The Ashby Canal

We were unable to boat along the whole of the Ashby canal this time, but we did make a recce of the end even though it is a long way by road from Welford.
The end is at Snarestone, not easily visible from the road, so go to The Globe Inn and walk through their car park straight onto the canal bank. The road into Snarestone actually goes over the tunnel.
The far end of the tunnel is accessed by foot from opposite The Globe by walking across the road along a narrow path to the playground and out across the far side on a track that may have been the original horse drawn path used while the boat was "legged" through the tunnel.
The first photo is a view of the north end of the tunnel, and the canal bends through trees for less than a mile before arriving at the present terminus ...

where there is a gate preventing further access to the length that has been newly restored, and a  winding hole (at the far end in this picture). This spot is generally sunnier than the length nearest to the south end of the tunnel. We reckon it's a four day trip to Snarestone from Welford, and very pleasant and quiet.

Hail Welford!

We cut short our planned expedition because of unpredictable weather and so fortunately missed very heavy rain on Monday. However no sooner had we boarded Patience in Welford than we were hit by sack loads of hail!

 

Yes that's hail, not broken glass ....

 

When we finally left the marina John spotted that the water temperature was shooting up and sure enough, after a bit of a panic about possible perforated hoses and dodgy alternators, we realised there was simply not enough water in the radiator. Why we're not sure, (never happened before or since) but by simply topping it up (with nearly a gallon) we were able to go on without a problem.

And so we enjoyed most of the trip up to Foxton (when not caught in heavy showers) and were able to relax into a fine sunny evening and a good meal at the Foxton Locks Inn.

We moored above the lock staircases and close to the delightful statue of the boy leading a horse along the tow path.

New Lamps for Old

Now that Patience is moored at Welford on the GU Leicester Arm, she has to pass through tunnels to get just about anywhere.  The old headlamp was showing signs of its age, with considerable rust building up on the reflector, as can be seen in the first photo. Having evaluated various options, including marine types sold by chandlers, a pair of  'driving lamps' was purchased from Halfords at a bargain price of £19.99 a pair. We only need one, but it's useful to have a spare and at that price, although the build quality is fairly basic, there isn't much to lose. It turned out that the new one is almost a copy of the design of the lamp that was already fitted, so fitting the replacement was relatively straightforward using the existing spade connectors and bracket. It is made by Ring, has a 155 mm diameter and a 55W halogen bulb.

We tried it out going through Market Harborough tunnel on a short trip to Foxton and it works fine.

No connection with headlamps, but here's a photo of a rather elegant working boat seen at Welford Wharf on our return. Yes, there are still working boats on our canals.

Ulverston Canal

Don't get your hopes up - this is not navigable in the usual way. Though the canal is in water and is not only the deepest and straightest of our canals, this is also the shortest and leads directly from Ulverston in Cumbria into Morecambe Bay. Completed in 1796 it's 1.25 miles long, 15 feet (4.6 m) deep and 66 feet (20 m) wide.
It's also rather attractive, once you fight your way through the industrial buildings.

Apart from the curiosity value of this isolated short canal it is interesting for its unusual rolling bridge. Looking over the bridge (now a fixed footbridge) there are clear signs that this was once a movable structure with wheels and beams at an angle to the river edge. Yet it was only recognised as a rolling bridge quite recently.

Exactly how it worked I leave to others to explain (read this for example or the Wikipedia entry) but it evidently rolled, or perhaps swung, on its wheels to allow both rail traffic go across and water traffic go beneath.
The adjacent building was the accumulator house for the hydraulic movement that swung the bridge into a recess in the bank.
And by the way, though I gather the Ulverston canal may be straightest and shortest in England there must be a place for the Arisaig canal in Scotland (below), which is surely shorter than Ulverston, though it has a single slight bend. Which is the UK's shortest?

Scrubbing and Scraping Patience

A sunny day, warmest for a while, so thoughts stray to boating and to boat maintenance.
Last time we visited Welford, John opined that the reason Patience was looking so green and mouldy could be because we sluice her down with a mop dipped in the canal. That may wash off some superficial muck but actually creates a mould culture which grows and creeps into every corner.
Looking at dear Patience's increasingly green roof it became clear that the first thing to do before painting or at least patching the rust areas was to scrub the whole roof down. So today I gave it a go. And lo and behold, with a bit of elbow grease, a long hose, some clean water with detergent (marine variety, suitable for waterways) and a scrubbing brush, Patience's roof is now clean and bright for the first time in quite a while. Patience and I are very pleased with the result.

The aft section, however, needs more than a scrub, as with water drained from the bow tank the tilt of the boat is altered so that surface water collects in the area by the hatch, which is peeling and showing first signs of rust. So this bit I scraped clean and painted first in anti-rust, then in red oxide, as a preliminary to an undercoat and then non-slip top coat.  As the scrubbing shows most of the roof is in good condition, I think painting in the small patches on the edge of the roof will be all that's necessary next time we carry out maintenance. A triumph of common sense - and elbow grease!

Floating with The Boat Barge

In these chilly days with a biting wind I prefer to read and dream about boating instead of freezing my exposed parts.
So after starting to browse Waterways World Annual with its canal map and favourable comments about every canal and river, I rediscovered "The Bookshop That Floated Away" by Sarah Henshaw. I'd popped it on my shelf for future reading and it popped out again to remind me this was a good time to be read. Some books are good like that. And this book is well worth reading, especially if you like narrow boats and books. It's an eccentric read by a self-deprecating writer with some fascinating turns of phrase and good quirky stories to tell.
Look out for the narrow boat if it comes your way, check her progress at The Book Barge site, buy and read the book - you'll find it amusing and you'll get to like the author with her erratic approaches to steering, mooring and safety, her honest descriptions of operating locks at the limit of exhaustion and her determinedly non-business-like approach to selling (could swapping a couple of books for a Victoria sponge ever be financially profitable?). I enjoyed the book, relished her quirky written style and liked the author. I hope she has found love with the ever-patient and romantic Stu (stick with him love!)

It's also reminded me that I should re-read Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Best of luck to Sarah, currently enjoying the delights of Kerala waterways (as I saw in this photo in 2010, a darn sight warmer than The Grand Union in March).

Patience awakes to 2015 - and maintenance

A couple of weeks ago I drove over to see Patience and check she was feeling OK. she was fine except for a moderate amount of water in the engine room bilges and an unaccountable damp patch near the stern port window. I left the engine room alone, with its oily inch of water, moved things about under the stern port window and made a note to seal it more effectively in the spring.
Today John (newly returned from adventures abroad) and I returned to Patience to find that someone had kindly taped a plastic bag over the open window to the loo and that the leak under the stern port window was no better, in fact a little worse.

So we spent the morning mopping up the oily engine room water and wondering how so much had got in. We also looked more closely at the stern port window and John saw the seal around the top of the window had cracked  and would need replacing. I called myself an absolute idiot for forgetting that I'd removed the toilet window in a cleaning fit two weeks ago - and forgotten to put it back in.
And so we move on. Having planned a maintenance day or two in a fortnight we sat in The Wharf and listed all our maintenance jobs, making note of what we had to buy and bring. I'd already brought a new mop, rubber gloves, sponges and small durable carpets. How can you tell I was expecting a damp and grubby Patience after the winter ....
Fortunately nothing serious is amiss. My stupidity in leaving the window opening simply added an inches of water to the basin and the shower tray. The damp under the window will dry and the cork tiles will probably be none the worse. Little has failed, but a lot needs attention.
So this is the maintenance list:

• Check all windows for old sealant, rake out where necessary and renew with new silicon
• Seal chimney flue (there's some evidence of water dripping onto the stove)
• Check floor tiles - possibly use adhesive, possibly remove carpet tiles and wash (marking position of each tile if removed)
• Check water tank for rust, paint (patch) where necessary with bitumen, leave to dry then fill
• Wash roof thoroughly with fresh water and detergent (using canal water increases mould!) using scrubbing brush
• Clean then undercoat necessary areas followed by at least one coat of International Interdeck Slip Resist Beige 090 (large tin)
• Tighten up loo pump (slackened off during winter to avoid cracking if frozen) - need spanners for this.
• Wash sides and wax
• Check gas bottle lids as they are delaminating and need treatment or replacement with new marine ply

So - some few things to keep us going until the warmer season begins.
The complete list would include checking all bilges, ropes, all surfaces for mould and damp, engine (a long list in itself but it has been recently serviced), safety of gas and electrics ....
In due course we will add bedding and resupply food stocks. Then it's all aboard!