Narrowboat Alacrity

I was watching this mornings 6am Breakfast programme on BBC1, in their review of the papers the Daily Mail reports on:

  “The new age of the canal: More passengers now than during the 18th century heyday”

Ray Massey writes that:

Now however, 200 years after their heyday, they are booming again. A report reveals today that the number of boats on Britain’s waterways is greater than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.And this time round leisure, not business, is driving the boom. In place of the old horse-drawn barge there is the refurbished narrow boat, cruiser or sailing dinghy.

 Shhhhhh dont tell everyone……………………………………………………………!!!!

Read Ray Massey’s full report in the Daily Mail here

Report from British Waterways Newsroom (Going With The Flow - 60 Years Of Public Service)

The Full Report from British Waterways http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/annualreport

Well I have just got back after a week working on Alacrity’s refit. I took everything I needed with me or so I thought but forgot my laptop so be prepared for an avalanche of posts.

I paid a visit to Enfield Timber today and managed to source some Southern Yellow Pine for Alacrity’s window linings.

The staff at Enfield Timber there are so helpful, nothing is too much trouble. They machined up the exact sizes I needed and gave me advice on the best way of preparing the timber for varnishing.

I was supprised that I would need seventy feet of timber to complete the linings but thats nine windows worth.

After an exhausting day spring cleaning Alacrity we decided to eat out, we hadn’t visited The Mill House Inn at Braunston for a while so decided to eat there.

It was a warm evening so we walked along the towpath the canal was still busy with many boats passing.

 There was a sign propped up at the entrance to the Mill House “Chef required apply within” we should have stopped there…………. It was quiet inside as it was just six o’clock only about twenty people in, mmmmmmm my favorite beers were on draught, Bass and Abbot…… we ordered a glass of wine for Jo and a pint of Bass for me the barmaid dissappeared to open some wine she came back five minutes later….. “The Bass is off”… no apology….ok i’ll have a pint of Abbot……………………….

We found a table and looked at the menu (which had changed a lot) and decided on a pasta dish with chicken, duly ordered we waited…..It took about twenty minutes for the food to arrive ………………The plates were stone cold and the food luke warm………yes I know I should have sent it back then, but having waited I was hungry, I must say the pasta tasted great but a little heat would have helped. We told the waitress but no apology was forthcoming.

Jo decided she wanted desert so we ordered a chocolate fudge cake with Icecream and a Pineapple upsidedown sponge with custard ………very tasty but again on cold plates……..

It will be a long time before we visit there again!!!!!!!

I have now made the changes to the Photograph Gallery. So I should not be messing about with it in future apart from adding new content.

I have added today the pictures from the Tring Canal Festival  last Bank Holiday.

Please take a look.

 After looking at the weather forecast we decided to give  Crick a miss and go to the local Tring Canal Festival run by the Wendover Arm Trust. Last year the Festival had to be cancelled after the first day due to overnight storms. So we thought it best to go today.

We were very lucky having a windy but dry afternoon. The festival was very well attended with boats lining both sides of the canal.

The Wendover Arm branches off the Grand Union canal at Bulbourne Junction near the top of the Marsworth Flight of Locks.

 Archimedes & Ara

Looking towards Tringford Pumping Station

Looking towards Festival site

 Definatly not a “Figment”

For me the Falconary display was magical. These birds are masters of the sky and pure killing machines, except for the Vulture who prefered to walk and was a bit like a Dyson with wings.

Golden Eagle

American Falcon

Vulture

Please help the Wendover Arm Trust in their BLOCKAID Campaign to raise money to buy 90,000 concrete blocks to be used in the restoration of the canal section between Little Tring through to Buckland - a length of about 2 miles.

Well if there was anything that would persuade me to slim down a bit it would be the hell that is topping up Alacrity’s battery bank.

You need to be a weight lifter and a contortionist just to get to them, to fill them you also need eyes that swivel independently like a chameleon so you can see how much water you are adding.

Why didn’t I remember the Durite automatic battery filler I bought from The Toolbox Shop

It’s worth its weight in gold and a snip at £15.

All you do is fill with de-ionised top up water and press down into the battery filler and hey presto it fills to a preset level when you take it out the spring loaded top shuts off the water so no mess……

Well back to the batteries do I ?……..loose weight ………….well maybe?…………….A bit of redesign and woodwork ………..a definite yes!

I didn’t need the alarm clock today………..as soon as I awoke I felt like a greyhound when the trap opens……..

I had done the shopping for the weekend yesterday so all I had to do was put it in the cool bag, put the cats on their automatic feeders and go………..not so quick John……..Ah yes I forgot about SWIMBO….need I say more. Groan………………pack, tidy up wipe this, wipe that, have you done……………………………..you know how it goes.

 Well finaly we arrived ……Just looking at the moored boats, The sounds and smells are a panacea to the battered brain…….

Not having visited Alacrity for a couple of months I expected to find her damp….not so, But she was full of spiders who took umbrage at being disturbed. They were abseiling out of the curtains and assorted corners for hours much to Jo’s disgust (she really hates spiders) so the air was rent with squeeks and other sounds of loathing.

We planned to take Alacrity out and decided to take her over to the Loading dock to fill her water tank and get some gas.

Talking to Paul from the Marina he said that this was the busiest weekend of the year so far and that due to the bad weather most owners were just starting the season.

Now for the smelly bit, we moved around to the pump out and found Nineveh waiting for a mooring to go on brokerage. With all the chores complete we moved off.

Piccadilly Circus or what Iv’e never seen so many boats on the move and everybody happy. We slowly motored down to Braunston Turn and turned left for Napton and Warwick we had decided not to go far and moored just after bridge 101.

Well thats work over for another week and it’s a bank holiday………………………………

Yes I have been tardy in posting this month but given the problems with my mother in law coming out of hospital and settling back in her home.

Jo and I have moved her bed so she can live downstairs. and rearanged things so she can be as comfortable as possible. She has carers coming in twice a day and meals on wheels (Which she describes as over priced slops) so she is well looked after.

Never mind I’m going boating this weekend ……….Floating stress relief………..Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

It was going to be an early start but having to settle the cats and set up their feeders took a bit of time………Yes can we go now, I get the thumbs up from SWMBO ………. Easy journey up the M1 not too much traffic so arrived at Braunston with sanity intact.

Braunston Marina

mmmmmm  The feeling being here is like a comfort blanket I know is sounds corny but you can feel the calm descend…………. The autumn tints are in the hedgerows and trees and there is a definite chill in the wind…….yes rambling on again!!

Onboard at last at least there is no damp smell, open the curtains yuck lots of spiders descend they seem a bit miffed about being evicted from their winter homes, yes I know that they keep the flies down but I still don’t want them abseiling down into my tea or my ear when I’m asleep.

Water on, Electric on, Gas on I bring Alacrity to life, with some kindling and logs I light the stove and feel the heat almost immediately…………Kettle on!!…

Well there is no damage from leaving her so long apart from a large tin of Bitumen hull paint which seems to have rusted through in the front locker leaking a trail of thick sticky black gunge under the matting on the welldeck…..2 hours later a large quantity of white spirit and lots of rag we managed to remove it all!!!!………. nice smell though…………

Under orders from SWMBO I set up the TV aerial so she can watch ” Celebrity Come Dancing “…….and start to cook the evening meal to be fair she has borne the brunt of my griping about the tin of bitumen leaking. Well she did marry a “Grumpy old man”