Wednesday 5 September 2018

Handrails: Day 4

I didn’t really expect to make any progress on the handrails today, as I had a boat test to do in Droitwich.  I’d parked my car in the village on Monday night, to cut down the walk, and then drove to Bicester where I met Andy the photographer in the park and ride car park so we could just take one car the rest of the way.  The weather at Droitwich Marina was warm and sunny and the boat was good, and we were done in a decent amount of time.  Having dropped Andy back at his car, I took mine back to the marina and walked along to the boat.  As Saturday’s weather forecast now isn’t very good, I thought I’d make use of the afternoon to get the first coat of top coat done.  I started just before 3pm, and the whole thing takes about an hour and a half.  It seemed hard work covering the black undercoat, but I was relatively pleased with the result.


One slight concern is that I seem to have used more than half a tin of paint.  Whether that’s because of doing the diamonds the other day, or whether covering the black just takes a bit more paint, I don’t know.

A bit before 5pm I untied a set off.  The paint dries pretty quickly in this warm weather, so I wasn’t too concerned about it while under way.  Before Wolverton, a large willow tree has fallen across the towpath and half the canal.  There’s enough room to get through, but I wouldn’t want to be the boat underneath it.


I continued as far as the winding hole at New Bradwell, where I turned around and returned to Wolverton, where I moored on the end by the flats.  I hadn’t seen a moving boat the whole time.

3 miles, 0 locks.  (4 miles, 1 lock)

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