What a relief! Chertsey lock is behind us. Loads of boats moving fast up and down the river to beat the closure. So, we are back on track for heading to Newbury. I think there’s a tree obstructing the canal en route but hopefully that will be cleared by the time we get there.
Quite a day. Started with the Webasto heating engineer returning at 7am, having yesterday removed and cleaned our heater, replaced it and found it still not to be working. Water in the diesel pipe leading to the pump seems to be the issue. He thought he would need to pump a couple of inches of water from our diesel tank (formed by condensation when the tank is not full), as the water, being heavier than diesel, collects at the bottom. Fortunately on doing this he found very little water in the tank but has concluded that because there is still water in the pipe, the end of the pipe must be lying on the bottom of the diesel tank, where it is not uncommon to have a residual amount of water in any steel tank. His solution is to bend the output pipe away from the floor of the tank, which needs to be largely empty of fuel. As our tank is almost full he either has to suction out the diesel or wait until we’ve travelled long enough to use most of it up. We’ve gone for the second option and we’ll meet him again, I hope, in Newbury at the end of October. An early start to the day, no resolution and no central heating until this is sorted. There’s always something going on with a boat!
Fortunately, due to the early start of our day, our departure to Chertsey lock was not impeded and we arrived in plenty of time to go through the lock with a couple of other boats, one of whom was called ‘Faith’, with an inscription on the side from Psalm 23 ‘He leads me through still waters’. The owners of the boat have a similar outlook to us regarding their mission on the waterways and were very encouraging when they heard that we want to spend time listening and chatting to those we meet. It was a lovely morning encounter and we hope to keep in touch – you never know who you are going to meet next! In our case this lunchtime it was some very happy, albeit a bit foul-mouthed, early in the day drinkers. I noticed the lady drinking straight from a full red wine bottle! We had moored up in the middle of Staines and I was feeling rather guilty that the only spot was right in front of an elderly fisherman. He turned out to be utterly delightful and not at all upset by our arrival – he had just finished a five hour fishing stint. He’d had Parkinson’s for ten years and fishing is his passion. He wasn’t going to let his condition stop him – he was very resilient and he told us not to worry about the drunks – they were harmless, just a bit loud and boisterous, as we found out when one suddenly stripped down to his underpants and leapt down into the river! Ten minutes later there was a commotion as another lad had jumped into the water, but the cold was too much for his system and he was panicking as he struggled to breath. Luckily, his friends quickly retrieved him from the river and I offered him a warming sweet cup of tea, which he gratefully received. R and I went for a rest (as well as our early start we’d had the excitement of a pump out – long overdue. We worked out the last time we emptied the tank was late May! Shows how little we have actually managed to stay aboard this year as the tanks are usually full after a month or so!) and when we awoke all was quiet. We then had to re-erect our stern cover, which the engineer had asked us to fully remove at 7am this morning, as it was taking up all the space in the shower cubicle. As we struggled to do this, R fell to talking to one of the guys who had been around at lunchtime for he wished to apologise to us, on behalf of his friends, for the bad language they had been using!
A walk into the town centre showed us just how closely we are moored to all the shops. I spy a T K Maxx, so tomorrow after doing a laundry run, I know where I’ll be headed! Lidl’s on the doorstep so R treated himself to a chocolate croissant for breakfast and I found a bottle of cherry cordial, which is proving to be delicious! Also picked up some frozen peas – an indulgent pleasure now that we have such a small freezer, one that can only accommodate enough ice for a daily tipple!
We are moored next to a hire boat and when we got chatting to the late middle aged couple, it transpired they were from Newcastle, but with strong ozzie accents, not the one in the UK! They hired the boat with a skipper. He doesn’t stay on board. In the morning he arrives by car, stows his electric bike on the boat roof and cycles back to his car at the end of the day, sometimes as much as twenty miles, contending with inclement weather as well. A great idea if you want a narrowboat holiday but don’t have the confidence or knowledge to operate the boat yourself. They have the luxury of space – over 60ft long, with two bathrooms, including a bath and enough beds for 8 people. I’m still very happy in our cosy 43ft though!
Now on to an episode of Dangerfield, the police doctor, a series from the 1990’s. Another one we missed through not having a TV back in the day. Making up for it now on the boat with our 3″ x 5″ mobile phone screen!
NarrowboatTLC 