Reading to Caversham and back to Reading. Feels like Deja Vu

With our visa applications submitted and paid for, we decided to say goodbye to Reading Marina and start heading down the river. We are looking at about a week or two to make our way down to Teddington and onto Richmond lock. We would then be on the tidal part of the Thames and we would take the tide through London. As it would be unlikely that we hear back from the French Consulate about our visas by the time we were through London, we plan to travel on the Medway for a few weeks. Once we hear about our visas (and hopefully that is positive outcome), we will decide whether we “pop” over to France for a few weeks or remain on the rivers in UK this year and do France next year.
So with sunny weather ahead we invited friends to join us on board for a few days as we leave Reading and make our way down river. We said goodbye to all the wonderful people at the marina, they had been amazing with helping us get the gearbox fixed and refitted and also look after (winterise) Deux Poissons over winter.
It appeared they were either wishing us a great future and trip OR were thrilled to see us leave. Either way, they really made an effort - flags, well wishes, trumpets - waving us goodbye from the marina which had started to feel like home. We promised to keep in touch and while we were sorry to say goodbye to such great people, we really looked forward to getting going on our trip.
We cast off, waved goodbye, charged our glasses and got chatting about the next few days ahead. As we approached the first lock at Caversham, which was self-service, Patrick gave a brief lesson on how to operate the locks. We tied up outside the lock and Patrick and friends walked over to fill the lock and open the gates. My friend walked back to the boat to help me bring the boat into the lock. As she approached the boat, she asked me “Carol, is that normal?” and pointed to the extensive, terrifying amount of smoke pouring out the exhaust pipe and filling the waiting area. My heart and stomach dropped. I switched the engine off immediately and shouted for Patrick to get back to the boat.
I explained what I had seen and he started her up, with disbelief, I am sure. More smoke and it just kept on coming. He opened up the engine bay and had a look inside – at what?? I have no idea.
So a call to Reading Marine Services to explain that there was a “slight” problem. They sent down a tow boat and within 10 minutes we were back on the same mooring! The flags and bunting still attached to the railings from our goodbye shout-out! The engineers promised to be down on Monday and have a look. Best case scenario – injectors. And those could be replaced and we could set off again, keep the champagne and all the flags and bunting hadn’t gone to waste.
Worst case scenario – replace the engine. I wasn’t sure what that meant with regards to the champagne.
In the meantime, we tied the boat up and made the best of a really sh*t situation. We used the marina dingy and went across the river to the grassy bank, the one we had first tried to tie up all those months ago, when the gearbox gave up.
We took all our BBQ stuff and plenty of drinks and ice and enjoyed the evening, looking at the boat from across the river. All the flags and goodbye paraphernalia still tied along the fence.
What would tomorrow bring?

Visa Applications - the beginning of our travels

The idea was to cross over from Dover to Calais, France, and then spend the summer months exploring France, Belgium, Holland and possibly back to France. With no need to rush, we would take our time and stop anywhere that suits us, take our time to explore and enjoy the adventure and the long summers.
Now Brexit meant we had 90 days (3 months) to travel and then we would need to leave the boat somewhere for 180 days (6 months) and return later to continue. That, however, leaves us returning in winter. A lot of the canals are closed for winter, never mind the miserable winter weather and this was NOT part of our plan. So we would need to return the following summer, a year later, and do 90 days again. The thought was soul destroying and not what we wanted to do at all.
So after some online searching, I was so pleased to discover that France would allow long stay holiday visas, if you met an extensive list of conditions. I also discovered that some of the boating communities had applied for and been granted these long stay visas, despite not having a fixed address while in France. I was so grateful to find that there was a lot of guidance and advice on line, so I settled in to start the process. I will forever be grateful to The Cruising Association for their comprehensive YouTube tutorial and advice.
It was long…… there were two on line application “forms” per person. One is the application on the French Visa site and the other is on the TLS contact site (a government organisation site). They both comprise a number of pages and much of the information required is repeated but they don’t appear to be linked so you need to fill them both in.
The supporting documentation required is another story…. Click here for that list
We also needed to do a trip into central London, for an interview at the French consulate and needed to go through a booking application for that appointment.
I took my time, a lot of breaks and breathing exercises and finally got the applications completed, paid for and appointments booked in London.
Now being back in London, if only for the morning and the appointment was such an interesting experience. We have been living on the boat for so long now that we had clearly acclimatised to a slow pace and minimal social interaction. We were not prepared for crowded train stations and busy streets with impatient people rushing to get somewhere.
We got to the consulate early and joined the queue and were seen without much wait. We were required to show all the supporting documentation and a short discussion on our plans. Then it was back on the train, back to the boat and our quiet life. We would have to wait now for a few weeks to hear back – they may have some more questions, deny the application or grant us visas.

En-route to Oxford

Now we have completed a few successful and really enjoyable runs up and down the river, we decided to do the much anticipated and discussed trip to Oxford.
We had a lovely trip chatting, working the locks, dodging trees in the river and taking turns at the helm. The weather was beautiful and we loved being on the Thames River.

Friends joined us for a river run

After our day run yesterday, we really wanted to go away for a few days. We wanted to finish what we had originally started before the gearbox drama – a trip up to Oxford and then make our way back down the river Thames. We also needed to work on our long stay French Visa applications (which I believe is a paperwork nightmare). But today we have friends joining us for a whole day and we are really looking forward to catching up. While we love getting away from UK winters and going to sunny Cape Town, its a long time to be away from friends. Patrick is dying to chat “boat / bilges / holding tanks / engines, with a fellow sailing buddy. I am dying to catch up on all the gossip I have missed.
We left Reading Marina at a sensible 10:00am (ish) and worked our way up through Mapledurham lock and then Pangbourne lock. We stopped for lunch at the Swan Hotel and pub; we tied up alongside the bank and garden of the pub, so it was perfect and the food was delicious. Afterwards we made our way up to Goring but didn’t go through the lock as we had to still make our way back down to Reading as our friends were not staying overnight.
The lock keeper at Goring also had the facility to provide us with a river licence, for the month of May. We didn’t need it for longer as we are planning to be off the Thames and possibly on the Medway or even in France by June. So we are excited to be moving in that direction.
It was a lovely day and the boat went well, which is always a relief with her. I mostly forgot about that visa application.

A little run up the river

With the boat all unpacked and ready for action, we did a little day run today, through one lock and back to Reading. We looked forward to moving on the river after being tied up on the mooring for so long and appreciating nature, especially all the new baby geese and swans.
We were checking that the gearbox was all happy and in working order as we have friends joining us tomorrow for a day trip. It also gave us (me) the opportunity to activate the muscle memory necessary to work all the ropes in the locks. It was a good day and fortunately the muscles required to lift wine glasses are the same muscles used to throw ropes so it was also a successful day.

We are back...

Even after an 11 hour flight and all the airport waiting time before and after, we still felt energised to get the boat back to a liveable state. The boat cover and the winterising procedure carried out by the marina left the boat completely dry and “key-start ready”, as promised. However, moving back onto the boat always takes longer than we thought it would take, so after two solid days of unpacking and “refitting”, we were ready to finally relax.
The river flow had subsided and the sun even threatened to show its face for more than a few hours. After 6 months in sunny Cape Town, we could live with the cloud and occasional sunshine for now, but we were so happy to see no “red boards”.
We decided we would do a little day run next Friday, a test for the gearbox and engine and friends joining us the following day so we are really looking forward to being out on the river.

The gearbox returns, the oil leak persists and the rain continues

Much to our delight we were told that the gearbox would be back in the marina/yard today. Whoohhhooo.
Patrick and the engineers had a final chat about the oil leak, as that needed to be resolved before the gearbox went back in.
The engine had leaked oil ever since she had been rebuilt and returned back into the boat. Patrick thought it might have been the sump plug leaking, so before we set off on this leg of the trip (which feels like 200 years ago), Patrick raised the engine as much as he needed to in order to seal the sump plug. Unfortunately oil kept leaking into the bilges.
Now with the gearbox off, the engineers were able to raise the engine even more and check out that sump plug. They confirmed that the sump plug fitted by Patrick was not the problem. The oil was coming from the gasket around the sump. And all the bolts around the sump were loose! They tightened all the bolts they could reach by ¼ turn and Patrick and I had a heated chat about how this could have happened. But at least we had found the problem.
Well that relief was short lived as the oil continued to leak and the engineers asked what we wanted to do about it. One option was to take the engine out and have a proper investigation, with no guarantee they could resolve it. The engine was very old and not as common as other Perkins engines. There were also no part numbers available for replacement. We also knew, from the previous work, that parts like the sump and bell-housing had been impossible to find and replace, so they had been “fixed” or re-welded.
We agreed to live with the leak for now. We will come back to the problem later and when the boat comes out for winter, perhaps that would be the best time to start the investigation. In the meantime Patrick was “happy” to do weekly oil mop-ups and we would keep loads of spare oil on board. He lines the bilges with these amazing oil absorbent pads, a little like nappy pads for leaky engines. The pads absorb oil and grime but don’t absorb water and they are very effective. He immediately ordered boxes of these.
The gearbox arrived, as promised; with a hefty (and what feels like unnecessary) bill. Lessons have been learned – trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it might not be right (I am looking at you mineral oil SAE 30). The engineers got the gearbox back in with no trouble, despite the rain. We were thrilled to start the engine and run Deux on the ropes for a while.
It had been pouring with rain over all these weeks and the river is running fast and high but we were keen to do a little travelling on the river while we can. We have flights booked for South Africa in a few weeks and the boat will be covered and lifted onto the hard here at the marina for winter and that will be the end of our 2024 boat travel experiences.

A working gearbox!

Gearbox update and police visits

We had news that the gearbox is all done...and there was nothing mechanically wrong. It was the wrong oil!!
We had the gearbox completely rebuilt in 2019 and it had less than 100 running hours. We now (unsuccessfully) tried to contact the engineer who did the rebuild, but Patrick recalled a conversation about the oil that was put into the gearbox at the time. He had questioned the oil type at the time of the rebuild, as it didn’t make sense but the engineer assured Patrick that it was correct. Well now we know it wasn’t. The clutch plates had stuck and that was what had caused the gearbox to seize. What an expensive exercise. But the gearbox was all finished and on its way back to down to the boat. We were so happy.
As we were about to celebrate and plan a few trips, Patrick asked me if I had moved the bicycles (??? - what?). Ever since we had settled into the marina and were often using the bikes, we took them off the boat and chained them up to a steel pole under security cameras, in the yard. We hadn't used them for a few days as it had been raining non stop. Well now they were gone. We had a quick chat with Phil (the marina owner) and he checked the CCTV cameras. There it was – all the footage / film of a questionable gentleman and his trusty side cutters. He had taken more than 10 minutes to cut through the steel cable and then off he went with our bikes.
Suddenly the police arrived (well one car and two officers). We were really impressed by such a quick response to us reporting a theft to the marina. That was short-lived. The bike thief had also attempted to break into a house right next to the boat yard and the home owner had called the police. But the officers also took a statement from us, gave us an incident number and we called our insurance company. They were happy to replace the bikes, so that was a relief.
So we looked forward to new foldable bikes, a “new” gearbox and two new HUGE bike chains.
Silver lining behind every cloud. And talking about clouds – the rain just didn’t seem to want to stop.

Time spent in Reading

Spencer and Shaun (engineers) confirmed it was the gearbox. They called in another engineer (Matt) who was experienced in working with gearboxes. He concluded – it would need to come out. It wasn’t something he could work on. It would need to be sent away. He knew a man……
So that’s what happened over the next few days. They managed to lift the back of the engine in-situ and get the gearbox out. Patrick asked Spencer if he could also check out a persistent oil leak that he had attempted to fix a number of times. Spencer agreed to investigate that leak, once he had recovered from manually lifting out the gearbox and getting it into his vehicle. I think, with hindsight, he probably wished he had used the forklift that had been part of the discussion earlier in the day.
Spencer drove up to Nottingham to drop the gearbox off (about 150 miles one way!!) as he didn’t want to risk it getting lost using a courier service.
And we made the best of a bad situation.
Patrick painted the roof, which has been on the to-do list for years. He fitted an extra two flexible solar panels onto the roof once it was dry. The 3 existing solar panels charge the batteries for our fridges and freezer in the galley. The new 2 solar panels will charge the house batteries. We had friends and family come and stay on board. We played board games - not all drinking games either. We are saving the hard liquor for the feedback call from the gearbox man and our engineers.
We tried out a number of different laundrettes. Patrick took a bus. We explored the area by bicycle and visited the local museums and Abbey ruins (circa 1121). We saw some beautiful sunsets (not that many sunrises). All in all, while we would rather be travelling, this spot on the river, where we have broken down, is not too bad.

Reading Marina

Woke to the reality that something is really wrong with our engine / gearbox. But more than that – what do we do now?
Phil (who owned the marina) came over the river to have a chat. He explained that there were marine engineers who worked at the marina and he had let them know that we had some “difficulties”. He explained that the plan was to tow us back over to the marina where we could stay. The engineers, Spencer and Shaun, were out on booked jobs but would be with us tomorrow to have a look and discuss next steps. Phil also offered us electricity and water! So we were off!
The tow didn’t go entirely to plan, why would it?
Deux is a heavy boat and without the running engine, there was no way to slow her down. Patrick usually puts her into reverse very quickly to stop her. Once she got going, being towed over the river, it was very hard for the tow boat to stop her once she reached the other side. So the corner of the wall did!! The steel hull didn’t even feel the “bump” but the wooden toe rail and bow-roller took the hit. Something else quickly added to the “to do” list.
We settled into our temporary new home, filled up with water and made the best of the situation, while we waited for the engineers to let us know what they thought, what the next steps would be and we hoped it would be quick and painless.