Tappet time and a bridge hole cruise

It's been a few months now since Percy had  open heart surgery ( decoke and new head gasket) I thought it right to give the tappets a check in case there had been any slight movements etc.

Out came the simple tools and set to turning 3 litres of 2 cylinder engine over by hand to get the respective marks on the flywheel.

The wild flower garden was looking stunning and getting many insect visitors

Rocker covers off and feeler gauges out. A small adjustment on no1 cylinder inlet, marginally tight otherwise all ok. 

  Then it was a lovely cruise to work the engine and wind about forty minutes up the canal.

Of course first bridge hole 45 there was a boat equidistant from it. Now I know this bit of canal well as is to be expected, 45 and 46 are close meaning a short gap between bridges, the tow path side is shallow and cannot be moored against and there is vegetation on the offside - not a place to try and pass.  Technically in such circumstances the boat on the tow path side should hold as they can hop onto the tow path if needed, however not possible in this case but the oncoming boat did hold, so despite my waving them through we both hovered - it took a crew on the other boat to pop out of the forward doors to see properly my signal and they came through - all very friendly.

I prefer to cruise up to the winding hole just after bridge 48  - Park heath bridge. Once again just as I approached there was a boat on the other side - he politely held back so I could come through which was not ideal as it meant I overshot the winding hole - it is directly after bridge 48. No problem I took Percy into the bank and pulled back until the wind very kindly turned Percy 180 degrees !

The other end of the mooring is also looking very nice with the Buddleia giving a much needed pit stop for many butterflies. I even had a brief visit from a humming bird moth - quite special to see that.