A bit of boating, even

28th, 29th & 30th January

We’ve had a couple of days focussed on Braidbar, followed by one of domestic concerns. On Thursday, our last morning in the yard, we got up in good time and Sheila started a last load of tumble drying whilst we ate breakfast. Then we rigged the hose to top up the water tank before getting ready to pull out of the yard.

For the first time in a month we did some boating that took more than ten minutes as we plodded gently up to High Lane. Peter had said that the shell was due to arrive at about 11.15 and that he expected to be ready to lift by half twelve.

We got there just after 10.30 and I went to buy a newspaper and some sandwiches for lunch. This was only partially successful, as the Costcutter has closed, so that there is no longer a general store in High Lane that I can find. We got some good sandwiches from Danny’s Deli, however, and he told me that he had seen the shell go past just a little while before.

This implied that the lift might be early, and anyway we were sharp set after our bit of boating, so we had a very early lunch at 11.30 and then walked round the arm to the club house. Here we found Dave Ballinger, the new owner, anxiously watching out for us; he told us he had just been wondering where he could get a very large outboard motor if we didn’t turn up.

We reassured him, and indeed there was the usual delay whilst the bow thruster, prop shaft and prop were installed. The lift went smoothly and we were soon towing shell number 121 back to Higher Poynton.

After I’d winded Sanity, I discovered I had missed a phone call which proved to be ABNB with an appointment for viewing on Monday morning. Since the details only went up on their web site on Tuesday, this is encouragingly quick work.

Yesterday, Peter had asked us to postpone our arrival at the yard since he had some shopping to do on the way in. Accordingly, we decided to do a couple of maintenance jobs in the morning after a lie in, and then to go round to the yard at lunchtime. We’d just about finished breakfast when Peter rang to say he would be in earlier than he’d thought.

It can be hard to know how to deal with some boatbuilder's idea of timing.

We postponed the maintenance jobs, got to the yard at half ten and had another good review session as recorded on the other blog. We also had a brief chat about manning the Braidbar stand at the Crick show this year; there’ll be more about this in due course.

After a late lunch, there was nothing for it but to get on with the maintenance. This consisted of two tasks: tightening the domestic alternator belt, which had started squealing when the engine started up, and pumping out the toilet tank. Both of these were completed with no more than the usual hassle and we were able to relax for the rest of the day fully possessed of a sense of virtue.

We woke this morning to find a quarter of an inch of ice on the canal. It seems unlikely that it will be as big a problem as it was in the New Year, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn’t get any worse.

We walked down into Poynton to shop for fresh food and once more finished too soon to catch the bus back. We ended up walking back, which at least means that we’ve had a decent amount of exercise, and the loads were not too heavy as a result of the Ocado delivery strategy.

We’ve had quite a lazy afternoon, though a creative one. Sheila continues to crochet, and I’ve been roughing out some designs for the Beale Park Newsletter. Tomorrow, we’ll need to clean the boat ready for our viewing on Monday, and, if possible, we’ll pop down to the water point to refill the tank. This is provided that the ice remains broken after today's traffic has mashed it up.