Tuesday September the 8th

We decided Monday should be a rest day in Fradley and I wanted to have a thorough check over our slightly smokey Dorman engine. There was a list of other bits and pieces to do before we started a proper list for finishing off the build.

The route to Hopwas wasn't one I was particularly looking forward to the neglect by the navigation authority grows day by day. The reed beds are wider than the water, the bottom of the channel seems to be getting closer to the top. The "pledge to dredge" has been dropped and the procedure is now to dredge where there is the greatest number of complaints.

 Talking of complaining, I made one to CRT that I've made previously. When they sold off their Peel Wharf offices they insisted that the water point would be staying (original promise was for elsan disposal point too) and that the elsan and bins were now sited at Fazeley Mill Marina half a mile up towards Birmingham on the B&F. All well and good and probably something we're going to see more of but the requested signage never appeared, if you don't know about it (like the holiday hirers I sent that way) then the gate with PRIVATE notice does't exactly do a great job for CRTs customers. And this from a company that must have shares in printers for all the non boating signs that seem to be littering the canals. My complaint has yet to be responded to.

That's the regional bins and elsan

Out of order sign taped on by the offices

The journey wasn't as bad as I was imagining and I was really pleased that Ernest isn't at all over propped. I really expected it to be with its 24" x 24" compensated prop. That is the 'bats' of the prop are oversized so it's the equivalent of 28" x 24". LJ's was originally 18" x 12".

The Dorman is still a bit smokey though with a residue dripping down the exhaust stack. It's definitely not burning oil as that hasn't budged at all, neither has the water so it may be a fuelling/injector issue. Or maybe I'm expecting too much from a rebuilt 60 year old engine.

Whittington is another mooring that we usually miss out, it's an in between location, we usually do Fradley to Fazeley in one hit. It's a great tie up with straight sides that are deep enough for Ernest and wide towpaths. We even had a decent internet speed. We'll probably have a jobs day here too.

Hopefully there'll be pen displays on those doors before too long

This is what it was all about having a big enough tug deck to comfortably sit out on for a late lunch. OK LJ had a decent rear deck but I can't imagine having a boat without one or the other.

Ballasting doesn't look too far out from that but we're running 80% full on water and 15% full on diesel so it'd be bow high once we diesel up

Bottle of wine courtesy of Sean and Jaz

Wednesday morning I fancied a stroll out with the dawg to clear my head. Rain turned to sun rapidly and my waterproof jacket became a sweat box. We went up to the Fisherwick fisheries that had lots of private signs where ViewRanger showed public footpaths (another complaint to make to the LA). Then down towards Huddlesford then home via the canal. At just under 5 miles probably my longest walk for at least 18 months.

Cute little restoration for someone

Huddlesford Junction, at least the festivals every other year fell on a Covid one. Doubt we'd trade there again as the boats are a bit out of it on the main canal

On the way back I saw a boat with a simple design for a folding exhaust stack. I knocked on the cabin side and had a chat with the owner who was happy to go and find the number of the guy who made it for him. I think this will probably be the way I go to get any smoke higher and just reef it down for low bridges and tunnels. As our stack is central we can go higher than many and mean we don't have to change over to a stubbie. 

I managed to get a couple of little jobs done in the afternoon. As long as the list keeps going down I'm happy. I need some time to sort out pen displays so it's really important that we crack on with all the bits that are left over.

More boating tomorrow, maybe.