What time is it

Today we didn't get out of bed till 10.30, don't know why? It must be the fresh canal air, as we were late getting up we haven't done much today, a bit of food shopping, we also  saw our neighbourColin who  unfortunately   had to come off his boat due to health problem and has acquired a flat in Nottingham, so best of luck to him and his wife in their new home.

So no neighbour on one side until Monday, so the ducks and swans made the most of this by making there selves know, looking for bread.

As said yesterday we are. Looking forward to the Wales game tonight, we have bought a Thai ready meal and a few beers so we can watch later.

Here's a picture of a boat for my great nephew Josh because we know he reads our blog.

See you .......

Busy with electrics

Hi, yesterday we took a trip to Halfords, to buy an  car radio Arial and speaker cable so that with the help of Mark Hicks, one of our neighbours, who is also a qualified electrician, (if anyone in the Nottingham area ,needs one then contact myself because I can recommend him, )we installed a radio with outside waterproof speakers today,so when Denise and I are on the tiller we can listen to the radio whilst cruising the canals.

He also installed a Stirling battery management unit so we can monitor our battery,when we are back on the waterway system, this measures what goes out and also the amount that goes back into the battery bank, it just will give us an idea of how long the engine needs to be run.

Yesterday I also install a new bow light, as we have got a new cratch cover, so we had to resite it, so we been quite busy over the last few days, the weather has been nice today, almost tropical, but late this afternoon the rain came back.Nothing else to report , but looking forward to watching Wales rugby playing France tomorrow even though it will be on the T.V. And we will be England , so come on Walesssssss.

See you tomorrow Steve 

On the boat for a week

Hi, and welcome back, to our blog, we are back on the boat, sadly only for a short while after a winter in Cardiff.

Back in October we were unable leave Nottingham due to the river Trent being in flood, so we put ESSENDEE in the marina while we went back home to Wales, where we quiet busy, with painting and decorating the maisonette that we bought, we had a great Christmas Day with our friends Mike and Helen 

So a big thanks to them for putting up with us and feeding us.

A quite New Year was had and the next few months which the UK experienced the most terrible weather for years we stayed cosy in the flat .One bit of bad news is that we had to have one of our cats put to sleep as he was extremely ill.

COOKING FAT R.I.P

But yesterday we came back to the boat, every thing is fine and no dramas which is a blessing, we lit the fire and settled down for a cosy night

Today we woke with great intentions of caring out some repairs and renovations, but woke up late and only managed to check our battery bank with the hydrometer, pumped out the bilge and put up a new head lamp and the day was gone.

Firkin the other cat has settled quite well bak into the boat, I think she likes the fire.

Speak to you tomorrow 

Steve N Denise 

Essendee will stay in Nottingham

The last couple of days we have been at Castle marina due to the River Trent being in constant flood, even though the predicted storm didn't really touch  us at Nottingham the river remains up.

The team in castle marina have been able to accommodate us and the boat will stay here for the next couple of months, so today we became a tourist and visited a few of Nottingham attractions.

The first was a statute of Robin Hood, it didn't look like Errol Flynn,Richard Green or Kevin Cosner.

http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/Castle

We then went to the Castle  which isn't that impressive and quiet a disappointment as castles go.

Though the caves that are abundant around the city are quite cool, the castle is mainly a museum and art gallery, there was not a lot about the biggest star Robin Hood, which was another disappointment.

    

                                            

                                                        Denise as Robin

Though the views of the city are impressive from the top.

                                                                              

We then went down the hill from the castle to the Ye old Trip to Jerusalem http://www.triptojerusalem.com/

which is one of the oldest pubs in England,this is a must visit for any tourist as a big part of the pub is cut into the rock underneath the castle .

                                        

We then left the pub after a quick pint, and made our way through the town to Galleries  of Justice  Museum....http://www.galleriesofjustice.org.uk/

This is another well worth paying tourist attraction, it takes about an hour and a half of learning about the courts,jails and punishment of day by gone. Well worth the money

                                                       

A few of the clients .......

                                                                      

The final punishment 

The gallows last used in 1887

Lucky they Let us out, so back to the boat and some dinner then a night by the fire.

 

       

Waiting for the river

Weather this morning was quiet fine for the time off the year, our battery, water and diesel were all showing low levels, so we set off towards Beeston lock where there was a water point, where we filled up with water, and hopefully to go through the lock onto the river, but it was a no no as the river was still in flood.

Whilst filling up we started to chat a fellow boater about when the river might recede and the level might lower so he phoned a friend who said that today the locks were not going to be opened, and unlikely it will tomorrow, so we decided to return to Castle Marina and moor up with the bonus of having a electric hook up, which should recharge our batteries to full state again.We arrived at the marina and filled up with diesel, bought some gas and coal and paid for a over night mooring.

After mooring we set of for a walk into Nottingham city centre where we had a wander before returning back to the boat for the night, unfortunately it rained in the night,and we know that the river won't be open tomorrow , which in turn is hampering our plans as to reach Wigram Marina which is on the junction of the Oxford and Grand Union Canal by the weekend.

Hopefully Castle Marina can accommodate us for the winter, the chap who organises the moorings at this marina is away and maybe back in work on Monday or Wednesday so we will see........

Posted with Blogsy

Back to Nottingham

Today rang Findlay who told us that our boat will be ready, so loaded the car plus the cats and off we set to Nottingham, journey was fine just as the weather was.

Arrived at the boatyard and had a quick chat to Findlay who was busy with a client, so we then went to the boat which Warren the engineer was finishing the service on the engine, the river Trent was in full flow as I turned the boat around so we could moor and load up, which we did, the cats had a little accident during the journey, but couldn't really blame them as it was a long journey.

The waste tank had been renewed to a larger size , almost double the size and a big thank you to Findlay and his team for doing this for us, as said before anyone that requires a boat then please contact Findlay via Nottingham Boat Sales because we can't recommend him enough.

We said our goodbyes to the team at Meadow Lane and set off up the fast flowing Trent and through our first lock back on to the Beeston Canal, then pass all the bars that's line the canal in the city centre, and a quick stop for supplies at Sainsbury's. Our plan was to hopefully get to the Beeston locks and back to the Trent before getting back on the Trent and Mersey canal, but unknown to us the part of the Trent was in flood so no passage though Beeston lock, so we reversed a bit back up, which is by no ways a straight forward exercise, and moored for the night.

Posted with Blogsy

Leaving the boat

Today we got up had a quick tidy of the boat before pumping the waste tank, so that Findlay the boat builder can change the waste tank. We travel through the middle of Nottingham before we reach our destination between the two football clubs on the river Trent.

We moor up and then offload, cats included into the car, and say goodbye to Findlay and his crew and depart back home to Cardiff and home for a week while the work is carried out on our boat.

Arrive back home and everything is fine, as we are off the boat I won't write on this blog for a few days, so see you soon ......

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy