I was working around the
engine bay on Friday morning when it suddenly occurred to me that no boats had
yet passed us since we’ve been on the Stratford canal. It made me realise that when Buddy and I
cruised here from Hatton last week that we only saw one other boat on the move
that day. I suspect it will pick up in the
last week of October when it’s half term and then die right down again for the
following four months or so.
When I say I was working
in the engine bay, I was doing my fortnightly chore of cleaning all the drain
channels on the rear deck and in the bay itself. They can get clogged up with dirt and leaves
especially in wet, muddy, weather and if they’re not kept clear then the bilge
fills up with water. I know it gets
pumped out automatically but it means the bottom of the engine bay isn’t dry
when I’m servicing the engine or doing the routine checks.
Whilst I was down there I realised we didn’t have
enough oil for the next engine and gearbox oil change so I rang the boatyard at
Hockley Heath and, luckily, they had some in. So, on Saturday morning we
got the bikes out and Karen and I cycled up the Lapworth flight to Hockley Heath
to get the oil.
 |
Karen in the lead near the
top of Lapworth
|
This was the first time we
had used the bikes since putting my back out so we took it easy and didn’t cycle
any more on Saturday. Just after setting
off Karen noticed an issue with her chainset.
It transpired that the outer two cogs were bent so she could only use
the inner one. We realised what had
happened; when we last put the bikes away on the rear carrier we had put her
bike the wrong way round and the chainset and Derailleur gears were
facing outwards. Karen remembered a boat
mooring next to us at Marston Doles with high bows and no front fender. She also remembers the boat pushing on the
bikes so that would have been the reason.
Anyway, we’ve ordered a new set and that’s another job for the job list.
When we had the boat built
we had a simple towing hitch welded to the rear and so can use an ordinary car
bike rack for the bikes.
 |
Simple solution for
carrying bikes on the boat
|
On Friday, Buddy and I had
a couple of walks re-familiarising ourselves with the area. In the morning we walked around Lowsonford
and some of the fields there, then over to the Grand Union canal back to
Lapworth thus making a good varied circular walk,
 |
I just love solitary oak tree in fields
|
We had a look at one of
the old brick built sheds and I had rather hoped we would bump into the retired
farmer who still walks around these parts.
He has a lot of local knowledge and loves imparting it. I used to see him most days when we were here
for a few weeks in March but, sadly, I haven’t seen him yet – I hope all is
OK. He would be able to explain the
reason these buildings were originally erected.
 |
One of my beloved brick
barn type buildings
|
 |
Looking inside
|
Inside it just had a few
bales of hay so it’s probably now used for storing the hay for feeding the
sheep in the winter months. Mind you, it
may have been built for that purpose.
A bit further on we came
across a couple of old hay rakes stored in a railway arch built as a farmer’s
accommodation arch. These rakes were designed
to be tractor drawn rather than horse drawn so are probably only about 80 years
old at the most:
One of them was built by
an East Anglian company – Lister Blackstone:
One of the fields we cross
often seems to have friendly cows in it and as soon as they see us climbing
over the stile they come towards us.
Buddy isn’t keen on cows so I get him across as quickly as
possible. Fortunately, it’s only a short
path across one corner so we normally get through the field before they get too close.
 |
From the safe side as far
as Buddy’s concerned
|
Karen’s view of the boat
when she comes home from work – solar lights working well 😊
 |
Karen pretending to be a butterfly
on Saturday morning
|
We’ll probably have a
little cruise this morning up one lock to the services in the basin and then
reverse back down hoping that no one takes our spot.
No comments:
Post a Comment