A life on the canal wave

Sunny today, which is thoroughly frustrating as our first trial weekend with Tardis Two was undertaken with overcast skies and very high winds. As you can imagine the latter causes havoc steering a 62 ft narrowboat, particularly when she is brand new with immaculate paintwork, costs a small fortune and belongs to me. MCC had taken her out of the marina and moored her on the canal facing the way we wished to go, which was handy, particularly as the marina entrance looks as if a pooh stick would have difficulty passing through.It appears MCC had difficulty as Tardis Two had a large scrape, strangely on the side away from the bank, hence we only noticed when told by a boater opposite. We'll get them to touch-up the damage tomorrow when we return for the Sky TV gear to be fitted. We stayed on board overnight Friday. All went well until the central heating died. Paul Baldwin, the MCC owners son, popped in to find the central heating fault, which he confirmed was not due to anything we had done. The flick of a few switches apparently fixed the problem. The friendly owners of Wegonandunnit moored next door gave us loads of useful boating tips and equipment demonstrations, which were gratefully accepted. Two more roman blinds were successfully fitted but the front roller blind refused to co-operate; We simply hung it from hooks to enable us to sleep without being overlooked.Eventually we went in the general direction of Burton-on-Trent. Apart from having a stiff tiller (possibly due to the very large rudder) she handles very well. A little oversteer maybe, but no problem. We arrived and moored at Burton by 4.00pm. The central heating failed again, but luckily we had stocked-up with coal and Lynne got the multi-fuel stove going so we were very cosy overnight. The next morning after breakfast we headed to the nearby Shobnall marina for diesel and a few essential odds and sods, including a poker for the stove. Getting into the marina was a work of art, which the owner offered to do for me.I'm proud to say I managed it alone.The owner was incredibly helpful and gave us loads of information. Our tank should hold 250 litres but took 275, even though the fuel gauge had shown quarter full. We must have been running on fumes, despite Eddie assuring us it would get to Burton and back. The owner explained the central heating pump fuel pipe is considerably higher than the engine pipe and therefore had been starved of fuel, hence no central heating. It takes a woman. We set off back to Stensen with stove and central heating blazing away. We could have poached eggs in there or had a sauna. The trip back was uneventful until we inevitably moored-up for lunch at the Dragon. Mooring spaces were at a premium so we ended-up a few hundred yards away. The bank had no metalwork so we were forced to use the pins. The bank was also very soft thus the pins virtually sunk themselves. Off we went for lunch, returning to read the Sunday papers and snooze, only to be woken by an old man shouting from the bank. I immediately realised we were no longer beside the bank. Due to the wind the stern pin had pulled-out and we were across the cut but able to rectify the situation fairly quickly without inconveniencing other canal users ! Note the loosely moored scenario in the introduction blog. Wildlife-wise we passed the usual array of Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, Herons, Swans(two sitting on eggs),domestic geese, rabbits, foxes and, inevitably, lots of dogs. We returned to Stensen only to discover our mooring space had been taken, but we stuck Tardis Two on the end, partly overhanging a winding hole (turning point) strictly against canal rules, but what the heck. Having emptied the chemical loos,the rubbish bin and loaded whatever we needed at home into the car and off we went, somewhat faster than our progress over the weekend. ........................................................................................................... Tips for narrowboat purchasers.. PICK YOUR BUILDER WELL. Ours was excellent and the finished product high quality. CHECK THE SPEC VERY CAREFULLY. Do not assume the essential minor items are included. Ours did not include a gangplank,water hose,shore power cable and a pole for pushing the boat out to the centre of the canal when aground. In comparison it would be like purchasing a new car which had no heater, no rear-view mirrors and no seats....CHECK AFTERCARE REPUTATION. No comment. Healthwise I was OK with only one dizzy spell. I managed to support myself on the tiller until Lynne arrived and recovered. No harm done and no parp-parp hooter used.