Them wood burners, not as romantic as people recon

.... well for one day of the year they are not. Today was sweeping the chimney day... well sweeping two chimneys day and stove cleaning. We have been lighting the stove in the evening and letting it go out overnight. Last night we did not put much coal on so it was cold this morning.

I have a Midland Chandlers flue brush and it made short work of the two pipes, the small stove in the back cabin is easy to give a good clean to...it is the Squirrel in the lounge that is the pig. As it is a back boiler jobbie you cannot remove the baffle plate so it is a mr tickle impersonation to get what drops out of the chimney onto the plate. Suitably covered in soot I then removed the grate and riddle plate to get at those bits in the pan chamber the shovel can't reach.

Then it was genny out and Dyson on for a good spring clean... not to self get a plug made up to link into the hookup ...

Rachel was on with that while I was having a go at the mushrooms with Brasso, they came up not too bad. Then while Rachel was washing down the walls  I set to on the 50 foot + of 42mm copper heating pipe.... it came up a real treat but I used half a bottle of Brasso.

Then put some bits on the wall from Waterlily (Butlers mirror and cat pictures) and sorted out the Forecabin (again). A few trips to the car and the waste saw the day complete.

Back home now and just done the cleaning up .... the cons of being a part time boater.

One thing I was pleased with was my new wheelbarrow.... sad I know, but it was a bargain from B&Q...should have been £40 I got it for £18 as it has a cracked lip (it is an plastic orange version) I glued the lip yesterday and it does not stop it being a wheelbarrow. I just need to order a couple of wheels from Screwfix for the Shroppie in a couple of weeks. Those who boat will know why.

A productive weekend. Next weekend the engine will get a fettle .... not sure if I should go for the oil change, need to know what I am doing first as it is not the same as a modern engine which I did myself on Waterlily. Any vintage engine experts out there??