Some photos from Wolseley Bridge & Tixall Wide Trip

A few photos from last weekends trip to Wolseley Bridge with Mrs EB's sister Liz. We had a marvellous time.

Great Haywood Junction heading to Tixall Wide from Wolseley Bridge

Heading back to Tixall Wide2 Grebe on Tixall Wide

Mooring up before Great Haywood Lock

Cows crossing a bridge behind us (EB and Liz)

Little Haywood Lock

Spring has finally Sprung

How beautiful is England!!! who needs anywhere else?

A swan nested at the winding just after Wolseley Bridge

Walkies!!!!

Wolseley Bridge

Photo's will be added this evening

So Friday arrived and we met at TRB for a weekend of relaxing, Friday afternoon we did the usual shop and also bought a treat the new James Bond film. Once back from the supermarket and tea was made and enjoyed we settled down to watch A Quantum of Solace on my laptop. I nearly cried as they destroyed the Aston Martin DB9!!! (I really do love that car)

Saturday morning Mrs EB set off home to meet her sister who had just flown back from her holidays and then they drove to the marina. I made TRB ready and we set off about 11:30am for Wolsey Bridge, two locks and about 2 miles. Not a vast trip but enjoyable and it was freezing with a damp air with the odd bits of rain. We got there about 1:30pm and had lunch and a glass of nice red. A little bit of chat and stuff, I then took us to the winding and turned TRB round and headed back to Wolseley Bridge as we had planned on going to the Wolseley Arms for tea.

Waking early Sunday morning 8:30 (really 7:30 DST started), we had taken a day off Church (that doesn't happen very often) I set for home about 9 am we went via Tixall Wide as then sun was out and it was the most beautiful morning. Arriving at Great Haywood Marina at about 11:30 we needed to refuel and pump out, there was queue 1 boat in and one waiting, so I moored up at the side by John and Jons Marina engineering. Mrs EB's sister loaded her car and I went and said hello to Jeff, one of the owners of the marina. He was as rude as ever and even tried to stop me getting in the club house!!! I had the last laugh, he was helping to to moor a boat that was filling up and I had a bacon butty, and winked at him and said if he had been a little nicer he could have had on as well.

After filling up and pumping out I moored up and we cleared away, I topped up the water and washer TRB down, Mrs EB tidied up TRB. It was a wonderful weekend and very nice to see Mrs EB's sister.

Nice relaxing Saturdays

We arrived back from a cold Barcelona yesterday evening after eating and drinking far, far too much. Though Barcelona was cold it wasn't too cold to explore the labyrinth that is the Gothic Area, a wonderful place of tiny back streets crammed with tiny shops and Tapas bars or tapes bar as one said...hehehe

OK a heating update:- The central heating still has a slight weap on the feed to the bathroom radiator but I can live with that.... So after waking this morning we thought it was a fartoo nice a day not to go to The Robber Button. Arriving at Great Haywood Marina the sun was out and there was a definite feeling of spring in the air. It was decided to take TRB out and have bacon sandwiches and big mugs of tea moored up somewhere. So here was are moored at Tixall Wide, a coal fire burning away, Mrs EB sat in front of it reading her Dean Koontz book, I am listening to Miss Marple on BBC7, there is a large flock of black headed gulls flying around calling and a flock of sheep bleating away. There is quite a strong breeze staring up and to be honest all is wonderful with the world.

I believe that either next week or the week after TRB will be pulled out of the water for that blacking job that is looming...

Weekly Update and Yay we went to Tixall Wide

We arrived at TRB just after 10:30pm on Friday evening, in fact just in time to open a bottle of red... though it was quite a cold bottle so it wasn't as good as could be, but it was OK.

We got up Saturday morning, the wind was mild, the marina wasn't frozen solid...so YAY!!! After breakfast I made TRB ready and off we went to Tixall Wide for a few hours, there wasn't a great deal of traffic and when we arrived there were plenty of moorings. I lit a coal fire and then went for a little walk and I found a nice log just the right size for the burner. It was so wonderful to be back out of the marina. I cooked us some bacon sandwiches for lunch then I went for a little walk with my scope and tripod, I saw 3 kestrels fighting!!!! what a wonderful thing.

About 3pm I popped outside again, Mrs EB was having a snooze. It was turning bitter cold so I made TRB ready to set off back....turning the engine over stirred Mrs EB, we set off and had a nice trip back. Back at the marina I filled her up and moored up.

I stopped off at my Dad and Mum's on the way back, my Dad before retirement was a plumber and we needed to fix the Central heating properly on TRB and also we needed to have a bit of carpentry done, so I asked if he would come and help me. I am such a klutz with D.I.Y !!! I am no Mortimer Bones, that is for sure. You want a a Sound Engineer or Hi-Fi sorting, a TV setting up, a Concert recorded and Mixed a PC sorted...no problem. You want D.I.Y ask my dad, so I did.

So today I went to my dads and off we set to do some D.I.Y on TRB, the first job was to fit a fly screen on the hatch... so my dad got out his electric wood plain and 10 tonnes of sawdust later I was sanding down what was a plinth and was now all even wood. Whilst I then varnished the frame, my dad was sorting out my central heating and "the dodgy T junction." This did mean me running around like an idiot turning off the radiators and refilling the header tank more than once...hehehe.

The varnish had dried on the hatch frame and we put up the fly screen, I then made us a bacon sandwiches and big mugs of tea, tidied up and then back home.

I will put some photo's of the inside of the boat soon, the hammock, the fly screen and the wood/coal burner.