More wind and rain

Thursday 23^rd January

The boat this morning was not as cold as I feared it would be, as we had lit the fire early yesterday.  But the windows were cold, so with the curtains open and the kettle on the hob they were soon streaming with condensation.  But we bought a Beldray water vacuum a few weeks ago, and although it couldn’t really manage the frames it worked a treat on the glass, leaving the windows dry.  Much better to tip the water away down the sink rather than have to wring out wet cloths and then try to dry them.  No action photo though.  We had switched the fridge off overnight, and with no drain on the batteries we could run the Eber again this morning.  Unfortunately it has stopped heating the water, so Dave settled down with the manuals and his iPad to do some research while Jess and I went off to Waitrose to do some shopping.

An unwieldy load

As we passed the staircase lock I could see a hi-vis coat by the woods at the bottom of the slope.  It soon became apparent that he was a banksman for a large tracked dredger, but today it had a load of builder’s security fencing panels rather than silt.  I’d seen the churned-up tracks yesterday, and here was the culprit.  I put Jess on the lead and went to talk to him.  They have finished dredging the canal where the Body Brook tends to dump a load of silt after heavy rain, and stacked the spoil, so now they are removing the equipment.

A careful approach

As we know, vehicle access to trouble spots on the canals is often difficult.  Fortunately when the canal was restored, the bridge below the staircase was made big enough for the purpose, and there is good access through the nature reserve area below the M5 which runs close by.

Apparently lifting and manoeuvring the mesh panels is an unpleasant and tricky job, especially when there is difficult access, as it is hard to get them balanced properly.

And over they go

On our way back the heavens opened just as Jess chose to run and investigate the slippy muddy area where the dredgings had been stacked.

You can see just right of centre, in front of the silver birches, that there is still a pile of equipment to be cleared away.

While we were out, Dave had retrieved the batteries from the car and got them on board, and protected from the rain.  The forecast had changed yet again and showers were likely all afternoon so he investigated the Eber pipework instead – the motor part is in the engine hole but most of the pipework is beside the stern steps.  With the panel removed Dave could investigate.

Well, there were no leaks at least.  We have had an issue with hot water at home where the radiator/hot water tank diverter had got stuck, so he located the diverter and fiddled with that a bit and we’ll see what happens.  He had run the engine earlier so we had hot water already - we’ll see what happens next time we run it.

 The rain had cleared away by about 4, leaving insufficient time to do the batteries before dark.  There was an icy wind too, so we stayed snug inside.  The forecast tomorrow is for bright sunshine, low temperatures and a strong wind.