The less glamorous side of boating

Romantic, idyllic, peaceful, stressless, beautiful, relaxing......that's canal boating,  then you have to stick your arm up and over the back boiler plate and remove all the stuff swept down the chimney. I was wasted in my previous job, I should have been a gynaecologist !

It is an essential job, makes the fire draw properly and helps also by not allowing the stove to kill you in your sleep with carbon monoxide poisoning ..... yes you reading this, check before you light that fire for the next 6 months  !!

I could have just licked back and relaxed  - if I knew how, but there was grass to cut, the boat to clean and the oil to be changed on the engine.

So for the record, 10 litres of Morrisons finest (not the supermarket) went in after the same came out  - one a little dirtier than the other. I hope this 10 litres works harder than the last lot.

Talking of engineering  -  I expect this little beast takes some looking after.... it was making some smoke, more than the steam train we tripped on a few weeks ago when we walked to Froghall station and caught the steam train back to Consall Station. 

The engine fettle and boat clean were for a good reason. I can't call them holidays anymore, here is the Wiki definition of a holiday;

A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work, are suspended or reduced

So henceforth they are trips, or special events. I may drop into old slang calling them holidays, please excuse me if I do !

After this week I'll be tripping out to a few places, and in the spirit of this blog i'll post them up. I have reviewed my photos recently and I have some catching up to do so a few things may appear in the wrong order.