Retirement with No Problem

Widmead Lock to Thatcham, Kennet & Avon Canal, 1 mile 2 locks

After a hearty cooked breakfast and a wander with the girls, we left our lovely mooring and dropped down Widmead Lock.  Not far after that to the wood which would take us 2 and half hour to saw, chop and stow away…

This was just the start!  Enough probably now to last us through the winter.  We are hardly using any coal at the moment, just a small shovel full last thing.

On through Monkey Marsh Lock..

This one is due to be closed on Monday for maintenance, but I am wondering if it will with the Hungerford Marsh Lock over running due to BW finding a lot of damage under the water level that needs fixing.

Monkey Marsh Lock is very different to normal locks as you can see.  I was totally restored in 1989 and is one of the two turf sided locks on this canal.  Here is what it looked like back in the 70s before the restoration..

© Copyright Dr Neil Clifton and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Gosh just look at that lock landing!  You can see Thatcham bridge in the distance exactly the same as it is today.

And that is where we moored for the day.. Phew a long cruise.. Not!  But we had Mr Tesco to meet and he duly turned up late afternoon with all stuff heavies such as potatoes, dog food etc

I did a Maffi and filled two carrier bags full of rubbish from the visitor moorings.  I was getting funny looks from the dog walkers, maybe they thought I was some vagrant looking for a couple of crisps left over in a bag!  I don’t have one of those stick thingies and use gloves you see, so I suppose it looked a bit odd!

Tomorrow we will move on a bit further before settling for the weekend.  Next thing on the agenda is water and that we will do on Monday.  We still have about one third of a tank, so our thoughtful use of water has paid off over the last couple of weeks, but I am looking forward to a half hour shower instead of a one minute one!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

I was disappointed for sure at not being chosen for the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant.  I wasn’t the only disappointed one I know, but when I looked at the list of 40 narrowboats lucky enough to take part I noticed that all of them came from Societies/Boatclubs etc.  In some cases many boats from the same Society.  St Pancras Cruising Club have managed to get 4 boats in.

I just wish they had said that before asking me and other non Society/Boatclub boaters to apply.  I took a long time over my application, and now I feel it wasn’t even read and probably binned after the first few words.

There are some obscure entries too.. Two from London Studio Orchestra (share boats?),  another from Worshipful Company of Innholders, but alas none from The Continuous Cruiser Brigade.

Some of the boats on the list I doubt have even seen a river, let alone the tidal river Thames.. it makes me wonder just how safe that is going to be.. 40 narrowboats, a few inexperienced,  in among 960 others!

I said I had run out of something to take a picture of, but I revisited Greenham Common yesterday..

It is fantastic over there, but unfortunately I didn’t see any of the Exmoor ponies that roam the common.  The little calf that was born last week was not in the field either, heh, probably nice and warm in a barn somewhere after being born in -1 degrees!

I have updated the British Waterways and Canal & River Trust page (scroll down to the bottom) with developments up to today..

Another bit of news in today is the report of prosecutions of boaters on the Thames with no licences.. EA seem to deal with these evaders far better than BW does.  Now if EA are also going to join this CRT, are they going to bring the way they deal with evading licences holders with them?

Ah ha, nearly forgot… Wassat?.. Well I gotcha!

I know you are going to kill me, it wasn’t recent, it was when the ice was on the cut!… I am sorry, but you are getting far too good at this!

Well that is it for us at Widmead Lock, our 14 days come to an end tomorrow and we must move on.  We have so enjoyed being here, loved it in fact.  We have also enjoyed some visitors, Paul on his bike and Shelia and Alan, local blog readers we met last year, on foot.

Tomorrow we have two appointments.  One with a rather large and nice piece of ash to top up our stash on the roof and with Mr Tesco for some well needed heavy stuff!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

A couple of boats through today coming up the locks. One was the Kennet & Avon trip boat obviously being taken to further up the canal with no passengers on boards just a lazy crew who didn’t bother to close the top gate of the lock here as they left.

This meant that from our offside mooring we had to go to the bottom gate to cross the lock on a very thin plank. I knew I was going to have to be very careful, but Lucy jumped up on to it and tried to scamper across. Down she went off the bottom gate into the water. It’s only a drop of 3ft 7 inches, but enough! There is also a strong overflow from the bywater too.

I kept very calm, after all she is 13 years old, and encouraged her to swim past the lock landing, which has a very sharp edge, where I could pull her out of the vegetation beyond non the worse for her dunking!

She wanted to continue with her afternoon walk though, and we stretched out and did a circuit of the big lake before she got some well deserved tlc.  Hasn’t put her off her grub either!

NP will need a bit of tlc tomorrow after all that wet and mud in the salon!  Oh the joys of having boat dogs! 

Some interesting guesses to yesterday’s Wassat? For sure it does look like a handle of a tankard or tea pot..

Yes, it was a handle all right, but the handle of the Francis fire engine light that I got off ebay! Well done to those three who were correct today, Roger, Gail and Wends (Commented from France high up in the Alps too!).  So trois (Thanks for the sp Frank), deux and un points pour vous lot.  Oh and I am going to give un point pour Charlie for noticing the bit of spider thread!

Go on, I’l do another then..

Wassat? It’s not on the boat!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

Well Sprocky didn’t you do well!  Also Mike guessed, but hey Mike did you look at the comments before you guessed?  I’ll give tois points pour Sprocky and deux points pour Mike..

Yes it’s the satellite dish! Some interesting guesses in the comments too. I certainly think the popper buttons on the canopy was a good shout. Porthole not such a good shout as No Problem doesn’t have any!

Not much to report today for you, unless you want me to start from ‘getting out of bed, had breakfast, had shower.. etc etc’  I thought not!

But we did pop into Newbury for some spuds and a couple of other bits and bobs to keep us going for a couple of days before we move off and of course just had to visit Weatherspoons again.  They had an offer on today of an all day breakfast for £1.99 which I think included a cuppa.

The place was full.  Many elderly people taking advantage of a plateful at lunchtime.  Gosh it was a good plateful too.  A panini did the job for us along with a couple of beers of course!

I don’t have any pictures today.. I did try but I have taken all there is to take around here.  The only one I did take was of some ducks, but having looked at it, I don’t think you would appreciate that on the blog!

But I will give you another Wassat? because you seem to enjoy them.  No peeping at the comments before you guess, but I think you will find this one very easy, it just depends who is on line at 11pm this evening, for sure they will get the tois points!

Wassat? It’s on the boat… easy peasy!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

Well we are down to half a tank of water now after being moored here for just over a week.  Our water conservation seems to be working just fine, although I had to run a wash today.. I ain’t got that many pairs of knickers!

Rubbish has been easy to deal with as there are bins over at the Nature Discovery Centre along with a great recycling centre..

Great for the kids this too as each board has lot of information on about recycling.  I can’t add this one to the Recycling list as it is too far from the canal, but if you should moor where we are you know where it is.

Shelia and Bruce have produced another book to be sold on kindle, A Boater’s Commonplace Book ..

“..I have tried to put together the answers and advice that we have given to people on the canals since we started to live aboard in 2004.  I hope there is something for everyone in the variety I offer but inevitably the greatest relevance is for people who are interested in steel narrow boats..”

That looks very interesting, and if you don’t have a kindle then let Bruce know via a comment on his blog and I am sure he will get you a copy another way.

Chas Moore is another blogger who has produced a book .. Life with a Narrowboat

“…The first trick was to turn it round! A winding hole is required. One of these was indicated on the map not far away. The engine started! So off we go in the wrong direction. Put the bow onto the bank and swing the back round, eventually. The fuel tank was only 1/3 full so it was essential to find some diesel…”

This from Chapter One after having just taken the keys of his first narrowboat back in 1995. The book reflects all of his travels since then.

OK, so now to this evenings Wassat?  I guess you will find this one a bit difficult, it might be tois points pour moi!

Wassat? It’s on the boat! 

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

Well thanks to those with advice on the radio which I reported playing up in yesterday’s blog. I did as you said and cleaned the contacts on the off/on button, and hey presto it worked! It didn’t switch itself back on again. But now it is swapping programs without being told! 

One minute we had the football on, then it swapped to Classical radio, then Radio 1.. After that Newbury News, Radio Berkshire. And more!  Gawd! Time spent on each was about 3 minutes. Actually we quite enjoyed it and all we kept doing was giggling!

I don’t know what is going on, it seems to me that it will probably cost me more to get it fixed than to purchase a new one. There are some really nice ones around like the Sony from Halfords going for a good price too. I can also use my ipod on that, and it has a CD player as well. Yes I still have a few of those, but most are now on my ipod.

You got the Wassat? last night, here you go..

Yes, its a pigeon box.  which is used to vent the engine room normally.  Well done to Mike and Keith, the only two to guess correctly, so 3 and 2 points to them.

A visitor today, Paul Balmer on his way along the Kennet & Avon doing his mapping notes. I am very impressed indeed with what he is doing, it is going to be so easy to update the maps, and I know that I can just send him any changes to the maps and I will get an update almost straight away.

We chatted for a couple of hours non stop! Sorry Paul, hope I didn’t drown you in words!

It was good to see Paul, not seen him for about 18 months. In fact I was so enjoying that I forgot to take a pic.. well almost..

There he goes on his trusty bike.  He started in Reading this morning and is going on to Newbury mapping and measuring lock depths etc before catching the train home.

That’s it for tonight, wanna watch the rest of the footie, it’s good!  Will put on another Wassat? tomorrow. 

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

Our radio keeps turning itself on! Three times it has done that tonight, very spooky! In the end I disconnected it, pulling out the wires from the back as I couldn’t see enough to see where the fuse was. That will do until tomorrow.

Now then, does anybody know why it keeps turning itself on? Is the radio doomed to the bin or can it be fixed? It is one of those car radio thingies.

Apart from the usual walking and a bit of work in the office we have been clearing two trees for BW which have fallen over the bywater. Heh, the wood burns well on the stove, and the area looks good for the clean up. Win, win situation!

No pics today, well there wasn’t anything to take a picture of that was any different to the pics I have already got, so I thought I would carry on with the Wassat? pics. You seemed to enjoy those when we were stuck at Bedwyn.

Here we go then..

Wassat?

Easy one to get you back in to it. Sprocky is in the lead at the moment (see the scores in the left hand column of the blog) with Tom in second place, and I am third with 6 points as you couldn’t guess a couple of them. So 3 points for the first person to guess, 2 for the second etc etc.

Just been round to check all the smoke alarms and the carbon monoxide alarm, all working just fine. Don’t forget to check yours from time to time, it is very important.

A reminder too that you can get free smoke alarms from any fire station, ask for the optical one as this doesn’t go off if you burn the toast!

Hope someone knows how to fix the radio..

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

I am surprised we are so settled.  Maybe our minds have just adjusted to the fact that we have to.  But we are very happy here, the mooring is a delight.

Yesterday we caught the bus to Newbury from the end of the footpath that leads to the Nature Discovery Centre in Thatcham, very handy.  We needed some milk and a couple of other bits and bobs.  Of course we timed it for lunchtime and found one of the two Weatherspoons.  Most will know I am a great fan!

Lucy and Meg keep me busy during the day in between a project which I have embarked on while waiting for winter stoppages to finish to allow us onto the rest of the canal system.  Unfortunately my New Year’s Resolution is not going to happen… In fact it is dire near impossible now.  Not my fault, honest! 

You will have to look at the front page of the blog down the left hand column to see what it is/was!

We have not seen a boat come past for four days now.  It is really quiet on this stretch of the Kennet & Avon.  The only other boat anywhere near us is Arundel moored about half a mile away.

Oh and I have been a bit of a BW unofficial volunteer Lock Keeper today, with no boats moving through the lock here it has got very bunged up in front of it as it is a river bit,  so I cleared the culverts of debris and flushed a lock full of water through.  I also cleared the lock bywater weir just behind us which was totally bunged up.

And Maffi, I also cleared 1 mile each way of any rubbish!  To be honest there wasn’t very much, just a small carrier bag full.  I have found the K&A towpaths pretty rubbish free.

I’ll think of something else tomorrow!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

For you boaters MP Martin Vickers was asking questions yesterday to which Richard Benwyn replied..

As far as dredging is concerned there is a £40 million backlog!  As far as Pensions in concerned the actuarial valuation of the British Waterways Pension Fund pension deficit was £65.6 million, and those are figures from 2010!

And all to be sorted by the time the new Charity comes into force.. (If ever!)

And while they sort out the politics I, like all of you, sit by and wait.  Well I am used to that!  But today was so nice I decided to spend most of it out with my girls visiting yet another huge area of woodland, and taking time to go and have a look at the old Greenham Air base, now called Greenham Common.

The old airbase itself all gone now, the runways broken up and, in the main, used to make the controversial A34 Newbury bypass.

An exmoor pony.. gosh it took me ages to find them as they roam the whole area, and that is huge I’ll tell you.  Now quite a rare breed of native pony.  It is, in fact, our oldest breed of English pony.  They have a breeding program at Greenham to improve numbers.  These are perfect children’s pony and, as you can see, are really hardy.

The girls absolutely loved it over on the heathland, plenty of rabbits to sniff after in among the heather.  But there was an even higher delight today.  As I walked along a track a couple of hours earlier I noticed a calf just being born, so I stepped back for 10 minutes until Mum with calf was on her feet..

Doesn’t she look proud, it’s almost as if she want me to take a pic of her new little one.  So cold too, it was -1, you can see the frost still clinging to the vegetation.  Now then..

“Where is my first drink”.  It took ages for him to find out which end to go.  Mum shoved and jiggled and turned and mooed, but after another 10 minutes he finally found what he was looking for.. “Top right hand corner mate!”

Yeah!  And with that I left them too it hoping the farmer would notice sometime during the day and so bring them into the barn for night.  I’ll go back in a few days and see how he is getting on.  WOW made my day that!

Congrats must go to Bruce and Shelia on the first of their two books to be published on Kindle over on the Amazon site.  That must have been a lot of hard work getting the sentences right, the spelling and of course the inevitable proof reading.  No doubt an invaluable read for those just setting out on their narrowboat dreams for their retirement.  Well done you both!

And I am still feeling sad about Lynx, Sue’s wonderful greyhound who was killed over the weekend by a tumble in a back garden.  Tragic news for such a wonderful K9.. I gonna miss his jottings for sure like everybody else..

Our Maffi has been talking about the Olympics and our boats not being allowed anywhere near the scene..

“..So BW and the powers that be start talking about security. If security is a problem  a simple profiling exercise would show that boaters are are generally diamond geezers and hardly likely to lob an RPG round or SAM 7 missile into the Olympic Stadium. If boaters are a security risk then so is any one living in the vicinity. Why haven’t the powers that be started emptying the people from the local houses. You can get a better aim from an upstairs bedroom window…”

Gawd, don’t you just love him for the way he says it!?  Classic!

Moored Widmead Lock, Kennet & Avon Canal

Watching everybody blogging that they are on the go over the last few days has made me think just how unfortunate we have been to have been stuck here on the K&A.  But I am not getting frustrated, it has happened and I can’t change anything…

This is one of our favourite moorings on the K&A, and when we arrived here on Friday it was taken.  We moored on the towpath side with a long plank making that do as the walks around here are fantastic.  Just as we were eating breakfast the boat that was there left and went down the lock.. Yipee!..

Some news from Amy over the weekend will certainly change our plans for this year.  Hoping to go over to East Anglia, well that is as long as the canals don’t completely dry up, we were going to visit the River Cam.  Although we have been over to the fens on a number of occasions, we have only been on the Cam once, and even then we didn’t go all the way to Cambridge.

For sure I won’t be going down there this year.. It looks like it is going to cost anything between £90 and £120 for a visitors licence! 

So checking on the lock closures in front of us, we just have Monkey Marsh Lock which closes for a month on 30th January.  That is just one mile away.  Services are a bit difficult with Tyle Mill’s water out of action leaving only the one at Aldermaston between here and the Thames, with Tyle Mill the only BW pump out.

Unfortunately the two locks on the Thames that I am interested in, Benson (between us and Oxford) and Chertsey (between us and Teddington) will now not open until 16th March.. Two months away! 

Ho hum… We will stay here for a bit then move on through Monkey Marsh.. Twiddle de Thumbs time for a while then..

There is plenty of maintenance to be getting on with though, and poor ‘ol NP needs a good wash and brush up when the weather gets a bit warmer.  We are on water conservation for now, taking the very clean river water for washing up etc so that we can stay here a bit longer if we feel like it.  Not a bad mooring eh?

Girls aren’t unhappy about our mooring either, there are plenty of walks for them..

I might walk over to Greenham Common tomorrow.  Apparently there are some exmoor ponies over there.  I would be interested in that for sure.