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Friday 10 June 2022

Back to Black.

 Well here we are back on the boat. We did have a dash back to the boat a couple of weeks ago to move the boat up to Stone from the marina so that we could dash back at the weekend to move it into the dry dock for blacking on the Monday and then off home and back to the boat to mover her out last night. This boating lark can be a logistics nightmare when we are busy. I don't know how folks move their car around all the time!

The iris' and marsh marigolds provide a splash of buttery yellow on the banks as we passed on the way to stone.

It is interesting that the old Armitage tunnel has been once more branded as a tunnel rather than a bridge. There are much longer bridges than this that you pass under, like every motorway. I can't see everybody putting their stoves out in winter though.

Love or hate them the Canada geese goslings are really cute and this bunch seemed to be in a creche as there were different sizes, and plenty of them.

We put a long shift in and stopped for the night about 2030 at the lovely moorings between Sandon and Burston. It is a really quiet mooring and was a lovely evening. We then finished the trip to Stone and moored up before Star Lock and close to the Scout hut. I then caught the train to Lichfield Trent Valley and picked up the car before heading back and picking Helen up.

After a busy week of Jubilee events including a carnival and a concert (with me singing too), we dashed back on the Sunday evening, ready to put the boat in the dock early Monday. We were straight back home having checked the hull once it had been blasted. There was more singing, and a talk to a WI and Helen was pretending to be ill for some training Doctors at the Medical School for a couple of days. Then we headed back, getting to the boat about 21:30 on Thursday.

We were in the northern dry dock and the job looked all done when I had a good look round.

The two bow, and two stern anodes were just down to the straps so new needed to be welded on.

In 2016/17 we had some mid section anodes added as there was pitting around the area. When we saw the hull after blasting this time we could see that they were about half gone. They were slim line ones so as not to catch! It was very clear to see that the anodes worked, and the area they covered, as between them the pitting developed, but still within normal levels.

This is the ash pit that is used to try to block the gaps between the stop planks that are dropped in at the mouth of the dock before the plug is lifted and the canal drains.

There are four docks at Canal Cruising in Stone. We weren't in the oldest that are those nearest the Yard Lock and were built in 1772, when the Trent and Mersey was being dug. Our dock only dates from mid 1850's. The water drains out to below the lock so is not lost to the canal. There is a hatch, about the size and shape of a weed hatch that is lifted with a chain block.

We were out by 09:15 and headed down the lock and lo and behold there was a space on the tow path side before Star Lock.  I headed off to the car and drove back to the marina and Helen went shopping. The trip from Lichfield Trent Valley went according to plan with a change in Stafford and I was back in two hours. We were just getting ready to head off when there was an almighty crash and a boats stern appeared in the window. It seems that they had decided to moor astern of us, and the wind had caught them as they were reversing for the space behind us. There was more room ahead of us. They proceeded to drag down the length of our boat. They had a bow thruster too! Maybe if he hadn't he would have been reading the signs better. We headed out and the water point was free so we topped up before getting off again.

I was struck as we approached Lock 88 as to how much it looked like the bridges on parts of the BCN. I wonder if as there the builders were worried about subsidence from nearby salt workings. As we passed under a few cows and a young calf decided the grass was greener on the other side.

We tied up back on the spot we had the last night out on the cut. Despite the wind it was really nice as we were sheltered by the hedge. The first day we have had the chairs out, and a fortunately a bottle of fizz had been cooling so that came out to celebrate.

We even had a new flag for the swan's neck, the Est Riding of Yorkshire ensign.

The blacking has already been scratched by a wandering boat so it is a good job that I'm not too precious about these things. The trouble with nice new blacking is that it makes it much more obvious all the other rust etc. I really will have to get busy this summer. I impressed Helen as I was able to predict when a boat was coming from Sandon, long before it could be heard. I had to let on that it was when the old piling on the off side poked up above the water it was obvious the lock was being filled!

I am not able to quantify it but the speed of the boat was substantially faster than before now the weed, or more likely algae had been blasted off. The smooth hull will save us money on diesel for sure. Not enough to recoup the cost of the blacking though I'm sure.


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