Cruising round-up and year stats for 2023

As we walked away from Chuffed for the last time, back in 2021, we would have been even sadder had we known that it would be over a year – 1 year and 27 days – that we would spend without a boat.  So you can imagine how excited we were to finally take possession of Bonjour and get back afloat!  We picked her up from North Kilworth marina on the Leicester Line, and with no locks to worry about until we got to the Watford flight, Dave could concentrate on steering.  Getting the hang of a longer, therefore heavier, boat didn’t take long and he was quickly a fan of the Colecraft shell.  I’m not sure I have his fine judgment on the matter, but I agree.  Reading back over our second day, I see how ecstatic I was to be out in the wonderful Leicestershire countryside, birdsong all around.

Cracks Hill  (day 2, 1st July)

Our first wet day didn’t dampen our enthusiasm at all (well not until we were the only boat at Braunston Locks when we were getting just a little fed up with the weather).  Here is Dave and our shiny new boat in our first lock – Watford Top.

Our first lock with Bonjour, third day of cruising

We ended that trip at the Ashby Canal Centre, fondly imagining that it had been a shake-down cruise to find out what jobs – little or not – would need doing.  How wrong we were!  When we returned… as complete pump-out novices, and naïve with it, we thought the holding tank would have been emptied when it went on brokerage.  It probably had been – it was fine for the first trip, which was short - but as we came to realise, with the boat virtually unused since before the first lockdown, there had been at least two years of settlement in what must have been a partially full tank and there were a LOT of solids to be dislodged. 

Richard's crown was probaby easier to dislodge (Battle of Bosworth visitor centre)

Luckily the tank-backing-up-and-about-to-overflow situation was at Sutton Cheney Wharf, where we could use the excellent on-shore boaters’ facilities, and we weren’t far from Bosworth marina, where the next day we had to ask a nearby boater how to use the pump-out machine.  When we went home from that trip we bought a Porta-potti in case of need - which it was the next time the tank filled, luckily near enough to Napton hire-base to get an emergency pump-out the next morning. We hoped that this time the compaction had cleared – we did a lot of rocking the boat from side to side to dislodge it.  Dave also cleared up a small spillage under the bed and replaced the carbon filter.

That’s the toilet talk out of the way – what else failed?  On our way back down the Ashby we had to call RCR when the engine wouldn’t start one morning, but luckily the engineer solved the problem over the phone.  It was a well-known issue with Beta-43 engines - the multi-plug behind the engine had worked loose and was easy to fix.  Dave is finding the Beta-43 much easier to work on than the Yanmar Barras-Shire on Chuffed.

We revisited familiar waterways in our first year, as we knew we wouldn't have enough time to get to new areas.

Can't pass the Hartshill telegraph pole without a photo!

However, there were still things to discover, such as the golden obelisk on the spoil heap at Polesworth, which we hadn’t found till this trip.

There was of course general work to be done on the boat – when isn’t there?  Over the summer I took various curtains home to replace their header tapes, which were coming apart, but there was a lot for Dave to deal with.  Apart from peeling varnish, the thing that was annoying him the most was the mucky state of the engine hole.  I regretted not having taken a ‘before’ picture, as Dave had to mop out rusty water (thankfully not oily), scrape out large flakes of rust and thoroughly clean and de-grease the engine and bilge-pump.  He painted it with red oxide paint to keep it tidy until he can get the colour of bilge paint he prefers.  The inside of the bilge pump needed cleaning too.

Nearly done - with bilge pump removed for cleaning

Another thing that was nagging at the back of Dave’s mind was the charging of the bow thruster, which didn’t seem to be happening.  Having been a little sniffy about bow thrusters for many years, we are now total converts – why do a 5, 7, 9-point turn shuffling back and forth to wind if you don’t need to?  It saves a little bit of diesel and really helps on a windy day.  So although the bow thruster was working, it soon wouldn't have been.  He spent a lot of time working out where the connections were and where the cables went, before checking every connection along the line.  And there it was, a broken fuse cunningly concealed behind one of the battery connectors.  Once that had been ordered and fitted, everything worked perfectly.  

After bypassing the bust fuse - I think

In this drought year, we have been as careful with conserving water as we usually are, so we took advice before deciding whether to go to Oxford.  All the hire companies except Calcutt were advising their hirers not to go that way, mostly because of the lock restrictions.  So we decide to give it a try and speak to the CRT people that we were sure would be at Napton.  And it was fine, and we had a lovely quiet trip on one of our favourite canals.  We discovered Aunt Sally being played at the  Red Lion in Cropredy - practicing for the imminent league match.

Why won't they throw it for me?

We were very lucky with the weather.  Purely by chance, we avoided the worst of the heat and missed most of the rain, when it finally came.  On hot days, as we were cruising familiar waterways, we knew the good places to moor, and didn’t need to cruise when it was wet.

Misty morning at Chisnell lift bridge

There was a fair bit of touching-up of paintwork for Dave to do – we had a dodgy encounter in a tunnel which resulted in some nasty scrapes below the gunwales.  Then the fender got caught below a projection below the top gate in Grant’s lock on the Oxford, and a running repair was needed until we could buy new shackles.

Running repair

CRT acted on our report and quickly removed the concrete panel that had caused the trouble, as spotted later by Oleanna.

Having used Calcutt marina as our base for a couple of trips, as autumn wore on it was time to move to Droitwich for the winter.  You might imagine we thought, oh no, Tardebigge again!  But it’s a lovely flight and we have never failed to enjoy it.  The water level at Tardebigge reservoir was desperately low, but I have seen a recent photo which shows it to be nearly full.

Passing Tardebigge reservoir

Our last outing was a short trip to Worcester and back to see the new(ish) fish pass at Diglis, snaffling an overnight mooring at the lovely Oddingley on our way.

Fun at Oddingley

What are our hopes for 2023?  We’ve made no cruising decisions yet, but we hope to have solar panels fitted, and a tonneau cover for the stern deck for when we are not on board.  Before Christmas I made some porthole bungs, which should help with keeping the boat warm next time we visit.

A rather belated Happy New Year to all.

Here are the stats for our first 6 months with NB Bonjour.

Starting at North Kilworth on the Leicester line, we went through Braunston to the North Oxford and on to the Coventry, and stayed at Willow Tree marina on the Ashby for a few weeks.  On our return we cruised on as far as Bosworth marina, then returned to the Coventry, winding at Tamhorn winding hole before rejoining the North Oxford at Hawkesbury Junction and travelling to Calcutt marina.  Our next trip took us to Oxford and back, one of our favourite routes.  Then it was time for the long way round to Droitwich Spa marina, taking the Grand Union all the way to Birmingham, where we picked up the Digbeth Branch to the Birmingham and Fazeley, stayed overnight near the Arena, and before we left had a look at the progress of the development going on in the Icknield Port loop.  Then it was the tunnel-heavy Worcester and Birmingham to Droitwich.  We finished our cruising year with a trip down to Worcester and back.  

We spent 54 nights aboard, a little over half our usual cruising time.  We travelled just over 352½ miles, made up of 80½ miles broad canals and just over 272 miles on the narrow canals.  We passed through 63 broad locks and 221 narrow (284 in total), and swung, lifted or used the key of power on 11 moveable bridges (Shipton Weir near Thrupp was left raised, apparently still unsafe to use, and Perry’s, also on the Oxford, had been completely removed while the whole thing was being rebuilt).  We traversed 12 tunnels (Crick, Braunston, Newbold, Fenny Compton (opened out, twice), Shrewley, Curzon St, Ashted, Edgbaston, Wast Hill, Shortwood, Tardebigge, Dunhampstead (twice).

Canals we cruised were the Grand Union between Norton Junction and Birmingham, with part of the Leicester Line, North and South Oxford, most of the Ashby, part of the Coventry, bits of the BCN (Digbeth Branch, Birmingham and Fazeley, Main Line and Icknield Port loop), the Worcester and Birmingham, and Droitwich Junction canal.  And not forgetting the tiny bit of the Sheepwash Channel to turn below Isis lock at the southern end of the Oxford.