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.

Flat earth needed

One of the many benefits of being retired is time to do jobs that give satisfaction and also save money. Car maintenance and boat maintenance being two such jobs.

When Rachel had her car last serviced (to keep the warranty - next one will be DIY)  they advised front and back discs were very low as were the pads, price to change per axle was £225. A quick internet shopping search highlighted Bosh pads and discs would cost me around £80 each axel. No brainer. I did the front ones earlier in the year as they were the worst as to be expected. However when it came to doing the back ones my 'flat space' looked like this ....

Yes we have the builders in (sadly not a job I could DIY) So the simple and luxurious option was to load my tools into the car and head off to the boat and the lovely mooring where I can have the car next to the boat.

It was a quite lovely day to work on the car in absolute peace and quiet (we do also have that at the cottage) with the odd boat passing giving shouts of encouragement.

Another job done, well over £200 saved and another benefit of the Shebdon moorings.

This time last year

I really do enjoy looking back at 'this time last year' on the blog. A special look back today (written on the 19th July)  as it has been a year since we left the four years of living and travelling to and from the south coast to take full time residence in our cottage in the Staffordshire moorlands.

Here was my one and only blog post from July 2018  - busy busy time for sure hence the small amount of posts - click here 

It is truly scary how quickly time flies - even when 7 days a week of it are your own time. Its been a great year, holidays a plenty plus finally getting the garage and porch started - I'll blog the pictures when it is complete for my record.

There is no doubt we both miss the south coast and West Ashling and Chichester in particular. What we do not miss is the endless hours and miles spent on the motorways between the two locations and the logistics of living in 2/3 places, if we count Percy many nights apart which was very hard.

A couple of pics to remind us when we look back again in a years time - hopefully.

Our first year in East Dean - first cottage on the left opposite the pub - would have liked to have stayed but it was a little to far from Rachels work and the internet was very slow for her MSC work at the time.

One of our favourite walks on the south downs above East dean

I don't miss cutting that grass - last time we visited out old neighbours the new tenant had it looking like a jungle !!

More beautiful walking 

Three years here in West Ashling, gorgeous outlook, lovely neighbour and a garage for my bikes

Last sunset walk - etched into my memory.

The final terrace beer before lights out on our time south. 

1,000 Christmas presents

For the last couple of years we have chosen to use Christmas as an opportunity to plan family gatherings in the summer in lieu of presents. We have holiday'd in North Yorkshire twice, Brittany and this year to celebrate my retirement we booked the Ski lodge my sons use in January in the Alps for a fully catered week. The location was Morzine just over the border from Switzerland, we actually flew to Geneva and walked thru the border in the airport to collect our hire cars in France !

Very hot, beautiful location, great hosts, good company, lots to do and a week with Teddy Wells our grandson who loves cars and playing games - he's just over 2

Pictures are better than words so here are a few of the 1,000  I/we took while over there.

The best type of present, memories and something to look forward to in the darker months of winter.

Roll on 2020 !!