Coping in the cold

20th & 21st December

It felt very cold overnight, and sure enough in the morning we were frozen in again. The temptation in these circumstances is to hibernate, so we made a very late start indeed – breakfast was eaten to Ken Bruce (after 9.30 am for you guys elsewhere in the world).

On Wednesday I'd packaged up our marine VHF radio to send away for repair – it's taken to showing "wet inside" on the display when you turn it on, though it's never been in a situation to cause it to do so. I set off for the Post Office to despatch it.

As I got to the exit from the towpath to Lyme Road by the boatyard, there were a group of guys preparing to do some work on the towpath hedge. I was not surprised, more resigned when without making any attempt to dissuade me from walking through them, one started up the long reach chainsaw he was holding and started trimming the hedge top.

BW claims that it imposes equal health and safety rules on its contractors as on the volunteers such as those from wrg who help restore derelict canals. Either these contractors were simply ignoring the rules (quite likely) or BW's claim is not true. In wrg we go to great lengths to exclude the public from any sphere of operations involving dangerous machinery.

Anyway, down to the Post Office I went, despatched the radio by Special Delivery for a mere £4.75, and bought a copy of the Independent whilst there. Coming back, I nipped into the Trading Post by the boatyard and bought a copy of Canal Boat, and also picked up a copy of the freesheet Towpath Talk.

In this weather, a good supply of reading material is essential.

After coffee we both went down to the recycling centre and unloaded a lot of cardboard, plastic and paper. After lunch it was back to the investigation of things affecting the TravelPower, still following Electricky Dicky's advice (what a man). It didn't get much further, so I left the system battery charging from the domestic alternator whilst exchanging further emails with Dicky.

In the evening we planned our cruising for the New Year – down the Cheshire Locks to Middlewich, on to Preston Brook and onto the Bridgewater as far as Dunham Massey. Then back to Middlewich, through the Middlewich Arm to the Shroppie and up the Llangollen canal as far as Ellesmere. By then, we should be getting towards the end of the stoppage preiod, and can think about heading South.

Today we woke to similar conditions as yesterday, after another seriously chilly night. We set off to do some shopping, calling at Braidbar on the way to see if we could pay our bill for the work done in the last couple of months. They hadn't got it ready yet, but mentioned that they've checked over Skye, the hire boat, to make sure that it's OK for Elanor to use as overflow sleeping accommodation at New Year. How good they are!

In the town I made an impulse buy of a turkey. We're having steak from Alrewas on Christmas Day, just for a change, but it wouldn't be Christmas without turkey sandwiches later, so I've bought a small(ish) one. We'll probably have it roasted on Christmas Eve, then cut it cold on Christmas Day evening. I'm minded to try a trick I'd heard of the other year, and cook the legs separately from the rest.

This afternoon was yet more Victron experimentation, and then a phone call from the man. We're going to leave it be now until the New Year, so more of this anon.

Basically we've spent the rest of this afternoon huddled down in the boat – it's barely been above freezing all day, though there's been a bit of ice breaking movement past us on the cut. The forecast is for a change of weather to wet and mild over the next few days, which would be good from our point of view, as it'll make it simpler to get back to the water point to refill the tank.

Sorry kids – we'd rather not have a white Christmas!