It was lovely until it wasn't

Woke up to a much different day but a cold boat, lots of lovely sunshine and no wind. I've been taking logs from home as they heat the boat quicker so I set to getting the fire going. Tea and other bits sorted then we decided to firm up what we'd tentatively agreed the night before a winding cruise up past Knighton woods.

I got the engine started to warm up for half an hour and pottered getting the cruising bits sorted. We failed to go out forwards ( a clue here) so had to reverse out of the mooring with little drama. No boats moving it seems and we cruised up past the Knighton factory. There is a tree down and whoever has done the clearing  - it surely cannot be CART as its left such a narrow channel up against a rocky tow path. The tree down is a small Silver Birch so could/should have been removed fully - hence my thinking maybe the paint dock guy has done it or a friendly boater. I called it in to CART - so I will find out. If it is a CART contractor they need calling back to do the job properly. 

If you know this bit of canal you will know of the obstructions on the tow path side - you can see the large rock sticking up. 

It was a lovely day to be cruising  - and we enjoyed being moving on Percy again. I gave the engine a decent run up the straight and pleased to report little carbon coming onto the roof. Rachel walked to the winding hole from the factory  - I did the return walk 

A near perfect wind helped by the wind from the North west and we were chugging back.

We saw two boats  - one ex working boat by another fallen tree only partially removed

We decided to go straight in to the mooring and all of a sudden the day wasn't lovely anymore. We got stuck solid. Half an hour on the engine on the pole on the ropes but we could not get in  - or out. It took Percy's Lister working as hard as it has for a while in reverse and me on the pole to finally get the back end into enough water to enable us to cruise past and reverse in . 

It made me feel old and despite my strength I was not able to shift the boat. We got her in and tied up and had a nice afternoon with a visit from Mandy and Scamp of NB Don't Panic for tea and chat. All too soon the time was pressing on and after half an hour of fishing we packed up the boat and came home - I have an exciting errand tomorrow !!

Since getting home I've reflected on the woes of going out and coming back the same way - both failures.... last time we had such trouble ( it's always an arse to get in and out due to the amount of silt ) last time a tyre had come off the mooring and that was the reason we struggled... I'm now thinking or rather hoping  the same might have happened as we had the same issue on the same line out and in .... the waders will get another airing next visit.

Strength is a critical factor in boating  - a lot can be done with technique and equipment but fundamentally the canals need a degree of strength. Today I was at my limit and thats not a good place to be and does not give a good feeling when reflecting on it. 

First turn of the key

Back on board for a few days  - it'll not be a weather related blog but it sure was interesting for the last couple of days. Sun rain, hail snow..... and impressive westerly winds that turned the canal into a sea 

But that's just canal life, you live with and in nature. Before it all got a bit lairey and in anticipation of the weather I got the exhaust stack vacuumed out and the manifold back on with new gaskets. One turn of the key and the lister donked into life. I pushed my luck by getting the Honda genny out for a cut of the grass and as expected that did fire first pull... it's a Honda. 

I might have mentioned our mooring fees went up a butt cheek clenching 20%  - I asked the farmer if there was a a chance of adding another water point as we were two hoses away from the nearest. Pleasingly they did but they managed to add it further away so when moored bow to the north my two hoses joined together were at their limits, and as the cassette one is getting old now I've been cutting bits out as leaks appear. I was resigned to sploshing out for a large reel type but noticed the buried pipe our neighbour had been using and one we used was now 'open and he was using the new tap nearer his tank. I spoke and he was happy for me to see if I could pull it back out of the ground to the middle point of out mooring  - he was happy for this as he said he'd not put it in as it was there when he came to the mooring. 

It was about 6 inches underground and the soil was soft so it pulled up easily and pretty much the middle of our mooring a join appeared. So a new cap was put on and it is now perfectly placed to fill the tank with one hose regardless of if we are pointing north or south, small benefits. 

We should wind Percy and may do later if for no other reason to cut through the silt bar that will have built up since we last moved her. It is still a cold north westerly wind and I'm sporting a chesty cough gifted to me by my middle grandson I expect. 

The clear night before two days of storms 

We got cabin fever yesterday so took a drive to empty the cassettes at Norbury and do a top up shop in Newport 

We've not been cold !