Thick me....

OK - so I don't get it!!
I paid £1.10 a litre for my diesel. Apparantly that is split 60% at full fuel duty for propulsion, and 40% at discounted rate for generation and heating. Forget the fact that that is all wrong and daft in the first place. However, how come given that equation - I can buy white diesel at 100% full fuel duty for £1.07 at the most expensive garage in Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire. I can only guess the boatyards are now ripping us off.....
Anyone got a 57foot trailer and hoist?

Long lost friends

After many a phone call, email, text and any other method of communication you can think of, finally Dave and Sheila made it to K2 to visit. Haven't seen Sheila for about 4 years, and Dave for about 2... So in the wind and rain that is our winter, or late Autumn if you look at the colour of the trees, we luxuriated on Brinklow Fish and Chips and cruised to Stretton Stop and back, via the bank.... No not the one that we own and doesn't have any money, rather the mud one, courtesy of Sheilas helmsmanship and my non-watchful eye!!
Still it was a great trip, and good to be out and about for a bit! Filled with diesel at Rose - £1.10, that's a shock from the old 84p thing. First time I've filled up since November 1st, so best I get used to it I suppose! I could rant about Europe, and our governments confusion, or just accept that taxes and death are the 2 certainties in life and get on with getting the cheque book out!!
Now K2 is snug as a bug, and shut down against the wind and rain, and I'm heading for a hot soak in the bath!!!

Pictures!

So being a rude blogger - forgot to post the picture of Nb Ten Bob Note - so here it is, with my apologies to Ernie, that it was taken but not published!!

A picture exchange with my Dad and Brother, means a couple of pictures that I would never be able to take...

Your view, just so you can recognise me coming the other way down the cut... All Oaks is a lovely spot - and is a beautiful backdrop to a cruise start. At Brinklow we are really fortunate to have such a lovely starting point.

Oh yes, and second picture, K2 making the turn at Hawkesbury, yes she does go round in one go!!

To Atherston and back...

Out Saturday at 0800hrs for the first ever Edwards flotilla cruise! A long day saw the fleet moored up in a fantastic spot just below the locks, and down the cut from a winding hole, perfect for me to turn and Andy and Dad to continue up the flight on Sunday.

No sooner had we turned out of the marina, than who should we pass than Ernie on NB Ten Bob Note (again for me!!) although Andy hadn't crossed paths before.

An uneventful, but beautiful run to Atherston, with us passing very few boats along the way.

With a Sunday roast on Saturday, and a fried breakfast on Sunday, I was geared up and ready to head for home, but forgot the reduced hour on daylight, so didn't quite make it back to the marina on Sunday night, so ended up a mile out in All Oaks Wood, a fantastic spot, although hopeless for mooring as it has a concrete bank side that you can't stake to. I couldn't continue as my tunnel light didn't work, never mind, another job for John when I'm back in the marina!!

Beautiful Autumn days

I think they are my favourites!! when the sun is so weak and low that it casts a mist all day, and the stove in the back cabin keeps you warm and cosy whilst cruising along. Nothing on the canal at all, (well apart from NB Ten Bob Note, who I played ping pong with, passing or being passed by Ernie 3 times during the day!!) so blue skies, sunny weather and empty water - better by far than summer!!

Passed a fishing convention though - no not the human kind, 3 herons within 200 yards all on the same bank side, all very reluctant to fly off when I went past. Of course they could've stayed, I would even have slowed down for them!

Well the ol' donkey has been serviced, and he sounds good as well. Ingenious little brass tap allows you to pump out the engine sump, and the gearbox sump, just by swinging a lever across, so that was easy..

Here's two rare pictures one of blue skies, and the other of me - errr, actually my shadow! I thought it was a bit of fun seeing myself cruising along the hedgerow...

Warmth at last!

Ever since Julie moved into her barn conversion, it's proved to be a cold house - due in part to no gas in the village! She took a fancy to the stoves on K2 that cook the boat up to boiling point without any trying, and so the weekend was spent replicating the boat saloon, with a stove in her lounge! K2 was the inspiration, but she ended up waiting in vain for me... I was busy elsewhere!!

Bit of a lucky break with a local tree surgeon saw a pile of winter logs that should keep her warm and snug no matter what the british weather throws at us!!

Meanwhile this week sees my DM3 having a service, oil change and so-on...

Hopefully that will keep him happy for another couple of hundred hours of good cruising, and should help him through the winter.

Foxy Lady, and too many Birds

Spent the weekend acting ferry (car ferry that is) as Chelsie (Julies daughter) has a new pony "Foxy Lady". They take some looking after! and I can't even see her being harnessed up and saving the legs of my DM3 by hauling K2 down the canal!

All too unpredictable for me, my donkey kicks in every time, and answers to the call of the controls when I ask....

The canal still has too many of those black and white geese things. I hate them - apart from making a mess and squarking a lot, I can't see the point of them!! I for one will be glad when they all fly off for the winter... this pack ( can't think of them as a flock) only just got out when I went past... I'm sure they felt it was their right to stay in the water.

Tourism Traffic...

Thursday and Friday - best days of the year, weather wise, or so it felt! Hardly October as K2 made her way to Braunston in glorious sunshine and blue skies!! Just one of those days that made you glad to be out on the water. And to add to it all, coming out of Rugby, and back into the countryside again, there moored up was Nb Ten Bob Note. I've been following Ernie's blog even before I got K2, very envious of the wandering waterway life-style, so it was great to stop for a minute and say hi, and meet boat to boat.

Braunston as usual had no mobile network, but a great pub that Ivor and I ate well in, and was relatively empty, as we had a choice of moorings, before being joined by Tom and Jay on Friday.

All the way from Braunston to Brinklow, and I held K2's tiller only for the locks at Hillmorton - felt very strange having so many people desperate to steer... and greet all the other passing boats!

It was a great 2 days - passing too quickly, and now heading into a busy weekend....

Dry Bottom

Finally I can see steel again in the dry bilge! Not only did John fix the calorifier, finding a plastic push fit joint that hadn't push fitted, but he also pumped out the water that was sitting there.
John - previously of Bluewater boats, but now on his own as "all things boat" -
""Washing machines??"" I used to fix those....
"""Chain saws??""" I used to sharpen and mend those....
""""Electrics??"""" my speciality....
In fact anything other than carpentry.
Luckily John is one of the harbour master team at Brinklow, and is a fantastic asset to the marina family, and anyone else who wants to call him on 07810 188500 to use his vast skills of fixing "anything on the water". Cheers John - mines a pint of the landlords best ale please... (lol)

Wonderful Uni!

Off over the weekend to see Suzi, who had been at Southampton Uni for precisly 6 days, and had already managed to party most nights, and have beans, egg and fried onion for dinner!!! Our food parcel that included steak and champagne went down very well! Sounds like Uni to me! Lectures start today, so I guess the halls will calm down as the work pressure mounts a little.
At least her room has a porthole, so I felt very at home!
...and being in Southampton, you only have to pop down the road to see some boats - well ships technically!
Now another week starts - and a busy one, in which K2 will probably find herself in Braunston to act as a floating board room again, this time for 4 of us. Work is now important to me - a load of contracting opportunities are opening up, so the paperwork has been filed for my own business, and hopefully one day, I will be able to invoice someone from it!!