November is the hardest month...

1st & 2nd November

Well, here we are in November again. This will be the fifth time we've slogged through the eleventh month, so we should be getting better at it. As I think I've said before (probably this time last year), November is, I reckon, the hardest month to get through for a liveaboard.

Nothing much happens, the weather tends to be grey and grotty, and Christmas looms threateningly ahead. Once past New Year, there's at least the longer days and the first signs of Spring to look forward to.

But are we downhearted? Not a bit of it, I just don't want folks to think that there's no downside to our lifestyle.

Yesterday was another frosty start, but mercifully still in view of the manoeuvres ahead. After absentmindedly running the washing machine after we'd decided not to the day before (we may be getting old...), the water tank was as empty as I've seen it for quite a while. (I.e., the gauge said zero.)

After a quick pop to the shops for a paper, we chugged gently up to the water point, which is, of course, beyond the junction. We'd deliberately waited until all the Anglo Welsh hire boats were back home, so there was very little moving when I set off. All this changed as I approached the junction, naturally, with a privateer coming along the Staffs and Worcs, and an Ownerships heading down the T&M towards me.

Everyone behaved sensibly, and I was able to get Sanity onto the water point before the private boat emerged through the junction bridge to set to partners with the Ownerships which wanted to turn right onto the Staffs and Worcs.

Despite such an empty tank, the water pressure was good enough that the washing machine cycle hadn't finished heating before the tank was full. I turned off the machine, so that the low revs used during manoeuvring wouldn't upset the TravelPower, and backed off the water point. Holding the tiller to the left meant that her bow turned that way, so that the stern headed into the offside bay opposite the junction. When she was moving nicely, I went into neutral and let her coast, if anything the turn becoming more pronounced.

Once the bow was in the right position to enter the bridge hole, I put the engine in forward, and the tiller over to the right, to keep the turn going. Since there was no one watching, it all went like a dream, the bow sliding neatly into the bridge hole, and the stern following on without clouting the towpath edge.

A bit of juggling got us through the chicane presented by the bows of the AW boats sticking out of their lay-by, and we plodded gently round to Tixall Wide. I wasn't sure what to expect here, as it's a popular spot for weekend mooring, but there was plenty of room, and we were able to pick a nice spot clear of the overhanging trees. Having excelled myself at the junction, I found the apparently simpler act of winding in the open water of the wide much trickier.

There was enough wind blowing towards the towpath that every time I went into neutral, the bow, which, being shallower drafted, is much more sensitive to the wind, stopped turning away and started blowing onto the towpath. I'd also started the turn a little early, and needed to reverse her a bit to get our ideal position.

In the end, having got the boat in about the right position, I just let her blow down onto the side, and we tweaked her final position with the mooring lines.

Having finished the tipcat the day before, I fitted it to the stern after lunch, putting the two old buttons back outside it. The old tipcat I brought into the boat (well, the floor needed sweeping anyway, as I explained to Sheila) and cut it open.

This felt a bit creepy – the thing was damp and limp, and it was a bit like something out of Silent Witness, slicing it open down its length, but I wanted the chain to reuse in another tipcat to go outside the first one. After that I plan to do one button for the stern, and another with wings for the bow.

This morning was really grey and gloomy, so we've spent almost the whole time in the boat. There is a geocache to visit, but there were lots of muggles about, dog walking and fishing, and that, combined with the unpleasant weather, meant we decided to give it a miss – perhaps tomorrow.

I've made a start on the new tipcat, having put the core together yesterday. Apart from that, it's been a day for reading the papers by a roaring Squirrel.