Friday 16th January 2009
Location: Banbury South, Oxfordshire, Oxford Canal
Today: 0 miles, 0 locks. Total distance: 1943 miles. Total locks: 1332
Well, today must be the shortest trip ever for Ten Bob Note, a whole 100 yards in reverse.!!!
A boat has been moored up just at the northern side of the long term residential moorings here at South Banbury. It’s a very handy mooring spot as there is a water point within fairly easy reach. I have been getting low on water and had been thinking of reversing all the way back to the winding hole to fill up. When I saw the boat that had been on the mooring in question pass me by earlier this morning, I was well pleased. I am now topped up with water and moored just outside the permit holder’s zone. My hose pipe is about 12 feet too short to reach back to the water point when moored against the bank so I had to slide Ten Bob Note back a ways with the stern along side the boat behind so that the hose would reach. I must buy another length of hose pipe that I can use as an extension.
I have things I need to do in and around Banbury next week so will be here for a little while yet, probably another ten days or so, (eyes tested etc. while here as I think I need new glasses for reading). It will be the longest that I have ever stayed in one place since moving onto the canals. I don’t feel too guilty about overstaying my 14 day limit here as I am not hogging a precious visitor’s mooring location. There are loads of much better mooring locations for visitors and there are very few boats around at this time of the year.
nb Epiphany passed me by this morning as I was walking back to the boat after doing a little bit of shopping at Morrisons. Epiphany is looking lovely after her blacking and hull painting. Managed a quick hello to John and Fiona as they passed by on their way north. Seeing them on the move gives me itchy feet, it stirs up the gypsy blood in me.
I have started a new web page even though I have only moved a very short distance today. I don’t like the pages becoming too big as they then become a problem when downloading via a low bandwidth mobile phone connection. Normally, the pages don’t get a chance to grow too large as I am on the move so much and adding new pages for each new location moored at.
Current Mooring - the 2 white posts beside the towpath are water points
I had a good wander around Banbury town centre with Archie yesterday morning, some photos below.
I have been thinking of buying a small inverter for running my laptop and mobile phone chargers as the main inverter is not terribly efficient at running low power devices.
Walked to Maplins with Archie this morning to buy an inverter, ended up buying a 200W model that also provides two 12V ‘cigar lighter’ outputs and a USB power port. A pleasant walk of just over 4 miles round trip in lovely weather.
Got back to the boat and had lunch before testing the new inverter – it was totally dead. Phoned Maplins and they told me to bring it back and they would replace it. Walked back to Maplins again with Archie and true to their word, Maplins replaced it with the last one they had in stock. Back to the boat and thankfully the replacement one works fine.
Graham and Jane (nb Alnwick) were moored up in Banbury so I stopped for a bit of a chat on the way past.
Photos from in and around Banbury
Church House pub
Church of St Mary the virgin
Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross
To see a fine lady upon a white horse
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes
She shall have music wherever she goes
Banbury market stalls
Better photo of a 'winding hole' (turning place)
Lift bridges, a real pain when single handed and they are down!!!
Banbury Lock
nb Alnwick moored in Banbury
A really good name
Bed linen wash day on Ten Bob Note!! While the bed was stripped I decided to check out the inside of the base for dampness as last winter there were problems with condensation. Was very pleased to find no evidence of any dampness at all. After the problems last year, I added a considerable amount of additional ventilation to the bed base to increase air flow, it has obviously helped.
The new inverter is working fine (touch wood). The only complaint is that the inbuilt cooling fan runs all the time and is very very noisy.
New inverter, very noisey but it works
Clearing over hanging branches
Bed linen wash day on Ten Bob Note
Bed base - Note additional holes in base for ventilation
Emergency Thetford Porta Potti (the two box like things) stored in base. I keep it just in case the macerator toilet should ever fail, so far, it never been used but it is nice to know that it is there for backup.
Still at Banbury, this is a record for me, I have never stayed in one place for so long!! I am needing to be somewhere else now.
I had been intending to move on southward today but a mixture of a dose of the cold and the wet weather persuaded me stay put for a little while longer.
I was sitting here at my laptop, reading an email a couple of hours ago when my new inverter decided to set itself on fire!!! It was literally alight inside with smoke pouring out, enough smoke to set the smoke alarms off. So, as much as I didn’t feel like a 4.5 mile round trip walk to Maplins due to the fact that I am a bit weekened by a head cold, I decided that I just wanted to be rid of the damn thing. Walked back to Maplins with Archie, explained what happened and they gave me a full refund. They actually advised me not to take another replacement – not that I would have accepted one anyway. I am now back to using the main 1500W Pure Sine wave inverter, even though it is slightly less efficient.
On passing through Banbury, I stopped for a quick chat with Alan and Frances off nb Lazy Days, it was nice to meet them.
nb Lazy Days moored in Banbury
