I’ve been waiting for a parcel to be delivered to a collection point, and had been hoping it would arrive yesterday. Of course it didn’t, but was due today — but only before the ‘end of day’. As I had things to do, I decided to head off anyway, and I’d deal with picking it up tomorrow. It was very grey and still again today, and I set off at 8.45, heading across the aqueduct to the water point.
Here I filled the tank, got the washing machine on, and dealt with rubbish and a load of recycling. I also made some tea ready for when I could set off again. I’d decided to head up to the moorings before Cholmondeston Lock. This was partly to give the batteries a decent charge, and also because I needed to do an oil change and had run out of paper towels; I knew they had them at Chamberlain’s Chandlers. On the way, I passed a hire boat from Stone — not normally an uncommon sight, but they’ve been very scarce over this side this year because of the Cheshire Locks on the Trent and Mersey being closed by water shortages. They’ve now reopened, so I wondered whether this boat was doing the Four Counties Ring, which had been out of action for much of the season.
There were big flocks of geese flying around and making a racket by the junction, and a vast length of the fence on the reservoir embankment was occupied by gulls. This was only about a third of them.
There were more bird-related sightings once I’d turned onto the Middlewich Arm. By one of the bridges was a lovely jay, although he didn’t stay still long enough for a photo. And then just after I’d moored, I was sorting ropes out when a small bird of prey flew low along the towpath between the boat and the hedge before swooping up into a tree.
I turned at the winding hole after Bridge 4, but the official moorings were much fuller than last time we were here, so I didn’t fancy the reverse to a space. But a boat had just left a decent spot between the winding hole and the bridge, so I went there. Once tied up, I walked along to the chandlery to get the paper towels, then had lunch back on board, and started the oil change. It’s always difficult to know how long to leave the engine before starting: you want the oil warm enough to still be loose, but not too hot. This time I had a bit of a struggle to get the old oil filter off, but it turned in the end. I had a look at the air filter and decided it had been turned enough and a new one would be a good idea. And I decided to change the gearbox oil too, as it’s been a little while. Getting the old oil out is a pain. There’s a nut to release on the bottom, but if you put an ice cream tub or similar underneath to catch the oil, thee’s not enough room to get it out again. So I cut a hole in a plastic water bottle, put that underneath, and hoped the hole was approximately under the nut. I also always forget that there’s more oil in the gearbox than the spec says, because there’s extra for the cooling system, so I had to quickly put the nut back in when the bottle was nearly full, and then repeat the process. I walked back down to the chandlery and got a new air filter. In our engine hole, you have to take the whole housing off rather than just the lid, because there’s not enough room between the air filter and the wall. By the time I’d tidied up and put everything away, I felt I’d done a day’s work, not least because of having to contort yourself to reach most things!
5 miles, 0 locks. (6 miles, 0 locks)
No comments:
Post a Comment