Yardley Gobion 

An English Village

One of the pleasures of canal life is to be able to visit so many villages. Stopped at Yardley Wharf and walked up the hill to get there. Yardley Gobion is in my view typical. A quiet road, now bypassed, with a triangle of green at a junction. There stands the original water pump set above an ancient well. The villagers would have met there to fill their buckets and tubs. The original cottages all built of stone with a roof of thatch.

‘WANTED’

Mr. Finch is about down this way. (Leighton Buzzard). An ex SAS man looking for free accommodation in boats on the canal. He is often seen but difficult to catch. Been in jail many times but is so good they let him out early only to carry on invading boats.
Had hoped to leave the boat somewhere down here but the marina’s are all full. Obviously not a good idea to leave the boat unattended now.

Puppy behaviour

Went over to ‘No Problem’ cos it was Vic’s birthday.
Molly came too. She gets on well with Lucy. Molly is very active, jumping & running about. Thankfully coming back when called. Lucy lets Molly drink her water and lie in her bed. Molly was sniffing around a lot and found a chewy bone in Lucy’s bed. Next thing we saw Molly creeping out the door with the large bone in her mouth! She had gone past our boat before we could call her back.
Ann baked a birthday cake for Vic and we all enjoyed an evening of celebration.

Winter warmth

A number of people ask “Isn’t it cold inside?” We now have a fire which burns diesel. The majority of boaters burn coal or wood. Our fire uses 0.2 litres an hour and keeps the inside at about 20 degrees centigrade even when it is below 10 outside. The fire also heats 3 radiators which helps spread the warmth to the other end of the boat. Our previous boat was insulated with polystyrene and the fire managed to keep the inside about 10 above the outside temperature. This boat has foam insulation which is much better.

Blisworth Tunnel

We have passed through Blisworth Tunnel. One of the longest canal tunnels in England at 3057 yards or about 1.7 miles. First opened in 1805 and partly relined in 1984. It took us 35 minutes to pass through the black hole, a portal, into Stoke Bruerne and the south on the Grand Union canal.

Maintenance

Have been having a problem with the ‘R & D’ coupling bolts. Fitted as standard with our Beta 38 engine and PRM 120 gearbox. It was back in August when Vic noticed that a few nuts had come off !! We were changing the engine oil at the time and put the nuts back on. Thought no more about it, silly, till the drive got all noisy and ‘fell apart’ in November. Thankfully Sue & Vic on ‘No Problem’ pulled me out of the bottom lock at Wilton. Got some more nuts and bolts at Wilton Marina and put the coupling back together. I have to tighten them after a long run now.

Bugbrooke Post Office 

Shops n post

When we got down to Bugbrooke we walked across the fields to the shop. Sue needed to post a parcel and we were happy to find the Post Office still open. As I waited outside with Molly and Lucy the dogs, I saw the post men on their bikes returning to the sorting office. One postie had a cart full of post to be delivered and wished me good day as he passed. We do rely on the local post offices when we need our letters sent on.

TESCO delivery

Placed a TESCO order on the Internet using my new ‘Mobile Office Card’. It took 1 ½ hours to search for items to put in our ‘basket’. Delivery set for the next day at Norton Junction on the Grand Union canal. It all arrived between 10 and 12 as arranged. The van came all the way from Rugby. Saved carrying all that heavy stuf on our old trolly.

This is Molly helping us down Buckby Locks 

A puppy for us

Molly has arrived. Mel on the ‘Coal/Diesel’ supply boat told us of a puppy at the re homing centre at Braunston. So we went to get her. Molly was found in Rugby by the dog warden. She is a Jack Russell cross with long legs and ears. Our very first dog was a JR called Candy. Molly is mainly white with some black & tan patches and is less than 6 months old. We had newspaper down for the first few nights but we did not have any accidents. Ann took her out every hour to ‘be a good girl’.
Tara the cat kept out of the way for a while. Molly looks up at the cat and Tara looks down at the dog. If Molly gets too close the cat growls! If they are both on the floor there is some confrontation when they try to pass. Do hope the puppy will calm down later on.

Computer virus

My computer got a virus from some where. Friend Sue was amazed that I got it, and such a vicious one at that. Like winning the lottery? It prevented me getting on to the internet and also stopped my Virus Checker from finding it. Luckily my Firewall prevented it transmitting any personal data. Had to re install the operating system and all my own files. Luckily I had just saved it all on to CDROM’s.

Internet access

Got a ‘Mobile Office Card’ from Orange which plugs into my Laptop computer. It uses GPRS or the fast 3G if it can. Now able to get better value data. So am ‘expanding’ into Blogger territory. I hope to ‘post’ the news letter up there in hyper space so anybody with internet access can read it. Just type in:- http://moore2life.blogspot.com. Should be able to put more pictures on it to see. While you are about it try our friend Sue’s Blog at www.choiceforum.co.uk/blog/noproblem.html . Lots of items from us who travel about the countryside on the canals.

Improvements to electrics

Not moving about so much this month. Just up and down the Oxford canal between Napton and Rugby. Been back to Calcutt so that S & V can get their engine checked over. I helped Vic with some extra wiring from batteries to fuse box as advised by the engineer. Fridges need a good ‘strong’ supply and had been complaining. Also the radio had mysteriously gone off and on together with one of the lights!

First picture

Us

Well this is'us' taken in 2000 at Aynho Wharf where we started our adventures.

Introduction

We live on a Narrowboat called 'Moore 2 Life' and travel round the English countryside on miles and miles of CANALS.