Long term test of our Cobb BBQ - a mariners dream?

A couple of years ago at the IWA festival we bought a Cobb barbecue system. I don't know if you've ever seen one but here's a picture I borrowed from their web site (I don't suppose they'll complain as I'm giving them a write up).
The Cobb web site claims that the product is a "mariner's dream"(!), so I thought people might be interested to hear how it performs in general and on a boat in particular.


The first thing to say is that it doesn't perform at all like a barbecue and this takes a bit of getting used to. Normal barbecues cook very fast and tend to burn stuff if you aren't careful. The Cobb seems to cook a lot slower when using charcoal and when we first got it we were not impressed. Bits of chicken took forever to cook through. The only benefit being that they didn't burn so at least they were cooked the same all through. The big improvement came when we abandoned using charcoal and got some of their special Cobblestones which are thick discs of compressed coconut fibre.


These Cobblestones are quite easy to light, they burn much hotter are are ready to cook over in just a few minutes. Now we get stuff cooked much faster, but still without burning as dripping fat does not create flames or smoke in the Cobb. Instead it just drips through to the moat in the bowl below where you can put some parboiled spuds and you end up with nice roasties. In many ways the Cobb performs more like an oven than a barbie.


Because the food doesn't burn easily, you can chargrill more delicate stuff like asparagus or thin slices of courgette or red pepper which come out lovely. Sausages and burgers get cooked through without being blackened on the outside. The size of the grill is not all that big so if you have a gang to feed you'll have to do it in shifts, but that's how we tend to have barbies anyway. One of the Cobblestones stays hot for a couple of hours.

What we haven't yet tried is roasting a chicken or baking bread - both of which are supposed to be possible.

Now why is the Cobb particularly handy on a boat? Well the first thing is that the external part of it never gets hot. While it is cooking you can actually pick it up with bare hands! So if you don't have a bit of bankside to use, you can cook on the back deck or the well deck or even the boat roof! Or if the ground is muddy the Cobb will be quite safe on a table. It will not burn the surface you put it on - honestly! The burning fuel is low down inside the pot and the whole thing is very stable. Also it makes hardly any smoke after the first two minutes, and you have to cook with the lid on so it doesn't spit either. Secondly it is easy to clean out and stores cleanly inside its zipped carrying bag. The outside of the base and also the lid are stainless steel and don't get dirty at all in use.

However don't try to use it inside the boat because when we experimented with this it set of our carbon monoxide alarm albeit only at a low level.

Downsides: - doesn't fold down in any way, the plate is a bit small for a family meal, you need to readjust your brain to think of it more as an oven, our experience with charcoal briquettes was disappointing, and cost. The non stick cooking plate still tends to stick on some things. We got an extra roasting rack thrown in which we ought to use but never have. The Cobb is expensive - 90 quid or more!! The carrying bag is an extra we got thrown in as part of a deal at the IWA but normally costs another £15.75.

Worth it? It is very well made and I suspect it will last a very long time if looked after because most of the parts are stainless steel.. Once you get the hang of it you can do very nice food on it and it's a lot cleaner and less smoky than other BBQs. I wouldn't call it a must, but if you get one and learn to use it properly it'll eventually earn its keep I reckon.

I'd be interested to see if anyone else has tried one and how they got on.

Lister before they made boat engines

Whilst in Shropshire we spent a day at Acton Scott, the historic working farm you may have seen on telly in the programme "Victorian Farm". It feels a bit like you're in a Thomas Hardy novel as the farm work goes on all around you old fashioned style.

As well as old breeds of pigs, cows, chickens and what have you wandering about, we also watched the haymaking,

and a quite spectacular job of fitting a new rim to a wagon wheel, heating the metal first in an incredibly hot fire. The two blokes doing the job had to drench their clothes and hats in a tub of water before setting about the work, producing lots of smoke, flames and steam.

later we wandered round the large collection of old farm machinery, ploughs etc. and I was quite surprised when in the dairy I spotted this old cream separator made by Listers of Dursley. Yep, that's the very same Lister that made all the boat engines, and still does today under the Lister Petter brand. I also saw some old Lister sheep shearing equipment and Googlng them today I find that they still do make shearing stuff. Not a lot of people know that. Well I didn't anyway.

Back on line and have we scooped Granny?

No I haven't had swine flu or got fed up with posting. We've been out of reach of broadband, and even electricity, for the last week on our annual pilgimage to the Stretton Hills in Shropshire. Even the mobile phone connectivity is very dodgy there. Anyway, a bit more of that in the next post, but meanwhile can it be that I have spotted a waterways communications first before the redoubtable Andrew Denny of Granny Buttons fame?? It's just the kind of thing Andrew likes to write about. Maybe he already has, because I am not up to date with his writings, but just in case, here it is.

It seems that businesses are beginning to see the potential of using Twitter to inform their customers of offers, and in an advert in this month's Canal Boat magazine I noticed that the New & Used Boat Co have set up a Twitter thingy for customers to see new additions to their boats for sale listings. twitter.com/newand usedboat .

Personally I have not tried twitting or whatever the verb is and so I don't really know if people would find it useful or not. Maybe Andrew would have something to say about it.

Cattle expert needed

One of the things that surprised me as we boated round the fens was the number of herds of beef cattle gazing the marshy meadows. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised as it is obviously very lush pasture. We often saw herds straying into the water, not just to drink and keep cool in the hot weather but often to graze on the bankside rushes which they appear to like a lot.

I used to think I knew a little bit about breeds of cattle, and in my youth we didn't see much other than Herefords with white faces like those in the picture above and the once ubiquitous black and white Friesians, but now we see all sorts. I was totally unable to identify them in a number of cases and I suspect a lot of cross breeding goes on.

Look at these at Cogenhoe.

The rather handsome bull (left)might be a red poll I think, but the cows are something else

and the resulting calves come in all colours.

Then this herd somewhere else on the Nene seem to be a small breed, perhaps a bit of Dexter? I don't know - and once again they come in a range of shades.

Any experts out there? For once, Google cannot find me answers!

This last one, seen at skulking in the long grass at Wicken Fen is easy of course, being a Highland. These are much used by the National Trust and other conservation groups as they eat anything and are good for keeping wild areas from getting too overgrown with plants that don't belong there.

Etiquette and other locky advice and help.

Today I received the latest copy of the excellent GOBA magazine together with a letter reminding members of what they call Lock and Mooring Etiquette. Full copies of the etiquette are posted at every lock on the Ouse and include advice on closing gaps at moorings to leave more space, sorting out the order in which boats should enter or leave a lock, how to leave lock gates and so on.

Being unfamiliar with guillotine locks it was helpful to me in deciding whether to reopen a half closed guillotine gate when another boat appears round the corner. GOBA's suggestion is that if the bottom of the gate has touched the water surface, then its reasonable to carry on lowering. These gates take several minutes to raise or lower.

I reckon this is a great idea and I wish BW would do something similar at locks and visitor moorings. Not only would it make it easier to gently complain to a miscreant, it would also be useful to hire boaters or other visitors not aware of local informal rules.

EA and BW have surprisingly different ways of doing things and could learn from each other.

I have complained before about the awkward positioning of EA lock gates on the Ouse and Nene, but there is one aspect that BW would do well to copy, which is that of having wooden rubbing boards along the edges where you have to pull in by the bollards. This would save a lot of touch up paint. There is now one lock on the BW that now has this and that is Coppermill lock near Harefield. Also EA visitor moorings have very nicely constructed with good bollards and superb non slip surfaces.

However I'm not so sure that BW should bother spending our money on the safety signboards seen at EA locks. They have so many different warning triangles and No xxxx signs that it would put off people ever using locks if they read them all! Some poor lady was killed a few days ago at a lock on the Oxford canal by hitting her head after slipping, but I somehow doubt that the sign would have made any difference.

Weathering the weather

The poor old Met Office have had a bit of stick lately because they predicted a barbecue summer and here we are beset by showers all the time. Don't be too hard on them though because May and June were hot and sunny for the most part and our fens trip had very few wet days and lots and lots of hot sun. To prove how hot it was, look at this EA chap cutting weed on the Wissey.

The umbrella wasn't to keep him dry, it was to beat off the sun. We were doing similar things on Herbie at the time. The weed was growing like crazy. More weed cutters were out on the Middle levels in March when we passed though. They had more permanent shelter.

Thankfully the weed on the Slough arm was way past its worst by the time we reached home. Less sun = less weed :-).

By the way, if you should spot Herbie in London this weekend, that'll be Claire and family who have borrowed the boat. I nearly told them not to go because today was supposed to be heavy rain. So far here, 20 miles West of the capital, the rain has yet to arrive and Claire has texted to say they have reached Paddington (or Camden?) and moored up in the dry.

Dream boats

Many people, it seems, dream of owning a boat. That's fine, but I sometimes wish they would keep their dreams to themselves. I'm amazed by how many people like to point this out by calling their boat Dreamcatcher. We've seen several of them lately. Jim Shead lists over 30 of them!

There's worse. Just imagine having to ring up to book a passage through a lock and when they ask the name of the boat having to say Our Dream. It would stick in my throat I'm afraid. Then we recently saw Our Destiny. Is it just me, or is that wearing your heart on your sleeve a bit too much?

There are some we find OK, such as Indigo Dream, or (at a pinch, because written in a jolly font) Wildest Dreams.

Well, I shouldn't criticise. People can call their boats what they like I suppose. Personally I like simple names. Some I have seen that I really like are fish names like Dace or Bream, and the old working boat names like Badsey (the village where I was born), or Stour shown below, and Bison.

Don't you just love that lively signwriting?

We passed a wonderful tug style Bison for sale in Milton Keynes. This 57 footer was originally built by Yorkshire boatbuilders Sagar Marine in who built their last narrowboat in 1998 and now specialise in luxury Dutch barges. The engine is listed by Jim Shead as 22BHP which means it might be an old slow revver. Chug chug.

That would be something like my dream boat. I'm quite sure it would be beyond our means or I'd be queueing up to buy it. Externally it looks immaculate.

I'll give them a free advert here so you can phone up and buy it. If you do, can I come for a ride?.

Ship's lifeboat lives on as a river cruiser

Of all the boats we saw on our trip, this one took my fancy the most.

It lives and cruises on the Nene and belongs to an old fella who was moving it from Peterborough to Wansford on the day we met them. Both the hull and the current owner are over eighty years old, and they suited each other to a tee.

This quirky little barque started as one of the many lifeboats on SS Tamaroa, hence the name.
SS Tamaroa was launched in 1922 and spent most of her life ploughing the waves between here and the antipodes. She was scrapped in 1957 which was presumably when someone bought the lifeboat and began the conversion into this cute little river cruiser. I think it looks like the cartoon boats we see in kids' picture books.

Peeking inside it had a real old nautical charm and the old fella, who had owned the boat for well over 40 years I think, was equally delightful. His daughter and grandchildren were helping him move it on the day we met them. Sadly we couldn't share locks with them because they were too wide.

Given the choice of this or a modern plastic cruiser with all mod cons, I wouldn't think twice.

Home coming and memories of bridges

Herbie is home and our big summer voyage is complete.


What a trip. 573 miles, and 335 locks over 56 days on the move plus a good number of days off. We've covered a lot of the Grand Union plus its Slough, Wendover and Northampton arms , almost the entire navigable length of the rivers Nene, Ouse, Cam and Wissey, plus the Middle levels through route. No great shakes for some people, I know, but by far the biggest boat trip we've ever done.


I've never really known a lot about the fen country, and although it sure is flat we found it fascinating and the wildlife incredible, and there are so many waterways to explore. Not only that, the journey there along the Nene was so pretty.


My over riding memories of the trip are of lush landscapes, very very low, bridges, sunshine (!), quiet remote moorings, rare birds, snakes, a seal, and friends who joined us for bits of the journey, and amazing people we met. (not necessarily in that order!).


I'm still sorting through the hundreds of photos we took but I'll have plenty to show you in future posts. Here are a few good bridges to start us off. Remember the click the pics to see them at their biggest and best.

Thrapston bridge , where the Nene changes its pronunciation from Nen to Neen. There is a public mooring hidden on the left of the bridge here, but entry to it is not for the faint hearted The "cock up" bridge at the exit of Wicken Fen. Not an easy turn for a 50ft boat! The waterway the other side is only about 15ft wide

On the Ouse at Great Barford

Our lowest ever bridge, at Upwell on the middle levels

The bridge entry to Salter's lode tidal lock which you can just see opening at the front of the boat

Breasted up in Milton Keynes

The good old southern GU

Rickmansworth tonight. Not far now until we get back home and all day it has felt like we're on home ground. We've been to some fascinating and beautiful places but this part of the Grand Union still looks pretty good to me. And there is a lot less traffic than further north.


Kings Langley is not a romantic sounding place but what's wrong with a lock setting like this?

Or this one near Watford, one of the locks known as Albert's two

There are some pretty lock cottages too like this one at North Grove lock within earshot of the M25 .

These cottages are actually bigger than they look because there is a lower storey hidden from the canal side.

There are virtually no hire boats down this way but any number of social project boats taking groups of disadvantaged kids, or disabled, or old people out. The kids seem to love it, although it can take ages for them to get through a lock.

Speaking of which, Iron Bridge lock in Cassiobury park just gets slower and slower. The rate of leakage through the bottom gates is only marginally less than the pathetic inflow through the top sluices. So it takes half an hour for the lock to fill, and of course it is an absolutely prime spot or gongoozlers, so boaters get a good chance to get over some canal PR when we inevitably get interviewed by interested onlookers. Today we had an audience of at least twenty people and Kath did her usual trick of showing some kids the inside of the boat (with parent's permission of course).It helps to pass the time while the lock is filling anyway.

On risk

Adam, in response to my steerer's seat pictures is quite right in saying there is a risk in sitting or standing within the arc of swing of the tiller. I was waiting for someone to make the comment because it had occurred to me too. However I will sometimes use the seat in that position for two reasons. The first is that I have a foot problem which has been causing me "toothache" in my heel all summer if I stand a lot, so I'm desperate to sit down when I'm steering for a long time.

The second reason is just one of risk assessement really. I reckon that on stretches of deep river or canal away from places where oiks dump trolleys etc in the water, the chances of getting knocked off the back by the rudder hitting a submerged object are pretty slim. Yes we do hit such objects, but not ever yet one which knocks the tiller through a full arc (or anything near). Just like every time I cross a rain soaked lock beam or step ashore onto a muddy slippy bank I have to take risks. If canals were new things to be built today, they'd never get past the Health & Safety lot.

Nevertheless I am not completely gung ho. I have been trying out the seat in postions forward of the tiller with some success in some conditions. I need more time to experiment really.

Steerers seat trials, belly dancers and a visit from Rainman

The new steerers seat is OK. The right height, comfy, stable, foldable, a good footrest, but not in truth very "boaty". I think we'll use it for long stretches without locks but it gets in the way a bit when people have to shuffle around on the rear deck getting on and off at locks. I don't think Kath likes it much. I can't get her to sit on it!

Tuesday was a very short day from Fenny Stratford to the Globe at Old Linslade, one of our favourite stops. Wednesday was busier as we moved through Leighton Buzzard across the green pastures of Slapton and Ivinghoe (passing yet another new marina being dug) up to Marsworth where Claire and the kids joined us. Having dinner at the Anglers Retreat we had the extra treat of a troupe(?) of belly dancers in full regalia waving their midriffs in the garden. In truth their outfits were somewhat more impressive than their dancing but it makes a change from Morris dancers I suppose.

Today dawned strangely warm and sunny as we kitted out little Grace in ther lifejacket and waited for friend David to join us for the day. I say strangely warm and sunny, because it always rains when David (aka Rainman) joins us. He arrived and we set off up the serpentine Marsworth flight in shorts and tee shirts taking turns at lock winding, Jacob sometimes doing the driving into the locks. Not bad for an eleven year old.

The sun shone through the overhanging branches of the sylvan Tring cutting and at Cowroast where BW have at last installed some proper reycling bins (hooray). It was even sunny through lunchtime as we picnicked on the bank between the Dudswell locks.

When David's rain eventually came after lunch, it did it in style, like stair rods, soaking us to our very pores in minutes. He certainly knows how to organise a downpour. Good to know he hasn't lost his touch. It's just as well he's a good friend and a handy crew member or we'd have to ban him! Also he brings chocolates, so we can forgive him virtually anything.

So here we are, damp but not disheartened at Berkhamstead. Lots of locks or Claire and Jacob to practice on tomorrow. David has departed for home so perhaps we'll have a dry day.