Icy, Icy!

 Minus 7 yesterday morning

 … and there’s ice on the marina/canal but it’s only a thin layer and the sun soon melted it away

This morning same time it’s minus 3, there’s another thin layer of ice and fog!

The weather is set to get warmer over the next few days and hopefully the canal will be ice-free when we are ready to pull the pins again.

In the meantime we wish all our readers a

Very Happy New Year’s Eve and a wonderful 2015.

Coldy, coldy!!

Gosh, I think winter is here!

We took a very short cruise (in reverse) yesterday up to the water point and back (yes that is a downside to Harefield Marina and the pontoon that we’ve been allocated)

That’s where I watched this pair of robins flitting about - they were a joy to watch, and listen to too.

And these were the views from Still Rockin’ at 20 past 9 this morning as the sun was making an appearance although the temperature was still minus 4!!
A busy day today, but more about that tomorrow; watch this space!

Back on board

After a lovely few days over Christmas at our son and daughter-in-law’s house we arrived back on Still Rockin’ yesterday afternoon.

 Christmas morning after the present opening session George would usually have a glass of sherry (the only one he has each year!), but this year I forgot to pack the sherry so he made do with a beer!

Taken at 12:50 yesterday at the junction of the M6 and M1 where the southbound traffic was at a complete standstill - says it all!  The journey home was uneventful thankfully except that it took 4 hours instead of 2.5.

Thanks to Mark and Ange, Lucy and Ed for having us for Christmas and stuffing us full of good food, see you again soon I hope.

Christmas mooring

We left our mooring at Willowbank yesterday morning and were soon through the only lock of the day at Denham Deep

 … where the River Colne passes under the canal

 … and where the Grand Union Canal is as clear as crystal and not very deep at all!

 Moored yachts over the lake at Denham Country Park

 … and the sprawling marina

… under threat from HS2

We’re heading for Harefield Marina, the entrance to which is somewhere up there before the bridge and lock

Marina entrance negotiated, payed our dues and filled with water we make our way to our allocated mooring

 In places there is no physical barrier between the marina and the canal

… and parts of the marina structure is in a very sorry state but I suppose the threat of HS2 prevents management from all but essential maintenance.

It’s a big marina … I think there’s a space on the pontoon ahead

 … that’s it for us with electricity available too

Once the rear cover is up we can relax

 … and it didn’t take Molly long to get comfy - talk about a dog’s life!

… and to round off a good day, yet another stunning sunset.

Summer’s coming ….

As you look forward to Christmas and the start of the New Year, remember this .. tonight is Winter Solstice and from then on the days will be longer and lighter by two minutes each day into Spring and Summer!

So no matter what winter throws at you in the meantime 







… we wish you a very ...

and a Good Road in 2015

from both of us (and Molly) on ...

wb Still Rockin’ and we hope to see you then!

Into the sunset

… at 4:30pm today

On the move again

We’ve enjoyed our stay near Packet Boat Marina, it’s quiet enough with little foot or cycle traffic on the towpath but close enough to all the amenities a boater needs.

We had a very pleasant day yesterday with ex-boaters Jacquie and Mac who used to cruise on nb SKYY (Mac is currently building a kit-car click here for his current blog).  We met up with them at the Paddington Packet Boat Inn for lunch and then back onboard for a cuppa and a ‘nosey’ around Still Rockin’.  Some good stories were told and lots of laughter - a good time was had and we hope to meet up with them again during the warmer months of 2015.

 We’ve had some very cold mornings

… some with a heavy frost too

 … but now we’ve said cheerio to our colourful neighbour

 … and set off for the first of today’s two locks; looking back at Cowley Lock

 … and also looking back at Uxbridge Boat Centre where we filled up with diesel, gas, coal, oil and new mooring pins (a very strong man, who shall not be named, bent both our extra long ones being determined to hammer them thoroughly into whatever it was that was not so easily penetrated!)

 Second lock at Uxbridge

 … where I’m on lock duty (oh, to be able to control those curls!)

Just 2.5 miles today, a bit closer to our Christmas destination, we pulled over about half a mile below Denham Lock at Willowbank.

A bit more than he could chew!

Carrying on from my post of yesterday I have now managed to upload the kingfisher video that I was having problems with.  Again I mention that the quality is not brilliant as it was taken through a double glazed window; it’s just 1-minute long, I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks Les for suggesting I put videos on U-Tube first but it’s something I don’t want to do.  I realised in the end that it wasn’t anything I was doing wrong, it was me having a/several senior moments before I realised that I wouldn’t know if it was working/playing or not until it was actually published!  So …. I hope it does!

A colourful neighbour

 There was nowhere to put a Christmas tree on nb Rock ’n’ Roll so it was lovely to go out to buy and decorate a small tree for Still Rockin’.

We only have one neighbour at our mooring and a very colourful one at that!  He comes and goes as he pleases but appears to especially like the bushes opposite.  The pictures aren’t great as they were taken through a double glazed window …

I took a video of what happened next but am having problems processing it to upload to the blog.  If anyone out there is using a MacBook Pro with Safari and iMovie to put videos onto blogspot, please get in touch and tell me how it’s done before I pull all of my hair out!!!

Another short cruise!

After topping up the water tank it was 11 am before we started to reverse from our mooring at Bulls Bridge

... passing the non-operational dry dock at Tesco's

... and then waiting for a boat to pass us to enable us to complete our turn around

... and set off on today’s cruise

 ... passing Nestle with steam pouring from all its chimneys.

 Metropolitan Police in force on the towpath

We intended to use the facilities at Packet Boat but there was a huge dutch barge on the wharf so we continued on past the Slough Arm and moored up just before 1pm; we’ll reverse back to the services sometime tomorrow.

 A cold sunset at 4pm and by 7:30 it was .03 above freezing

... and was still below freezing when we got up this morning - I think winter has finally arrived!