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A Mooring Along the Way

16/05/2021journey, mooring, The Tales of Silverdalecastle, Fotheringhay, landscapeadmin

We’ve found a mooring along the way…

As mentioned in To Be Somewhere Else and A Penultimate Destination, we will be on the move in the near future. As part of the planning process, we have been scoping out places to stay. One such place, along the way is Fotheringhay. I had wanted to visit Fotheringhay (see musicfan6160’s Fotheringhay blog post) and we got the opportunity the other day.

Fotheringhay is a village in the Cambridgeshire Fenland infamous for the castle where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned and finally beheaded. We found it a quiet, melancholy but peaceful place.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - A Mooring Along the Way - Tree on a Slope image

There are mooring points at the site, within the shadow of the castle motte. Unfortunately, very little of the Motte & Bailey castle remains. However, this will be a useful stop point in our journey eastwards.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - A Mooring Along the Way - Mooring Sign image

There is a water point so we will be able to replenish this supply, at least.

There is a lot of history associated with the place – Richard The III was born here, in the castle, in 1452. Other than the history, there is very little else but houses, however there is a pub. We hope it will be open. It could be a lifeline.

Check back for plans on the preparation and then the journey as it unfolds…

Peace and narrowboats

A Penultimate Destination

15/05/2021Uncategorizedadmin

We went in search of a penultimate destination.

Earith sounds as if it belongs to Lord of the Rings. It is in fact a village in the Fenlands in Cambridgeshire but its remote nature does give an air of Middle Earth.

We are moving here with our narrowboat Silverdale at some time in the near future. The journey from Northamptonshire to Cambridgeshire, while by car is probably about one and a half hours, by narrowboat is considerably longer. It is also by river rather than canal for most of the journey.

With this in mind, we decided to take a look at what our penultimate destination looked like.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - a penultimate destination - Earith I image — Ditch to the side of the ?

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - a penultimate destination - Earith II image — The New Bedford River

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Earith III image — The New Bedford River

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Earith IV image

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Earith V image — Looking Across Hermitage Marina Entrance

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Earith VI image — Hermitage Marina

Although I state penultimate destination, it could be that we are here for some time. Luckily, it seems a beautiful, peaceful area of the countryside and we’re looking forward to living here. There’s a lot of planning ahead and there will be more of that to come.

I’m planning to document our journey so be sure to check back for updates and follow us when we are ‘on the ~~road~~ river’…

Peace and narrowboats

To Be Somewhere Else

14/05/2021Uncategorizedadmin

With the pandemic restrictions easing a little, we travelled to be somewhere else. Ely is a City (it has a cathedral) that sits on the high land in the middle of the Fens – the coastal plain in the east of England.

The river Great Ouse runs through the City and the Ely Marina sits off this.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - To Be Somewhere Else - Bridge over the river Great Ouse at Ely image — Bridge over the river Great Ouse at Ely

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - To Be Somewhere Else - Under the bridge over the river Great Ouse at Ely image — Under the bridge over the river Great Ouse at Ely

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - A view down the river Great Ouse at Ely image — A view down the river Great Ouse at Ely

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Ely Marina entrance on the river Great Ouse at Ely image — Ely Marina entrance on the river Great Ouse at Ely

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Boats and a swan on the river Great Ouse at Ely image — Boats and a swan on the river Great Ouse at Ely

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Somewhere Else - Park in Ely image — Park in Ely

Ely will figure more prominently in the future as we will be moving Silverdale over that way, in the near future…

It was great to be somewhere else.

Peace and narrowboats

murpworkschrome – Narrowboat 2021

11/04/2021Uncategorizedadmin

murpworkschrome is my photography website . I’ve just posted some photographs of life aboard a narrowboat, in a marina.

Take a look here

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - murpworkschrome - Narrowboat 2021 - murpworkschrome website link image

murpworkschrome showcases my photography and has an associated blog – Light on a Lens

rp – peace and narrowboats

Marina Through Spring Blossom

03/04/2021Marina Life, nature, The Tales of SilverdaleB+W, blossom, Springadmin

Marina Through Spring Blossom

Another Spring image.

I took this photograph from above the Marina, looking through Spring blossom. Because of Japan’s revere of Spring blossom in the form of Hanami, looking at blossom always evokes Japan for me. I get a Japanese feel from this image even though its in the ‘heart’ of England.

rp – peace and narrowboats

Spring 2021

03/04/2021Marina Life, The Tales of SilverdaleDaffodils, Spring, Whilton Marina, Whilton Marina Cafeadmin

Spring 2021 at Whilton Marina Cafe – as we were still in lockdown at this point, the Whilton Marina Cafe was only open for takeaways, but the daffodils anticipated a brighter future for all.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Spring 2021 - Whilton Marina Cafe in Spring image

Planted daffodils in a step wall by Whiton Marina Cafe.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Spring 2021 - daffodils in step wall image

A view across the Marina with daffodils heralding the advance of Spring 2021

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - Spring 2021 - across the Marina in Spring image

rp – peace and narrowboats

We’ve Got a Leak!

03/04/2021Uncategorizedadmin

We’ve Got a Leak!

We’ve got a leak! Well, not a leak. Well, it is a leak but it’s an OK one.

In general, water can build up in our engine bay bilges, at the stern of the boat. It’s what happens.

It’s been at the back of my mind for a long while now. We had been checking the bilge pump, running it and every so (randomly) often and water is pumped. It runs via the bilge pump outlet, into the canal (don’t worry, it’s permitted, it’s just water). I thought it was the rain, getting into the bilge via the stern. Some of it will be that. Some of it will not, however.

Narrowboats have Calorifiers, which is a fancy name for ‘hot water tank immersion heater combo’. It provides us with hot water via various methods. Ours is installed under our bed, which is toward the stern of the boat and not too far from the bulkhead to the engine bay. A pipe runs from the Calorifier, through the bulk head and into the engine bay. The pipe exits through the bulkhead and out into the engine bay. It has a tap type thing on it. It is this that is the culprit!

Dripping…

This morning, I lifted up the flooring to the engine bay and clearly saw this tap contraption dripping water, regularly into the bilge.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - We've Got a Leak! - bilge II detail image

I discussed this with Whilton Marina to confirm my suspicions. Yes, this is correct and it is what is supposed to happen. With an automatic bilge pump, any water is removed, as outlined above. Ours is manual only so when we run it, if there’s any water built up, the pump voids it into the canal.

The trouble is, a bilge pump never gets rid of every last drop of water, there is a threshold which has to be reached before it can work. A little amount of water is always left.

murpworks - The Tales of Silverdale - We've Got a Leak! - bilge I image — Bilge Pump with pipe to the outside

So, what we can do is have a ’skin fitting’ (no, it’s not a body piercing) put into the side of the hull and have the Calorified pressure outlet pipe (the tap-like thing) connected to void the water automatically, out of the boat. Cut out the middleman – the bilge pump.

We’re going to get this done.

Update

Update – this wasn’t required! A new PRV was installed, the leak stopped. With this being a safety valve, there wouldn’t normally be water being released into the bilge so we decided to leave it ‘as is’. We had purchased a battery-operated hand pump and it managed to get rid of most of the water. It’s been absolutely fine ever since.

Hooray! It’s a leak that’s OK on a boat 🙂

rp – peace and narrowboats