THE HILL and FENNY COMPTON   Diane needed to replace her tiller pin which had performed a swan dive into the water when a line caught underneath it. She found one two days ago that had a deer on top at a small charming gift shop on the canal. While there she spotted a rocking chair pin at the same time which she really was taken with but did not purchase. This morning before we left, she walked over to the nearby marina shop. A rocking chair tiller pin was there waiting for her to take home. Upon her return, Diane knocked on our boat and showed me a monkey’s knot kit that she found for her grandkids. I got my shoes on and walked over to purchase some, as well. Would be fun to do such a project with the little ones, and they could hang it on their backpacks. The tiny store was also filled with huge rope woven buttons that are placed at the bow and stern of the narrow boats to help buffer bumps against other boats and banks.   The craftsmanship ...

                                                                      Ice on ice     CRICK THEN BACK TO BRAUNSTON Jan. 25   Yesterday, we had a smorgasbord of the Good, Bad, and the Ugly of canal life. With our boat owner’s blessing we pressed on through the never-ending ice aiming for the water station two miles down the canal. Mike once again led the parade doing the hard work cutting a path through the ice. At times, the ice was so thick (2 ½-3 inches) he would need to back up and charge again several times. Along the way, we passed by The Squire which eventually joined our convoy. The “Bad” was the relentless ice itself and the effort it took to break through, the time it took to do it, and the affect it had on our bodies, minds, and spirits. We did eventually arrive at the water statio...

                                                        Glamping on the canal with hot tub   YELVERTOFT Jan. 23 rd   Mike and Diane joined us this morning for oatmeal and Bailey’s Cream. If you have never tried it, you should. Dave also found some triple cream at the market and that adds a lot of richness, as well. It is creamy goodness either way. We discussed our options for today and decided to call David Dare. He had offered to drive out to meet us with anything we needed. We requested bags of coal and fuel if he was able to make it out to us. He agreed to meet us. We managed to move a hundred yards closer to the next bridge to make delivery easier. Since we weren’t cruising today, we decided to walk into the nearby village. It was about a 3-mile stroll with Diane power walking ahead of us. Our hope was to shop at the local...

                                                                 Breaking ice on the canal WELFORD JUNCTION Jan. 22   At 7 am this morning it was 23*F, and we were frozen in place. It will not be an early start if at all. David is restless and nervous about the prospect of being stuck. He has been pounding the ice encircling the boat trying to break it up and running the engine to try and circulate and warm up the water in front of Mike’s boat. Stay tuned. We received a surprising email from David Dare two days ago. We had always planned to return to the marina on the 31 st , and David had worked out an itinerary that had a few open days built in just in case of unforeseen difficulties such as ice. The unexpected email stated that we were instead due back at the marina on the 28 th not the 31 st at 10 am wit...

       Market Harborough Wharf...still some ice FOXTON LOCKS and MARKET HARBOROUGH Jan. 17 th   After our short break to warm up yesterday we continued to the Foxton Locks. Mike suggested we lead since they had not experienced any engine problems all morning. After a while we lost sight of them. We became concerned and slowed way down and eventually pulled over. When they finally came along side Mike said, “My bad. I was playing with my drone.” We waved them on keeping a watchful eye on that rascal.   Before entering the locks, we stopped for water and found that one station was frozen. We waited for the working faucet hoping that we were going to make it in time before they closed the locks. It was 2:00 when we stopped and the last boat is allowed to go through at 2:45. Mike was flagged into the first lock by the lock keeper and Dave thought we had better be ready so stopped taking on water and prepared to enter the first lock once Mike was through...