Stratford-upon-Avon

I bet you have been wondering where we are, well I can tell you that we have been to Stratford-upon-Avon, where we stayed in the beautiful Bancroft Basin. There was enough room for us to moor alongside our friends David and Elaine on NB Patience and a good time was had by us all.We did not see a play, as there was nothing we wanted to see at this time, but we hope to come back again and go to the RSC when it is re-opened. At the moment she is going through a lot of changes.We did do the touristy bit, by going around Shakespeare's birth place and other historical attractions. We were advised by the museum that Monday was the quietest day to visit, and it was so. There was no pushing and shoving through the hoards of foreign tourists. The guest book in the museum was a fascinating read, seeing all the different countries which have visited Shakespeare's birth place. I added our name to that guest book, saying that we were from NB Hadar, on the cut, England.
It was a joy to be in such a pretty place, with so much to see and do. We enjoyed lunch out at the Thai Boathouse, over looking the river Avon. The buffet was sublime and worth going to. We were entertained by boats going in and out from below the boathouse, as they were hired out to novices trying to get to grips with oars. It really was hilarious at times. Stratford-upon-Avon was fabulous and we will most certainly be visiting again.
Having left Stratford-upon-Avon, we are now heading slowly for Birmingham. With the weather being so hot, we have only done a couple of hours cruising, allowing us to break up our journey up through all of the locks. Today we have finished up at Waring's Green, so no more locks now for a couple of days. I will be back again when the mood takes me. We are having such a fantastic time, cruising with our friends.
We have opened up a Facebook page for Hadar, if you want to keep up with our news and location.

Stoke Bruerne Festival Weekend.

Keith and I are enjoying our summer blogging break, so much so that I have had the urge to post a few photographs from the weekend. We were booked into the Stoke Bruerne Canal Festival and what a fantastic weekend it turned out to be, not just because of the weather, but also because of the company we were with. Thursday evening we went for an Indian meal at the Spice of Bruerne, which we can totally recommend. The food was sublime.
Elland was legged through Blisworth Tunnel, before being towed by Bilbo the horse.

Bilbo looked splendid in his harness, with Sue Day following on behind. There were crowds of people over the weekend, no doubt brought out by the weather. We were up with the working boats and David and Elaine on NB Patience who we are crusing with this summer were on the long pound, but we got to see each other over the weekend. We were fortunate to meet up with Al and Del from NB Derwent6 , and a good time was had with them all over the weekend. Hilary and Andy off of NB The Maisibert also came and joined in, it was lovely to see them both again. We also got to meet up with the Pinnock family again with their boats Alder, Clover and Fazeley. It is always a pleasure to be in their company. Hadar and I were well protected by the Pitsford Home Guard who were on patrol, looking out for a German attack. What no one expected was a pirate attack, which crept into the festival onboard Historic Working Boat George, one of the last remaining Royalty Class. The pirates were about to empty peoples pockets of their loose change in aid of the "Friends of the Museum". What was so wonderful, were the amount of people crowding into Stoke Bruerne over the weekend. The place was heaving at times.But when the festival closed down for the day, peace and tranquility was restored.

On Friday evening we got our dinner from the fish and chip van. They were excellent. We were then entertained by Ramshackle a folk group. It was wonderful to be amongst friends enjoying a evening of singing and laughter. Saturday evening a B-B-Q was laid on, but Keith and I ate onboard Hadar as we had plenty of food. After dinner we joined Elaine, David, Al and Del and the Pinnocks at the entertainment tent for the evening. Music was played by Suffolk N' Watt who were excellent. They were so good that we were all joining in with most of the songs played, it was a complete blast. Hilary and Andy joined us a little later as they had been having a few problems with their boat. Sunday after the festival closed down we had dinner then headed to The Boat Inn to meet up with Elaine, David, Al and Del for a last get together before we would all go our seperate ways. We are now at High House for a couple of days, before we leave on the next leg of our Summer cruise with Elaine and David. As I type Elaine has just delivered our post, so I am off to open the box. I may possibly post again when we get to Stratford-upon-Avon, I will wait for the next urge to come over me. Happy cruising.

Taking a blogging summer break

Keith and I have enjoyed a fantastic time at the Wendover Canal Festival. The weather certainly brought the public out. We got to meet up with many friends and made some lovely new friends as well. Unfortunately because we have a very poor signal here in Bulbourne, I have been unable to post photographs or blog since getting to Bulbourne. Which has made us come to a decision about blogging over the summer.
We have decided to take a summer break from the blog. We have been blogging now for 5 years and feel a break is needed. We are going cruising with friends Elaine and David on NB Patience to Stratford-upon-Avon and want it to be blog free. We are not giving up on the blog completely, we just feel that we need some time out.
We both wish you a wonderful summer no matter where you are and we will post again when we feel the urge. Thank you to all of those people who read our blog and post messages, please do not abandon us as we will be back.

P.S. Keith took part in the RYA/IWA Helmsman's Certificate yesterday and passed along with the other 3 boatman taking the course. They have had to take this as all commercial craft have to be operated or under supervision by someone who is qualified to operate the boat. Even the examiner felt it was ridiculous as, in his own words, he reckoned Keith could teach him more about boating and canals, but such is life and red tape!

Kings Langley to Dudswell.

Thursday 21st May

Kings Langley to Dudswell, 7.8 miles and 22 locks.

This is just a short posting because we are both shattered after an eventful days cruising. The weather was absolutely glorious all day. It was a shame that the people we met up with on our travels were not the same. On saying that one gentleman we shared a few locks with was a real diamond. Dennis on NB Narrow Escape, proudly told me that he is in his 80th year and has only been boating for 15 months. He reckoned that life was to short to be sat around getting old, so he took to the canals to see this beautiful country of ours before his time is up. We shared lots of laughs as well as a few moans, as he asked me "What has happened to being polite?". My answer to that was "I was hoping you could tell me", which had us both laughing. We left Dennis and his collie Shadow above the Winkwell Locks, where he produced a bag of doughnuts from his galley and offered us both one, which was really sweet of him. he can share locks with us anytime, It has been ages since we had doughnuts. I wish there were more like him around. Hopefully we will see him again at the Wendover Arm Festival over this coming weekend. Our day has ended in between the Dudswell locks, leaving us just 2 locks to the summit. After what we have experienced today, it is making us both think of going back to 6am starts and finishing at between 9 and 10am, so that we miss the individuals who seem to think the canal is just for them or those people who want to use it as a race track. On at least three occasions today we could have got confrontational with people, but decided what was the point. On that note I am off to enjoy a nice dinner and a cup of coffee.

Heading for the Tring Canal Festival.

Wednesday 20th May.

Rickmansworth to Langley Wides, near Kings Langley. 7.3 miles and 13 locks.

With the Rickmansworth Festival over with for another year and all the boats gone, it was time for us to leave this morning. We had stayed on for a couple of extra days, as we met up with Keith's sister and brother-in-law for a meal last night at Tang's Chinese Buffet, which was really yummy.
We heard Frank and Sue leave at 8am on NB Lotus and decided we really should get out of bed. Before we could do anything, Paddy had to have his walk and as we left the boat, I was greeted by a Heron no more than eight feet away from me and the boat. It sat on the branch like a grumpy old man. But it certainly did not mind me taking its photograph. With breakfast done, we slipped our mooring at 9.15 am and entered Batchworth Lock, whilst in the lock, Keith emptied the toilet cassette and I got rid of the rubbish we had collected over the weekend. We crept slowly past the moored boats on the Permit Holder moorings.
When ever we pass this boat it always makes us smile. NB Crinck Cronk is one of the more interesting boats on this section of the Grand Union. Clearly who ever designed this boat, put a lot of work into it, as it really looks the part. What does not however look the part is its well out of date licence of 08/08 for both the standard licence and the mooring licence. Now it may just be that they have the new licence on the towpath side and have left the old ones on the water side to annoy eagle eyed boaters like me, but if that is the case then they are not the only ones. Because this section of the Grand Union is fast becoming a tick-over area only when cruising, because of all the moored up boats with out of date licences or even no licence at all. It was not until we reached Cassiobury Park that we had some clear water. It seems like all these unlicenced boats have come from out of the blue, maybe they have been moved off other moorings and have converged on this section of the GU. Whatever the case it needs sorting out and soon.We both love the GU and it wide variety of scenery and boats. This meadow at Cassio Bridge lock with its buttercups, would certainly brighten the dullest of days. By the time we reached North Grove Lock we had caught Frank and Sue up on NB Lotus, who had stopped off along the way to take on a gas bottle, they were sharing the locks with NB Vancy. Having enjoyed a pleasant days cruising we decided to stop two locks later on Langley Wides. Once moored up Paddy and Marmite were allowed out to enjoy the afternoon sunshine. Today has been such a contrast to the weekend weather when it was wet at times, windy most of the time and chilly all of the time.

The Rickmansworth Festival Weekend.

Sunday 17th May.

Our Ricky weekend began on Friday 15th May, when we left Black Jack's Lock mooring and cruised to Rickmansworth with NB Sweet Dreams owned by Jenny and Dave, who were also going to the festival.Having enjoyed a short jaunt up the canal, we arrived at Rickmansworth, where we were told we were mooring up against Joe and iron Joey boat built in 1883. Joe is still working today. For the Ricky weekend she was home to Peter Boyce and Irene, who were using Joe to sell items to raise money for the restoration of NB Lucy. LUCY is a wooden butty built at Braunston for the carrying fleet of John Knill, entering the fleet in 1953. Peter and his team have now taken her out of her watery grave, with the view to restoring her, for further information go to her website.Once we were moored up alongside Joe. Frank and Sue on NB Lotus came alongside us, making us the jam in the narrowboat sandwich.
The weather for the weekend was not supposed to be good, but Saturday turned out to be a great day, although the wind was very gusty. We both dressed up in our traditional boat gear and got to chat to lots of people, which included a visit from Frances and Alan who own NB Lazydays. They were up for the day to enjoy the festival and all it had to offer. Apart from the boats, there was also music, food and stalls. Being our first time at the event, we had a thoroughly great first day. Meeting lots of new people. There were plenty of historic boats to look at, these included. Working boats, Roger, Raymond, Nutfield, Corona, Baldock, Clover, Fazeley, Ara, Archimedes, Lupin, Victoria, Pacific, Caldy, Calysto, Nuneaton, plus others which fail to come to mind at the moment. I guess I am tired.One of the main events of the weekend was the tug of war. Chris Bennett had tried to talk Keith into entering Hadar, but there is no way we would want to risk anything happening to our National DA2. The tug of war was great fun, with NB Clover winning on Saturday and NB Kestral winning Sunday. We enjoyed visits from friends all over the weekend, but one of the highlights of my day on Saturday was meeting Sarah from NB Warrior. I have been wanting to meet Sarah for a long time, as I pop in and out of her blog, so it was great to meet her and Jim. We welcomed them onboard to have a look at our National engine and I gave her a guided tour around a not very tidy Hadar. For some reason when we are at festivals, the only areas that get tidied up are the back cabin and engine room. Paddy and Marmite made Sarah feel very welcome in their own ways. I sincerely hope that we meet up with them again, maybe when they are out on NB Warrior.
We were fortunate with the weather on Saturday, unfortunately Sunday was not so great, so I ditched my boat womans bonnet and shawl for cords and a waistcoat. It began raining early on making the ground a little muddy, this was soon remedied with bales of straw around the arena. Despite the weather, the public were still out in numbers, enjoying the boats, music and the stalls. If you have never been to the Rickmansworth Festival, it is a must for any boater or member of the public. So another festival is over with for another year and the Rickmansworth Festival is in need of a Harbourmaster for 2010.When I asked the harbourmaster about his notice, he told me that it was all true what he wrote. Sounds like a great job to me LOL. Honestly it is hard work, but also rewarding when everything is going well. I think the stress levels maybe go up when things are not going according to plan though.

A Welcome Visitor.

Yesterday evening having eaten dinner, we were enjoying a cup of coffee, when my mobile phone rang, which was somewhat of a surprise, because it rarely rings. On the other end the voice asked "Where are you. Are you at Ricky yet". My reply was "No, who is this". His reply was "It's Tom on the Archimedes and Ara. Where are you then?". I told Tom that we were above Black Jack's Lock, so he said he would be coming our way in a short while, as he was taking on a delivery of diesel. An hour later, I happened to look out of the back cabin doors and saw two large bows coming up the canal, so grabbed my windlass and went off down to the lock to set it for Tom. Keith and I helped Tom up through the lock. It was then I enquired if he would like a cup of tea. As he is not one to refuse an offer of either tea or food, he moored up alongside us. We supplied the tea and he supplied the biscuits. Now I do not want to make Tom blush, but he really is the nicest young man, who loves the job he does on Archimedes and Ara. Tom took over the boats and the diesel and coal business from Barney Richardson last year and has made the route his own. Tom sells diesel, coal and gas on the Southern Grand Union Canal and London. He also has Elsan Blue, logs, firelighters and kindling onboard, so he can cater to your every need should you be in his area.

We both love chatting to Tom, because it is so refreshing to chat to a member of the younger generation who knows what he wants to do with his life. So many of the youngsters these days get a bad name, because of a few bad eggs who are involved in illegal things. Tom is living proof that not all young people are living life on the wrong side of the tracks. He has a great knowledge of the boats and the people on the canal, it is a pleasure to know him. Tom runs the coal boats on his own and gets his coal supplies from the family business W.G Hill and Son, Twyford, Buckinghamshire. It really is a family run business, with each member of the family, having a part to play in the business. When Tom is not on the boats he is in the yard filling coal bags.

We spent a good couple of hours chatting about everything to do with boats and boating, before Tom needed to move as he had a customer to supply with diesel before it got totally dark. he was then going to moor up at The Coy Carp overnight ready for his diesel delivery this morning. We will see Tom and the boats again at the Rickmansworth Festival.