Saturday 19th February

 A slight decrease in the wind made it possible to head for water at Gifford park. Slow going and made it after a couple of hours. Waterpoint was busy, everyone had the same idea, so moored further back and will wait till Sunday morning.

Lots of floatsam from the storm, and it looks like the winds will continue into next week.

Feckin wind!

Monday 14th february

 Moved today, did shopping and headed for New Bradwell. Hopefully a bit of shelter from the storms that have been forcast for later in the week.

Grounded again at Wolverton, and at the shopping mooring, had to use a plank. Never known it to be this shallow. The Grand Union is desperate for dredging, but canal and river trust are only interested in brand promotion and pension pots.

Utterly disastrous for the canals in the present management company. I'm beginning to believe those that say canal and river trust policy is to rid the inland waterways of boats. 

 Busy at Cosgrove with the winding hole works. Lots of oil in the canal though from their machine leaking. 

Looks much better and preserves the bank.

The pollution caused by this work party is terrible, it's covered at least three or four kilometres. It's heavy oil, hydraulic fluid leaking from the machinery. If it was any other canal user, they would be prosecuted by Canal and River Trust. Why can't they simply place a boom around the work area?

This will effect the wild life enormously. Fuckin disgusting behaviour.

 Tuesday 1st Febuary.

Left Yardley Gobian and sauntered down towards Kingfisher Marina for a few days. Start heading south now. Won't be long before bridge 83 re-opens and we can cruise a bit further. 

Very cold, and extrememly windy.

 

 Thursday 27th January.

Set off early from Cosgrove, heading for Stoke Bruerne. Big mistake.

The water level from Cosgrove to Stoke Bruerne amounts to puddle skipping. Got stuck several times and had to faff about to refloat.

Gave up after taking 4 hours getting to Kingfisher marina, (Baxters boatyard). Depth check of the channel gave 27 inches. This is a fuckin joke.

Canal and River Trust are just a shambles.

 Sunday 16th January.

Cruised to Campbell Park filling with water along the way. Still a bit of ice here and there.

Tuesday 25th January

Cruised back to Cosgrove for delivery and installation of Lifepo4 batteries. Move on again once they are installed.

Really difficult moving in this area, the water levels are lower than I've seen before. Really need some rain, or dredging. Probably get the former at some point, but can't see the latter happening anytime soon. There could be major issues come spring when leisure boaters start to move.

Ice baby Ice

 Still pretty grim with being frozen in. Hopefully it thaws a bit today and overnight. Roll on spring.