The Last Post

 On the morning of Valentine's Day I knelt by the side of my best beloved, held her hand, read a Psalm or two and prayed with her. And she slipped gently away into the arms of her Saviour.

She'd become increasingly frail over the last year. Her mild dementia occasionally made her puzzled about this and that, and her decreasing mobility made it more difficult to do some of the things she enjoyed. But she remained cheerful as ever, and her smile would still light up her face, and the room, and she was so appreciative of other people and what was done for her.

She'd caught the flu in January, and though most symptoms were minimal, it took away the strength in her legs. We moved a bed downstairs, and various social services and NHS teams got involved – they were brilliant. On 14th February she told one of the carers who was helping her get up that she'd slept like a log. But 5 or 10 minutes later she had a bit of an episode that led to her becoming unconscious. A Frailty Team nurse arrived at that moment, did a quick assessment, instigated CPR and rang 999. Paramedics came quickly, but it was to no avail.

We had nearly 53 years together, and from 2011 to 2023 had enjoyed adventuring on the canals on Erin Mae. That was a very special period, chronicled in this blog. I am more grateful to God than I can properly say for all that she meant to me. But I am also grateful that the Lord took her as and when he did, sparing her further pain and indignity.

The committal is this Saturday, in a woodland burial ground near us. Then, at 11.30, we shall gather in our church for a Thanksgiving Service. And we shall do just that – give thanks to God for her. We're doing a live stream of the service for those who wanted to be there, but couldn't be. So if anyone at all is reading this post, you'd be more than welcome to join us on line as well:

https://youtube.com/live/ltr1If27FcA?feature=share.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death

(1 Corinthians 15:26)

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

(Revelation 21:4) 

Phases

 In the end, selling Erin Mae is about phases of life. And we have no reason to complain. In April my best beloved and I celebrated 50 years of marriage. So a couple of weekends ago we had a family weekend to mark the Golden Wedding Anniversary, for which we rented a house in Lyme Regis.

The grounds were big enough for fun and games.

There was lots of good food.

And different things to do when it was wet outside.

The Cornish crew were there, the Londoners had done most of the organising, and the Norwegians had all flown across. There was quite a bit of swimming and body-surfing, 

the consumption of several large portions of fish and chips, and lots of music. Being all together doesn't happen a lot, and we all loved it.

We were presented by the youngest members with a rather special can of baked beans!

Martin & Margaret, it read. Established 1973. It's bean 50 years. Rich in love and community.

Amen to that! It's been a good 50 years. And a fantastic weekend!

Farewell

Well, the time has come. Erin Mae has given us 12 years of boating experiences – intriguing moments, fascinating people, scary incidents. But the time has come – time to acknowledge that we cannot do all that we could, and cannot really keep up with the necessary maintenance. So the time has come to sell.

But we had a problem. At the end of our cruising last year we came to light a fire in our Squirrel solid fuel stove, and found it had half an inch of water inside, which had rusted some of the internal pieces. It was in the summer of 2021 that Streethay Wharf had fitted a new chimney, and clearly something had leaked. I didn't want to put the boat up for sale with a dodgy flue. When I contacted Streethay earlier this year, they suggested I bring the boat down for them to look at. Unfortunately, that was 13 locks away, and locks are currently a bit tricky.

Enter our friend Phil. When we were having coffee with him and his wife a couple of months ago, he volunteered to learn windlass skills, and it was all fixed up. He came up on Monday, took us down the Atherstone flight on Tuesday, and accompanied us to Streethay on Wednesday and Thursday morning.

He naturally enjoyed a cuppa on the towpath, and recorded his new experiences in time-honoured fashion.

We couldn't have done the trip without him – you're a star, Phil!

So, today, Streethay looked at the flue, drew some conclusions about how water had managed to ingress, and set about sealing it up. The biggest surprise was the person who came to do the work. It was our friend Ant who, with Emma his wife and Domino the not-so-much-a-puppy-now, have the berth next to ours at Mancetter marina. He was a help to us in various ways over the last two years, but it was extraordinary to see him arriving with tools in hand!

He sealed the chimney, and he sealed the flue around the stove, and then he set to work fixing the rear hatch which has been sticking. Great job, Ant – and great to see you again, albeit probably for the last time.

Because the end of the tale is that Erin Mae is up for sale, and we're sorting out the contract with the brokerage at Kings Orchard marina, just a quarter of a mile from Streethay. We've berthed her there for the night, and tomorrow will hopefully conclude all the paperwork.

It's been a wonderful adventure, for which we are grateful to God. And if anyone fancies a 16 year-old Aqualine Madison…

Bridge 27

It's a typical Coventry Canal Bridge, looking very pleasant and idyllic in the evening light.

We'd been moored up for a day about 150 yards the far side of the bridge. I'd been wanting to paint under the left-hand bedroom window frame. The towpath being on that side made this an ideal spot to take the window out and get on with this job that is about 6 years overdue.

The problem was how the painting (numerous coats, a day between each) and its requirement for a left-side towpath would fit with other demands for travelling, such as the need to fill the water tank – knowing what we do about the availability of water on the next stretch of our journey. We decided that, before moving on, we should reverse back through the bridge and fill the tank at Springwood Haven Marina (in the right in the picture). No time like the present, especially as the wind was more gentle than was promised for the following morning.

Now narrowboats are not made for going backwards – they need a certain amount of cajoling. But I have to say that Erin Mae and I get on pretty well with this manoeuvre when necessary. I brought her back round the bend, avoiding the other moored boats, and lined up everything to come through the bridge hole.

Ah, the perils of reversing under a bridge! That's where all the rubbish tends to accumulate, and a reversing propellor just sucks it up. Suddenly there were horrendous noises, and the exhaust started to belch black smoke under the strain. I put the gear into neutral, experimented with what control I still had, and managed to moor up on the marina wharf. No one was around – it was about 7 p.m.

Ever since our first trip through Manchester I've become accustomed to clearing the prop of collected rubbish, so I lifted one of the boards at the stern to access the weed hatch.

It's straightforward – you release the restraining bar, lift off the lid, and prepare yourself mentally for whatever your fingers will encounter as you reach down into the murky depths towards the propellor. I've done it many times.

But this time the lid wouldn't budge. I pushed and pulled, hammered and banged – all to no avail. I think that Rose Narrowboats, doing an excellent engine service last year, had replaced the seal, and it was firmly stuck. In the end we tied up for the night and set the alarm to get us up before the marina staff arrived in the morning.

Springwood Haven people are some of the most helpful you could encounter. I explained our predicament and, much sooner than expected, George came down to see what he could do. He's more beefy than I, but not even he could get the lid off without some serious help from a cold chisel, a screwdriver (ouch!) and a club hammer. Then, at last, I could untangle the offending mixture of bungee, fishing line, weeds, plastic bags and unmentionables. 

Note to self: when reversing under a bridge, line it up and then go into neutral while actually traversing it.

Hinckley museum

When we were up the Ashby Canal last year, we caught the bus into Hinckley town centre to see the museum.

Unfortunately, I hadn't read the website properly – we'd gone on a day when it wasn't open. So this time we double-checked and, last Saturday, finally got inside. Downstairs there are a couple of rooms celebrating Hinckley's past as a centre of the hosiery industry. Socks, stockings, etc – hose. One room was set up with a big knitting loom as it would have been for the cottage industry. Another had examples of the machines they later invented to automate the processes. 

Hard enough to see how they worked, and staggering to think that, in past centuries, they had conceived how to perform the complex mechanical processes to knit the yarn, and then designed and constructed all the parts for the machines, without CAD software to help.

Upstairs, the old timbers of this 17th century building are splendid, and the exhibits cover some of the social history of the area, especially the local tradition of "Non-conformism".

All in all, well worth a visit if you're cruising that way. But check the website for opening days!

Cross pylons

What do you do when two marching lines of pylons cross each other?

You design a small one, and drop one set of cables underneath the other.

In fact, although it doesn't show properly here, there is a small pylon each side of the taller one, with a set of cables going to each, to create a diamond shape around the tall one. I imagine that's to balance out the sideways tension caused by the diversion.

Hinckley Jubilee

What with the shallowness of the canals and stopping to fill Erin Mae's water tank, it took us a good long time to get to Hinckley yesterday, but we made it. We got the bus into town in the afternoon, and found our way to Hollycroft Park for a "Proms in the Park" event. The queue stretching down to the gate 45 minutes before they opened it illustrates something of the support there was.

An estimated 2000 people were there – families, picnics, free eco-friendly flags in abundance.

Music was provided by Leicester's Bardi Wind Orchestra. It was an excellent programme of light classics, orchestrated Beatles & Abba, some vocal classics, Vera Lynn and some last night of the proms standards, accompanied by much flag waving and the slightly self-mocking jingoism that characterises that occasion. No pictures of the orchestra, I'm afraid. The ones I took are appalling!

No evening buses on this bank holiday, but we managed to get a taxi back to the canal for not too many pennies. All in all, it was a very enjoyable way to celebrate the Jubilee. Whatever you think about monarchy as an institution, she is one remarkable lady. And my mum approved of her!

Nuneaton's Nº 10

The Local Authority bus pass for (cough, cough) citizens of suitably advanced seniority is a wondrous thing. Needing to replenish the cupboards with various items, I was able to catch the Nº 10 from within 50 yards of Bridge 21 on the Coventry Canal, and have it deposit me outside the door of an Aldi on the fringes of town, without having to expend the savings from using this particular emporium before I even got there. I thought it should be commemorated with a photo.

Its journey is not through exactly the most exciting parts of Nuneaton, but what struck me was a certain sense of community among the passengers.

One or two would greet each other from time to time, or go and sit with someone they knew. Not a lot, but enough to notice.

Back at Bridge 21, from the map I couldn't see anything more inviting than our current mooring opposite Tomkinson Road Rec, so we've stayed put. Nuneaton visitor moorings look as though they sit right under a railway track and a main road. So we've continued with our custom of short journeys. Tomorrow, however, may well be different. We've noticed that Hinckley has a "Proms in the Park" event as part of the Jubilee celebrations, and we'll probably try to get there.

Which will, of course, entail the use of our bus passes again to get up into the centre of the town from where the canal passes on its outskirts.

I wonder whether Continuous Cruisers (of suitable eminence) are able to get a bus pass, or will no Local Authority take responsibility for such extraordinary people?

Pitter patter

On Saturday we pitter-pattered back to the head of the Atherstone flight from whence it is a straightforward walk down to the town's Aldi. Since I always buy more than intended, I was glad of the Ikea wheelie shopping basket / trolley for the slight hill back to Erin Mae. I laughed at my best beloved when she bought it, but I haven't laughed since! We winded and went back to our marina, ready for the party.

It turned out not to be for the jubilee, but a big-0 birthday celebration for Kat, the manager, who is a big hit with the marina's clients. Everybody took their own food and we had a good natter with people we hadn't met before. Sunday we joined our church on-line (shades of Covid lockdown!), and in the afternoon did a good clean of Erin Mae's roof – with particular attention to what the pigeons had blessed us with from the tree overhead on Thursday night. So Monday we were ready to move by gentle stages, dodging the showers, and stopped again in what's becoming a favourite spot just short of Springwood Haven. We were having a nice cuppa on the towpath when NB 10,000 Reasons came by, with our BCF friends Andy & Sue Smith who'd been helping Paul, another BCF-er, up the Atherstone flight. They were followed by Chris Buck on NB Kairos, so we all had a jolly chat on the towpath for a while, until they pushed on to Nuneaton for the night.

Looking at the weather forecast, I wasn't sure about moving today at all. But the conversation with Andy and Chris had suggested that Springwood Haven's price for blacking Erin Mae's hull is not actually exorbitant but pretty normal, and they are, after all, very nice people! I knew they had just a couple of slots left in the Autumn, and decided to bite the bullet. So we headed on down, called in, and made the arrangements with Liz.

In view of the weather website, we pulled in for the night pretty soon after, and it wasn't long before the familiar pitter-patter started on the canopy. Then sunshine. Then pitter patter. Then sunshine. Then the most almighty rainstorm, lashing down. Then thunder. Overall, I was glad we hadn't been beguiled by the very pleasant, occasional sunny spells into going any further.

Try again tomorrow.

A Plan comes together!

7.30 alarm saw us up and about, and at Springwood Haven Marina about the time they opened. We found ourselves talking with Liz, who was definitely surprised at what her colleague had said to us yesterday about ringing early to see whether they could do anything about our watery woes. But she seemed to appreciate the fact that I knew I was a jolly nuisance, especially this being hire-boat-turnaround day. And since I'd arrived first thing, rather than ringing… (that was the cunning plan!). Well, she was really helpful and rang through to get someone over from the workshop. Rob duly arrived and came down to see what was what. 

He sorted it out in no time, screwing the T-junction in as far as it would go, and constructing a pipe arrangement to fit the new position.

Thanks, Rob. Great job! No more leaks! And therefore an Honourable Mention on the blog! 

We decided to turn around and head back to our new marina as they're having a party tomorrow evening and we thought it would be good to show our faces. Not sure whether it will be a Jubilee celebration. So we winded at Springwood Haven's entrance, and have tied up where we were last night, but pointing the other way.

In the foreground is where the cows come down to cool their feet and have a drink, under the controlling eye of their matriarch. And in the distance you may just be able to see the reason for our excellent mobile broadband reception, standing on the brow of the hill.

Think we'll stay the night in this sunny spot. 7.30 a.m. was a long time ago.

Service resumed – almost

We made the journey up to Mancetter yesterday, with a little niggle niggling away in the back of my mind as we negotiated the M42 at narrowboat speeds. After draining Erin Mae's water systems last October I'd replaced the junction unit that screws into the top of the calorifier (hot water tank).

The pipe going off to the left is an emergency outlet should excess pressure occur. The one going straight ahead takes hot water to wherever it's needed throughout the boat. But I had a problem. Screwing the junction down tight, took it almost an extra quarter turn from what is shown in this picture, and the emergency pipe would not move across that far. I'd cleaned the thread of old sealant tape, and thought this was probably the reason. I assumed that, come the re-commissioning of the system, I'd be able to wrap enough PTFE tape around the thread to get it to tighten in the right position. But would I?

I waited until today to see what would happen. I found my niggling niggle had been justified. Even with copious quantities of PTFE tape, the junction was leaking. If I screw it down tighter, the emergency outlet pipe won't reach.

I rang a nearby marina (Springwood Haven) that has a good engineering department, but their mechanics were all tied up today and tomorrow is turn-around day for their hire fleet. They said I could try ringing at 9 a.m. on Friday to see whether anything might be possible. I rang RiverCanalRescue, but my policy only covers propulsion breakdowns.

In the end we decided to cruise down to Springwood Haven and turn up first thing. Who knows, they might take pity on a couple of needy souls, with a job that, for them, should be relatively straightforward.

So here we are tonight, with the unsuspecting marina just a couple of hundred yards further on. Not quite the first couple of days we were hoping for. Wonder what the morning will bring!

Diesel

Mancetter Marina doesn't have a diesel pump, but they will sell it to you by the 20 litre can. I envisaged an army-style jerry can with a spout and decided it was worth it, so I got from Amazon a large rectangular funnel designed to help put diesel into tractors, etc. Today Kathryn came across with the cans, and they turned out to be plastic containers without a spout. Tricky!

But all the activity attracted a crowd of neighbours. Anthony (NB William Gladstone next door) got an absorbent mat from the stock they have for their puppy, and then kindly volunteered to do the pouring.

Others stood around offering advice to do with avoiding spillage, cleaning up any that did occur, and alternative methods of transferring the fuel that they knew about. It certainly was harder to do it cleanly than I'd thought it would be.

Getting a fresh container halfway through, Anthony caught with his foot the windlass I'd put down to stop the kneeling mat from blowing away. It dropped straight into the water. Anthony was embarrassed. But since he'd already earned Honourable Mention Of The Day, he was immediately forgiven and, anyway, I recovered it later with my magnet. That was why I'd used a steel windlass, not an aluminium one.

Why fill up with diesel when we're just about to go home for the winter? One good reason is that a full tank acquires less condensation, offering a bit more protection from the dreaded "diesel bug". The other, of course: who knows what the price of diesel is going to be when we are next needing to use some?

If I'd realised the complications, I might just have taken Erin Mae down to Springwood Haven Marina, 40 minutes away, and filled up there.

But then we'd never have had our neighbourhood get-together around Erin Mae's filler cap!

Venus

We'd known our neighbours on the other side were returning to base at some point, and today they arrived. They slid into their berth with nary a tickle on Erin Mae.

Looking pretty traditional, and even more so at the other end.

So I did some internet searching – but this boat didn't look like anything in the historic boats register that answers to the name of Venus. A chat with our new neighbour David cleared it all up. The boat is a replica, built about 13 years ago. And built, intriguingly, by whoever used to own the basin which now hosts this marina.

We chatted about Hartshill Hayes (yesterday's post), which David thought sounded promising for dog exercise, and about the panic-buying threat to either of us getting down the A34 this week without having to call out the emergency services.

And then we both got on with our jobs, because it's raining again!

Hartshill Hayes

Wondering about a possible day out from the marina in the car, I went to the National Trust website. Nothing within the sort of distance I wanted to travel, given the need to conserve fuel in the car. So I resorted to Google Maps, and found Hartshill Hayes Country Park, a local authority area of mostly woodland about 3 miles down country roads from where we are. No-brainer!

Car park is fee is £2.50 for the day (very reasonable), card only for payment (very sensible). Three attempts and two cards later, the machine still wouldn't connect to an authorising bank. Thought I'd write a note for the windscreen, should we go for a walk. Then the rain started. Stopped. Started. We ate our sandwiches in the car instead of at the picnic table.

An employee appeared, so I went to discuss the payment issue. He thought I wasn't doing it right (I was) and suggested putting the card into the reader instead of doing the contactless thing. The machine still wouldn't authorise payment, so he said I could have a freebie! Went back to the car for coffee. I'd brought a thermos, and a cafetière with the coffee in it. Shame I'd forgotten to pack the mugs.

Hartshill Hayes is a very nice country park, and no doubt the views you get if you walk around the paths are absolutely stunning. There's a children's play area, and a tea-room open on Saturdays and Sundays. But as the rain started again, we went off to Dobbies for a coffee.

I expect we'll be back.

Anniversary

It's a year since Mancetter Marina opened, so they decided to have a celebration. There was cake.

There was a BBQ, salads and puddings,

all organised by Kathryn, the excellent marina manager.

There were (in the end) lots of marina users, enjoying the food and the Pimms.

There were gate-crashers,

though, to be fair, they passed with a cheery wave and didn't stop.

And there was music.

Jim (guitar and lead vocals), Ben (fiddle, bodhran, vocals) and Lloyd (banjo, vocals) form Finnegan's Revival. From which you might think they were brought over from Kerry, but they're actually from Polesworth. And very good they were, playing and singing a selection of mostly Irish tunes, including "King of the Fairies" and "Rattling bog" which I hadn't heard or sung in decades. 

 It was a good opportunity to chat with some of the other marina clients, including Kate, who lives on NB Sunflower. We had a very enjoyable time. 

William Gladstone

Our new neighbours (that is, we're new; they were here first!) are the proud possessors of NB William Gladstone. It's a 1970s boat, rescued, extended from 60' to 70' and fitted out by Richard Poole, from whom Anthony and Emma bought it when they decided to become liveaboards. Today they had visitors, and went out for a cruise.

Only trouble is – they're going to miss the marina BBQ, held to celebrate a year since it was opened. Good food (we hope) and an Irish band. Mancetter is reputedly the site of Boudicea's last stand – perhaps there's a Celtic connection there.

William Gladstone was apparently very disposed to help Ireland, and in favour of home rule, etc. So it's a bit odd that he should take off as soon as the Irish appear. More on this tomorrow, I think.

Ground control

A call today from Jon, who's doing bits and bobs in the bathroom of our bricks and mortar in the New Forest. Like, replacing everything and fitting a shower enclosure instead of a bath! An update and progress report, and to check agreed procedures for problem-solving. Great to have a friend who you trust in the trade – we've known him for 35 years since 'e were a lad, and were happy simply to give him the house-key when we came up to Erin Mae and let him get on with it.

At the time of the call, we were in Dobbies (Atherstone) Garden Centre, which appeared to have become about 50% Sainsbury's. Very confusing, but also very convenient as we needed to buy a pudding to take to the marina's celebratory BBQ tomorrow evening.

This spaceship is now going nowhere, of course, but is doing so fairly successfully. It's almost time to pull the plug on this blog for the winter, but there should be just one or two more entries to make before I do so.

Song books

We had planned to be at the Autumn get-together of the Boaters Christian Fellowship at Fazeley this coming weekend. In fact Jan, the chair, had asked me to lead some singing of worship songs on Saturday morning, with my guitar. And mentioned that James and Hazel Bell, BCF members who also work with Canal Ministries, had compiled a book of worship songs specially for boaters. It wasn't certain at that point whether they'd also be at Fazeley, but then it transpired that they were on the South Oxford, and they passed us at Fenny Compton. The box of books was duly transferred.

In the meantime, however, various things were going on which resulted in (a) us transferring our home base to Mancetter Marina, and (b) it becoming likely that we wouldn't ourselves make it to Fazeley after all. Our plans had back-fired and the books were in the wrong place!

But then it also transpired that Andy and Sue Smith, also of both BCF and Canal Ministries, would be coming to Fazeley from the Ashby Canal. A phone call, a few arrangements, and at 5 p.m. yesterday I was sitting on the service wharf at Mancetter, with a box of books, as NB Spring Water came round the corner from Bridge 34.

It was nice to see Andy and Sue again – not that we know them well, but we've spent time with them at other BCF events.

We're still not certain whether we ourselves will be at Fazeley at the weekend. But at least the song-books will be. Wonder if anyone will use them!

Atherstone (1)

Today I went into Atherstone. By car, from our marina, rather than on foot, from the visitor moorings. I needed to pick up a prescription from the excellent Lloyds Pharmacy, and do some supermarket shopping. I'd thought I'd take my camera, in case something of interest caught my attention – but then left the camera in the car (stupid!). So I found a picture of the church and neighbouring building on the web, and would credit the photographer, if I knew who it was.

The tower looks unusual, and worth investigating, on another occasion. Today my best beloved was not feeling her best, so I was in the town on my own. But I took the opportunity anyway to wander up the main street a bit, get a feel for it, and have a (guilty pleasure) flat white in the only coffee shop I could see (a Costa).

Atherstone looks an interesting small town – more to it than you might think. I'm reminded of the time we discovered and were amazed by Nantwich. Which is the reason for the "(1)" in the title of this post – I think another Atherstone post might appear at some point.

Trail

It's perhaps a little grandiose to call it a nature trail.

It's a path leading away for a couple of hundred yards at the entrance to Mancetter marina, overlooking the canal and the neighbouring countryside.

At a picnic table about half-way along we met Sue plus puppy. She told us of the requests made by dog-walkers and others that the path should be continued from its current terminus at Bridge 34, to circle round and come back to the marina at a different point. So far, nothing doing!

Sue lives on her boat in the marina.

We'd spotted it at its pontoon on our saunter round to the trail, because of the name on a small wooden plaque in the cratch, and on a piece of roof furniture, though not, as it happens, on the side of the boat itself.

Yup! It's yet another for the Tolkien-themed collection. Bilbo Baggins is already there. Bilbo is now happily added, not actually being a duplicate. Here's the list.