A day of boating jobs, and then into Otherton

15th & 16th June

Yesterday was a staying put day, as we didn't want to go into Otherton Boat Haven until this afternoon. We made a lazy start on a bright day. The only downside was that the loo has decided to be stroppy about flushing – pushing the air button doesn't always make the flush cycle start, which is a bit alarming.

Last time this happened, I had to replace the switch itself – the air button works by blowing a puff of air down a tube to move a diaphragm in the switch proper, located in the bowels (and I use the word advisedly) of the toilet.

To get at it, you have to dismantle the toilet, which is half a day's job, usually. It's working enough to be bearable for the moment – I really don't fancy starting in on it just before going away.

It being Father's Day, Sheila said that as a treat I could make another fender (we don't take Father's Day terribly seriously on this boat). I actually managed to do it in a morning, making another of the two tone ones, this time with a more solid finish to the top. I've posted a pic of both the recent fenders in the delayed post that will hopefully appear on Wednesday afternoon.

In the afternoon, I took a walk up to Penkridge Lock, and took some photos to use in the aforesaid delayed post.

When I got back I was still full of beans, so we set to and polished the brass that hadn't yet been Incralaced. Sanity is thus looking quite smart for her spell in a proper marina, sorry, Boat Haven.

As we were doing this, Roger and Sue Burchett came by on Nackered Navvy, on their leisurely way to Saul, so we'll see them there.

Today was another bright start. We both made the trek into the village to get a few supplies to keep us going until tomorrow lunchtime. Whilst there, we were accosted b y an elderly guy coming out of the paper shop. Seeing my Waterway Recovery Group fleece, he said that he'd pay for whatever I was planning to buy in the shop if I could tell him exactly where the idea of WRG was conceived, and by whom.

I said London and by Graham Palmer and Harry Arnold, this being the tale told to me by Harry. "No" he said, "Graham Palmer and I were sitting on the balance beam of lock 12 of the Stourbridge 16 when we concocted the idea of the Navvies Notebook, as a way of gathering together all those with an interest in restoring canals."

He then gave us some reminiscences of the Stourbridge confrontation, and of the early days of the Lappal Tunnel restoration plans before going on his way.

Oh, and his name? Stan Thomas. (No, me neither)

[Added 23/12/2008: Harry Arnold has just called in to correct the impression that this story gives. For the sake of historical accuracy, it was the concept of a magazine, Navvies Noteboook, that emerged from the discussion at Stourbridge, to promote the various restoration efforts then going on. WRG itself didn't follow for a few years. It was decided that WRG wouldn't be a subscription based organisation, but that anyone who subscribed to Navvies Notebook, then shortened to Navvies, would be on the list of folks available to help.

I hope this keeps the record straight!]

Back at the boat, I'd been struggling to upload the pics for the delayed post, on an internet connection that claimed to be fast, but in fact was a bit erratic. I finally managed it, and we then took an early lunch.

We worked up the Longford and Penkridge Locks, and started to pump out at the Sanitary Station. At this point, things took a turn for the worse. After doing most of the tank, the pump decided to stop working. At first I thought it was a blockage in the tank, but no, the pump was declining to pump canal water. I tried a quick dismantle, but there were no obvious problems, so we abandoned the attempt and set off again for Otherton. (It later proved to be a bad connection in the waterproof switch.)

There was a good queue for Filance Lock, and things were made more interesting by the fact that the pound below was about a foot down, so that Sanity kept running aground. In fact, when it was my turn to go into the lock, she wouldn't move, and Sheila had to run some water down to get us afloat again.

We chugged along to Otherton, where they'd forgotten we were coming. No problem, there was plenty of room, but it's obviously one of the more laid back operations.

It was only a fiver for an electric card, so I bought one as an alternative to defrosting the freezer. The distance from Sanity's back end to the meter was just too long for the main power cable we carry, but I was able to make up an extension from some plugs and cable I had spare.

Connected it all up, and guess what: the card wouldn't work. Went back to the office, to discover that it had shut half an hour before. Looks like we're defrosting the freezer anyway, as the office doesn't open until we've left to catch our train tomorrow. I'll email them to let them know we'll be claiming a refund.

That's all for now, folks. Hopefully the photo blog will appear on Wednesday, and I'll resume regular blogging when we're under way again on Friday.