Wednesday 21 September 2011

Kingfisher

Went to put the kettle on this morning, but the ignition on the gas hob wouldn't work. Erin Mae's batteries were a bit low, so we got under way to charge them. That got us to the Leek tunnel entrance earlier than we would have done otherwise, and there was a kingfisher on his perch, also looking for breakfast. Champagne moment! 10 minutes later we had scrambled eggs on toast. The Caldon in the morning sun is a real treat.

Back at the junction with the main line and turning right down the Churnet valley, we waited our turn while NB Beatrice came up the locks. This boat is run by a charity "for children who need to get afloat". There were some inner city lads on board, working the locks and having a very good time under excellent supervision. It was great to see the work being done to build positive attitudes into their lives. All too short a day for them. They turned round and followed us back down the flight, and tonight we are tied up at Cheddleton, just back from Beatrice's mooring.

On the way we stopped at the Hollybush Inn in Denford for lunch, and had a good natter with Graham and Pauline (NB Shy Girl) about all manner of things, boating-related and not. Turned out that Pauline had had both hips and both knees replaced, not entirely successfully. She was a reminder of how much you can do when you just get on with it. Don't know if you'll ever read this, G & P, but we really enjoyed meeting you.

2 comments:

  1. I'm not surprised your battery was low if you're running all those electric gadgets off the inverter. Bread makers draw a lot of power, and televisions too. Make sure your not using them when moored or you'll run your new battery down!

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  2. @Mo Wood

    Yup! Actually, we run the cooking gadgets while cruising. The slow cooker might run on a bit, but its overhead is pretty small. The TV is the one to watch, and we've been wondering whether to replace the old analogue one in the boat, not just to simplify the digital bits in the boat but because, even in 4 years, TVs have got much more efficient.

    I think we needed to have cruised a couple more hours on the day in question. We're getting a feel for how it all balances out.

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