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.
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