Back to base in relative warmth
We slept in. We had watched a couple of films so it was late when we had gone to bed but nevertheless waking up at nine thirty came as a bit of a surprise to us. We decided to get up and go, so after reviving the fire which was just hanging on to life with a few glowing embers, we got dressed. Rain had been forecast for the afternoon and by the look of the sky, it wasn’t too far away. After the usual preparations we were underway but with one difference which was a bit of an experiment.
Caxton is a semi-trad boat and like many boats of this design has a canvas tonneau cover which protects the back deck. Unlike most others, this cover has a zipped section which rolls up to give some protection to the steerer from the elements. I have never tried steering with the tonneau in place so I decided to give it a go on the short hop back to the marina. The ambient temperature seemed lower than the day before, the wind was colder and there was no sunshine so it was the perfect test. With the rear doors closed and the hole in the cover being only two feet square, I was protected from draughts. The cabin doors were open so there was a gentle warmth emanating from inside the boat which made the trip a relatively pleasant one given the conditions. Sue reported that it was still warm enough inside and since I didn’t freeze, the experiment proved to be a success, Joe and Lesley – thanks to your design skills, we are once more, forever in your debt!
The trip back was quiet, we only passed two boats on the move, a very short narrowboat with an outboard engine and a two man canoe paddled by two bearded guys who looked like a pair of backwoodsmen. There was a fishing competition near Congerstone but there were only half a dozen anglers there, most of whom were surprisingly talkative. There were another couple of fishermen opposite the winding hole to the north of Market Bosworth and when I asked one of them if he had caught anything, he replied, “Not much, only a f*ck*ng cold”.
It was a bit windy as we entered and crossed the marina which is par for the course where there are wide open spaces but as I have mentioned before, Bosworth Marina is so spacious that there is plenty of room to manoeuvre and very quickly we were safely tied to our pontoon. Within ten minutes, the heavens opened – we had just made it in time!
We had some lunch and then did a bit of cleaning and tidying before packing up the few bits and pieces that we had to take with us into the car.
That was it, our boating weekend was over and despite the temperatures that we had endured, it had been a really enjoyable one.
The House of the Rising Sun
It’s been almost two months since Caxton cruised a canal, we have been on board for a weekend or two of course as well as having a weekend in London and ten days in Tenerife. It was Sue’s Mum’s birthday on Friday so we paid her a visit before calling in at Hartshill yard on their open day and then landing up at Bosworth Marina late in the afternoon.
We plonked our stuff on board and lit the fire before making our way up the hill to Market Bosworth where we did a bit of shopping and had a refreshment stop in The Dixie Arms. We returned to the marina and Caxton just after five and then had dinner before flopping in front of the fire, listening to the radio until eventually we both fell gently into the arms of Morpheus.
The fire stayed in and as a result Caxton was still warm when we awoke on Saturday morning so we got up, showered, dressed and prepared for a cruisette.
It was cold but bright and dry as we pulled out of the marina and headed north on the Ashby canal on the mini cruise which would take us to Shackerstone. By the time we reached the village my toes were becoming numb and my fingers weren’t too far behind them but we plodded on past all of the moored boats until we reached the winding hole where we turned around and then found our own mooring spot just in front of the village bridge. Once we had warmed ourselves through, we took a walk up to the pub in the village, The Rising Sun, where we enjoyed a well earned drink and had a laugh with the landlord and some of the locals who were drinking in the bar.
An hour later and we braved the elements, hailstones mainly, returning to the safety and warmth of Caxton’s cabin where we had dinner as we listened to music and then settled in for the evening.
Can life get any better than this? Probably not!
Winter Escape
The view from the balcony of the apartment.
Well it’s that time of year again where we pack our cases and head off in search of some winter sunshine. This year we’ve run away to Tenerife for ten days. The great thing about the climate in the Canary Islands is that it never gets too hot and it never gets too cold either, perfect for just walking around in shorts and t-shirts all day with no more to do than decide where to eat and drink.
It might not be everyone’s choice but for us it’s a great way to pass a few days of winter away. We’ve visited a variety of restaurants in the last week and enjoyed some lovely meals. Monday afternoon was spent in the company of one of my work colleagues who is also out here on holiday.
Putting the world to rights with Dennis
A few beers were partaken in the afternoon sunshine making Tuesday morning’s hangover well worth it!
Only a few days left now but with February half way through, the transition into spring seems just around the corner, it won’t be long before Caxton is back out on the cut.
Front Page News
The gale force winds continued throughout the night, keeping Sue awake until 3am, although she claims that my snoring didn’t help either! We had a late start as a result but once showered and dressed, we were heading up the hill to Market Bosworth where we planned to have lunch. Before we popped into the Dixie Arms, we spotted the current copy of the local community magazine, Aspect featuring a picture of boats, including Caxton, in the marina on its front cover.
We had a lovely lunch, then did a bit of shopping in the butcher shop and at the Co-op before returning to Caxton. The wind had dropped but as the sun sank, so did the air temperature and we were glad to get back to the boat.
Happy New Year!
We’re never that bothered about “seeing the New Year in” and this year was no exception. We turned in at about 11pm last night and didn’t stir until 7am this morning. After a late breakfast, we got the walking boots on and took a walk along the towpath to inspect the state of the ice. I also sent a round robin email to other moorers at Bosworth marina to check on the ice there too. We had a good walk and used the time to make some “Happy New Year” calls since there was no mobile service on board Caxton. On returning to the boat, I read replies from Ned, Jane and Trevor who all reported that the marina was free from ice.
Well it was two o’clock and we had stayed 22 hours on a one hour mooring so with no excuse to overstay any longer, we untied and set off for Market Bosworth. We had seen a few boats on the move so despite the fact that there were still sheets of ice floating around, we were confident that our trip home would take less than ninety minutes. The journey was easy despite it being a blustery one. Our entry into the marina was difficult with the wind blowing left to right. We traversed the open space at full speed with Caxton leaning at about twenty degrees from normal but soon our home berth was visible. With a bit of judicious work of the throttle and bow thruster, we were soon at ninety degrees to the wind which nullified its effect, allowing us to glide alongside our pontoon and tie up.
So that was that, our Christmas cruise was over, although we intend to remain on board until Sunday before returning home prior to me going back to work on Monday.
On the move again
We were resigned to yet another day iced in at the Lime Kilns when we went to bed last night. During the day I had carried a cassette to the elsan at Trinity marina and the prospect of making the two mile round trip again today didn’t exactly fill me with enthusiasm. At eight o’clock, everything changed when a convoy of five boats crunched through the ice heading north. It seems that they had smashed their way off the Coventry canal yesterday before mooring on the other side of the A5 for the night. It seemed a bit pointless to resume our journey towards Marston junction since we would only have the benefit of the broken ice for less than half a mile. The two remaining options were to stay put or to reverse Caxton all the way back to Nutts lane and attempt to wind in the entrance to the brick wharf. I decided to try the latter with Sue walking ahead to warn of any oncoming boats. In the event, there weren’t any and the trip was fairly easy. Turning around wasn’t so easy because the entrance to the wharf was frozen still but with a bit of manouvering, the ice broke and Caxton was pointing in the right direction again. We stopped at Trinity marina where we emptied the rubbish and the cassettes but failed to fill the water up because the supply was either turned off or frozen. The shop was shut so I wasn’t able to buy gas. As we were about to get underway again, I was approached by another boater who had seen me lift the empty gas cylinder out of the locker and then put it back. He told me that if we were desperate for gas, he had a full spare that we could have and he would buy another when the shop opened on Friday – how kind! The great boating camaraderie is alive and well and living on the Ashby canal. We have enough gas but I thanked him for the offer anyway and we restarted our journey. We met a couple of boats along the way but it was otherwise a lonely cruise in the sunshine. At duck corner, I could see the five members of the ice breaking convoy tied up but facing south. When I questioned the captain of the lead boat, Sextans, he told me that they had turned at Sutton Cheney because the ice was too thick to carry on. We reached the wharf about an hour later and could see that they had given up just after the water point. We struggled a bit to get alongside but eventually made it and filled the water tank before reversing on to the visitor moorings and tying up for the night.
The temperature is predicted to keep rising through the night until reaching 12 degrees tomorrow afternoon, what we don’t know is whether it will be sufficient to melt the ice. With the temperature set to drop again on Friday, we will have to pick our time well for the short hop back to Bosworth marina.
Still iced in at The Lime Kilns
Still frozen!
A frosty start
We had deliberately loaded the fire lightly last night so that it would have gone out by morning in order that we could give it a good clean out before relighting it. The cabin was cool when we we awoke so I switched the heating on as I lit the gas under the kettle for our first coffee of the day. A quick peek out of the window revealed a hard frost and a frozen canal. When questioned by Sue a couple of days ago about whether or not the canal might freeze, I confidently stated that at minus one, it would remain ice free. I mentioned the frost but neglected to mention the ice on the cut, hoping that by the time we were up and about, the sunshine might have worked its magic and melted it. A short while later with the cabin warming up and the coffee going down nicely, Sue’s ears pricked up and asked if I could hear a crackling noise. I couldn’t but her hearing is better than mine so I guessed what it would be and sure enough, a minute later and I too could hear the unmistakable sound of a boat breaking ice. I didn’t panic and figured that if I took a matter-of-fact approach, I might just get away with my poor prediction. “It’s probably just a boat breaking up the ice”, I said in a disinterested sort of way. “ICE!”, came the immediate reply, “What do you mean, ICE? You assured me that couldn’t happen at these temperatures!”. I hadn’t got away with it, there was only one thing to do. “It’s that bloody BBC, they never get things right and it obviously must have been colder than they predicted and by quite some distance!” I declared before looking out to see nb Hector smashing through the ice which was only about 4mm thick, now if only he’d lain in bed anouther hour, I might have been alright there. Of course it was all a bit of a laugh really so be assured that the atmosphere inside the boat didn’t turn frosty to match the outside!
We decided to stay put outside the Lime Kilns for the day, even though the ice was melting quickly. By the time we were ready and the fire was lit, the sun was blazing through the windows making the inside of Caxton really hot, even the cratch was warming up!
We got our walking boots on and headed off into Hinckley using a path which runs from just south of the Limekilns, parallel to the Sketchley brook, emerging beside the railway bridge next to Lidl at the bottom of Sketchley hill. Once in town, we had a coffee before doing a bit of shopping in Dunelm and at B&Q. Sue has suspended some light muslin cloth below the Houdini hatches to catch condensation drips preventing them landing on us and the floor. Absorbed by the cloth, the moisture soon evaporates with the heat of the cabin. It was pretty cold by the time we walked back to our mooring but the inside of the boat was warm thanks to the fire and the fact that Caxton was still basking in full sunshine.
Caxton basks in the winter sunshine.
After running the engine for a couple of hours to replenish the batteries, we settled in for the evening. Ice was already forming on the canal surface by 8pm so there can be no surprises in the morning!
Lessons Learned
I don’t mind mistakes as long as lessons are learned.
The sky was blue and the sun was shining, there were odd patches of snow but in essence the day had the makings of being a good one for cruising. The first thing I did was to wrap up warmly from the outset, adding yet another layer than I had had on the day before, this was lesson one! With the usual checks done, we were off into the sunshine once more. Sue was working away inside Caxton and soon produced a sausage sandwich for me and a mug of tea to wash it down with.
The entire Ashby fleet was present when we passed through Stoke Golding wharf and we only passed two boats travelling in the opposite direction before we reached Trinity Marina at Hinckley. Every so often in a boater’s life, there comes that dreaded day and today was that day, yes the filling of the diesel tank! We took the opportunity to do the other services while we were there in the hope that it would take my mind off the fuel bill but 220 litres of diesel is 220 litres regardless of the price of a barrel of Brent crude!
Everything done, we pootled on to the mooring opposite the Lime Kilns, passing Stu and Treena on Carpe Diem along the way. Jim was tied up outside the Brewers Fayre but was nowhere to be seen.
Once secured, I remembered my second lesson and sorted out the satellite dish before fixing the canvas cover over the rear deck of Caxton.
Boxing day before the storm
The fire had stayed in overnight so the inside of Caxton was filled with a gentle heat. The Met office had issued a yellow weather warning but admitted that they weren’t sure where snow might fall or even how much there might be – what use is that? Market Bosworth sat under blue skies so we decided to untie and venture out. Except for the boat that appeared behind us minutes after we had emerged from the marina, we saw nothing else on the move. The boat behind pulled over at Sutton Cheney, probably for the services and we were alone again, except for those trying to walk off the excesses of Christmas Day.
We pulled over at “Duck Corner” near Stoke Golding and I tried to get warm in front of the fire. Stupidly, I had not started the journey with enough layers of clothing on and despite the fact that I eventually added a big coat, a hat and gloves to my heavy golf jumper it was too late, I was chilled to the marrow!
The rain started within the hour, heavy and noisy but I didn’t care because the fire was doing a great job of thawing me out. The covers were all secure front and back and then I remembered that I hadn’t set up the satellite dish – Oh bugger! Eventually, the noise of the rain subsided so I decided to venture out into the cold, except that the rain hadn’t stopped, it had turned to snow – double bugger! Eventually, I did get out and made a hasty, half-hearted attempt at aligning the dish, getting a weak but watchable signal. After an hour, the signal went, probably due to the wind and rain which continued to batter us. Fortunately, I had swapped the television a couple of weeks ago so we had DVD capabilities and a few films that we hadn’t watched and that was it, we just dossed in front of the fire for the evening, listening to the storm and wondering what the landscape would look like in the morning.