Still Changing Plans

Even after my last post we changed our plans.  After a further hours travel both myself and Liam were fed up of being blown around by the gusty winds which have rocked us around all night.

We sent the others on their way to get through Lincoln which I'm pleased to report they did and we called it a day at Bardney Village moorings.

No point carrying on if we were not enjoying it.  We have all week to go yet and as a bonus we had a lovely meal in The Nags Head in the village.

Today's plan for us is to head back to Kirkstead Bridge so who knows where we will end up.

The wind is still very blowy here

Changing Plans

Nothing on this holiday has yet gone to plan. And today is no exception.  We were headed to Kirkstead Bridge but having all received tomorrow's weather warning and unsure if one of the boats will fit through the Lincoln Bridges anyway we have decided to head through before tomorrow's heavy rain whilst the water level is normal.

Onwards and upwards.

Another Day

So today is another day and after yesterday's pounding on the Wash it will be nice to enjoy a relaxing day on the river.

We are now joined by friends on their two boats who made it across from Kings Lynn somewhat battered and bruised and glad to be back on the river.

So today we all head upstream in convoy to find a sheltered spot for the evening.

Back to Boston

We tried in vain to get to Wells this morning so we are heading back to Boston.  The weather was just too bad.

Getting Ready

We had a lovely run down the Witham yesterday and went out for a lovely meal in Boston last night.  Now we are getting ready to head out onto the coast this morning.

Away Again

After a brief overnight pit stop at Southery we are back on the move again heading for Boston.

Still on the Move

Well our intended stop of Bardney top didnt work out well as it was full so on we plod into the darkness.

Away

And we are on our way on another Naughty-Cal adventure.

Almost There

It is almost time for our first proper holiday of 2016, just seven and a half hours left at work and then we can head to the marina, dump our stuff on the boat and set sail out on a nine day cruise on the North Norfolk coast. Well hopefully anyway.

We have the Grand Sluice Lock at Boston booked for 9.30am on Sunday morning so we can have a steady trot down to Boston with no real rush to get there at all. Tonight we will aim to get the two locks at Stamp End and Bardney out of the way leaving us a steady lock free jaunt to Boston on Saturday, no doubt stopping in at one or two of the riverside pubs along the way.

The current outlook for the weather, wind direction and sea conditions is not brilliant, so it looks like we will be in for either a bumpy ride or possibly an aborted trip if it is just too bad. But as we all know weather forecasts change at the drop of a hat so it could well be that we have a fantastic run. You never know!

Either way we are heading down river anyway so if the conditions are just too bad we can conjure up a Plan B on the hoof. We have yet to visit the Black Sluice navigation and the small marina at Fosdyke on the River Welland so these are two options if Wells next the Sea is a no go. Fingers crossed it is though.

Eating Afloat

Following on from yesterday's post about our new griddle pan I thought I would share with you some of the lovely meals we have onboard Naughty-Cal.

Now just as way of a reminder we only have two rings and a grill onboard supplemented by a slow cooker run off the inverter, so not the most kitted out of galley spaces but we don't let that get in the way of us.

 The good old steak served with garlic mushroom, cherry tomatoes, sauteed potatoes and asparagus. All cooked in the griddle pan.

 Smoked salmon, wholegrain basmati rice and stir fried vegetables.

 Burgers. A favourite when we are on the move as they are quick and easy to cook. It is Friday night burgers for us again tomorrow evening on our night trip to Boston.

 One from the slow cooker, slow cooked morrocan lamb served with stir fried vegetables.

 Perhaps the quickest meal to prepare here. Ostrich served with curried chicke peas and salad.

One of our favourites, sea food salad. This time with cajun squid, king prawns and tuna steak.

Griddle Me

Since buying Naughty-Cal some eight years ago now, we have always had on board a trusty Tefal griddle pan. As you can imagine over the years it has been subject to quite some use and over the last year or so it has very much lost it's non stick qualities. We have kept saying that we really must buy a new one but have never quite gotten around too it. 

Well yesterday we changed that and bought a brand new one from Tesco. Not a cheap purchase at almost £20 for one pan but on the back of the other one lasting about seven years with no problems we decided it was definitely worth it. The square design works really well on a boat meaning you can fit more into the edges of the pan and it is also quite deep as griddle pans go.

Brimming

Despite us having a busy weekend we did manage to find time to squeeze in a few essential jobs that needed doing before our holiday next week.

The most important job was making sure we filled up the diesel tank, we were running a bit low and we didn't fancy chancing it and getting to Geordies only to find he had no fuel as we would then not have had enough to get to Wells next the Sea. So we pulled into Burton Waters at around lunchtime and brimmed the tank with 147 litres of the red stuff.Looking back at our records this is the first that we have put in since the end of March, beginning of April so she has not done bad really.

So now Naughty-Cal is sat on her mooring with the diesel tank full, water tank full, fresh bedding and the interior at least clean and tidy, waiting for us to arrive on Friday evening, sump our gear onboard and head out towards Boston and the sea.

Not long now.

A Lovely May Weekend

 An evening cruise down the ditch.

 Friday night burgers for dinner.

 Plastic on the props.

 How much plastic?

 Finally made it to Torksey.

 Checking all is well with the props and drive after the plastic incident.

 All appears well.

 Keep up at the back!

 The fleet moored at Dunham.

 Dunham pontoon full up.

 The church at Dunham on Trent.

 The White Swan at Dunham.

 Dunham Village

 Jack enjoying a pint.

 Silly hat parade.

 Lifeboat tractor on display at Burton Waters.

Slow cooked morrocan lamb with stir fried vegetables to round off a great weekend.

Two White Swans

We had a great day on the Trent yesterday but not where we intended to be.  We didn't make it to Church Laneham due to the ski club being active.  Instead we had a lovely afternoon at Dunham Bridge with a walk into the village to visit the White Swan.

Then early evening we had a jaunt back to Torksey for a meal in the White Swan at Torksey.

Two White Swans in one day.

Our Turn

It was our turn to pick something up on the props on Friday evening.  This time it was some strong plastic packaging.

Luckily it unravelled without needing to take the props off and there doesn't appear to be any damage to the oil seals.

Incident on the Humber

Sadly yesterday there was a quite serious incident on the Humber in the early hours of the morning involving a pleasure cruiser and a commercial vessel. Exact details of the incident which happened just outside Grimsby Fish Dock off the pier are still very sketchy but the MAIB (Marine Accident Investtigation Board) are investigating the incident so a report will be issued following their investigation.

Thankfully there were vessels in the area and a Port of Grimsby pilot vessel rescued the two crew of cruiser Pegotty  shortly before the vessel floudered and sank.

Further details can be found here:

http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/investigation-collision-river-humber-20393

http://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/rescued-boat-sinks-River-Humber/story-29292862-detail/story.html

Battery Update 2016

After last years farce with both battery charger and alternator problems we were expecting that by now our batteries would be showing signs of deterioration. Last year we really didn't give our batteries the care and attention that they need to keep them performing well through mechanical and electrical failures.

We are however happy to report that since fixing the battery charger and replacing the alternator for a third time, (how much more unlucky could we have been to get a dodgy brand new alternator?), the batteries are now happy, receiving a proper charge both on the move and moored up on the home berth. In fact the higher charging voltage of the new alternator seems to suit the batteries well. They seem to appreciate the 14.6V they now receive over the previous quite low 14V charge. 

Since fitting the latest new alternator the batteries performance seems to have improved no end and if anything they seem to be behaving much better than last year, although they didn't really stand much of a chance last year with one thing and another.

As things stand we expect that this current set of batteries will last us at least this year. We usually bank on replacing our pair of domestic batteries every three to four years and if they last this year, which signs are that they should easily achieve, then they will be into the time bracket when we will look to replace them again. Unless of course by some miracle they are still holding out.

Supposed to be Getting Ready

We are supposed to be getting Naughty-Cal ready for next weekends start to our first proper holiday of 2016 this weekend. However as is usually the case other plans are getting in the way.

Instead of the usual cleaning, tidying and fettling we should be doing we now have a table booked at the Ferry Boat Inn at Church Laneham on the tidal Trent instead.

You may remember a couple of weekends back that we managed to strike up a deal with the ski club to use their moorings to visit the pub, so we have decided that we should really give it a go on Saturday and see what the food is like.

Following this plan will mean that we won't have chance to fill up with diesel this weekend but we can always do this on the way down to Boston at Geordies. So it is no real problem to us.

Kettled

We managed to try out our new low wattage kettle at the weekend on Naughty-Cal. For one reason or another we had not managed to give it a proper try yet.

So on Sunday morning after a lovely evening in Saxilby, we sat sunning ourselves in the cockpit and decided before we set off to have a cup of coffee. With the inverter switched on and the kettle full we switched it on to check out the practice behind the theory. Nervously we waited as the kettle set about it's work. Would it set off the low voltage alarm? Well no, it didn't. The lower draw of power from the low wattage kettle was just right. It boiled the water in a reasonable six minutes and didn't drag the voltage down far enough to set of the low voltage alarm on the inverter. Which was a relief.

In fact we managed to boil it for a second time as well without the alarm sounding before we then set off back towards the marina. The alternator also almost keeps up with the power demands drawing just 5 amps with the engine running which is a massive reduction on the previous kettles draw, even with the engine running.

We did have another trip to Torksey caravans at the weekend, this time we needed a new brush for cleaning Naughty-Cal. Our previous one had broken so for the princely sum of £8.95 we now have a new one which fits snugly in the anchor locker. I had a quick scrub of the waterline to remove the limescale and Liam had a quick scrub at the top of the drive to remove some growth, but the proper clean up of the boat can wait until Sunday evening, prior to us heading out on holiday the weekend after.

Sunny Surprise

The weather was a damn sight better than forecast this weekend. Had we listened to the forecast we would have been querying our sanity heading out on the boat in the wind and gloom. However in the long run it was a lovely early summers weekend with warm temperatures and lovely long spells of sunshine.

Lets hope it can hold out a bit longer for us.

On Your Bike

We spent yesterday morning untangling this bike from the props of Sole Mate,  picked up under the railway bridge in Saxilby.

It took some getting off!

Desicion Made

Last night we made the decision to head to Saxilby.  We still didn't know where to go when we arrived at the marina.  Our desicion was made after speaking with friends who were also heading that way.

Unfortunately we didn't end up in the pub as it was full of exceptionally drunk men running a mock and we didn't deem it sensible to go in there with the kids. So the rest of the group headed to the Indian for a meal and we had a few drinks on the boat before ordering a takeaway from the Italian across the road.  We didn't fancy Indian for a fourth time this week!

So today we are having a lazy morning in Saxilby before heading off to meet Toby Jug at Torksey this afternoon.

What To Do

So another weekend is fast approaching but what shall we do?

We think that we are heading down to Torksey tomorrow to meet up with Neil and Linda on Toby Jug, as they head up the Trent from West Stockwith. No doubt this will lead us too an evening in The White Swan and a lovely pub lunch.

However what shall we do tonight? 

Do we stay put in the marina? Do we head into Lincoln? Do we head down to Saxilby? Do we head to Torksey and have a really lazy weekend? The choices are endless.