Important Document
Terry
Pluto was built in 1993 by TT Marine at Thorne near Doncaster. She 50 feet long, traditional stern with a Beta 30hp engine. From bow to stern we have, cockpit, lounge, galley, bathroom, fixed 4ft double bed, wardrobe and engine room.
We are now breakfasting at Kilby Bridge on the Grand Union Leicesterline, having aborted our voyage on the River Soar to the Trent.
After leaving Leicester City Centre, a very nice secure mooring virtually in the city centre, we went down river to Birstall where we stayed a couple of nights, Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday evening was a bit fraught with the local yobs unmooring an unattended boat and later on two little girls stealing one of our solar lights off the roof!
With the promise of dreadful weather on the Friday we moved on to the head of the next lock, Thurmaston to ride out the storm. The water rose about three feet! We had access to the local ASDA, sanitary station and a large shopping centre. We were very comfortable.
We were able to leave Thurmaston on Tuesday and we decided to abort our river trip and return to the canal section. We are now making our way slowly back to Crick via Market Harborough.
Terry
Our boating this year started when we left Crick Marina on the Monday before
the Spring Bank Holiday, to avoid the Crick Show. We spent a very relaxed
three weeks going to the top of the Ashby and back, visiting Coventry City
Centre on the way. It was 50 engine hours of cruising spread over three
weeks. This was also our first cruise using our new solar panel – a great
success, wish we had fitted one years ago.
We left Crick on Saturday 14th July bound for the River Soar and Trent
Junction to visit Steve Thomas, in Nimrod, moored outside his new house. The
Leicester Summit was pleasant as usual, we hit Foxton at about 10 am on the
Sunday, went straight in and was out of the bottom lock 40 mins later!!
We arrived in Leicester City Centre on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 just before
a torrential down pour. We moved to Birstall yesterday in order to get tele
reception and a more village like place to ride out the predicted bad
weather over the next couple of days. We hear that the River Trent is
open/closed so often that we fully expect to have to wait some days at the
mouth of the Soar before we can get across the Trent to the Erewash where
Steve lives.
More news as we progress and get some sort of internet connection.
Terry and June
Life is very comfortable down here.
We plan to resume boating in the UK over Easter, weather permitting.
Next month, January 4th, the crew of Pluto will desert the UK for three months to cruise around the world.
Slightly larger than Pluto, the Van Gogh is about 500ft long by 70ft beam, approx 15,000tons.
For those of you who are interested, here is our itinerary:-
PORT
DATE ARRIVE DEPART
FALMOUTH, UK
4th January 1600
Cruising at Sea
PONTA DELGADA. Azores
7th January 2000
8th January 1230
Cruising at Sea
ST JOHN'S. Antigua
14th January 1100 1900
POINTE-A-PITRE. Guadeloupe
15th January 0800 2300
Cruising at Sea
WILLEMSTAD. Curacao
17th January 0800 1600
Cruising at Sea
SAN BLAS. Panama
19th January 0900 1600
Cruise through PANAMA CANAL
20th January 2000
Cruising at Sea
MANTA. Ecuador
22nd January 1100 1600
Cruising at Sea
Cruise past GALAPAGOS
24th January 0800 2000
Cruising at Sea
HIVA QA. Marquesas Islands
1st February 0800 1300
Cruising at Sea
PAPEETE. Tahiti
3rd February 1500
4th February 2200
BORA. BORA. French Polynesia
5th February 0900 1800
Cruising at Sea
NUKU'ALOFA. Tonga
10th February 0900 2100
Cruising at Sea
SUVA. Fill Islands
12th February 0700 1200
Cruising at Sea
TAURANGA. New Zealand
16th February 0800 2100
BAY OF ISLANDS. New Zealand
17th February 0800 1500
Cruising at Sea
SYDNEY. Australia
20th February 1600
21st February 1800
Cruising at Sea
DEVONPORT. Tasmania
23rd February 0700 1300
Cruising at Sea
FREMANTLE for Perth). Australia
28th February 0800 1800
Cruising at Sea
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius
9th March 1300 2200
ST DENIS. Reunion
10th March 0800 1400
Cruising at Sea
DURBAN. South Africa
14th March 1500 2200
Cruising at Sea
CAPE TOWN, South Africa
17th March 0800
18th March 1500
Cruising at Sea
JAMESTOWN. St Helena
23rd March 0700 1300
Cruising at Sea
GEORGETOWN. Ascension Island
25th March 1400 1900
Cruising at Sea
PRAIA. SAP TIAGO. Cape Verde
30th March 0700 1300
Cruising at Sea
FUNCHAL. Madeira
2nd April 1400 2200
Cruising at Sea
FALMOUTH, UK
6th April 0700
Pluto is now back at Crick Marina, safely berthed in the alcoholics corner.
She is due to be dry docked on the 23rd October for a bottom wash and blacking.
However we are deserting her to sail on White Moth on the Norfolk Broads, 13th – 15th October to celebrate our Ruby Wedding! We will be joined on board by the kids and their spouses. After that it will be back to Crick to do a few jobs before and during the blacking.
We left the Thames this morning and joined the South Oxford at Wolvercote Junction and are now moored at Thrupp using an unsecured wireless network.
Our stay on the Thames above Osney Bridge was very pleasant, we spent a very enjoyable day with Janet and Terry Kirkpatrick.
We now plan to arrive at Crick in about ten days and then sort out how to get our car back to Crick! A serious shopping expedition to Morrisons at Banbury is on the plan along with side visits to Wetherspoons and Aldi.
August was spent pottering on the Thames between Teddington and Staines with many stops at Minima to have the benefit of the electrical hook-up.
We moored at places we had never stopped at before, had trips to pubs with friends and visits home to make wedding cakes etc.
On the Tuesday after August Bank Holiday we left Pluto with Dave Bedford and temporarily moved into No.48. It was strange living in the house for a few days. Jackie and Ian were married on Saturday 2nd September, so we stayed in a hotel that night, had lunch with the new extended family in Southampton on the Sunday and moved back on board Pluto on the Monday.
Tuesday we set off from Molesey in cruising mode, twenty miles to get above Windsor and out of the pottering area!
Today, one week later finds us in Oxford. We are hiring a car tomorrow, to go to Morden where my cousin, Patsy, will be scattering my Uncle Chuck’s ashes with a few members of the family. As she has flown from California for this, our journey is simple.
From here we will go to Lechlade and return to cruise north on the South Oxford, ultimately to Crick.
Saturday night at MYC was a disaster for Pluto, between 11:00 and 11:20pm two dinner plates were thrown at her while she was moored to MYC’s jetty and we were inside the clubhouse. The good news is that the yobs were poor aimers, they missed the windows! The impact was sufficiently hard to raise the metal. We are well on the way to completing the partial repaint needed.
We are continuing our short voyages on the Thames and stopping at places we have always passed by before. Yesterday we had a super lunch in Walton on Thames with Guy Cook, steak salad and chips at Wetherspoons with 2 pints of Spitfire and a glass of Shiraz.
This week end June is off to London for a Mother and Daughter Hen do for Jackie, soon to be our daughter-in-law.
We plan a short trip on the River Wey later in the month.
Eight days ago we locked out of Limehouse at 0600, apart from picking up debris on the prop off HMS Belfast we had a very pleasant trip up river and moored at Minima YC for the rest of the day and night. Naturally it was Wednesday, evening sailing and bar night!
Thursday saw us moored at Molesey opposite Hampton SC, so we spent time going to the house to do the washing, catch up on the post etc. A very strange thing happened on Thursday evening, we were asked if we came from Crick, June explained that we moored at Crick and that the car was there and we needed it. This guy was working in Molesey, staying in a B&B Monday to Friday and lived close to Crick. The outcome was that he gave me a lift to the Marina on his way home. Isn’t life amazing?
We spent most of the weekend at Lady Lindsey’s Lawn, Shepperton, until we had a call Sunday morning from our Ian, who was driving back from a wedding in Norfolk with Jackie and Tim and Kate in another car. They ended up having a BBQ with us back at Molesey. It was very good.
We have moored in Sunbury and have been to Chertsey Lock for water, mooring on Chertsey Mead for the night. Today sees us back at Molesey and visiting home. We will be at Minima YC on Saturday.
We decided to finish our time on the Lee and Stort by going in one day from Enfield to Limehouse Basin. Above Enfield is wonderful, below a drudge. So we set off very early due to the forecast temperatures and were going great until the very last lock before Limehouse. We were informed by BW that the navigation was closed due to a fire!
We had to retrace our steps to the Hertford Union cut, climb three locks to the junction with the Regents Canal and drop down four locks to the basin, all instead of ONE lock!
We stayed two nights in the basin, taking time to explore a little of Canary Wharf.
Now we are moored outside Minima Yacht Club, ready for tonight’s sailing and bar night. Tomorrow we go home to do the washing etc.
After attending Ray’s very successful Pub Party, by tube from Little Venice, we have joined the Rivers Lee and Stort and cruised both to Bishops Stortford and Hertford. Once the long drag from East London is over, these rivers are a gem. The traffic is negligible, the scenery outstanding and life is very pleasant.
Terry and Wendy Stark spent a day with us, boating from Sawbridgeworth to Roydon.
By chance we found a Netto store selling Marston’s Single Malt at 99p for 500ml. An absolute bargain!
Purely by chance we discovered our ISP at home had gone, “tits up”! Nick did a bit of research and sent the results by email, so I have signed up with TalkTalk, to be connected in September. If the service is as good as the shop I went in it will be superb.
Incidently we have been relying on unsecured wireless networks for internet connection and generally it does not take much walking to find one.
We are now making our way slowly to Limehouse, where we will lockout on to the Thames at 0545 on Wednesday, Minima Yacht Club for the evening.
Terry and June
Having spent February on board the MV van Gogh, a cruise ship sailing out of Falmouth, via the Caribbean and back to Falmouth, we rather put off the idea of going on board Pluto.
We opened Pluto up on Saturday, 1st April. A good day as it was Terrys 13th anniversary of the, First Day of the Rest of My Life. Terry left work that long ago. We celebrated by a meal in the Red Lion, Crick with good company, our first visit to Crick and the Red Lion for five months.
Our absolute first job was to replace the door catch on the stove, it had seized back in October after our first usage of the new, Villager stove. The spindle had sheared, it had to be drilled out, the hole enlarged and the knob trimmed to provide extra clearance. Having got the fire alight life on board was comfortable again, aided by the warmer weather.
This being a replacement for our first stove installed in 1993, we are now learning how to manage the beast. For instance, Terry was relighting the stove at 6:00am this morning with a couple of degrees of frost outside.
This blog comes courtesy of one of our neighbours who has an open wireless network to his broadband connection. Thanks!!
The engine service was carried out at Banbury after spending the previous night at Somerton. Whilst working on the engine a few loose bolts were found. For peace of mind I also checked the engine alignment. All was ok. As a reward we went to Wetherspoons for Steak Club, excellent steak, wine and beer, all at bargain prices!
We are now moored in Braunston, about to have dinner tonight with Ruth and Toby Bryant.
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We turned round yesterday at Thrupp, whilst using the pit stop services, a fill up with water and loo emptying; June walked with Jade to the Co0op at Kidlington for a Sunday newspaper.
We ended up going back to the same mooring above Gibraltar that we used on Saturday night. Some beautiful weather and a spectacular thunder storm Sunday night.
The bad news is that the engine is now due a major service, engine and gear box oils and all filters. The equivalent of, "Get out and get under time!".
Yes we are on our way back to Crick!
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Its Bank Holiday Monday, the sun is shining, what's gone wrong?
We are still following the get up early, cruise early and stop early routine. Yesterday, just after six we set off for the Napton flight and arrived at the bottom lock for 0800. June stayed in bed while I took the wherewithal for tea making to the helm and made tea while cruising. She was up for locking and we had a nice clear run up the Napton flight. I wanted to stop at 0900 on the Engine Arm, but June said two more locks, they took over an hour! We stopped at Marston Doles for the rest of the day.
This morning, same routine starting at 0620, moored at Fenny Compton at 0900. In the next half hour many hire and private boats left Fenny, we walked to the village for a little light shopping and a newspaper.
We may get to Oxford, the current plan is Cropedy tomorrow and Banbury on Thursday. After that we will see.
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We left Crick Marina at 0700 on Friday 26th, bound for Watford Locks, as they opened at 0800. We were very surprised to find a hire boat filling with water at the top lock, they waved us on, so we were first down the flight. The essence of this cruise is that we will travel early in the day, but only a few hours a day. By 1000 we were moored for the rest of the day, on the main line, just south of Daventry reservoir. We spent a pleasant day doing a number of simple, but useful jobs on the boat and walking up to the reservoir with the dogs.
On Saturday we were moored in Braunston at 0815, for a newspaper, breakfast at The Gongoozler and visits to both chandlers. We then staggered round the corner, past the puddlebanks and are moored on a nice piece of armcote with a view! Tomorrow we will set off for Oxford, we may turn around before getting there though. - Watch this space!!
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Well we survived the weekend; the music, fireworks and company were great.
Each day of the music involved an advance party setting off for a half hour walk to the site with chairs etc to claim our encampment, while waiting they drunk beer. The two evening performances were very good as they included fireworks. Sunday afternoon was very pleasant as we sat in the sun to listen and then walked back to the boats in the daylight - a novelty!
Because we have to get back to home quickly we have set off on long days journies, today we cruised non stop for eleven hours setting off at 05:00, yes 5 am!!!
It was worth it as we did not meet another moving boat until 0800.
Tomorrow we hope to get to Braunston.
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Yesterday, Wednesday, we arrived at Great Haywood for the Shugborough Weekend; we made contact with Sue and Dave on G-lands and joined them at Little Haywood. Here we await the arrival of the Sween and Critical Point, due today!
Our arrival at Stone on Monday was fraught, with what should have been a 2.5hr journey taking 4hrs. The only consolation being that it was far worse in the opposite direction. We took a lay day on Tuesday, for visits to laundrette and Wetherspoons, the traffic passing us was negligible! Morrison's was also useful as a source of Manx kippers!
The music starts tomorrow evening and ends Sunday afternoon. Monday we have to set off early for long days of cruising so that we can get back home for the end of next week.
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It is Sunday again and we have left the Caldon Canal, passed through Etruria and are well on our way to Tixal Wide.
We encountered some very strange things on the Caldon, at Froghall is the famous tunnel, where to pass through your boat has to be less than 5 feet above water line at the roof and less than 5 feet wide at roof top. My guess is that less than 5% of boats are that small! So someone has spent £2,000,000 building a new lock and restoring a basin, now fitted with floating mooring jetties as well!! Equally silly is the services block; they are all on the far side of the tunnel and therefore inaccessible!
On our way back to Etruria we met Sid, of Sid & Joyce fame, Half past four, now members of the Stoke-on-Trent Boat Club.
We are comfortably moored, almost out side the Wedgwood factory, a few miles and locks above Stone, which we may get to tomorrow. This morning we came down the Stoke flight, which finished in a new tunnel under some new road junction, the tunnel is single width, has a bend in it and boats travelling south have right of way. BW canal builders can never have used a boat!
-- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.322 / Virus Database: 267.4.0 - Release Date: 01/06/05