My Canal Boat Trip 2015

[JOhnGw]

Monday

I had a very pleasant naked morning with a half hour of naked boating as far as Atherstone flight of locks.
The remainder of the day was textile finishing with a pub supper accompanied by a couple of pints of mild ale in the Greyhound pub at Hawkesbury Junction on the outskirts of Coventry.


Tuesday

After my usual nude hour in the boat I had hoped tohave a naked early start but the weather just wasn't favourable so it was another textile boating day.
On mooring up I intended to do a bit more painting but the weather wasn't good enough so I did some inside boat maintenance until it was tile to shower and have a naked dinner and evening.


Wednesday

A short bit of textile boating before morning coffee after which I stripped down to my boiler suit to do a bit more painting.
For some of the painting I was almost out of sight of passing boats but unfortunately not quite enough and while concentrating on the painting I was not alert enough to passing traffic to allow nudity.
However the towpath shows very little use so I should get some good FRN in the morning as the weather forecast is very promising.


Putting on my boiler suit


Painting the rail red.
A passing boat can be seen in the background and you can see how little traffic the towpath gets.
A short slightly muddy stretch showed footprints but no cycle tracks.
This means that I won't need to worry about swiftly and silently approaching cyclists tomorrow morning.

After finishing the painting in mid afternoon I showered and remained naked for the rest of the day.


Preparing dinner

[jbeegoode]

Is that a door and some kind of hatch to starboard, or just one entrance?
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

Is that a door and some kind of hatch to starboard, or just one entrance?
Jbee

It's not to starboard, it's on the right.
Canals were the freight motorways (freeways) of the early 1800's and used land rather than nautical terms.
It is called a side hatch and has a lifting lid. I'll try to get a picture of it in use later in the trip.
In practice it is only used as an emergency exit or for loading awkward objects such as trestle tables and display boards.

[eyesup]

    2. Boatmen were a pest to aristocrats when the canal went through the Lord's land.  The boatmen used to poach pheasant off rich men's land by sending their kids ahead of the boat to spread rum soaked grain which attracted the aristocrat's pheasants.  The pheasant would be anaesthetised by the rum and would be easy to catch by hand when the boat and boatman appeared later on.  Hilarious and cunning!

    John

Interesting hunting technique.   I wonder if one could hunt dear or turkey with the same method.

Have you never seen drunk birds? We would see them after they ate too many berries or other fruit that had been on the vine/bush/tree too long and had begun to ferment. They can't fly very well and with all the chirping, it lends a new meaning to the term, 'loud drunk'.

As John said, hilarious!

Duane

P.S. Do NOT ride your bicycle under a tree filled with drunk birds. I must have been hit 20-30 times and I was moving at a good clip. I had to bathe when I got home.

[jbeegoode]

Drunken birds creating a shower. Now, that's something beyond Alfred Hitchcock's imagination.

Hokey dokey gang, on the count of three we let go on the guy on the bike, ready....
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

Thursday
It was a perfect situation for morning FRN around the boat and naked boating so I got on with the usual morning routine and started off early, while M was still in bed enjoying her second mug of tea. Unfortunately, although I was quite comfortable naked while active, standing at the tiller I needed to wear my fleece.



While I was boating dressed like this M appeared (naked) with the information that as the engine had now heated up enough hot water she was going to have a shower, dress and bring me a breakfast of sausage baguette and a pint mug of tea.


Eventually the sun burnt off the mist enough for totally naked boating to be enjoyed but unfortunately another boated started out immediately behind us with his wife walking the dog on the towpath so I had to keep the shorts on which I had donned in order to pass a group of active moored boaters.

Later that morning I was lucky enough to enjoy a few minutes naked boating in the autumn sunshine during a rare quiet time on the Grand Union Canal.



We moored up for lunch in a great place for a barbecue so we stayed there. While M scavenged the hedgerow for blackberries and crab apples I stripped down to boiler suit (as before) and did a bit more paint touching up after which we had an evening BBQ 4-course dinner:
Aperitifs and nibbles,
Pitta bread with balsamic dip,
Aberdeen Angus steak with runner beans and garlic potatoes,
Cheese course (Vacherousse, Cheshire, Saint Agur & Port Salut with BBQ toasted Pitta bread),
Pear and blackberry parcels with crème fraiche.

After dinner I stripped naked to do the washing up and although there were several other boats moored up along the towpath I was able to remain naked to clear up all the barbecue stuff from the towpath.


Friday, Saturday and Sunday

This morning I was up and about early enough to do the outside chores naked in spite of the other moored boats.



Over this weekend I will be at a gathering of boaters at the Blue Lias pub so there will be not FRN to report.
More, I hope, on Monday.

[jbeegoode]

Might I suggest caramelized crab-apples on that Aberdeen Angus steak?

That sounds like a very good day.

The paint looks very good. I had wondered about that white slop on the runners and the cover (aft, oops, where you steer) looked a bit ragged in the earlier posts. I usually paint with only a hat. sleeves are a problem and I am better aware if I mess up, or I'm close to it. I remember you doing things like that at home nude. Was this a case of proximity to hassles, or maybe an aversion to turpentine?
Jbee

[JOhnGw]

Might I suggest caramelized crab-apples on that Aberdeen Angus steak?

That sounds like a very good day.

The paint looks very good. I had wondered about that white slop on the runners and the cover (aft, oops, where you steer) looked a bit ragged in the earlier posts. I usually paint with only a hat. sleeves are a problem and I am better aware if I mess up, or I'm close to it. I remember you doing things like that at home nude. Was this a case of proximity to hassles, or maybe an aversion to turpentine?
Jbee

The crab apples sound like a great idea but I'm not sure about caramelising them on a barbecue.
Th boiler suit while painting was simply because if the large amount of passing traffic - I do find the sleeves a bit of a nuisance but it is so much more comfortable than the elasticated waist of shorts.

[JOhnGw]

Just to keep the pot boiling here is a couple of pictures of Ernest at the boat gathering.





Just to stay slightly on topic, I was naked to make the Sunday morning rolls and croissants (as usual).

[JOhnGw]

Monday

A long and totally textile day's boating, finally mooring up on some popular moorings in Warwick whose towpath shows signs of very heavy use. With that and the other boats moored here I don't anticipate any morning FRN.


Tuesday

Much to my surprise the towpath was quiet enough for me to "water" the grass when I got out of bed and to empty the ash pan from last night's fire in the coal stove into the back of the hedge before I needed to get dressed for an early start up Hatton flight of 21 locks.



We did this in record time (for us) thanks to the volunteer lock keepers who were on duty.
This meant that we could continue toour planned overnight mooring in time for lunch and before the forecast rain set in. This included Shrewley tunnel which was rather busy as we were following one boat and met two others - rather different from last time I passed through this tunnel in the early morning.


Click on image for video

After lunch, as we were not moving again, I stripped down to my boiler suit and put some more packing in the stern gland in an attempt to reduce the leaks.

[Peter S]

John, your frequent references to maintenance and repair work remind me of a former work colleague who had a canal boat. Asked once why he kept the boat, he explained if was marginally cheaper than standing on a bridge chucking five pound notes in the canal! Mind you it looks more pleasurable as well

Peter

[eyesup]

John, your frequent references to maintenance and repair work remind me of a former work colleague who had a canal boat. Asked once why he kept the boat, he explained if was marginally cheaper than standing on a bridge chucking five pound notes in the canal! Mind you it looks more pleasurable as well

Peter

I worked with a guy once that referred to a boat as “a hole in the water to throw your money into". To each his own. My brother had a small 2-3 man sailboat once and it was a blast to take out on the water. No engine noise or exhaust.

Wow, JOhn. 21 locks. How long did that take and is the traffic two way?

Duane

[JOhnGw]

John, your frequent references to maintenance and repair work remind me of a former work colleague who had a canal boat. Asked once why he kept the boat, he explained if was marginally cheaper than standing on a bridge chucking five pound notes in the canal! Mind you it looks more pleasurable as well

Peter

I worked with a guy once that referred to a boat as “a hole in the water to throw your money into". To each his own. My brother had a small 2-3 man sailboat once and it was a blast to take out on the water. No engine noise or exhaust.

Wow, JOhn. 21 locks. How long did that take and is the traffic two way?

Duane

We didn't record the time up the Hatton flight but according to M it was between 2h30m and 3h.
The best recorded locking we have done it one day was a total of 45 locks and 10.2 miles in 10.4 engine hours. Given a cruising speed of 2.5 m.p.h on that quality of canal that averages out at about 8.5 minutes per lock.

You do meet other boats in the flight and this can either hold you up or speed you up depending on circumstances. We met five boats coming down and, because of the way the lock keepers behaved, they were all to our advantage.

It is commonly assumed by canal boaters that the word BOAT is an acronym standing for "Bung Out Another Thousand." I avoid some of this by doing the work myself so it is just as well that I enjoy that sort of work (mostly).

[JOhnGw]

Wednesday

In spite of the fact that a hire boat had moored up 100 yeard behind us I was able to do all the usual morning chores naked and also take a short walk along the towpath to check out a potential ideal barbecue location.

Filling the coal scuttle from the locker.
I am sure I was seen while polishing the brass as one of the people on the hire boat started dog walking towards us but then changed their mind and walked the other way. However nothing was said when they went past, having started off before us.

After consulting the long term weather forecast for the next fortnight we decided not to return via Stratford and the Rive Avon but to go via Birmingham, navigating the only stretch of the Grand Union Canal which we have not done already.
This turned out to be a delightful day's cruise, firstly through lovely countryside and finishing up with a fascinating cruise through an old industrial part of Birmingham where we could see the remains of many former industrial wharves and basins, with architecture variously dating from the Victorian era to the 1930's plus all the interesting ways in which industry continues to use the same sites.
In particular there were the usual number of woodyards and builder's merchants, still on the wharves by which they were originally supplied.

Moreover, this stretch of canal seems to be absolutely ideal for FRN boating. We met only about half a dozen boats all day and the only following boat was about an hour behind us. What is more, there was very little towpath activity indeed although the towpath itself looked as though it got good wear. However when we stopped for lunch I was able to see that the wearing portion had been covered with gravel which had subsequently sunk into the soil, giving the towpath an impression of heavier use than it actually got.

We moored up for the night at Camp Hill Locks visitor moorings, right in the middle of Birmingham so the possibility of FRN is distinctly limited, especially now that a hire boat has moored up here.

When I had my shower I noticed that the water was not draining from the shower tray as quickly as it should. Time to clean the pump filter, a job which I particularly dislike as it involves totally emptying the cupboard of the massed cleaning materials and spare toiletries to get at the pump which was installed under the cupboard floor. It is always a pain getting them all fitted in again so that the door will close.


The heap of materials.


Putting the filter back on the pump.

[jbeegoode]

What does the Misses do during such a day. Does she sit up front in the air, or look out windows, or occupy herself other than having a tour?
Jbee