Friday 22nd July
I’ll start with the prop whine update – Aaaargh! This morning I spent a claustrophobic half hour wedged down the weed hatch tying a plastic bag to the prop shaft. Yes I know we are always banging on about having to clear the prop but ours seems better with something round it at the moment. A few days ago Ken attempted this feat but had to retire hurt with bruised ribs, bless! So down I went and once we had worked out a way to get the bag under the shaft and up the other side using string and a cork because, even though I was dangling down with my fringe in the water, my little arms just weren’t long enough, I managed to do it. Ken then hauled me back up by the waist of my trousers, or I would probably still be down there now!
So off we went and although not completely gone the whine was much reduced and liveable with. However our euphoria was not to last because we met quite a few boats, usually at bridges and had to do a lot of reversing and got grounded several times. This resulted in the newly attatched bag unattatching itself at some point and the whine started again in earnest, bugger! Tomorrow I will repeat the procedure, this time with a piece of an old t shirt and see if that works. Of course this is only a temporary measure but we are being driven to distraction so any relief, however temporary is to be welcomed.
We are probably going to take the boat back to Anderton and see if the chap who fitted the prop has any idea what we can do. He did actually say it wouldn’t whine – he was seriously mistaken! In the mean time we are going to get an even bigger file to attack it with!
We stopped at Congleton so Ken could go to the shop for a paper, which they didn’t have, some yoghurt, which they also didn’t have and some chips, which they did have. We then carried on to Kent Green and went to Sherbourne Wharf for diesel because we missed the diesel boat on his way back from Marple to Oak Grove and when we did see the boat at Oak Grove the chap wasn’t on it. Ken also had some waste oil to get rid of. Then we moored just past Kent Green Bridge so we could take himself to The Rising Sun, which he enjoyed.
This afternoon and evening it was really sunny and warm (to begin with, it is now raining) so we sat outside. Ken has been fishing and caught a lot of gudgeon and small roach and several cray fish, some quite scary ones!
Tomorrow we are starting our descent of ‘Heartbreak Hill’.
