A good night and a good day

The mooring at Handsacre was quite gloomy but, possibly for that reason, we both got a good night's kip. Knowing that we didn't have a long cruise scheduled, we lay in a bit and it wasn't until gone eight o'clock that we set off. It was a pretty routine chug through Armitage and the "tunnel" and past Hawkesyard Priory, presently largely hidden by greenery.

As planned, we went straight through the usual shopping moorings at bridge 66 and tied instead on the VMs at 67. This was, frankly, a bit of a mistake. There are very few rings and we could only just get in to the side. In future, we'll tie in the usual place and walk up the road to visit Aldi. However, we found everything we wanted when we got there, including the Squirty Squash concentrate that's much better value than the Robinson's equivalent. It tastes better, too.

Back at the boat, Sheila set off whilst I stowed away the goodies and made coffee. I then took over for the last stretch so that Sheila could put her foot up. When we got to Brindley Bank, Margaret Beardsmore and her merry IWA team were tidying up the moorings and they kindly warned us that they were about to start strimming. So at their suggestion, we moved across to the other side and tied on chains – the canal has towpath on both sides here.

It's been raining on and off ever since we got here but hopefully will be drier in the morning. There has continued to be a niff of diesel after turning off, so I lifted the engine boards again. Sure enough, there was still an ooze from the problem joint. I got the self-amalgamating tape out and wrapped it which has stopped it completely.

For those who don't know, self-amalg is a non-tacky stretchy silicone rubber tape that only adheres to itself. It's excellent for waterproofing electrical connections and for emergency repairs of split pipes. You stretch it a lot as you wrap it round the joint and it forms a sealed tube gripping the target. Being non-tacky, it's easy to remove when you come to make a permanent repair.

Tomorrow, tally-ho for Tixall.