Gales at Cathiron

Cathiron is a small hamlet near Brinklow on the North Oxford and is near All Oak Wood. We moored up here for 24 hr because of the weather. With winds in excess of 40 mph, and a relatively slack schedule, we decided that we should hunker down here for the day.

NB Monarch moored up just outside Braunston

Yesterday we left Braunston and made for Hillmorton. It was bright and sunny but also breezy. The water points in Braunston were busy so we decided to wait till later but we managed to pop into Midland Chandlers for some bits & pieces (Brasso, anti-freeze and a Muddy Waters book - more of which later). The journey to Hillmorton was straightforward and we arrived around lunchtime.

Poetry on the lock gates

The day before we had listened to a BBC Radio 4 programme on Landscape Poetry which had by  happy coincidence, featured Hillmorton Locks. Also, I had just read that Hillmorton Flight is the busiest flight on the system with 10,781 movements last year. A volunteer  lock keeper was on duty and provided helpful and friendly assistance all the way down the three double locks.

We decided to pop in to the cafe which is half way down the flight. The cafe is very much a homage to the owners' historic narrowboat Badsey but is more correctly called the Canal Chef. They produce delicious meals every day from March to October from 9am to 2pm in querky surroundings with loads of boating memorabilia. We had a great lunch with Maggie taking on board the fish cakes and I went for one of my favourites - liver and onions.

Enjoying Lunch at Badsey's, Hillmorton

Motor Badsey and butty Angel at their moorings at Hillmorton

After lunch we decided to take on water at Hillmorton but the tap was very slow. As we waited Halfie passed by and gave us a cheery greeting. We later saw Jubilee moored up at Rugby but no sign of the crew.

Approaching Newbold Tunnel we heard from passers-by that there was a problem ahead. It turned out that there was a medical emergency at bridge 50. An air ambulance was in field opposite the Barley Mow and a number of paramedics were on hand.

Emergency at Newbold

We learned later that a man had fallen from the bridge but fell onto the steeply sloping bank on the offside not into the water.

Congestion at Newbold caused by the medical emergency

The weather continued blustery and wet and we finally called it a day at Cathiron. We hunkered down for the night in heavy rain and then heard a tap on our window. It was Halfie. They came on board and had a natter and a glass of wine. Good to finally meet up. Because they were on a schedule they moved on but we stayed put.

Last night was very bumpy and the planks on the roof kept lifting kepping us awake. I went out to check our mooring lines - luckily everything was secure. The farm opposite was lambing way into the night.

Cathiron moorings, Brinklow

Today we faced the full force of the gale. Our daughter, son-in-law and our grandson Hugh visited us and we had lunch on board. Hugh's first reaction to the boat was "It's lovely here", which amused us all. Hugh enjoyed feeding the ducks and exploring the boat. We had great fun and Hugh and I read Muddy Waters. Hopefully on his next visit conditions will be suitable for a trip

Hugh & Steve reading Muddy Waters

Blustery Braunston

We left Kingfisher Marina on Saturday morning to start our journey north to Aston Marina. Like last year we are spending six months in Stone planning to do some more cruising along the Macclesfield, Peak Forest and Trent & Mersey canals.

The weather wasn't too bad as we left but we were delayed when I tested our tunnel light and found it not working. It turned out to be a faulty connection (isn't it always). Earlier I had installed our new homemade Turks Heads on the tiller. One is purely decorative but the lower one protects the tiller when the weed hatch is open.

Turks Heads on Tiller

It was cold enough for us to light the new fire and watch the Ecofan whir into action. We are impressed with the new fire and the Ecofan. The cabin is now more evenly heated.

Fire in Action

We went up the Stoke Bruerne flight accompanied by an unnamed boat who had visitors to help them A wide beam who presumably was going through the tunnel in the evening followed us up. At Stoke were greeted by Bob Westlake and Kathryn Dodington wished us well for our journey. Mike Partridge on trip boat Charlie gave us a cheery greeting as we entered Blisworth Tunnel and helpfully reassured me that our tunnel light was working. After the tunnel the wind got up and Albert began travelling crabwise along many of the open sections to the north of Gayton. We eventually moored up for the night, a bit wet and tired, at Flore.

This morning the weather was equally miserable but by the afternoon the wind was really strong. At times we were boating in horizontal rain that felt like sleet.

Camping boat William moored near Weedon

An interesting mannequin and dog sculpture near Brockhole

(Is he enjoying the daffodils?)

At Whilton Bottom Lock we found NB Morpheus waiting for us. Bob & Helen Westlake are part owners of the boat so it is familiar to us. Penny and Mike (today's crew) made good locking partners and we managed to tackle both Buckby and Braunston flights in adverse conditions. The weather continued to be unpredictable but the menu was showers and high winds. By Norton Junction there were standing waves on the canal!

Narrowboat Morpheus

We had lunch on the move again (opportunity for another boatman's lunch photo!) This time we had to resort to a cuppa-soup and a tuna sweetcorn sandwich but it hit the spot. 

Boatman's Lunch 

(Norton Junction Style)

Entering Braunston Tunnel

The Braunston tunnel transit was initially very good with no other boats in sight but as we neared the exit two boats entered the tunnel. The first we met caused us some difficulty (even though that section was straight) by wandering a lot and I had to try and anticipate what they were doing, but the second was a liability. It turned out to be sizable hire boat. Although they tucked their bow close to the tunnel wall they actually stopped and let their stern drifted out into our path. As a result were pushed into the wall and our brand new cratch cover suffered its first damage - as small tear. I suppose the hire-boat steerer didn't realise that for a boat to steer it the propeller needs to move water over the rudder and that it is better to be moving than stopped. I manged to restrain my comments as we scrapped along the tunnel wall to just a loud "Oh dear!".

Dramatic Clouds over Braunston Marina

  

We descended Braunston Flight with not too much difficulty but the wind made it testing. In late afternoon we moored up just outside Braunston Marina and cleaned up the boat. When locking in wet conditions the centre ropes get muddy and so do the cabin sides. 

The forecast for the coming week looks exciting with 49 mph gusts predicted for Tuesday! We might have to hunker down for a day. It would be great to look forward to a calm day but that appears unlikely in the near future.

Battery Monitor - Version 3

We started monitoring battery conditions (domestic) using an Adverc System DCM when about 10 years agoI installed and Adverc Battery Management System. This worked well for a number of years until one of the selector switches gave up the ghost. I then went for a Sterling system being attracted by its ampere counter facility. It has worked OK but recently the results were a little erratic and I decided that, since I was about to replace the batteries, I would look for a new higher performance monitor.

I went for a Victron BMV 702. It has smart features such as % charge and amp hours left, temperature monitoring etc. The only problem with installing it was I had to strip out all the wiring from the old monitors since it was on the positive side of the circuit and mount the new shunt and its interface on the negative, This entailed quite a bit of re-wiring but the installation now looks a lot neater. I also installed a second Adverc Easy Check LED system which is an invaluable tool for keeping tabs on batteries. As you walk through the engine room you can instantly detect and battery/charging problems by the colour of the LED. The new LED monitors the engine start battery, the old one the domestic. Hopefully the system and batteries will work as we travel north over the next few days.

Battery monitoring - Version 3

(Victron BMV 702 plus two Adverc Easy Check LEDs)

Battery monitoring - Version 2

(Sterling Power Management plus one Adverc Easy Check LED )

Battery monitoring - Version 1 

(Adverc DCM monitor top left with Adverc BM system to control charging on bottom right) 

Kempton Steam Engines

Every time we visit family in Teddington we travel along the M3 towards London and pass the imposing Metropolitan Water Works at Kempton with its magnificent buildings housing the pumping engines. Last Saturday, as we passed along the elevated section of the A316 we noticed a huge banner announcing that they were having a steaming weekend. Now who could resist that - certainly not us. The sight of huge working steam engines was irresistible.

One of the two enormous triple expansion engines 

 the Sir William Prescott

(Note the lower section contains the water pumps)

Kempton is home to two 1,000-ton triple-expansion steam pumping engines, known as Triples. One of the two massive engines has been restored and is now the largest working example in the world. In their day, these engines each pumped 19 million gallons of water to North London and worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from their installation in 1927 to their decommissioning in 1980.

I put together the video below of their working engine being started by a guest driver. Nowadays the engine only operates at a leisurely 60 psi rather than the 200 psi it ran when in commission.

Starting the Sir William Prescott

Because our granddaughters are less than 1.4 m height they were not allowed on the upper floors of the engine house so granddad went joined the guided tour of the static engine his own. I have to report that the whole family enjoyed the experience.

A very large spanner!

We also combined the visit with a trip on the neighbouring narrow gauge railway.

Fun on the narrow-gauge railway

Solar Eclipse 2015

I posted about the 1999 eclipse shortly before today's eclipse was due in the Stoke Bruerne area because at that time we had a thick blanket of cloud above us and no view of the sun. However, as the allotted time arrived we suddenly got a thinning of  the cloud base and, as if by magic, we got some good glimpses of the event through some rolling clouds.

Solar Eclipse in Northamptonshire, 20 March 2015 

I managed to take the image above by holding my SLR camera at arms length and observing the image through the eyepiece with the camera body obscuring the sun's direct illumination - not an authorised method but it worked.  

As with our experience on the Llangollen Canal, the temperature dropped as it gradually became darker. Now after the event we have clear blue skies and it's becoming a warm day. It might have actually been helpful for viewing that we had some clouds to reduce the sun's intensity.