Monday 8 June 2020

We’re on the Move

Mu started some washing and then moved onto some more interior painting. I was planning on checking the engine bay, filling the water tank again (wanting to keep on top of things this time ), find out about diesel and purchase some diesel conditioner. The plan then was to clean the other half of the bathroom (we have a walk through bathroom: shower to port, toilet to starboard). I had cleaned the shower area yesterday. The best laid plans…

I had just connected the hose to the ‘welded on’ tap adaptor when a marina employee asked if we would be ready to move in 10 minutes. Move? As in actually start the engine? And steer and stuff? We were moving out of the work area (which was becoming busier by the hour) into a more suitably residential area of the marina. This was good news and sooner than expected. But still, move the boat? I don’t know…

Moving on Up

I abandoned the water tank fill, got into the engine bay (as I’d planned to do, just not to move the thing). It had been a year since I had done anything remotely boat-related but I did remember

• Check the bilge and turn the stern gland greaser
• Check the weed hatch was sealed
• Check the engine oil
• Check the engine water

I also had to turn off the 240 volt appliances, switch off the battery charger/conditioner and unhook the shoreline hook up (most important). The ignition sequence of this Isuzu Marine diesel engine was the same as the BMC Diesel in our previous boat. It started first turn and with the guy from the marina, I cautiously backed Silverdale out of the bay. I turned it around and moved it the whole couple of hundred yards to Pontoon 13. Silverdale eased in between ‘Purple Witch’ on one side and ‘Old Toby’ & ‘Capricorn’ on the other. Capricorn didn’t look like it had been lived in for quite some time and exuded a ‘Ghost Ship’ aura. We were loving our new mooring. The beauty of it was that the pontoon was now on the port side so we could get to the windows here now and clean them.

With the impromptu move accomplished (deftly I might add), we had to empty the toilet cassette again. Again? We only have one cassette and the marina Chandlery was only open until 14:00 (and they controlled the important Elsan key) so that was the next task.

A Walk, There and Back Again

The weather was great so we decided to go for a walk. Up the Buckby Flight from Buckby Bottom Lock (Whilton) – Lock 13 to Buckby Top Lock (Buckby) – Lock 7. This is a lovely stretch of the canal. It has a Cafe at Lock 13, a small shop in the middle selling canal art & brasses and ice cream and a pub (The New Inn) at Lock 7 (currently closed due to restrictions) – the perfect walk!

Back aboard Silverdale, the reluctant cook started making a Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie. Perhaps with hindsight, this should have been pre-prepared prior to the walk. Gordon Ramsey came out looking like Snow White! I will do more cooking but at present I’m the sandwich king, tea master and coffee barista. Our new mooring gives us a much more interesting outlook. There are multiple boats and ducks that frequent an as yet unused pontoon. The nearby but ‘not too close so as to mess up your boat’ Silver Birch provides a pleasant aspect and a perch for various birds. There’s even a small Pear tree starting to bear fruit.

rp – peace and narrowboats