About Me

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After thirty years of hiring, I finally bought my own 50ft boat in 2005, which was built in 2001 by Andicraft at Debdale Wharf. I mostly cruise single handed and have no problem with that, although it does take a little longer than with a crew. My mooring is on the Wey Navigation, so I have a choice of routes on the Wey or the Thames.

Wednesday 10 May 2017

Summer Cruise 6



Monday 8th May

It was to be a chilly day, so I decided to stay here another day. I had several jobs on the imaginary list to be done anyway. The TV is awful; no news programmes at all, so it has to be acquired on the internet. I appear to be tuned in to Crystal Palace, but only get limited programmes. Maybe my transmitter finder app on the mobile is giving me false info or directions.

Last night I went to The White Bear and had a very good Indian meal, although the service was rather slow. The big snag is that it is a Greedy King house, so most of the beers were theirs. I have eaten here before and the food is always good. This evening I went to a local Wetherspoons and on the way back I popped into a Thai restaurant for a good prawn phad Thai, before wandering back to the boat. On the way back I met the lady and young daughter presently living on Rose in June. They actually live in this area and are living on their boat at the moment whilst the house is being renovated. The interior of the boat has been stripped and refitted; the exterior is about to be done and the name will be changed too.

As well as doing some washing, I tried closing the tap to the skin tank to see if I could get the engine to heat the water more efficiently. Keeping the tap closed I could take the engine temperature up to 100C before the cap opened and leaked water over the engine. At that temp I cracked open the tap to the skin tank. All in all, I don’t think it will make much difference. I find that it takes about two hours on the move to get enough hot water for a shower, whereas more modern engines will heat the water in half an hour just on tickover. I believe the modern engine has a thermostat in place of the tap to the skin tank as well as the one in the engine head.

Tuesday 9th May

It was time to move on, but Tesco beckoned first as I had a long shopping list. No solid fuel was available, so I needed to find a supply as well as diesel. I had to wait whilst a wide beam boat reversed through Batchworth Lock ahead of me. Normally he would have winded below the lock after watering up, but other boats were in the way. He did wind above the lock as I went through and was then ahead of me, so I was cursing for a while at his slow speed until he stopped and cleared his prop down the weed hatch and waved me on.

I had nine locks ahead of me now to Hunton Bridge. In all it took seven hours and I had had enough by the time I got there and moored up. I called in at Cassio Bridge for diesel and a bag of Phurnacite, which should see me out now that days and nights are getting warmer.

After mooring up, I made my customary visit to The Kings Lodge for a pint and finished off my written description that I made a year ago as well as taking photos of both that and The Kings Head.

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Not a very impressive exterior, but good beer and food, 
by the number eating in the bar.



Back on board, I was too tired to cook, so just heated up a dish that had been previously frozen from home.

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