Nearly another year goes by

Yes another year nears the end and fingers crossed we may get a summer next year.

Because we are now moored up for the winter I can find no more to say other than to wish all fellow bloggers and boater a very Merry Christmas and good new years boating.

Back at Otherton Boat Haven

We have returned to base and await the repair of our domestic alternator all being well we will have it back for our next years cruising.

But for now we will stay put and keep warm and dry over the winter .

RETURN TO OTHERTON BOAT HAVEN

Chi-Cheemaun has made it back to base even with only one alternator . Next thing is to bend double down by the engine and remove the alternator ready for Monday and then take it to C.J.F at Hednesford for repair .I must be the unlucky one when it comes to alternators as they only seem to last about a year. I must check and see if there is a reason for my bad luck. So now we will spend some time at our mooring during the winter.

Thand the good and the bad of boating

Well another day cruising the canal we stopped at Anglo Welsh at Gt. Haywood for diesel gas and coal .The bad news is the domestic alternator had stopped charging and a quick check with the meter proved it was the alternator and not a fault in the wiring so i have connected the domestic batteries to the other alternator so that we can get back to our mooring.Next job take the alternator off and get C.J.F at Hednesford to fix it.

Hurleston Junction to Handsacre

Just a short cruise in the sunshine maybe the summer has returned we hope . This picture is a view of the winding hole at Hansdacre but we will not turn but moor up for the rest of the day.

I must say Hi to the couple on Nutcracker from Wrenbury Mill and thanks for your comments on my blog maybe we will meet again someware someday .

CRUISING AGAIN TOWARDS FRADLEY

At last we have left the Fazeley area and are heading towards Fradley .The first leg was to Hurleston junction but thats as far as we will go today as the rain and cold got to us .We hope to continue tomorrow if we are not stuck in the ice.

It seems a long time since we last cruised well we did spend 4 weeks at Fazeley so now onwards to our mooring at Otherton Boat Haven .

Fazeley B.w.b offices

Yes we are still here but getting ready for the off I hope .I cant wait to get cruising again and return to our mooring at Otherton ready for the winter .All being well we will set off about the 29th of this month and get past the stoppage at Baswich and Radford.

O to be cruising

We are still at Fazeley and wishing we were cruising again but it looks as if we will have to wait another week . Well we will have to get past Baswich Aqueduct before the sixth of November or we will be held up by the closure.

We don't want to spend any more time here or B.W.B will get upset as we have over stayed the 48 hour mooring.

Another day at Fazeley

Well its been a nice sunny day here at Fazeley and the highlight of the day was a trip on foot to Asda for supplies .Tomorrow will be spent putting more paint on the boat before the winter arrives.

Another day at Fazeley

We have spent yet another day at Fazeley and continued with the painting .

I have had a short cruise to Debbies Day Boats to purchase some smokeless fuel just to keep the cats warm .

chi-cheemaun goes to Fazeley Mill Marina

Yes another day at Fazeley and even more rain so I have had a short cruise to Fazeley Mill Marina for esential supplies such as diesel @79p per litre .This seems to be the cheapest diesel in the area and i also topped up with coal and gas just for good measure .

RETURN OF CHI-CHEEMAUN

Today we have cruised from the top of Atherstone locks to the B.W.B office at Fazeley which has took six hours . We will stay here for a few days to deal with some important issues.Well fingers crossed Bw will not move us on to quickly and we can do what we have to before returning to our mooring for the winter.

THE NORMAL WEATHER RETURNS

Hi fellow boaters we have cruised to Rose Narrowboats just a short cruise because the rain has returned . Tomorrow we will make for Rugby and a chance to call at Tesco so that we don't starve well that's if it doesn't snow.

The Cruise Continues

Yes we have moved again from Atherstone to Hawksbury .A pleasant days cruising with out rain and quite a lot of sun . Tomorrow we will continue to the junction and the stop lock and on towards Rugby.

The Sun has arrived

Well its that blog man again trying to keep someone name Lannett happy she needs the blog to brighten up her day. So this is for u Lanni.

A Day painting the boat

Well I am a lucky boater a nice fine day and the chance to put some paint on the old boat.

Well its a change to have the weather to paint but tomorrow its back to normal and a cruise back to Fazeley and get the shopping in ready for the continuation of our cruise.

CRUISING TO FAZELEY

Hi folks and my friend Colin we have arrived at the visitor moorings at Fazeley which are now 48 hours only ,well they dont want us to overstay our welcome.

A shopping day tomorrow and then onwards towards Glascote locks ,more hard work for the wife but she likes it I hope.

IT MUST BE SUMMER AT LAST

Hi folks today we have cruised from Handsacre to Sutton Road Bridge at Fazeley .It has been a pleasant day not wall to wall sunshine but it was dry .Just one small hiccup i picked up some rubbish and had to clear the prop ,well it give me something to do i suppose.

The cruise continues

Just a short cruise from Gt.Haywood junction to Handsacre with of cause a stop at Rugley for the essential food supplys . I was pleased to find the chippy was still open but sorry to see the Crown Pub on the canal side has closed .

Its a shame that the boaters watering holes are saddly getting few and far between lets hope someone reopens the Crown soon.

Chicheemaun and the days cruise

Today we have cruised to Tixel Wide not far but a pleasant day and plenty of water in fact to much many of the fields are under water .

After we had moored up we met up with some friends from America Dennis and Diane who have a boat and spend as much time as they can cruising the canals.

A day at stafford

We have spent our day moored near Radford Bank and owing to the very heavy rain we just chilled out for the day.

The fields around us are flooded because the river Penk has once again burst its banks.

We went to the pub for a carvery only to be told that out of 3 meats they only had gammon . As you can gess i was not impressed and sugested they should sack the manager and chef .

So we returned to the boat and cooked our meal .

A day cruising to Stafford

Yes we made it we cruised from our mooring to Radford Bank followed closely by Dave and Joy also from Otherton Boat Haven.

A nice day not sunny but atleast it was dry and plenty of water below the boat lets hope tomorrow will be as nice ( fingers crossed ).

THE RETURN OF CHI-CHEEMAUN

We cant wait any longer for the summer sun to arrive so lookout other boaters we will be cruising again from the 8th September onwards .

Well it will stop us from going mad and give the boat some thing to do other than sit in the water .

At least we will have plenty of water to cruise we will be heading towards Gt.Haywood and the Trent and Mersey canal.

Update on Chi-Cheemaun

We have spent some time on our mooring at Otherton Boat Haven doing some much needed painting .We also had to have our cat jack to the vets at 16 years old he was not in good health and it was hard for us to have to have him put to sleep so now we are down to two cats . All being well we will go cruising again at the end of August and will have more news for our blog and pictures of us cruising in the sunshine (fingers crossed) .

RETURN OF CHI-CHEEMAUN

We have returned to our mooring at Otherton Boat Haven . We will now be able to catch up with all the news and post and plan our next cruise. But i think we will wait untill the children have gone back to school and the canal is less busy.

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

Blogger Buzz: Show off your favorite blogs with a Blog List

Chi-Cheemaun or The Big Canoe

We are on the final leg of our cruise a stay over night at Radford Bank where we will enjoy a pint and a meal in the Radford Bank Pub.Tomorrow we will cruise to Penkridge and our mooring at Otherton Boat Haven .

We will stay untill the school holidays are over and weather permitting take a cruise on the shroppie.

Radford Bank and the pub

Chi-Cheemaun has arrived well we are at Radford Bank and looking forward to a nice carvery at the pub.Next stop will be our mooring at Otherton Boat Haven and transport well i hope the car is still there and will start.

A nice day at Tixal Wide

A nice sunny day we cruised from Rugeley to Tixal Wide after filling up with water diesel and gas . When will the price stop going up and will we be able to cruise in future .Tomorrow we will cruise to Radford Bank for a good carvery.

Chi-Cheemaun cruises again

Chi-Cheemaun has cruised again starting from Fazeley we have cruised to Fradley Junction where we turned left onto the Trent and Mersey canal . We have arrived at Handsacre after 7 1/2 hours cruising and the good news is the chippy is just as good.

Waterways have been again

We arrived and this sign said 7 days and we moored up but the men from waterways came and changed the sign . So does this mean that the 7 days have been lost or have i still got whats left of my 7 days . OR WAS IT ME SEEING THINGS no ime not that drunk yet.

A short days cruising

We have cruised from Polsworth to Fazeley near Tamworth and other than a heavy shower at Glascote locks the weather was good.

This is a view of a working boat moored at the Three Tuns pub where it looks as if the ale was flowing quite well.

Chi-Cheemaun cruise

Hi fellow boaters Chi-Cheemaun has cruised from Hawksbury to Polesworth and down Atherstone locks and it did not rain.I think thats a first for us to have such a good run down the locks.

Tomorrow if its not raining we will continue our trip to Fazeley junction.

Chi-Cheemaun

We have cruised from Rugby to Coventry basin but could not find a mooring because the basin was full and it was difficult to turn the boat .

So we have returned to Hawksbury village and moored on the moorings at the village conservation area.

Chi-Cheemaun cruise

We have cruised from Rugby towards Rose Narrowboats after a call into Brinklow Marina for diesel which was 86p per litre.

This is not the best place to be on a windy day and is a very tight turn with a 70 ft boat and the diesel point is one side of the marina and the office the other side which does not work well. The staff need to be fit and active to work here ,from there we cruised towards Hawksbury.

Cruising to Rugby

We have cruised to Rugby and enjoyed a day of sunshine as you can see the willow trees have been cut back making the moorings much nicer its a shame the facilities are closed still but B.W cant do everything and more important they repair bridges 79 and 80 .

The big canoe (Chi-Cheemaun)

Another day cruising the canals this is a view of the canal at Yelvetoft where we will spend the night . Next is Crick and the tunnel which is always wet and then onto Watford Locks and head towards Braunston.

Chi-Cheemaun cruise

We have cruised to Foxton this view is Foxton Boat Services workshop area . We will stay here until Wednesday and i will do some much needed painting while the weather is good.
So we will be taking Chi-Cheemaun up the flight of locks and on towards Watford on wednesday.

RETURN OF CHI-CHEEMAUN

Chi-Cheemaun has returned to Mkt.Harborough to take Jack the cat to the vets for another check up and all ok. So now we can continue our cruising . We will stay here until Monday to top up on food just incase we get snowed in ha ha i joke i think.

Chi-Cheemaun cruise

Chi-Cheemaun has returned to Foxton again we did intend staying at Smeaton Bends but owing to our cat Jack falling ill we returned so that we could get him to the vets. We will have to go back to Union Wharf so that we can take him back to the vets on Friday and pickup more supplies of food for us to continue our cruise.

A pleasant day at union wharf

A nice warm sunny day at Union Wharf where we were able to visit Mkt. Harborough to shop and visit friends.

Cruised to Mkt. Harborough.

We have cruised to Mkt. Harborough and obtained a four day mooring with electricity and all other services you may require. This is a view across the basin towards the Waterfront Restaurant .

Another day at Debdale

Yet another day at Debdale Wharf today i made and fitted a new grille over the bow thruster tube to stop canal rubbish fouling the prop.

With luck and reasonable weather tomorrow we will cruise down the Market Harborough arm and moor in the basin for a day or two.

Thank goodness we are repaired.

Chi-Cheemaun has spent the day at Ian Goode narrowboats Debdale Wharf Marina we were lifted out so that i could repair the bow thruster .They were very eficiant and their boat hoist is very good and their price was not over the top. We are now back in the water with bow thruster working well and diesel and gas filled up.So now we can continue our cruise which may be to Smeaton or Market Harborough.

A day in the life of chi-cheemaun

We have cruised to Debdale Wharf Marina to arrange lifting the boat out so that i can repair the bow thruster .The marina is very helpfull and will lift us out on wednesday so with a lot of luck i will fix the bow thruster and get back in the water later in the day.
At Foxton this weekend they are having a historic boat festival and all the visitor moorings are reserved for boats attending the festival.

Another day at Foxton

We have spent the day at Foxton owing to a fault with the bow thruster i found the prop had come off and the sheer pin was bent in the shaft. Having spent the day down the weed hatch trying to remove the pin which would not come out so i will have another try tomorrow otherwise i will have to get the boat lifted out . I keep telling myself its the joys of boating or something like that.

Things to upset boaters

What ever next is this BWB blocking the water point at the bottom of Foxton locks i am sorry to say it is . This was at a weekend when lots of boats were moving and unable to use the water point. And when you get on the sumit you will find that any good moorings are taken over by fishing contest but no sign of any fishermen even after they had put up signs saying no mooring.

Yes this is Chi-Cheemaun part way up Watford Locks and heading for the Welford Arm we will be going down the arm to water up etc and spend the night before setting off for Foxton .

Another day for Chi-Cheemaun

Another day in the cruise we cruised down the Welford Arm and moored on the 48 hour mooring .We met up with old friends Brian and Shirley on narrowboat Golden Valley its been some time since we met them so we decided to stay a while and catch up with all the news .
Tomorrow we will stock up with food for us and the cats Jack Dusty and Sophie and then decide if we stay another day or continue to the top of Foxton Locks were we will decide if we need to take Jack to the vets .

Just before Welford arm junction after another nice sunny days cruising . We have been lucky the last two days but i think the rain will return tomorrow . So a day with my feet up may be in the offering unless we go down the arm to the Wharf Inn.

Chi-Cheemaun cruising again

Hi fellow boaters we are on the move and enjoying the sunshine we did notice the damaged bridges no 79 and 80 on the Oxford canal which need urgent repair they have been like this for atleast a year and if not repaired soon will fall into the canal.
We have cruised to the top of Watford locks trying to find a good tv signal but none available we must find one for Saturday so we can watch The Apprentice repeat or use bbc i player.
Lets hope we get another good days weather on thursday and continue our cruise to Yelvetoft and Welford maybe even Foxton Locks.

The winter returns

Hi fellow boaters its that narrowboater again we are still moored up waiting for a hint of sun before we continue up the locks at Braunston . Well the captain likes the sun rather than rain when working the locks and it saves me getting wet also. So please someone send me some sun shine and we will be underway again.

Chi-Cheemaun cruising again

We have continued or cruise from Rose Narrowboats to Brinklow marina but they were unable to supply us with diesel as they were still waiting for their licence to come through.
We will have to continue to Rugby and visit Teaco for fuel for us the boat can wait till tomorrow for its fuel .Lets hope we are lucky and get some diesel at Clifton Cruisers tomorrow.

Cruising towards Rugby.

Good news chi-cheemaun is now heading along the Oxford Canal towards Rugby and under not on the M69.They don't like narrowboats at 3mph on there why I can't understand.

THE WORST DAY SO FAR

We decided to cruise again and set off towards atherstone and made our way up the locks but things were goin to well at lock three we found the pound between lock 3 and 2 was down by atleast 2 feet . But a call to B.W.B at Fradley soon had the problem sorted so many thanks to them for their quick action and we were on our way again.

The Sun has arrived

Good news chi-cheemaun has cruised from Fazeley to Polesworth and will spend the night here. We hope we dont have to call on the police this time. The last time we stoped here we had stones thrown from the houses on the bank.
Just kids with nothing better to do so if you stop here look out for the stones.

Hi fellow boaters chi-cheemaun has moved at last we have cruised from Otherton Boat Haven to Fazeley but the weather has taken a turn to winter so we have spent some time here waiting for that thing called sun maybe we will get some soon.

It gives me time to look at other blogs such as Granny Buttons which is full of information so Good work granny.