Monday 6th May 2013

Well! Who would believe it, here it is Bank Holiday Monday and the sun is shining high wide and handsome.

We've actually seem some boats moving here on The Chesterfield Canal. Just to confirm it was a holiday we saw a long traffic jam on a road next to the canal

This morning we set off from Worksop hoping to reach Retford. The canal seemed to do its best to prevent us. I had to make 3 excursions into the week hatch to retrieve first a hoodie, that brought the engine to a shuddering halt, next a huge clump of edge trimmings, a lot of which were bramble, ouch. The last item was some building plastic.

It may be that because this canal doesn't have a lot of traffic but I've noticed several instances of boats staying on lock moorings, and today I had an interesting altercation with a fisherman. The chap in the picture was occupying the middle of the lock mooring. He became quite abusive when I tried to moor up, and said he'd fished there for years and boats had always avoided him. I would say that the human race would avoid him if he acts like that.

One of the really good things about this canal is the anti vandal locking mechanism. It's simple, robust, and simple to use with a watermate key.

We made it to Retford despite the obstacles and have once again moored up near Asda, we'll shop tomorrow.

Addendum to previous post - heaters don't run well without fuel. The pickup for the heater is well above that  for the engine. It's great warning device!

Sunday 5th May 2013
The finest day of the year so far. Although a bit of cloud and some wind at the moment it's still very pleasant out there.
We decided to have a rest today to give Cath a bit of an easier time. Rising late, after a leisurely breakfast I had a bit of a go at the stove top to restore its shine before we took a wander into town.
Cath bought some more flowers to replace the daffs which are wilting badly on our little rooftop troughs, and I got some sealant to cure a drip into our cratch area when it rains.
We decided to go up through town lock to the winding hole, turn around and come back down ready to start back towards The Trent tomorrow.

 This straddle warehouse used to belong to Pickfords

 Town Lock, where a new bridge has made it difficult to operate

There's only room for one paddle, no walkway, and a bent balance beam

 Top gate of Town Lock, Worksop

We have noticed a slight smell in the cupboard under the hob. At first we thought something may have got in there and was rotting, but finding nothing it dawned that it could a gas leak. Confession here, I fitted a leak detector  to the gas system when I did the fit out, but the only time it gets used is for BSS. Should really test it regularly, but too lazy I suppose.
Anyway, a quick push of the test button, and there was the answer, yes we had a leak. Out with the spanners, torch and soapy water. It didn't take too long to find, in fact it took longer to empty the cupboard and remove the drawers to allow access. Tightening the joint onto the the hob cured the leak, but we'll keep a nose in the cupboard to make sure.
The next problem I need to address, as soon as I've finished this, is the Hurricane unit has alarmed on flame failure so I'll have to investigate that next.

Saturday 4th May 2013
After a quiet night we got a nice late start on our way to Worksop. We've decided not to go any further up here, but will turn around and head back to Leeds after this.
Two things helped make the difficult decision, Cath is still unwell, we think it might be whooping cough, and while she can still work the boat, what with her knees playing up as well, it does take a lot out of her. We do have to be back in Leeds in a couple of weeks anyway.
It's a shame to miss the opportunity to get to the top here, everyone says that it's worth it, but other things take priority.
The first lock we came to this morning, Kilton Lock, was well choked up with weed.

I think I mentioned the weeds

Some of the islands of weeds around here are big enough to become tax havens. Maybe someone should try it.

At Bracebridge Lock there was the usual array of city detritus in and around the lock but we managed to avoid getting any around our prop.

We're now moored up in Worksop, I wandered into town to see if I could catch an auto electrical place that I spotted on the web before they shut up for the weekend. Failed there then, and now they won't open until Tuesday so I'll have to wait 'till another time. I'm looking for somewhere to crimp a 10mm ring terminal to some 75 mm sq. cable so that I can shorten one of our cable runs to improve the volt drop I seem to be getting. However a panel volt meter I bought from ebay is proving a real boon. It is showing that the very expensive battery monitor that I installed when we fitted Lyra out is not reading correctly and has been frightening me with its readings for a while. I've checked all the connections and can find nothing wrong apart from the readout being about .2V lower than it actually is. The amp/hr counter is also way out.

While in town I tried to buy a Guardian from WH Smiths, but would you believe, they've run out. finally found one in M&S of all places.

Friday 3rd May 2013
Our stay at Retford was only slightly marred by a couple scroats who chucked a cream doughnut from the other side of the canal, just a sticky mark to wash off.
This morning we had a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast and marmalade, both the bread and the marmalade are made by Cath's fair hand.
We set off later than usual and cruised along in worm if not sunny conditions. The scenery is still very open, but there are signs of the coming steep climb. The flat land has started to undulate gently, and ahead of us are the 4 Forest Locks. the locks around here do seem to be very well maintained, both mechanically and aesthetically. Admission here: this dozy idiot didn't replace the memory card in the camera, so no pics today. The camera clicks on merrily recording nothing.
At Forest Middle Bottom Lock there was a thoughtless nerk who left his boat tied up to the lock mooring. Usually there's somewhere to go, but today the wind was blowing us into the weeds on the off side and also making it very difficult to tie alongside the offending article. I would dearly love to have cut it adrift, but that would only cause problems for other boaters. It was here that we got a taste of the weed problem that people had warned us of, having to dive into the weed hatch twice. Actually most of what I retrieved were in fact hedge cuttings.
At Forest Middle Top Lock though there were several large floating islands of weed. I managed to steer the huge one at the top gates out of our way before it could cause us grief.
As long as you stay in the middle there seems to be plenty of depth, but stray just a little and we get pulled around quite strongly. Lyra is 30" at the stern, so we get early warning if the bottom is getting too close to the top.
We decided not to go very far today so have now moored up at Ranby, a small village with just a pub in it.

Thursday 2nd May 2013
I had good evening in the Retford & Worksop Boat Club bar. Unfortunately Cath is still under the weather and decided to stay in the boat, letting yours truly run free in a bar where the whisky was sold at a very tempting price.
The members were very friendly, and it was the birthday of the lady who ran the bar, (sorry don't know her name, too many whiskys) and she had put on a small buffet for all who attended. I ended up scoffing some birthday cake of course.
This morning once again dawned bright and clear, and after using the facilities we set off into the sunshine. The canal continues to meander through pretty scenery, the land around here is quite flat and we're surprised at the need for locks at all.
In two places, one a winding hole, we came across swans nesting, and in both the pen was sitting, so soon there should be cygnets swimming around.

The first lock this morning was the oddly named "Whitsunday Pie Lock". Local legend has it that a woman once baked a huge pie for the navvies who were digging the canal. But I've also heard that old maps have shown a Whitsunday pie field near the spot, that pre-dates the canal.

The surroundings and the weather continue to be wonderful, but we can soon tell that we are approaching an urban area. Lots of plastic bags and empty take away cartons start to litter the canal and towpath as we run into Retford.
We wanted to do a shop here so kept our eye out for a likely mooring spot.
A chap who happened to be on his boat moored at the end of his garden, told us that the best place would be by Retford Town Lock. On arrival here I had a look around and decided that there was a good spot just above the lock, so we penned through this, the first of the narrow locks which sets the pattern for the rest of this canal. Narrow locks, yippee!!
We're now tied up very close to the local Asda, and I've already raided the place.

Wednesday 1st May 2013
Well, at least it looks a bit more like spring today. We woke up to bright sunshine and the promise of a fine day, the wind was still a little cool though.
Setting off we soon found that rumours of the weed around here seem to be true, but once under way things weren't too bad.
We soon reached Misterton Low Lock, where a BW key is required to unlock the paddles, as do all the locks we've come across so far.

A short run to Misterton Top Lock, where there is a new, very clean looking by wash channel

It was very heartening to see contractors our with the weed cutting boat. Rumours that the breed was extinct seem to be premature.

There are signs of the old brick industry around here

Cath took a spell of lock wheeling at Shaw Lock

And then relaxed at Gringley Lock, where there is a very pretty lockside cottage.

I did my share of leaning too.

Gringley Lock was the last one of the day, and we continued plodding along admiring the lovely scenery around here. The sun shone for most of the morning, but later on the cloud started building up and the cold breeze seemed to warm up slightly

Bridge 72, Old Man Bridge is rather pretty.

Our destination for today was Clayworth where the book shows there is a shop, we need milk.

There's also boater facilities here. When we arrived we found that it was actually a boat club mooring, and the shop no longer exists

After filling with water I spoke to the club caretaker who kindly said we could moor in front of the clubhouse for the night. The club is open tonight so we may well call in for a drink.