Kilby Bridge to Br 68 near Debdale.

Wednesday 11th March.

Kilby Bridge to Br 68 near Debdale. 7.8 miles and 12 locks.

Yesterday afternoon we moved Hadar over to the Sanitary Station, to take on water, empty the toilet cassette and dispose of rubbish, having done this we then moored up behind NB Balmaha, so we would be ready to move off in the morning.
When we got up this morning it was extremely foggy, but as the sun came out, it did not take long to burn the fog away to leave us with a bright, chilly start to the day. It was an ideal day for cruising with Mo and Vanessa on their boat NB Balmaha. We were about to set off at 9am but a Canaltime hire boat beat us to the draw and slipped their mooring first, which meant we would have to follow in their wake. It was a united decision that we would give them a 15 minute head start before we would set off, as we did not want to be caught up with them at the locks. This seemed like a great idea at the time, but proved not to really work out in practice, because after their first couple of locks we were right on their tail.

But as we approached Newton Top Lock, they were pulling away from the lock and moored up past Bridge 80 Newton bridge, so we thought yippee we can get in front of them and make some headway. An Oxfordshire hire narrowboat and a private owners boat NB Faraday, entered the lock to go down, leaving the lock clear for us and Balmaha to come up. We were literally ready to leave the lock when the Canaltime pulled out in front of us grrrrr. They had probably stopped for a coffee LOL. So we were back to following them through the next five locks.Keith and I had such a lot of fun cruising with Mo and Vanessa, they really made our day lots of fun. I certainly found working the locks, with Vanessa a real pleasure, it was nice to be able to chat whilst we worked. As we followed the hire boat up the next set of locks, it became apparent that the pounds were low and by the time we arrived at Kibworth Second Lock, the hire boat had got stuck coming out of the lock, as the pound was down by a foot and half. They managed to get moving towards Kibworth Top Lock and we began to fill our lock. Mo moved out of the lock first, because Keith was worried that Hadar would get stuck heading towards Kibworth Top Lock and that happened no sooner he left the lock. Vanessa and I walked up to the top lock and began to let water down to get Hadar refloated, eventually she was once more on the move and Keith managed to get her into the lock. All of this excitement made for an excellent day. We cruised through Saddington Tunnel (880 yds). It is worth looking up when going though the tunnel, because inside the tunnel there are bat boxes that have been put up. Mo and Vanessa followed us through the tunnel, which we worried about a little because we know how loud Hadar's engine can be. That is why we wear ear plugs, but later on Mo told us it was not actually that bad, which was good to know. After a lovely day we both moored up before Bridge 68. Vanessa very kindly invited us onboard their boat for a cup of tea, which I reckon we had earned. it was not long before Vanessa and I were yawning, we had both worked hard. Sitting drinking tea and chatting with friends, is the best way to finish a brilliant day. We really look forward to cruising with them again, they are a lovely couple and lots of fun.

Before I finish todays posting, I thought I would show you Keith's latest creation. Keith finished our new Rag Rug yesterday evening, which took 7 days to complete. He based it on all the colours in our back cabin.

It really looks fabulous. He will have to make another one now.

Wistow to Kilby Bridge.

Tuesday 24th February.

Wistow to Kilby Bridge, 2.8 miles and 7 locks.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Wistow, which ended with the most splendid sunset, as seen through the galley window.Marmite was so impressed with the view she sat watching the sun go down. I actually think she was more interested in the sound of the Canada Geese, which were in the field across the canal.

Tuesday morning and I lay in bed listening to the bird song at 6am. It seems that we are both waking earlier every morning, but it does have its plus points, because you get to hear the dawn chorus and see a brand new day before everyone stamps all over it. Having got up, Paddy got a lovely walk along one of the Conservation tracks, and whilst we passed a coppice of trees a woodpecker began to knock seven bells out of a tree trunk. It was incredible how loud it was. I wonder if they get headaches?

We left the Wistow mooring at 9.25 am and headed for Kilby Bridge. The seven locks were double locks, although there was no one moving to share them with, which was a real shame. We were in total seclusion on this stretch of our journey, just us and the sound of the trains to our right. Some of the lock gates were heavy going, so I got a real workout. We arrived at Kilby Bridge at 12.25 pm and winded at the winding hole near the sanitary station. We then found a mooring on the 14 day moorings. We were greeted by Alison the wife of the mooring warden Micheal, she invited us over for a cup of tea later in the day when Micheal got home from work, which was very nice of them, they have made us feel most welcome.

Wednesday morning would see us going into Leicester, to find the T-Mobile store, because my mobile broadband usb stick, which is less than a month old, has packed up grrrr. We caught the X4 bus outside of the Navigation Inn, which took us into St Margarets Bus Station. From there we eventually found the T-Mobile store, but it soon became apparent that they could not swap the broken modem for one that worked, even though it was less than a month old. The store's policy does not allow them to do this, so we were told our options were to let them send it away for repair, or wait for a jiffy bag for us to send it away, neither of these options were entirely great as we really do not have the time to hang around as we tried to explain to the man in the store. He was doing his best to help so he then let me ring customer services to see if they would allow us to swap modem, but I had no luck with them either, but then what can you expect when the call centre is in India. So then the gentleman suggested we went to a Carphone Warehouse repair shop who does all their repairs, as he reckoned it would not take more than a day or two for them to repair the modem. We were directed to the bus, which was actually the same one we had come in on, so having had some lunch at a Chinese Buffet and a look around we headed back to the bus station for the 1.15pm bus, which either never arrived or went to the wrong bay, it left us and several other people waiting another hour for another bus to take us to near Wigston, which was on the bus route. We eventually made it to the Carphone Warehouse Shop where we were told that they do not repair modems, only phones, and T-Mobile should know this. Obviously not was my reply. I have to say at this point I was livid. Keith was much more composed. A very nice man was a little insensed that they had put us through all we told him, so got onto T-Mobiles customer care. In the end the only way for us to resolve this nightmare was for Keith to take the modem back into the Leicester T-Mobile Store and for them to send it off. We left the Carphone Warehouse shop feeling deflated and in need of a cuppa. But as in life nothing is ever straight forward, as the bus we hoped would take us back to Kilby Bridge did not materialize so we had no option but to walk the three and half miles back to the boat. By the time we got back it was 5pm and we were both well and truly worn out. I was in bed by 9.30pm because I had a dreadful headache, Keith came to bed after watching a zombie movie.

It is now Thursday and Keith has gone back into Leicester on his own, I am doing some Spring cleaning whilst he is gone. Oh and of course typing this piece for the blog. I will let you know what happens over the modem. Hope you all have a fabulous day.