Black well deck

The weather is slowly deteriorating, sunny but with a cool wind strengthening as the day went on. Nonetheless, it was still very pleasant boating, up Hillmorton locks and along the mix of winding and dead straight canal that is the North Oxford.

Sheila steered whilst I ran another wash load; we won't want to do any whilst at Crick, so it's important to keep on top of it just now. We had planned to go all the way into Braunston today, but it seemed ideal conditions for repainting the well deck, which has been showing the effects of four years wear.

I put the cordless drill battery on charge as we went along so that it was ready to use with a wire cup brush. There was plenty of room on the stretch of towpath known as the prison moorings because you used to be able to see the campus containing HMP Rye Hill and HMP Onley over the hedge. The hedge has since grown up a lot and you can only guess that they are there now.

With the likelihood of making noise and dust, it seemed considerate to stop there rather than in Braunston. Accordingly, we tied, had a cup of coffee and got busy. By lunchtime we'd washed and rinsed the deck and I had scoured off all the loose paint and rust.

After lunch, I applied a thick brushed coat of Andy Russell Gunnel Black, working quickly with this fast drying paint. Brushing rather than rollering meant that I could work it into the non-slip coating and the rough areas caused by the rusting.

It's now drying hard and we've had a celebratory beer in the sun, albeit dressed in sweatshirt and hoodie to keep the wind out.

Tomorrow, we'll carry on into Braunston and get some shopping done, especially for meat and some bits and pieces from the chandleries.