Cabin side painted and a surprise move.

 Well we did it.  Never painted cabin sides outdoors before, but we're happy with the outcome.

Of course it's only the two large dark grey panels on one side of the boat but it's a start.  A bit brush marky, but from experience that tens top flatten back a bit as the paint cures. All did not go smoothly however.  As we were masking over the coachline we ran out of masking tape with more than half of it left to put on.  In a bit of a panic (we had to get the painting done before the day got too hot) I jumped on my bike and pedalled round to the marina's dry dock to beg for some tape.  The nice man there gave me a reel which sort of saved the day.  I say sort of because it wasn't as sharp edged as the better stuff we used the day before and it was a bit too tacky. So when we pulled it off after finishing painting the edges were not as sharp and here and there a bit of the coachline paint came off.  Not a major problem, I think we can fix that later.

The painting of course was a lot less exhausting then the prep.  I rollered the paint on and Kath followed immediately behind laying off with a brush. Anyway, there it is, and there's lots more to do on other days.

Speaking of which, we asked about temporarily using another pontoon in the marina when we come to doing the other side of the boat, which is inaccessible in our current berth.  That was OK they said and pointed to a nearby slot we could 'borrow' when the time came.  Then overnight it occurred to us that this other pontoon was vacant and it was a bit nicer than our current one, so in the mooring I asked if we could transfer there permanently and the answer was yes, but not immediately.  So sometime in the next month or so we'll move about 25 yards to a new somewhat more attractive berth.  I must say, the staff at Cropredy are always very helpful and cheerful and friendly with it.

Speaking of bikes (see tape dash above), we're getting on well with our pair of Bromptons.  I like the way you can fold the back wheel under to stand it up. They do take up a bit of space on the boat but not un-managebly so. I don't think there is any other bike that folds up so small.

 I cycled up to the village the other day, and it's a fairly steep hill but I managed it ok -just.  Someone younger and fitter would have been up there like a rocket.  On the downside, I tried it out on a narrow and very pot-holey bumpy bit of towpath in Banbury last week and it was a bit scary being only a foot from the canal edge.  I'll stick to better towpath in future.

Today we're in Cambridge getting more acquainted with our kitten before we take him/her (we're still not very sure which) home in a couple of weeks.  More on that later.

Some paint goes on at last

Who is that old bugger painting coach lines on Herbie?  Oh, it's me.  Yes after a number of false promises and false starts we've actually got a bit of new paint on.  The coach lines really needed it.  You can see all the miles of masking tape needed.

It's always satisfying when the masking tape comes off and you get nice sharp edges. We decided to do the coach lines first so as to avoid putting masking tape onto the fresh dark grey paint, which is our next job.

I hate masking up, you have to be so careful, and it takes ages and with coach lines you have to do both sides of the line.

Looking at this picture below, you wouldn't think we needed to paint the dark grey panels, but believe me we do.  The paint looks ok for about a day or two after washing or polishing but goes dull and chalky after that.  Well it's been 14 years since we painted it. We need a fresh hard gloss top coat and that hopefully is tomorrow's job. 

 

I only hope we've got all the old wax polish off.  We've washed it with white spirit and with sugar soap, and in the morning we'll lightly sand it and wash it again before the scary business of putting on the paint. I think we have a window of about two hours before the temperature gets too high for the paint to flow properly. We're approaching this job with some trepidation, because if it doesn't go well Herbie will look worse instead of better.

Meanwhile, back at home, another Herbie paint job awaits.  It's the central panel at the front of the cratch.  Rather than the uncomfortable job of trying to paint a complicated pattern in situ.  I decided in 2017 to paint a board at home and then screw the board onto the boat later.  That worked well, but thin plywood doesn't last too long outdoors, so it's time for me to repeat the exercise.  Here's the old one.

Looking pretty much done for as you can see. I'm going to use the same pattern 'cos I like it.  This time I'm putting on more coats of primer and undercoat and I think I'll top off the final paint job with a couple of coats of Craftmaster varnish.  That seems to have protected my decorated Buckby cans really well.

Life in a cupboard.

 

Here's Herbie hiding in the undergrowth about a mile from Banbury in readiness for our surprise attack tomorrow morning, determined to find a town mooring spot before the competition gets there. In the foreground you see a clump of butterbur which is endemic along the canal from Banbury going south.

It has fleshy spikes of pink flowers early in the year when no-one's looking but come the summer it sneakily pretends to be rhubarb to my eye and grows really really abundantly.

In the old days people would wrap their butter in the leaves, hence the name.  These days you could use it to cure depression although it is toxic to the liver and may cause cancer, which I fear might lead to depression rather than curing it.

Yesterday was Wet Wet Wet,(or was it West Life, I'm not up on boy bands).  Anyhow we hunkered down above Kings Sutton lock along with quite a number of other boats while the clouds emptied their contents all over us..  Thank goodness we're not in a hurry to get anywhere. We haven't moved very far today but that's partly because I had a job to do this afternoon.  

The pesky Airhead toilet extractor fan stopped working again so this time I decided to take it off its wall mount, strip it down and clean out the long corrugated hose from the toilet itself.  Remembering what a palaver it was when we fitted it originally I wasn't looking forward to it one little bit. Removing the fan housing is a non trivial task, feeling for out of sight screws in the little cupboard under the washbasin whilst sitting or kneeling in painfully awkward positions.  Luckily it came off better than I expected.  It was a bit gunged up after over nine years of continuous use,so I set to with cotton buds and isopropyl alcohol and gave it a good clean.  Similarly I cleared out the hose with an improvised pull through and scraped all the old sealant we used to stop any air leaks.  The really hard bit was reattaching the fan housing to the wall and sealing up to prevent new air leaks.  Next time I'll see if I can find a rubber necked contortionist midget to help.  Anyway it's all working now, fingers crossed.  I expect my back and neck ache will go away in a month or two.

An evening with cider and pigs

 It's raining today but yesterday was warm and sunny as we cruised out of Banbury, heading south.

This part of the Oxford canal where all the little lift bridges seem to multiply, to test the unwary or unskilled helmsman and where the bottom gates of the locks change from two gates to one, negating the need for death defying leaps across the lock to close the far gate.

The first lock you meet is Grants lock where the overspill weir runs right beneath the floor of the lock cottage.  Since we were last here a fire has sadly gutted the cottage which now stands I suppose as a ruin, although a not unattractive one.

It would be a good spot for an overnight stop were it not for the incessant roar of traffic on the M40 not far away.  And so on through Kings Sutton lock and to our planned destination, the appropriately named Pig Place, just before you get to Nell Bridge lock. Over the years the Pig Place has developed into a very attractive, if decidedly quirky stopping place.  These days clusters of comfortable old leather sofas grace the bank overlooking the canal,

each has its own barbecue/fire pit, and if it rains you can always head for the large hut which too has comfy chairs and tables and the by now familiar somewhat bohemian decor.  It's one way to use up old front doors I suppose.

There is something of a sense of humour about the place as you can see

Up next to the little shop where you can by meat and drink to take away, there now stands outdoor " Trough cafe" a typical burger van thingy such as you might find at a festival.  There you can buy and eat as much freshly cooked cholesterol as you like, but it's all good wholesome stuff made from real meat.  There are tables under umbrellas for you to nosh your burgers or doorstop sausage and bacon sandwiches.  Then to quench your thirst there's the little Trotters Bar where we bought rather too much very tasty draught cider in the afternoon and evening.

So we sat on a sofa supping cider and watching the Wimbledon men's final while I cast my eye over Herbie's starboard side which I hadn't looked at properly since last year as in the marina we can only get at the port side.  Herbie's once smart paintwork is now looking very tired and I'm itching to get at it.  The good news is that the big dark grey panels, although dull are very sound except for  a couple of spots around the window frames.  Excuse my knee doing a photo bomb.

With a good clean and rub down I reckon they'll take a fresh top coat really well.  I must do that soon.  Just looking for a few days of the right weather when we're back at the marina.  Other bits like the handrails, the cabin roof and the fore and aft deck are going to need some serious prep before they see a paintbrush. I reckon that getting some gloss back on the cabin sides will spur me on to tackling the more difficult and less rewarding work.

And lastly of course we can't leave the Pig Place without seeing the rare breed pigs (who I fear are destined in one form or another to stock the shop's freezer and the Trough van.)  Not really a place for vegans I would think, but the pigs are lovely.

These are Oxford Sandy and Blacks, a breed rescued from virtual extinction in the late 20th century.

and the more familiar Saddlebacks like this one enjoying a leisurely mud bath.

or these approaching me for a friendly scratch on the back.

The Pig Place has free moorings for stop and shop /eat, or you can pay for an overnight stay (£12) and enjoy the sofas, the bar, have a barbecue or sit by the fire pit.  We don't often pay for an overnight mooring but we were happy to here.  If you can face more cholesterol, the Trough will do you as big a breakfast as you can manage. We amazed ourselves by not succumbing.

Cobwebs, WD40, lardy cake and beer. All in a day's work in Banbury

 Phew I'm cream crackered after traipsing round Banbury for a large part of the day,  It's good to be back here though as it's been a long time since our last visit and we do love the streets and alleyways and the little independent shops, even if too many of them are charity shops. Here's a partial view of one of the largest stores in town, it's the Salvation Army shop. If you can't find something to buy in here you must have no imagination.  It's about three times as big as what you see here.

And barbers, don't get me started on barbers.  If long men's hair comes back into fashion, Banbury's economy will collapse. I'm surprised anybody here has any hair left.

When we arrived yesterday there wasn't a single mooring spot anywhere above the lock, not in Spiceball park, not anywhere.  In the end we were forced to drop down the lock and tie up some way past the railway station against a very dodgy bit of canal bank.  Here's where we have to gingerly step on and off the boat.

One thing were pleased to see still in town was the Saturday market and the baker's stall where we succumbed to the temptation of a slab of lardy cake.  Mmmm, fat and sugar. A heart attack on a plate, but to die for ("Well you might", I hear our doctor saying).

As if that wasn't enough to annoy the medical profession, we also stopped in at The Three Pigeons to rest our weary legs and remind ourselves of their rather wonderful Purity Gold ale.  Sadly they weren't doing food so we were forced to drink up and move along to Ye Olde Reine Deer for another pint and some lunch.  It's a tough job but someone has to do it.

Although Herbie has behaved herself perfectly on her first cruise in many months, were perturbed, actually dismayed might be a better word,  late on Thursday night to realise that the extractor fan on the Airhead toilet wasn't working.  This little fan is essential to the functioning of the composting and drying out process.  Then minutes later we switched on the boat's inverter to find that that also wasn't working.  I was not a happy bunny.

Next morning I set out to investigate. As I suspected, the toilet fan which is only really accessible (without serious dismantling inside the cupboard under the sink) from the fan exhaust port outside the boat, was clogged up with cobwebs.  Using a long artist's paintbrush to clean out the hole and to reach the fan I was able to flick the fan blades back into action with the aid of a good squirt of WD40 to lubricate it.  One problem solved, one more to go.

The inverter appeared to be as dead as a dodo.  I think its main fuse is hidden somewhere in the bowels of the engine 'ole, not somewhere where a gentleman of my age and stiffness of joints relishes exploring.  I was somewhat distressed.  Then in the middle of the night I remembered that the inverter supply has it's own master switch above the batteries and that's easy to get to. So after breakfast I went to have a look.  Disappointingly the switch was still in the ON position but clearly corroded presumably from sitting in a damp environment all year.  "Another job for WD40", I cried, and flicking the big switch back and forth a few times and a squirt of said magical spray and the little green light on the inverter sprang back into life.

If that doesn't deserve a lardy cake, I don't know what does.

Mega Cruise and name-a-cat invitation.

 Never in all the 18 years we've had Herbie has she laid so long unused.  This year, things have conspired against us.  Every time we made a plan, something got in the way. Until now that is. Today we climbed aboard, battled with the cobwebs, started the trusty old BMC engine (fired up first go!) and set off into the wide blue yonder.  We've cruised all the way from Cropredy marina to . . . below Cropredy lock! That must be over a quarter of a mile.  Well it's a start.  We've barely a scrap of food on board and we're only part unpacked.  So Banbury tomorrow and food shopping and sorting out the boat after being laid up so long.

Anyone kind enough to have read my previous post deserves an apology.  I announced then that I was off to Herbie to commence repainting the cabin sides.  Well it turned out that that was about as true as a Boris Johnson Brexit promise.  For one thing I'd forgotten that I'd promised to take Grace and her pals to Thorpe park to celebrate completion of their GCSEs.  Then the temperature rose to 27 degrees - far too hot for painting, then it started raining -again a painting no no.  So that's on hold for the time being.

But there are other exciting developments to announce.  First, our ship's cat (kitten actually) has been selected from the short list.  He or she (we're still not sure!) is currently called Nose and is very sweet natured.  Two of her siblings have gone to Grace.

Nose is just a temporary name while we think up a proper one.  Maybe you can help out here with some ideas.  Suggestions so far include Parker (after Nosey parker), Schrodinger, Bilbo, Barnsley  that's a long story but it's a family joke), Milton (after our favourite Brewery), Guinness, Saka , Tuffers,  Rumpole, Banksy, etc.  Rejected ones include Jacob Rees Moggie.  Any ideas gratefully received. We take possession in about three weeks.

Our other bit of excitement is that we have kitted ourselves out with a pair of Brompton folding bikes to allow us to explore further from the canal when we tie up somewhere.  Bromptons are ferociously expensive new, but you can easily find really good used ones for half the retail price which is what we did.  Herbie is not a big boat, but we've managed to stow away the pair without too much bother.  Our maiden outing might be in a few days time when we can moor up near Twyford wharf and attempt an assault on Kings Sutton and /or cycle from The Pig Place to Adderbury.  We can also make good use of the Bromptons when we visit our Peter in Cambridge which unlike our own home is blissfully bereft of hills for the most part.  I'll be able to have more than one drink at the pub. Woohoo!