Totally my bad - I sort of forgot about having started this up again... silly really 'cause in the past few weeks I've bumped in to several people on the cut who've all said it's nice to have me back blogging again.
No REAL excuse I suppose... just being frustrated at the water shortages/closures/restricted lock hours. Not ONE single trip this season has been able to operate as planned 2 years ago. It had made me a bit narky with CRT. I know they can't help lack of rain but they CAN men leaking locks/pounds/paddles that I've reported numerous times in the last 5 years - it's got to the point now that I don't bother reporting them any more. Another thing that has really irked, has been a silly 3pm closure of the Middlewich branch of the Shroppie... if you don't know about it, basically the Shroppie is massively fed by the sewage works of Wolverhampton - ie, it's ALWAYS got water coming in.
In normal years, a reasonable amount comes down from the Llangollen too. Due to the breach and works at Hurleston locks taking place AND the pumps further up not being up to the job, this hasn't happened...they've even been pumping water OUT of the canal into the reservoir to compensate for the shortage coming down from the river dee. The annoying part about closing off the M'wich branch is that the lock that gets locked up doesn't leak at all - BUNBURY staircase on the other hand leaks like a sieve. In fact, you can actually cup up the bottom chamber on the leak from the top (eventually) without opening a paddle... THAT has remained open . I even got into a bit of twitter spat (which out of character I backed away from) when I sympathised with a hire boat that had broken the chains off and gone through the lock out of hours - I mean, 3pm in high season? wtf? I understand their frustrations and whilst I don't approve of criminal damage, I've been tempted on many occasions to deploy bolt croppers myself.
Anyways - we've made it to the end of the season - the last booking having cancelled (to carry forward to next year) and now we're in Dry Dock doing DIY blacking. I had thought about trying to stretch it out to next year but from a maintenance point of view, every 2 years was my original plan and I've stuck to it thus far.
In fact, Engine service wise, apart from a couple that ended up 20 hours over due to where we were with customers aboard, that's also been adhered to religiously. The engine hasn't given me any trouble and still starts instantly with no smoke or noises. I AM however on the 4th auxiliary alternator but have to accept that a tumble dryer, bean to cup coffee machine, washing machine and electric kettle etc. DO mean it has to work hard.
Right - time to get the 3rd coat of blacking on.
Until next time...
