Wednesday, 31 October 2018
In the Pot
The tube heaters for the engine bay and the shower room were reinstalled a couple of weekends ago to keep the frost at bay. This weekend with time for a change to some fresh bedding it feels like the right time to bring the electric blanket back into use. We do like jumping into a warm and snuggly bed at this time of the year.
The slow cooker also made a reappearance after a summer at home, a couple of weeks ago. Sundays on the boat are now filled with the smell of slow cooked meals. A couple of Sundays ago it was a lovely guiness and steak stew with dumplings, last week it was slow cooked minted lamb shoulder and I am thinking that this weekend might see a joint of BBQ brisket in the pot.
Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Forward Planning
First up next week is a bonfire party at Saxilby. Now I know that this isn't much of a cruise for us being just four miles down the river but it will be nice to catch up with friends, some maybe for the last time this year.
Then the weekend after it is a trip to West Stockwith for us. Perhaps the last chance to give Naughty-Cal a good long high speed blast for this year before she is tucked up for the winter.
And then after that it is a quieter run down the Witham. Hopefully we can coincide this with meeting up with Sydney's brother again. But nothing is planned for this just yet.
Monday, 29 October 2018
A Frosty Start
Yesterday was a bit of a slow day for everyone involved. There were a few sore heads and coupled with the cold and at times downright wintry weather none of us felt the need to do anything too energetic. It seemed like a long run back down the Trent to Torksey, much longer then usual. But that could have just been wooly heads coming into play.
Sydney spent much of the day playing with his best buddy Jack on Sole Mate in the dry and warm and we spent much of the day hunkering down and battling the cold. The smells of minted lamb shoulder from the slow cooker wafting around the boat making us all hungry.
We decided to call it an early night last night. The first of the dark evenings rolling in on us made us feel more tired then we should have been for the time involved. But we have both woken up refreshed from a good sleep.
Now for a week at work.
Sunday, 28 October 2018
Back to Base
The fleet are all safely back at base after a steady run back from High Marnham this morning.
We had a great time in the pub last night.
Now time to sit back and relax while the lamb shoulder does its thing in the slow cooker.
Saturday, 27 October 2018
Why?
Sometimes you do have to ask yourself why you are doing something. And this morning was one of those times at 10.30am. When in the driving cold rain we were entering Torksey Lock.
However we have had a lovely afternoon at Church Laneham and have just moved onto High Marnham for the evening.
It could be worse. We are all now warm and dry.
Friday, 26 October 2018
Steady Progress
Somehow each year we manage to time this late season cruise for the first properly cold weekend of the autumn/winter. It doesn't matter which weekend we choose it is going to be cold.
High water at Torksey is at about 11am tomorrow so we have no rush to get all of the way there. Instead we have decided that we will stop off at Saxilby tonight. It means we have made some progress towards Torksey, got out of the marina for the evening, can enjoy a nice take out from Bella Pizza and can give Sydney a good run in the morning on the playing fields to tire him out and burn off some energy. And to top it all off we can have a bit of a lie in as well. A win win all round.
Then tomorrow it is out onto the Trent with probably a lunchtime stop at Dunham Bridge and a walk to the pub prior to setting off to High Marnham for the evening.
Thursday, 25 October 2018
Sea Legs
We already know that our Easter break is a week on a hire boat in Belgium and that our late season break is a week on a hire boat on the Norfolk Broads. So what to do next summer?
Well we have decided that it is about time that we find out if Sydney has his sea legs. And what better way to do this then a trip to Wells next the Sea.
Our last visit to this beautiful North Norfolk town was in 2016. It really doesn't seem that long ago. And it was only a fleeting visit then on our way home from the Norfolk Broads. We love Wells and it will make a nice first run for Syndey on the sea. Not too far but far enough to test his sea legs.
We are pretty sure that he will be fine. He loves it when the boat is going fast. He sits backwards between the helm seats watching the water out of the back of the boat. He is fine with the boat healing over in the tight turns on the Trent and the noise of the engine really doesn't seem to bother him.
Now we just need to decide when we will choose to go. We have no time restraints or weeks in mind for this trip yet. We will avoid Wells Carnival week as this gets stupidly busy and will try to avoid the school holidays in an attempt to find a quieter spell on the water.
Wednesday, 24 October 2018
A Relief
At low revs we were all but shrouded by a cloud of acrid smoke. We had of course feared the worse and expected some major repair bills upon the way.
With the promise of cold weather on the horizon we decided at the weekend to refill the diesel tank. It was about half full according to the gauge so we figured about 100 litres would refill it. The gauge is a little pessimistic and has more in it then it says. 90 litres later and we were brimmed again.
Within a couple of minutes of running we both noticed that the dirty acrid exhaust smell had disappeared. A few minutes later and the smoke was also starting to clear. Not completely but it was noticeably better.
All of our problem we now believe has been down to a dodgy batch of fuel. What a relief!
We have had this before but it was many years ago now and we had forgotten all about it. It seems that the big green lump is a bit fussy about it's quality of fuel.
With the old stuff watered down with fresh good fuel by less than 50% it seems to be much happier. Hopefully in the next few weeks we will get the chance to burn some of this fuel off and then we will refill again and see if the smoking situation improves further. Fingers crossed.
Tuesday, 23 October 2018
Winding Down
Autumn is definitely here and winter is creeping up on us and waiting just around the corner.
With this in mind we will be starting to slow down with our cruising. Not that Cal has had a busy year this year anyway. But we need to start thinking about what jobs we want to do to the boat over the winter months and also start to look forward to where we might visit next year and put a plan into action. It might be a quiet few months in store for Naughty-Cal but it certainly won't be a quiet few months for us.
Monday, 22 October 2018
Chilly Start
It was a cold and frosty start to the day this morning with us having to scrape the car before we could head to work this morning. Wasn't expecting that.
It looks like we installed the engine bay heaters at just the right time yesterday afternoon!
The slow cooked beef casserole we had yesterday was divine. It was just the ticket for a cold evening.
Sunday, 21 October 2018
Swan Pie
We had an great day in the company of good friends yesterday. We might not all end up in the same place at the same time very often but when we do we always have a good time.
Yesterday we all found ourselves together at Torksey where we had a lovely meal in The White Swan. The pie was as good as ever washed down with a few drinks.
We are having a steady day today. We will head back to the marina later and I have a stew and dumpling dinner to rustle up in the slow cooker.
Saturday, 20 October 2018
Back with Cal
It is nice to be back on Naughty-cal this weekend. Last night we had a nice night in with friends having few beers and z catch up.
This morning we have had a reasonably early morning as we are on our way into Lincoln to do few bits and bobs.
Later we are heading to Torksey to catch up with more friends we have not seen for a while. On the way past the marina we will call in to fill up the diesel tank.
Friday, 19 October 2018
Sydneys Holiday
Here is just a sample of what he got up too while we were away.
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Boating in Brittany - Part 4
Back up the Vilaine
Wednesday, 17 October 2018
Boating in Brittany - Part 3
To Malestroit