Getting ready to go

Only just over a fortnight till the start of phase 1 of our 2009 grand tour, and preparations are well in hand. We have maps and charts all over the house and attempts at preliminary schedules. A lot of the effort is planning how we'll get to and from the boat each time we leave her and come home for a few days. No doubt real life will upset our careful planning.

Today I've been sawing logs for the stove, and putting finishing touches to the refurbishment of the old Buckby cans we bought a little while back. Filling in the paint chips and recoating some of the trim has made all the difference. Not bad eh?


A phone message from Glenda tells us our new cratch cover should be finished tomorrow morning, so we'll be driving to the boatyard and then walking two or three miles up the Slough Arm to collect the boat.

Sue on Indigo Dream started her big cruise yesterday, passing the empty Herbie as they left Packet Boat Marina. A pity it wasn't 48 hours later as we would have been there to wave them off. Anyway she writes a mean blog so we'll be following her cruise with interest. I've added a link to them on our favourite blogs list on this page so you can follow them too.

In praise of GOBA

Wow, I'm impressed. Everyone who visits or keeps a boat on the Great Ouse recommends joining GOBA, the Great Ouse Boating Association. So we just did.

I visited their website, had a general read and then joined on line, paying my £17 through Paypal and filling in a simple form with sensible questions. I got the usual email receipts and a welcoming mail saying the paper work should come by post with 28 days. It actually arrived in 48 hours - a membership certificate covering us immediately and until April 2010, a sticker for the boat and a very professional looking club magazine.

As members we get free use of 21 club mooring sites on the Ouse and its tributaries for 48 hours at a time, which is of course the reason for joining.

What impresses me most is that this is not a big business but a society run by unpaid volunteers. They could give a lesson in efficiency, value for money and customer care to a lot of the big boys.

Rail links to waterways

Never say I don't take notice of comments. On the suggestion of Sue on Indigodream I've adapted my tube style map of this year's cruise to include railway stations. Actually it's not too much of a sacrifice to do the job since we'll be wanting to get back home by public transport from time to time, so It'll be handy for us. It now looks as though it has measles, but anyway here it is. Click to see it big.


As for Halfie's suggstion that I do a similar map for the whole system - you'll have to wait a very long time. If anyone elase wants to have a go and add to the library, that'd be good.

Picture problem cracked

When I posted my map yesterday I noticed that it enlarged properly if clicked upon, whereas other pictures lately seem not to. So I did a bit of research and bingo, I've solved the problem. Other Blogger bloggers take note.

After you upload the picture, it comes in at the top of the posting and of course you often drag it to a new spot within the text. Yesterday I left the map and the top and it enlarged with a click. If you drag and drop it doesn't. Thankfully there is a way round it. All you have to do is click on the HTML tab,, identifiy the code for the picture (you can't really miss it) and drag and drop the whole of that code.

Aplologies if a) you already knew that or b) if you couldn't care less because you are not a Blogger blogger.

Anyway to celebrate, here is a picture of Brentford basin that should enlarge when you click on it.
In future all my pics should follow suit so get clicking.

Cruise map a la tube map

I've had a go at creating a map for our summer cruise and thought it would be fun to do it in the style of the London Underground map. As a quick reference I've added approximate time in hours between possible stopping places. A full size version as a pdf is available here on my canalometers page. Or you can follow the link to the Herbie Files on the right of this blog page.

What do you think?

Boaters complain about Boaters at Cowley Peachey

I'm not generally given to grumbling but . . .


Glenda says the BW man told her that they would be putting up No Mooring signs at this pleasant spot just inside the Slough Arm. Apparently there had been complaints from boaters mooring inside the adjacent Packet Boat Marina about boats moored outside continuously for free, running their engines at all hours etc.

Now I'm not one to defend people who continuously moor on visitor moorings, taking up room for travelling boats that need a short stop, but to close these moorings would be unreasonable. These are the only decent towpath moorings on the Slough arm, and I would have though quite out of sight and earshot from boats inside the marina as you can see in this picture.



Every boat on the move needs somewhere to stop, it's what we pay our licences for. And we all from time to time need to run our engines whilst stationary to get power and hot water.

I suspect the complainers might be folk who hardly ever leave the marina. It is regrettable that some people who don't "use" their boat should hold sway over those who do. By all means ban overstayers, but don't penalise everyone else. I would have no objection at all to signs limiting mooring to 7 days or thereabouts. Let's hope that's the intention because to lose this pleasant sheltered spot is unnecessary.

Credit crunch threatens developments on the Slough Arm

I've received the latest minutes from the Friends of the Slough Canal (FOTSC). Its a good example of how the current state of the economy is getting in the way of progress in improving the canal. In brief the main items of note are:

The idea of a Thames link through Slough is still alive, and although it has symapthetic support from BW and the Slough Council, the current economic situation means that it is a long way off.

The idea of giving a much needed face lift to Slough basin is still on the cards. BW owns some of the adjacent properties and would like to make the basin "an attractive and safe place". (so say all of us!) However, once again the credit crunch is sited as a hindrance.

The Council cannot this year afford to fund the Slough Canal Festival (September). Unless alternative sponsorship can be found the festival will not go ahead.

Lea school in Slough is considering some kind of docking arrangements on the canal next to the school so that boats such as the Floating Classroom can tie up at the school. Its a lovely idea but

I'm tempted to say the school (and FOTSC) must be having a laugh. The floating classroom, currently moored up at Cowley is a big boat by canal standards. I took its photo this morning. Maybe it could just about get down the Slough Arm but I'm sure after one trip, they'd hesitate to repeat it.

Tragic end to missing man saga

Apparently the man's body surfaced near his boat on Friday afternoon. It was spotted by poor Glenda who, by virtue of being the neighbouring boat, has since had to deal with visits by police, BW, undertakers, and distraught relatives. I think she'll be glad when she finishes our cratch cover and she can move off. I did offer to move Herbie to another spot but she declined.

That's twice in recent weeks that we have been close to bodies in the canal. I sincerely hope it's a coincidence that won't be repeated further.

No news on missing man

I popped out to Herbie this morning to put another coat of paint on the (ex) rust spots. Nobody around but the missing man's boat still looks deserted although now locked up by his daughter.

Rain is forecast for Monday and most of next week, so tomorrow (Sunday) I'll go out again and put a top coat on. That should hold it until I can overcoat the whole roof. While I'm there I'll get the latest on the missing man.

It really is beautiful weather at the moment. I bet you when we start our mega cruise next month we won't be so fortunate. Next Wednesday the met office publishes its revised seasonal forecast for the remainder of spring. Fingers crossed.

I couldn't resist showing you this

Three posts in one day! Well I had to show you this.

Last night I went in to Westminster for our monthly pipers session. Walking up Horseferry Road I came across this "scultpure" of illuminated umbrellas.

Very good, but why? Futher up the road I looked back and the answer was revealed

The Channel 4 offices.

Minor roof repairs and more on the cratch cover

On a more cheerful note (see post below) I made good progress on the roof yesterday. There were a number of tiny rust spots like this one (about the size of a pin head).

I rubbed them all back, treated them with vactan, put on primer which dried really fast in the warm sun and the breeze and got on a dab of primer /undercoat too. Next week if the weather holds I'll put on some more layers before repainting the whole roof with a fresh top coat.

Actually I was was quite encouraged. When you rub these rust spots back, they are tiny. In some cases I think it must be a fragment of metal dust or swarf in the paint because there is fresh paint beneath the rust spot. Anyway the roof now looks like this. The undercoat is a darker grey than the top coat. With a fresh top coat we'll be as good as new again.

Meanwhile Glenda was popping round looking at strap positions for the cratch cover and still offering me choices of this and that regarding the design. It was too breezy for her to mark out her paper template in situ, so she was getting on with making straps etc. She was also preoccupied with the missing man.

Moored the other side of me was a boat for which Glenda had just finished the cratch cover. A bit different from how ours will look but here it is. Ours will have bigger windows and I think wider "doors". One of the main features we are seeking is a shorter "tail" pressed studded out of the way of marauding lock gates.

She was regailing me with tales of how asymmetrical some boats are. Cratch boards not central, one side of the boat an inch higher than the other etc. I suppose that's because they're hand built. It doesn't make her job any easier.

Fear of tragedy - boater missing on GU

When I went out to Herbie yesterday to do a spot of repair painting on the roof, there was fear and consternation in the area. I'm moored up close to Pete and Genda who are making our new cratch cover. Behind them is another boat usually occupied (living aboard) by a chap on hs own. This man, whose name I don't know, seems to have gone missing about a week ago. His boat was left with the door open and fresh food lying about.

Apparently he is known to go on the occasional bender, and the fear is he might have fallen into the cut whilst not in full possession of his faculties. The police have been called, BW is on the case and his very worried daughter has come out to the boat to investigate.

I'll keep you posted.