Sunday 13 September 2020

A recharge day ..... apart from the batteries

 Today we changed plans to plan C. After yesterday’s boating experience (polite) we decided to stay away from Trevor and not be the entertainment but more critically not be mixing  with the crowds .... and if anything they would have been bigger and more compressed than 5pm yesterday. 

Instead we had a leisurely start with a video chat with our youngest then a walk into Chirk for supplies and possible lunch. We struck lucky with a lovely place on the main drag that served up a superb Sunday roast, with a glass of wine and pudding with coffee. All in a lovely safe courtyard. 

Suitably stuffed we headed off to Chirk Castle after Rachel booked a 3.30pm slot for the gardens only (the Castle is still closed like many NT places.) The walk from Chirk with the aid of my Memory Map app took us across some fields that were well signposted but we got to a large field full of cows and a large bull that was concerning one woman enough for her to turn around. I offered to be the sacrificial human and passed said bull with no issue but she still turned back much to the consternation of her fella.

We last visited Chirk Castle when we brought Charles Rachel’s late dad to Wales for a long weekend ( he lived in Wales for many years) That was in 2013. It’s a lovely place and the grounds were a nice place to be on a mid September sunny afternoon. 








Getting back to the boat I set to getting the engine ready for a really early start tomorrow, I’m aiming to have the ropes untied at 6am so we can get an early morning cruise over the Aqueduct wind at Trevor and start our return journey. 

Part of my checks was the much ignored weed hatch. I am terrible checking this - I am sure I did it much more frequently on our previous boats, but when I have checked in the past it has always been clear. So today I did find a bit of rope and some vegetation that would not helped our progress against the flow. Note to self - check more regularly.

I greaser the tiller bearing and another grease nipple on the shaft  after taking off the grease nipple and cleaning it as the ball bearing has become stuck not allowing grease in from the grease gun.

So we should be good to go, I have got the Ginny running for an hour or so to pep up the batteries  as they held all day (fridge on) at 76%. The new starter has been a little lazy so I may have to use the emergency connect on the Smartbank to use the house batteries in the morning so best they have a bit of pep in them as we take some out tonight on pumps and inverter etc. 


3 comments:

Adam said...

The problem with this plan is that you’re missing what in my view is the best bit of the Llangollen — the bit into Llangollen itself.

Jo said...

I agree. Jo ex n/b Sarah Kate

Nev Wells said...

I’all bow to both your respective experiences but Nicholson’s says it’s shallow and mentions 21 inches, we are 28 inches.... its all academic really as we were delayed by finding a large tree blocking the canal at 6.30 am this morning so Trevor basin has been our end point of this canal.