Narrowboat Just Heaven

Kinver

Steve — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:00:36 +0000

The weather this morning is a complete contrast to yesterday. The sky is mainly clear and the sun is out. A slow chug back to our home mooring. When we arrived there were two boats in our space. Some workmen were installing new pilings below Hyde Lock by the by-wash outflow. They had moved Tony’s boat over to our side. Heddi went to have a word with them and realised that one of them was Cliff, one of the regular lockies at Bratch. He soon moved the boats, we winded above the lock and came back down so that we are facing the right was for the new trip down to the G&S.

Spent the morning cleaning the roof and other jobs, then off back down the M5 home.

Borderline

Steve — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:30:08 +0000

We are moored right on the border between Worcestershire & Staffordshire. The line goes down the middle of the table, so I had last night’s meal in Staffordshire, while Heddi was in Worcestershire!
We hadn’t visited JH since mid March and are not planning to again until the first week of June. So we thought that we ought check that all was OK. The weather forecast for the weekend was pretty dire so we decided to go down to Wolverley, via a stop at the Tesco express in Cookley, wind then return to here and sit out the weather.
Yesterday was very cold, rainy and very windy. The day was spent just reading, doing a few odd jobs and looking out the window. By 4 o’clock the rain had nearly stopped so we did get a bit of fresh air by going for a short walk. The river Stour was running faster and higher than we had ever seen before.

Above Hyde Lock

Steve — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 22:10:46 +0000

Another really lovely sunny day. We moved just a few hundred yards to along by the water point where we washed the port side. Over the winter the whole boat had taken on a dirty, dull appearance so we thought it was time for a spring clean. A slow chug on to near Bells Mill Bridge where we washed the other side.

A glance at an OS map showed a possible circular walk, so we set off. It was very pleasant waking in the lovely sunshine.

After a late lunch we chugged slowly on to moor for the night a few hundred yards above Hyde Lock. We did this as it has a clear view to the SE for the satellite dish, unlike our home mooring. In the event we couldn’t be bothered to set the dish up, so we watched a DVD instead !

The Bonded Warehouse

Steve — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 08:00:46 +0000

We have cruised the Stourbridge canal several times, but not the Town Arm. So we decided to make the short journey up there for one night.

The weather was good and we set off from our mooring at about 11:00. The weather clear and sunny and after a pleasant two horus or so we arrived at the Bonded Warehouse. As we were winding we heard someone call out “What are you doing here?”. It was Chris from NB Helen, which normally moors just down from us at Kinver, but was in the dry dock being blacked.

We found somewhere to moor up and then walked back to have a chat with Chris and his team. A quick lunch then up the town to wander round the shops and get some food from Waitrose.

Being more or less in the middle of the town we expected it to be rather noisy at night but in fact, other than some boaters returning loudly at 4:00am, it was fairly quiet.

Short chug

Steve — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 13:56:41 +0000

This morning we just chugged the few hundred yards to the service block, did a pumpout, topped up the water and returned to our mooring.

Back home after lunch.

Ice!

Steve — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:17:54 +0000

The plan for a couple of days was to make a short trip up to Stourbridge today and back tomorrow. We untied, went up though Hyde lock. (Where BW workmen were installing a new handrail as a result of the accident at Stourport). As we came up in the lock it was obvious that beyond the lock the canal was frozen. We tested the thickness and it was enough to cause paint damage. The BW guys said that it was frozen all the way to Stewpony. So we winded and went back to our mooring!

I spend some of today re-installing my monitoring box. I have designed and developed a system based on an embedded microcomputer which monitors the temperature and battery voltage on board. It then sends the info via SMS text message to a computer at home. This enables me to check that all is OK onboard. Below is a graph drawn from the data.

You can see that the Eberspacher heater came on at 3:00, 6:00 & 8:00. It also monitors the battery voltage to make sure that the solar panels are charging the batteries sufficiently to keep the heater going. I’m planning later versions with will be more interactive. You can see the live data here: http://asgard.thornet.co.uk/foxboard/tlogger2.php

We walked down to Whittington Horse bridge to check the ice situation, but it was impassable, so we’re staying here until tomorrow.

Delayed arrival

Steve — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:04:37 +0000

We had planned to come and check all was OK last weekend, but my health conspired against us. I had had a heavy chesty cough for a while and thought “It’ll go away, I’ll shake it off”. But it didn’t go away it got worse until one evening I collapsed with difficulty in breathing and shaking all over. The doctor was called and, without evening coming to visit, she called an ambulance and I was taken to Frenchay Hospital where they diagnosed viral pneumonia. It seems that the pneumonia had weakened me so that I now had a secondary infection, so they pumped me full of intravenous antibiotics. I was also dehydrated so I had intravenous fluids as well. After three days I was much better, though still tired and short of breath, so I was discharged. In my 59 years this was my first experience of hospital as a patient. It wasnt as bad as I expected, and I was very glad of the care and attention I received.
We arrived here at about 6 o’clock, had a quick meal then drove to the Queens head at Wolverley where a very pleasant evening was spent with Andrew & Sheila Goodland and Roger & Margret Millin.

Not moved

Steve — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:51:29 +0000

We have have spent a few odd nights onboard since October, but we haven’t actually moved.
We popped up this weekend to check things were OK. I have developed a little box of tricks that monitors things on board, e.g. temperature & battery state. It regularly sends data back to a server via the mobile phone network. This allows me to check that the heating is coming in the cold weather. Unfortunately it stopped sending the data a few days ago, so we came up to check things. It was working OK, but the SMS to email gateway I was using is not forwarding the data. I’ll have to check what’s wrong.
All was OK with the boat, no frost damage. We stayed overnight and went back home this morning.

Kinver

Steve — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 13:40:34 +0000

We have been here since Thursday. The weather for our last day cruising was grey and damp. We set off about 9ish and were back here by noon.
We spent the afternoon making the security bars for the windows. We want them to be a deterrent but not to be to obtrusive, so we made them removable.
Friday was mostly taken up with shopping at the Merry Hill centre. We did buy some Christmas presents, but not as many as we had hoped.
Tidy up this morning and then back home.

Wolverly Court Lock

Steve — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:15:29 +0000

A thick mist had descended over the river during the night and, as the sun rose, it looked really great in the sunshine.

We gave up any thought of going back into the shops and, after breakfast, set off back up to Stourport. It was fairly chilly but a really great morning to be on the river.
We arrived in Stourport about 12 o’clock and as we were just entering the first of the staircase locks Sheila came along with Dylan. We had a quick chat then called in at Limekiln to top up with diesel. A steady cruise up to Kidderminster where we topped up with groceries from Sainsbury’s and wandered round The Range looking for Christmas presents. Moored for the night just below Wolverly Court lock.