Friday morning we returned to the marina in preparation for shutting down the boat and making our way back home. We had a lovely trip along the cut, got caught out by the wind when turning into the marina - but managed to get things sorted OK. Then had to negotiate mooring space with the swans and their 8 cygnets, the duck with her 5 and the moorhen who now only has one remaining chick. They've all claimed water rights and bank-side ownership of the slip where we moor. After a hissy fit or two they all settled down and soon came pestering for food.
The thing I love about our Deutz air-cooled engine is that when you walk away from it, all you have to do is turn off the diesel and that's it. Lovely in the winter because you don't have to worry about anti-freeze or draining the header tank - there's no water involved at all. Oh, talking of water, I do have to put a cap on the exhaust pipe because it points straight up through the roof and, the one time I forgot about it, I got covered in sooty water when I came to turn the engine over after a long rainy break.
So, engine OK, battery management system OK, bilges empty and stern gland tightened up, water turned off, gas off, fridge emptied and turned off, mooring ropes secured, and so on. There's only two of us but it still takes an hour to get it all packed up and in the car. Finally, all set and off we set toward the M1 and our journey south.
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