But, how did we get into this position?
Well, after Brian & Ann left us at Fradley, we set off along the Trent & Mersey Canal towards Rugeley. We nearly always stop at Rugeley to top up supplies at Morrisons, a very large store, close to the canal. And then on to Great Haywood. Here is the impressive Shugborough Hall which dates from 1693.
In the 18thC the Anson family, who owned the hall, bought up and demolished the old village of Shugborough so that they should have more privacy and space in their park.
After an overnight stop we then turned at the junction onto the Staffordshire & Worcestershire Canal and topped up with fuel. A nice sunny morning and a gentle potter along the cut past a long line of moored boats. But then, disaster! No longer is the engine doing its usual thonk, thonk, thonk, thonk but more a thonk, thonk, tickety, tink! Slip into neutral, open the throttle but no change, no increase in speed, nothing. And then it just stops! What now? Have we just taken on bad fuel? Unlikely. Try the starter, a cough and splutter and a halfhearted thonk, thonk and just enough way to get us into the bank. We moor up, have a think, decide which parts of the engine to take apart first but instead, decide to try a bit of CPR and do what Jim, our engineer, once showed me. Stiffen the resolve and sit with your finger on the starter and see what happens! Whew, relief, joy and a touch of adrenalin rush as, slowly but surely, thonk, thonk, think, thonk and then back into normal rhythm. She's alive again. Tea all round.
I think that what happened was that the new fuel going into the tank stirred up some dirt that got sucked into the fuel line. Perhaps, if we had been able to set off at normal cruising speed, it would have been forced through the system and spat out the other side but because we set off slowly, the arteries got blocked.
So, luckily all is well and we are off again. But, for the moment, one ear on the engine until she fully settles down.
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