Monday 22nd October 2007
I’m afraid our diary looks a bit scrappy this week, we’ve hardly done anything of note, in fact the only excitement today was watching our new 12 volt dehumidifier gather two tablespoonfuls of water in two hours. I shall reserve judgement on the wisdom of that spend.

Tues 23rd
More excitement – we moved across to the waterpoint and back.
Spent an hour calling O2 to get a better deal than our current 75MB of data for £20. No chance they said. Then cancel it I said.

Lorraine called in on her day off and took MiL to Tezzers (for a rest before going home??). See you again somewhere around Christmas time.
Did my bit for the government and put our name down for a free waterways licence by completing BW’s annual questionnaire.
Ran out of space on the “Other comments” section, otherwise managed to express my gratitude for a splendid job in keeping the canals and rivers in perfect condition.

Got told by a friendly BW man that the local coal supplier has gone out of business. Now we really do need a coal boat to visit this area during the winter months.

Terry and Pam called, they’re coming up country and could be in our neck of the woods in a couple of weeks time. Great, more slaves to crew the boat and swing those lock keys. They’re crazy, but lovely people.
Spoke to the moorings warden about possible overstaying because of hoppy’s war wounds (no one to do the locks, said I) and she let us stay a bit longer. See, it’s good to talk.

Wed 24th
Caught the bus into Leicester. Tramped around the city while V sat in the café and rested. Did the rounds of mobile phone shops and decided on a compromise between a 12 month contract, 1GB data and a drop in price, all at the ‘3’ shop.
Every time the word 3 was mentioned my ears pricked up, I thought the shop assistant was saying everything was free.
V filled her bags with fresh fruit from the market and I checked solar panel prices at Butts of Frog Island. Included Maplins in my rounds and cleared them out of 12 volt regulator ICs and 10uF capacitors. Don’t ask, it’s only my little electronics collecting fetish.

Thursday 25th
Another Tesco delivery morning, meant hanging around for two hours. That done we filled with water and set off downstream to Leicester with V steering while I was consigned to locks for the two hour journey to the County Arms at Blaby. Using my home made four-holed “windy” I made quick work of the paddles. The security locks on this stretch are a bit of a nuisance and I got told off on several occasions for not closing the retractable locks. Have mercy, I’m new at this.
But we made it.
V took Balmaha through the locks like a dream and I didn’t trip over or fall in.

Moored at Blaby, we settled down for the night after checking our bodies for bruises and strains.
I’ve got a little back ache from pushing balance beams the incorrect way and V’s got “tension neck” through over concentrating. Talk about old people.

Mike called from Sarah-Kate offering to crew for us if we needed help but it seems our role reversal can get us going again if V’s knee plays up. However, we couldn’t resist his offer of a coal drop next week.

Friday 26th
Hoppy took off to the quacks in Blaby and returned with a “nothing broken” verdict. Keep doing what you’re doing and call back in a while.
A few boats passed us heading into Leicester, more than you’d expect for this time of the year and even a widebeam, the one we’d seen a few times at Foxton, most unusual.

Saturday 27th
9 o’clock, an early start for a Saturday and we’re spinning the boat at the old wharf under Blaby Bridge and heading back towards Kilby. Same procedure as before, V at the tiller, me shifting the water about.
Bumped into friendly BW man at Ervins lock and caught up on stoppages news (and thanks for doing the gates for me), and got hailed as we passed four boats from Kilby B’, taking their holiday at Crow Mills.
Arrived back at KB to find it just as we’d left it and within minutes we were joined by Paul and Dawn out for a walk with Travis their new Westy-Jack Russell cross.
While Dawn did some much needed repairs to V’s wig I got well impressed by Paul’s dog training techniques. A click of the fingers or a gentle Tsshk from the corner of the mouth and Travis was quiet and sitting down at his master’s feet. Cor, wonder if it works with children. Wouldn’t that be nice.

A quiet night apart from revelry at The Navigation (Halloween?). Kids mostly and no matter how much I clicked and Tsshk’d they carried on bawling long after we’d gone to bed.

Sunday 28th October 2007
Today is mostly given over to discovering the problems with 3’s modem. Works fine where there’s a 3G signal but it can’t handle GPRS (2G). Dooohhhh. It’s alright for them that sits in houses, but wanderers like us can’t guarantee line of sight to their clever transmitters when we cruise.
If you see someone tramping across the fields carrying a laptop and waving a little white box in the air that will be me looking for a 3G signal.

Oh and lastly, one for the 3 shop in Leicester, you DON'T need that little white modem box, the SIM card works fine in my 3G Nokia phone, so there.

Monday 15th Oct 2007
He’s a mouser, next door’s cat. I spotted him walking down the towpath yesterday with a mouthful of fur, a head hanging out one side, a tail the other. He’d just emerged from the hedges and was heading off home (a no-name grey boat) to show his owner.
Perhaps he had in mind a cold meal today as he padded down our stern steps and sauntered past me on his way to the galley.
But he was spotted.
V, an ex cat owner herself (shame!!) had other ideas and let out a blood curdling “scram” which dispatched our little friend to the towpath leaving a pile of sawdust next to a fresh set of grooves in the floorboards.
Now all we get is the occasional back view and a cat’s revenge in the shape of muddy paw streaks down the side of the boat.

And if that isn’t enough excitement, South Africa beat Argentina which means England gets another hammering next weekend.

Tuesday 16th
It must be a Tuesday, it’s pouring with rain. No one in his right mind cruises in weather like this. Beep-beep, it’s Lorimar blanking out the light to our portholes as we’re spotted amongst the residents of Kilby Bridge.

They didn’t take much persuading to give up for the day and together with Gliding Stream (sounds like a North American Indian tribe doesn’t it?), they hove to on the other bank.
Turns out Mark and Lorain have given themselves a couple of weeks off to cruise the Leicester Ring and have paired up with Richard and Dawn (and Simon) which makes work a little easier on these heavy double lock gates, or should I say double heavy lock gates.

Some good news – Hoppy’s knee is a little better. It’s strapped up in the day and walking is forbidden apart from the necessities like bed to galley sink, sink to ironing board, ironing board to bed.

We’ve noticed that funny things happen at about 3pm each day. The water level rises until it’s about an inch from spilling over onto the tow path and flooding the fields next door. Then, without any boat movements the water level drops again. This happens daily and apart from allowing us to paint the boat below the gunwales I can’t see any reason or benefit.

Wed 17th
After a news catch up with Mark, we waved Lorimar and Gliding Stream off on their way towards Foxton.

Hooray, the weather is improving. The sun comes out and we get a visit by the tow path strimmers. Shredded nettles and grass now adorn the boat sides and have found their way into every nook and cranny inside.

There’s lots of activity on BW’s workboat across the way as they prepare for repairs somewhere along the cut. A tracked JCB offloads canal debris and replaces repair materials back onboard ready for tomorrow’s journey south. Don’t forget the settee for the tea breaks.

Thursday 18th
Bright and early they’re off, chugging south, push tug ‘Pochard’ pulls out, winds and heads into the sun as the rest of us sleepy heads stoke our fires in an effort to get boat temperatures into double figures.

What with V’s dodgy knee and my aversion to long walks with shopping bags we’ve take a leaf out of Sue and Vic’s book and placed an order with Tesco on-line.
Tesco’s delivery fitted perfectly into our “ten to twelve” slot and the whole thing was done and dusted by eleven.
We did well for carrier bags, more than we’d get if we collected from the store and it was simply a matter of sorting who carried what and then back down the tow path to home.

Friday 19th
There’s frost on the roof hatch this morning – most of it inside.
Lying in bed with a cup of tea in one hand, I tried to catch the drips with the other as the ice slowly melted.

Met some nice people on nb.Marie Elsie. As he was quite technically minded it wouldn’t have been right to let them go without picking his brains on battery saving ideas. We covered the usual subjects - solar panels, wind generators and portable power generators which didn’t help my resolve to save money.

On what would have been an uneventful day we suddenly heard engines start and witnessed a mass exodus. Most of the long stayers upped and left, some going north, some going south. Did someone say they saw a mooring patrol officer heading our way?
Who’s betting they’ll all be back within a week.

Saturday 20th
We’re getting low on coal so I hung a notice outside “COAL BOAT please STOP”.
Not sure if we’ve ever seen a coal boat in these parts, apart from the weeks either side of the Crick Show but we’ll try.
If I knew the right numbers I’d call one in, it would be worth their trouble because we have several potential customers at Kilby Bridge without the means of fetching diesel, gas and coal.

It’s eight o’clock and England play South Africa. A controversial disallowed try and a missed drop kick means we’re done for. Best forget it and look forward to the Six Nations games.

Got a call from Roger, nb.Megan is going all electric. Out with diesel propulsion and in with solar panels, big batteries and an electric motor. Sounds exciting and my rough calculations show a financial saving after three years. Perhaps this is the way to go before diesel prices go through the roof.

As if we hadn’t had enough excitement we got entertained in the early hours. Four youngsters did their worst wild animal impressions at one in the morning, next to our bedroom. Not content with going down the tow path they had to come back again twenty minutes later. As our old neighbours in noisy Bournemouth used to ask “Why do children have to scream?”

Sunday 21st October 2007
It’s a special day today, a mail drop, a MiL drop and Mr and Mrs Tezzer call in to see us.
They arrived just as the water level was at its highest which meant heaving MiL (mother-in-law) up onboard, a climb of eighteen inches, not easy for an 87 year old!

A scrummy meal, loadsa news and a doze in front of a roaring fire.

An interesting wide beam boat pulled up behind us during the day but she’ll have to wait until Monday for inspection. Don’t see many wide beams in these parts, probably something to do with the broken Inclined Plane Lift at Foxton.

Tuesday 9th October 2007 - North of Debdale Wharf, G.U. Leicester Line
A quiet day, snuggled up in the reeds between bridges 68 and 69 and catching up on zzzzz’ds (I wish). It rained, as forecast, so there was no point in going out just for the sake of it.
The fire was keeping us warm and cosy when Mike called to say his chin bruising was getting worse – his neck was now turning black. In the shape of ten fingers, I wonder? It might not be our fault this time, it could be Pat’s revenge for going off and enjoying himself.

Attention is slowly shifting away from chins to knees, V did something to her left knee at Foxton Locks and she’s developed a limp in the back legs. Could be a vet job if it doesn’t clear up.

Back to me, back to me, I spent some time playing with GPS software after downloading a freeware program that turns scanned pictures, cartographic stuff and aerial photos into GPS maps. Could be useful or at least fun.

Wed 10th
Not in a hurry so hung around the canal reeds for another day, under the willow branches with their fading yellowy-green leaves. The rain has eased and the canal is busy again. Several boats from the River Soar came through heading south and we ‘experienced’ the usual Canaltime hire boats buzzing back and forth with stern decks draped with nattering retireds.

Thurs 11th
Time to break out of our comfort zone before our bitumen bottom sticks permanently to the canal bed. We’re off in the direction of Leicester.
Saddington tunnel was easy-peasy with the sun shining through the trees behind us and lighting up several hundreds yards of brick roof and dangling sooty cobwebs.
An oncoming boat stopped just outside the far entrance while we plodded through and when I thanked them for waiting they replied they didn’t know if two boats could fit in the tunnel. Hmmmm, makes you wonder what we would have done if we’d not been able to pass in the middle. Bagsy I make tea and they get help.

Stopped at Fleckney for comestibles and then charged down the Kibworth locks under a clear sunny sky.
Leaves are beginning to fall and some land in annoying places.
V spotted it and came out with “tea – leaf”.

Wistow wasn’t looking so attractive so we carried on and found space at Kilby Bridge. A ‘new’ BW team is operating here, no sign of the old smiling faces. Oh well that’s progress.
Kilby Bridge has its own version of 48 hour moorings. Some linger here a month or more and wait for traffic warden threats before moving on. Better not say too much about that.

Everything seems more relaxed here - we saw boats moor overnight on the water points which can be annoying but more unusual was a boater moored on the towpath drifting his stern across to the offside, leaving his bow tied up so he could have a few beers with his mate on another boat. Looked funny but it would really make me laugh if someone came round the corner in a hurry.
Would have taken a photo of it but it was late evening and no one had any lights on.

Almost walked to the lock and back but hoppy’s knee wasn’t in the mood so we returned and discussed the implications and the risk of me going shopping all on my own.
A fella two boats away told me of his expeditions on the buses but I didn’t relish the thought of getting lost and finishing up at the depot all on my own. Me and buses haven’t got on since they took the clippies off.
Best try a Tesco delivery first.

Fri 12th
A diesel thief is said to operate in these parts and he doesn’t just take fuel, going by the ash buckets chained to the metal piling. Must do something about locking our diesel tank filler cap.

Mark on nb.Kayos is selling his 67 foot ex Black Prince hire boat (Reg.5080xx). Asking £47k, he shouldn’t have much trouble finding a buyer. Seems it isn’t much fun on windy days going single handed with such a long boat so he’s looking for something around 54 foot long. Anyone want to swap?
We’re getting to know our neighbours better, not just the boaters but their pets too.
This one lives on the grey ‘no-name’ in front of us. He’s brave up to a point and hops on the boat as soon as look at you but lick your lips and show him the saucepan and he’s off like a shot.

Sat 13th October 2007
Called Keith in Leicester and he came out with his welding kit.
An hour later and we had a lockable diesel tank cap and a quad windlass. That’s a long handled windlass with the cut off end of another one welded half way along the handle. Apart from the extra weight this will stop complaints of windlasses that hit the lock beam and won’t turn the paddle ratchet.

If it works then all I have to do is weld on the sockets from Middle Levels and River Wey windlasses and we’ll have a true multipurpose windy for the canals and rivers. A small two wheeled sack trolley to cart it around will complement my invention.

The knee is no better, tried massaging it and taking the knee cap off to check what’s behind but it still clicks and grinds when it’s bent backwards. She’s making noises about taking over the tiller while I open lock gates but I’ve got evidence that a one legged lock keeper managed all ten of Foxton’s locks early last century so it needn’t mean an end to my so called ‘easy life’.

It’s a special night tonight, we’re off to Harbro (Tezzer and I) to see three live Rhythm & Blues bands. An early dinner and we’re gone. Coffee at Joules Yard and down to the sports centre for 8pm start, but it clashed badly with the England v France match. All through the first two performances people snuck out of the entertainment to catch the score on the café’s TV next to the swimming pool.
I did the same and managed to see the last 15 minutes and what a result.

Dr.Feelgood (yes the same one we all knew dozens of years ago) ended the evening with a brilliant guitar and harmonica duo. The evening didn’t do much for my ears though and their normal background hiss has risen a few worrying decibels.
Next month it’s the Counterfeit Stones on their “Itchy Fingers Tour”. Don’t know if my lugholes can take that. Anyway, I saw the real ones from the second row in Bristol in 1972.

Monday 1st October 2007 Leicester Line
We eased away from the canal bank after adjusting potash and nutrient levels in our nearest hedgerow. Weather was overcast but they promised no rain and on our way to bridge 59, around lunchtime, we cleared the 2750 hour milestone in Balmaha’s engine oil-change records.

Nearing bridge 31 we could have been excused thinking we were back at bridge 80 on the Oxford Canal. Here was another bridge with its innards hanging out.
Booked as a ‘stoppage’ this winter, it means Crick is off limits to us until later in December.

Reaching North Kilworth’s ex boat yard we almost didn’t stop for water but I’m glad we did. We met Jane Pugh, who with her husband John have taken on the lease and the yard is saved from closure. John is known for boat painting at Crick and together they are putting the place back on its feet. A full range of boat services are planned including cheaper diesel. Expect to see service, repairs, blacking, painting and a shop for gas and coal and those little essentials. It’s my personal hope that they can extend their base to cover boat interiors so we can get our cupboards made and fitted before another year is out.
Jane agreed the frontage would get a facelift to make it a more attractive stop on the Leicester section of the Grand Union. Their website, in time, will give more information.

Bozzy tunnel was nice and dry. It’s always a pleasure to do dry tunnels, it means we can roof gaze in perfect safety.

Wood stocks on the Leicester line are at an all time low and it was only a keen eye that spotted two small logs in the hedge. They were enough for our needs and we sat round a hot fire as darkness descended.

Tuesday 2nd
Dropping down Foxton Locks flight we met two ‘shy’ geezers on lock duty.

While stopped for water at the end of the inclined plane arm we met two more geezers drilling holes in the new swing bridge.

Doing a boater's briefcase run I met yet another couple of BW geezers. Richard and a colleague from Stoke Bruerne were on walkabout (maintenance duties – honest) and I discovered the horrid news that not only had the Kilby Bridge team split up but the depot was effectively axed in the minds of the office-wallas at regional HQ. It’s not IF the depot goes but WHEN.
Bad timing, I’d say, and just as we were promoting the Leicester Ring. It won’t just be an issue of personal safety but we can now add to that a longer response time for lock gate fixes after hire boat damage and vandal activity.

I can only hope that the Kilby Bridge depot frontage is retained for boat services and not grabbed for the likes of brick dwellers.

Back onto the Harbro’ Arm we found nowhere to stop outside FBS’s facilities and so left our purchases to another day, continuing on to Union Wharf.

There are changes on the way down to Harborough. Moorings at Great Bowden have disappeared. Ropes strung between bright red plastic buoys and a notice say keep away. The three or four regular boats have gone. What’s going on I wonder, a change of ownership or pressure from the houses opposite perhaps. Whatever it is the message is very clear, boats are not wanted here.

We arrived at MH too early and there was time to walk to the shops……so we did, and walked back again up that never ending hill. I’m out of practise.

Wednesday 3rd
One of us stayed onboard to fit a couple of coat hooks while the other one went to the shops again (looking for coats to put on the new hooks I shouldn’t wonder).

Visitors appeared over the horizon and gave me an excuse to sit down and drink coffee. Passed an hour with T & M by which time it was too late to do jobs so broke out my new Spanish fishing rod and teased the fish a little.
Set a new water filling record. It took over an hour to half fill the water tank. In the end I had to block the tank’s air vent because water was evaporating faster than it was filling.

Thursday 4th
Getting more nervous as the minutes tick by, we are heading up to Debdale for dry-dock for our first bottom blacking. Have I bought enough brushes, rollers, scrapers, and rags for cleaning the inevitable sticky hands?
We departed Union Wharf after ANOTHER shopping trip and cruised the last couple of miles to our crane appointment.
Adding interest to our journey BW are repairing the towpath north of Foxton and in doing so they’ve extended our mooring possibilities by another quarter of a mile.

Checking in with Barry at Debdale Wharf, somewhat on the early side, there was nothing to do but practise my ‘air-rolling’ on imaginary boats and cut rags ready for the paint tin kickers.

Got told off for offering to empty the water tank in case the crane struggled with our boat.

Looking at the crane’s strop spacing I could just see the boat breaking into three pieces and an expensive welding bill coming my way.
Scanning the cranes structure I checked the weight ratings of hooks, shackles and hoist motors but all seemed OK.
My questions in the office about insurance were met with a slow shoulder shrug and eye rolling so I guessed it was time to let it go.

Four little wooden blocks the size of matchboxes had somehow been left on the railway sleepers so I helped by putting them on the ground so that our boat could sit safely on the chunky wooden sleepers. Later, when someone put these blocks back on the railway sleepers, I turned away and found something in the clouds to catch my eye.

Friday 5th
The great day has arrived and we creep into the slipway, cutting engines as we drift into the waiting arms of the crane strops. Cameras rolled and flashes popped as Steve’s finger found the ‘UP’ button and Balmaha inched slowly into the sky. There were sighs of relief as she settled onto the wooden matchboxes and I was told to stop gawping and get on with it.

Firing up the pressure washer I thrust the water lance at the hull and the force of the water nearly sent me back to the car park. Only 2000 lbs pressure, he said, we’ve turned it down for you.

For an hour I used muscles I didn’t know I had and was certain I wouldn’t be able to hold a paintbrush for days. Resting, I dropped my arms to the floor and willed dark clouds to cover us and delay painting for a couple of days.

I was surprised at just how little rust there was after twenty one months in the water with its initial paint covering.

But after a blast with the water jet it seemed there was much more than just a few rust patches on the steelwork. A thin layer of mill scale was losing its grip and there underneath was bright shiny steel keyed ready for the first coat of paint.
Apart from two creatures in the weed hatch there wasn’t a single muscle on the hull. I had been warned to wear safety glasses on account of how they burst and shower pieces of shell in all directions.

With V on one side and me on t’other we slapped the black treacly stuff onto the steel walls and marvelled at how new she was looking again.
We hadn’t long begun before the cavalry appeared and Mike rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a brush. The weather was so kind to us that we’d finished the first coat and by close of play we were half way through the second day’s work.

What news we hadn’t covered in our natters around the boat we filled in over dinner and after demolishing Mike’s cakes and liquid goodies I hit the sack even more tired than usual.

Saturday 6th
Another dry day so no hanging around. Steve put the boat up on trestles and we got stuck into bottom rolling (goes well with belly dancing).

Mike broke his roller and no one wanted to give him another so he stuck to the brush (no pun).

When it comes to headgear I had it covered, and even though it wasn’t needed Mike obliged and modelled the latest in lightweight, all round visibility head covering.

We’d hardly started underneath when more cavalry arrived (Roger and Babs), armed with more goodies which we set upon after declaring a tea break.

Bent backwards we squidged dripping rollers over our heads and shoved bitumen into the dimpled steelwork with runny paintbrushes. Most of us wore gloves which saved on turps but someone couldn’t resist getting it on his face and down his front (yes, that’s you Roger).

Our teamwork suffered for a while as the England / Aussie match hit the screen but we soldiered on and slapped another coat on the sides before we were done for the day.

Almost four tins of International Bitumen gone and we’d spent the best part of a hundred pounds.

Enough Intertuf - we’re off to Tezzers for dinner.

A welcome sit down with good grub, good music, a roaring log fire, family news and flash backs to caving expeditions in the Mendips.

Sleep followed, punctuated by dreams of crawling through caves filled with bitumen paint.

Sunday 7th
There was little left to do today but tickle the stern band paintwork, clear away empty paint tins and give Balmaha a wash down.

She didn’t look half bad either.

While I brushed the green paintwork with soapy suds Mike hosed her down. At least I thought that was the plan. But something triggered Mike’s Olympic competitor spirit and he launched himself from terra firma into a Duncan Goodhue dive and he was gone. Arms flailing like windmills he hit the water. Unfortunately he was pointing across the slipway and not towards the boats in the marina and before he’d had a chance to adjust his stroke he was at the far end of his pool, just seven feet away, and quite unprepared for the back flip, roll over and return to the starting block.

Chin met steel pool edging with a sickening thud and his left arm met the concrete on its way through the air.

Mike had had enough and was taking an early bath.
As is normal in these circumstances there was no camera handy.

Monday 8th October 2007
Chests swollen with pride we watched the old girl go back into the water and under Mike’s skipperage we left Debdale Marina for post-blacking speed trials.

Apart from dubious reports of a black oil slick from the bow thruster tube we were more than satisfied with the GPS claims of 3.9 mph at 1000 rpm. Balmaha had lost her underwater beard and was slipping through the water like smoothly shaved skin, unlike Mike’s red raw grazed and swollen chin.

We’re back on the canals and cruising through the reeds safe in the knowledge that we’re waterproof down below.

After a couple of days to catch up with boaty jobs we’ll be heading up to Leicester and things to do, places to go and people to see. Returning to the Harbro’ Arm we may even climb the Foxton flight again and cruise the summit if there is any truth in reports of cancelled lock repairs.

We’d especially like to say a very special tar to all our bitumen painters, without your help we would have been stuck.