Banjo goes up in smoke!

Making new friends

A bright start this morning, and we celebrated it with a walk down the canal to.... Tescos!! We returned with bread (a loaf for us and another for Angela's friends above), wine and cheese and set off for the lock which lay a short distance away. We stopped there to fill up with water, and then headed north. After about 2 minutes, I noticed the temperature gauge was off the scale, followed by clouds of smoke from the engine compartment vents. We had lost our coolant and investigations, aided by a passing mechanic, revealved a small leak in a copper T piece. This was replaced by a collection of plumbing components and touch wood, we are now ok again.

Body building

We lost most of the day however, and so we pressed on in order to recharge the batteries and generate some hot water.

Lock buddies

We met up with Bob and Pat on The Andrew (above), and shared a number of locks with them which speeded things up. By 7pm we had a tank of hot water and so we (and The Andrew) are moored up just outside Abbots Langley. A meal of Cornish Pasties, peas and a bottle of wine, and the world looks rosy again....

The Colne Valley

More goslings

Woke to sunshine but it soon clouded over. Graham connected the solar panel and it was working with no freaky electrical effects! We walked down to Tescos for croissants amidst over 600 Jewish children on a sponsored 25k walk.
Set off facing a stiff breeze and light showers. As we approached our first lock of the day another boat was about to leave. The couple on the boat, Bracken, said they would wait for us at the next lock to share the work. Steve and Ann were returning to their moorings and knew the area well. We shared the next four locks whilst travelling through lovely scenery. By mid afternoon they reached their destination and we continued. The canal, like the others on this trip, is teaming with baby waterfowl. They are so lovely - a great advantage to travelling during May.

Lunch stop

We stopped for lunch in this pretty spot, then continnued through two more locks to Rickmansworth. We recognised the surroundings from Stockers Lock as we attended a boat festival in Rickmansworth last June. Found some pleasant moorings and settled down with the Sunday papers.

Solar Flare-up

Cowley as the light fades

Today, Saturday started well enough. The sun shone and we ate a hearty breakfast (in McDonald's!). We had decided to buy a set of solar panels from a nearby store where they were on special offer. This would help to keep the batteries charged when we were moored up for a few days. So, after a taxi ride to get the incredibly heavy box back to the boat, we set about mounting them on the roof. All went to plan and soon after, we had a shiny array of panels on the roof. I then set about connecting them into the electrical system. This too went well, and we soon had solar power flowing into the batteries. I decided to  sort out the problem we had had on Friday with the tunnel light, and apart from a small spark when accidentaly shorting out two terminals whilst connecting things up, this too was successful. That is the end of the good bits! A sort while later, and all the lights on the electrical panels were flashing and the control system reported rapidly discharging batteries and wildly fluctuating voltages. After disconnecting the solar panels, the problem remained. We decided to set off anyway, since staying put would have meant no hot water and no power by the evening. We pushed hard across west London, pausing only to remove debris tangled around the propeller. We made it to our planned destination at Cowley near Uxbridge and are currently moored in a pleasant stretch of canal by the Packet Boat Marina. Having spent most of the journey thinking about what might have gone wrong, I had a thought, and within minutes of tying up, the electrical system was back to normal. The spark I mentioned above, had blown an obscure fuse which lead to a seemingly unrelated set of faults - phew! With a feeling of considerable relief, we have therefore been able to sleep through the Eurovison Song Contest!!

Lock Fighting in the East End!

Francis

Friday the 13th. Got up in bright sunshine after a quiet night apart fron some strange creature scrabbling and making a snorting noise on the water line in the early hours. As we were preparing to leave we met Francis, a film maker, who was interested in boats. We invited him to share a bit of our journey and after stowing his bike on the roof we set off for the Hertford Union Canal. Francis, who was great company, left us at the first lock and has emailed a nice photo he took of us. Great to meet you Francis.

We had the usual hard slog through the locks especially when we got on to the Grand Union Canal. The lock gates blow open when going upstream but we devised a method of holding them closed with the stern and a pole and quickly opening a top gate. The gates are heavy and it took two of us to open a few. There were very few boats out and about so no-one to share the load with.

This cormorant was sunning itself on the end of City Road lock. The Islington tunnel was an experience as our bow light failed less than half way through the 960 yards. I went to the front with a torch but Graham expertly steered us through - a thermal trip had blown so we can rectify.

Entering the Islington Tunnel

We headed for Camden for a late lunch. All the locks were against us and overlooked by the usual crowds of people. The bottom two were bad enough but the most overlooked top lock was broken on one side and was really hard going. We moored and had a well deserved Spanish take away.

The trip through Regents Park and Little Venice was lovely and we managed to get the last spot in the Paddington Basin, after a struggle against the wind whipping between the tall buildings.

May 12th

Missing Ruby, who is still traumatised and sulking at home, we set off early in bright sunshine. Passed two boats from our home moorings, on their journey en route to Bristol. Our journey was pleasant and uneventful with only one rain shower, until Tottenham Lock. The mechanised lock was broken so we had to wind the gates open by hand. We are moored next to a rowing club which produced numerous fit rowers in very fast boats. It is amazing the wash they create so we had a very rocky couple of hours. Thaks to all you watchers, messages and emails - it is great to hear from you.

Ruby Abandoned Ship

Goose with babies near Carthagena Lock

After a lovely quiet night at Hunsdon, and Ruby did not snore, (shame the same can't be said of Graham) we got up to fairly flat batteries. Graham spent some time trouble shooting and decided we needed new batteries. Luis came to the rescue to pick Graham up and help and new batteries were installed at quite an expense! Ruby looked miserable all day, head on paws and reluctant to get back on board at each lock, only cheering up to scoff her dinner in 30 seconds as usual. Tam and Luis had a meal with us in the evening at Broxbourne and she was very glad to see them. We decided that she was missing the others and they her, so Tam took her home. Tam reported she was so happy to be back but the boat is very quiet without her.

First day

Ruby's first lock!

Well we are finally off after a nasty insect bite(aquired in the garden) made my ankle swell. It seems strange to think we are at the start of such a long trip, if we can make it, and sad to be leaving Tam Luis, dogs,chucks and ducks. Mollie our old Lhasa Apso is 16 and very doddery. I hope she makes it through the summer!
It has been a glorious day to start off and we had half of the locks in our favour. Ruby was very disconcerted initially but we got her off at most of the locks and she seems to have got into the swing of things but is very tired. Getting her back on the boat was an issue as she hates being picked up and is quite a weight.
Graham saw a snake swimming in the Stort and we have stopped for the night just after Hunsdon Lock in a lovely sunny, quiet, spot. Lovely to see so many people following our progress- thanks.

Banjo at Hunsdon lock