A visit from a fellow blogger

L-R Graham, Joe, Greygirl and Jill

We had just pulled pins and started to move Caxton from her mooring outside the Cape of Good Hope pub in Warwick when the phone trilled and a voice said "I'm in Braunston, where are you?" Forty five minutes later Greygirl arrived to regale us all with the latest on her boating activities - another boat no less, share a bit of lunch aboard Caxton and scuttle off back to husband 'A'and their six greyhounds. It was lovely to see her and catch up with each other again.

Boatmans explained..

Leon emerging from the boatmans cabin in readiness to go into Braunston and collect his wife Rae.

The last time we met Leon and Rae of Nb The Old Bovine was in March when we passed through Braunston Junction en route for Aylesbury. Surprise, surprise here they are again out on Foxes Gate when we turned up last Monday.   Over a cup of coffee aboard Caxton Leon offered to show us the modifications he had made on The Old Bovine and show Joe how a Boatman's Cabin (BC) was laid out - I have been waxing on about what a great use of space the traditional BC is and that in any replacement for Caxton I would definitely want a BC and an engine room. The problem was that Joe had never seen a BC so may powers of persuasion were falling short.... then along comes Leon and his kind offer.

We spent an hour aboard the delightful The Old Bovine and every intricacy, nook and cranny of a BC was explained including how the bed 'ole operated.  My thanks to Leon for taking the time and sharing his boat with us for an hour - Joe now understands my enthusiasm - step forward!!!

Delayed start from Foxes Gate

We moved out of Braunston late on Monday after the welding on Caxton and moored up at Foxes Gate. Here there is plenty of room and Joe could finish the gas locker with filler and paint.  We had planned to move off towards Long Itchington at 09.00 on Thursday but when Joe took the dogs out first thing we found the Gosty Hill, the fuel boat, had moored up behind us.. too good a opportunity to waste of course so we delayed our start and had Ian fuel Caxton and Matilda Rose as well as buying 10 bags of coal for each boat.

below, Ian and Joe putting world to rights...

And we are off......at last.

Gas locker changes

In the photo above you can see where Joe as changed the fixings for the gas locker top/seat.  The gas locker height is to be increased by 5.25 inches not the 2.75inches I originally posted.

 Barry (welder) has measured and cut the steel and is welding it in place - room is limited so I was banned from suspending myself above the deck to get the 'action shots' - "bog off" was the term I think....

Locker extension in place and awaiting the finishing touches from Joe, filler and paint.

In anticipation....

We are moored at Braunston this weekend awaiting a slot on Monday afternnoon with David Thomas, he who did the stretch on Caxton in February, as he is going to modify our gas locker a little to allow us to use 13kg bottles of gas rather than the 6kg bottles we currently use.  The cost of a 13kg bottle is only a little more than a 6kg bottle yet we get more than twice the gas!  To stay the right side of the boat safety standards we need to have the height of the gas locker extended by 2.75inches and welded properly to secure the bottles, hence another visit to Dave...bless him.

Bloggersphere

L-R   Graham of Nb Matilda Rose, Pip of Nb Windsong, Me and Joe of Nb Caxton, Derek of Nb Gypsy Rover, Roger of Nb Windsong and Jill of Nb Matilda Rose - Photo taken by Dot of Nb Gypsy Rover.

We all go together last night to enjoy a meal in The Old Plough at Braunston and to catch with each other.  The power of the blog demonstrated yet again; but for the blogs we would not know each other and here we are have a lovely, if somewhat noisy evening,  as if we had known each other for years and years! Great night...until next time folks!

And here is Dot hiding behind a camera

Enjoying our time at Weedon

Our winter plans have been slightly tweaked because we have found someone who is able to make the changes we want in Caxton's galley.  We will be diverting onto the North Stratford canal and lingering around Hockley Heath while the changes are made before we then toddle off to Stourport Basin - some clever manoeuvring around the stoppage problem is called for I can tell you...
In the meantime we have been enjoying our stay at Weedon these past few days - lots of lovely walks, a good village with provisions and pubs and a water supply at hand.