All done for now

 You may realise by now, through the lack of the daily blog, that we have returned home. 

On the Thursday morning we packed up the boat while on the cut, tidied everything away and had a gentle cruise back to the marina. I don't know how, but it then still took us 3 hours to get everything off the boat, shut down and actually get on the road. 

The next visit will be in a fortnight's time for the Boat Safety examination. We've got 7 fire extinguishers on board but some are very old, some not so old and one fairly new. I'll have to wait and see if any of them pass muster or whether I will be nipping out to buy 3 more to keep the safety standards up to date. Who knows? Well, the examiner for one, I hope. 

So, until next time, happy cruising or happy whatever your leisure pursuit.

Polgara to the rescue

Another warm start to the day.

Early visit from the Swan family looking for their breakfast. Talking of breakfast, managed to drop one plate of egg and bacon on the floor. And I only asked for sunny side up!

Look at that blue sky. And, we're at it again, we've now cleaned the windows on the other side of the boat and lifted the floorboards to check on the batteries.

We had help with both locks from volunteer lock keepers. It was a training day for one of them so we went through smoothly. Then the tunnel.

The tunnel always takes a while to get used to. Firstly, it's pitch black in there. (Obviously) Secondly, the reactor light glasses are still dark from the sunlight. Thirdly, the walls are black, the water's black and, even though you've got a headlamp there's very little to be seen and, lastly, it's very disorientating. Don't be put off, it does get better, but not immediately. Still, we got through and managed to pass another boat without hitting them.

As we emerged into the sunlight again we came across a hire boat at the side of the canal with the weed hatch open. Always a sign of trouble. They obviously had something wrapped around the prop. We backed up and came alongside to see if we could help at all. While the captain secured the two boats together I took a look down the hole to see what I could find. What I found was a whole tangle of thick net. The prop was jammed solid and the net was too thick to be cut easily. We decided to tow them back to the tunnel entrance so that they could get on and off the boat easily and also to make it easier for the hire boat mechanic to find them.

We did see them again about 4 hours later so we know that everything got sorted out.

Just after Gayton Junction is this turnover bridge built so that the horses did not have to cast off the tow line when changing from one side of the canal to the other. The canal path changes sides frequently so that the horses didn't develop sores from just towing on the one side.

A little further on is a lovely offside mooring for 6 or so boats.

The only trouble is that you need a rowboat to get across.

You always know it's sunny when the captain is steering.

And here we are, the last bridge before our mooring for a hot afternoon and for the night. We were planning for a barbecue later but at about 6 o'clock clouds came across accompanied by a light shower of rain. 

Moved inside and wrote the blog. Sausages in cider tonight instead - can't be bad. 

Busy Bees

Here's an arty crafty picture from last night.

We actually woke up quite early today and it was such a lovely day that we managed breakfast outside for the first time this year. 

After Brigid's morning prayer on YouTube we then cleaned the catch cover which had got dirty from all the work on the water tank.

Blimey, the captain then goes mad and washes all the windows on the towpath side.

While all this was going on Jules Fuels went past, a floating diesel/gas/coal barge. This is the same barge that we had to wait for at the lock yesterday. Still, we passed them later in the day when they stopped to top up a couple of canal boats at the side of the cut.

Here is the weir runoff at the side of the canal. No need of it today.

And then, a few yards further along, an inflow pipe from a nearby river for when the canal is low on water.

And, at the bottom lock, a pump house used to lift water further up the flight to replace water let down from higher up.

We were very fortunate to be able to share the locks with another hire boat which had 3 or 4 crew on board.

Stopped just below the top locks and went to the Navigation Inn for lunch.

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They were very busy with waiting times on drinks for 20 minutes and meals for 1 hour. We were lucky to get the last fish dish for the day.

Following that, a short stroll up to the top lock.

A look at the disused parallel lock and then back to the boat for a nice cup of tea. Bliss.