Many meetings

Taking on water after coming up Penkridge lock we got chatting to Michael, back in this country on a trip with his New Zealander wife. She, being a high school head, had gone off to discuss some educational principles being used in a local school – leaving Michael to eat an ice-cream on this super-hot day and investigate canals and boating, courtesy of the CRT notice-boards and a conversation with yours truly. We also chatted about educational things, and he gave me a theorist's name to follow up on later. Thank you, Michael – I enjoyed it. Sorry I forgot to get a photo to put up here!

At Otherton lock we encountered a boat to add to my list of Tolkien-themed names. NB Frodo's Dream was coming down the lock as we waited.

On the bows, where some have decorative designs and some have a name, we saw this.

I know enough to identify this as Elvish script, but not enough to offer a translation. Perhaps a reader could leave one in a comment…

Amazingly, between Gailey and the Hatherton branch we came across another boat for the collection. The list grows – I'll put it at the end of this post.

Opposite the Hatherton branch they were putting in some new Armco.

Nice to see some work being done, but I wonder if they'll ever be able to do anything about the depth of this section of the canal. They've done some good work between Great Haywood and Milford, clearing a section that had become very narrow and shallow. Perhaps there are extra complications here. We passed a boat that was trying to moor up, completely unsuccessfully, because they couldn't get in to the bank. We, on the other hand, have found ourselves a delightful spot to spend the late afternoon and evening. The map shows us to be in the middle of a network of roads, but all we can hear are the countryside sounds, and all we can see is the blossom and the fields beyond.

Anyway, here is the updated list of those Tolkien-themed boat names we've spotted.

Arwen Evenstar
Aragorn
Bilbo Baggins
Brandywine
Earls of Rohan
Frodo’s Dream
Galadriel
Gandalf
Goldberry
Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
Lóthlórien
Many Meetings
Riddles in the Dark
Rivendell
Shadowfax
Silmaril
Smaug
Strider
There and Back Again
Thorin

Out at last

We actually got out of the marina yesterday, but I wanted to write about Steve giving up smoking! We  cruised to Radford Bank, and then came on to Penkridge today in the sunshine. Hardly any traffic around, so we were surprised to find a queue at Deptmore Lock.

We were joined from behind by a family of Viking hirers, who helped us up.

In Acton Trussell the canal-side gardens, as ever, were in fine fettle.

We also found ourselves queueing at succeeding locks, not least at Longford, where one paddle was broken and the lock took an age to fill. But then it was just a short way to Penkridge, and we decided to tie up on the run in, even though the pound was down by about a foot.

We've never moored up here before, but we had an ulterior motive. The final of the French Open had already started, and it looked as though there would be good TV reception here! So we settled down and, as I write, Andy Murray has just lost. Perhaps we should have gone on to our normal spot above Filance Lock!

This being the second day of our trip, the real test of Erin Mae's 12 volt revolution has started. I'm happy to report that, overnight, the SmartGauge registered 88% for the batteries' state-of-charge, even though we watched a 90 minute episode of Hinterland last night. With two and a half hours cruising and the sunshine, the batteries are fully charged again, and the solar panel is doing what it should. It's all about balancing input and output, supply and consumption. So far I'm very happy.

Hero of the day!

Steve is the manager of Great Haywood marina, Erin Mae's home when we're not travelling.

Three days ago, after 43 years, he gave up smoking! Motivation? The grandchildren – especially the new one due tomorrow.

I don't have a clue what it must feel like – "buzzing in the head" is what he said today. Strength to your arm, Steve. You're a hero!

Toothbrush

How much would you pay for a toothbrush? Four for a pound from Tesco? £2.50 for something from Colgate because they're supposed to know about teeth? How long do you make yours last – and would you expect a more expensive one to last longer, or just reach the parts that other toothbrushes don't reach? When our dentist recommended an electric Oral-B some time ago, we bought the bottom-of-the-range model and loved it. Replacement heads are as expensive as manual toothbrushes, but you can usually find them for a reasonable price somewhere. We wouldn't want to go back.

However, I couldn't find any way to charge the Oral-B that didn't require mains voltage. It was going to be the one item on Erin Mae that needed regular charging via the inverter (apart from my archaic phone which I hardly ever use). Perhaps we could charge it every time we cruised, but this wouldn't be very satisfactory. So what were the alternatives? Toothbrushes with replaceable batteries seem to have gone out of fashion. Finally, I came across what must be the only toothbrush on the market which will connect to a USB source – you can charge it via your computer, or a 12 volt outlet in your car or in your boat! It's made by Philips. And the list price is £250.

It was, however, available on Amazon for £80. I nearly wrote "just £80", but corrected myself. That brought it down into (the top end of) the price range for other, mains-only models. But who sets the list price for these things? Granted, its charging systems are all rather nifty, especially the USB-connected case which both protects and charges it when you're travelling. But no way is there £250-worth of goodies in the kit. At £80, on the other hand…

In the end we decided to buy it, and it's charging as I write. It's cornered the market for USB-powered toothbrushes, and so can set its own price – but it does exactly what we needed to keep Erin Mae an inverter-free zone for long periods.

Only time will tell, of course, whether its results meet our dentist's approval at the next check-up.

Trabecular meshwork

I suspect that few boating blogs will have ever used the title of this post. It's not part of the system for filtering out diesel bug, nor does it refer to silencer insulation or the screen over the side-hatch. It's found in your eye, facilitating the draining of fluid from the front part into Schlemm's Canal. Let no one tell you this blog isn't educational.

Now, as it happens, long-sighted people (like yours truly), with our slightly shortened eye-balls, have a sharper angle between the iris and the cornea, just where said meshwork sits. That means it has a propensity for clogging up, especially (ahem!) in those no longer in the first flush of manhood. And that can lead to acute glaucoma, which sounds distinctly unpleasant. This was all explained to me by the ophthalmic consultant in Christchurch hospital this morning, and our mutual conclusion was that I should undergo a procedure to fire a laser at my iris(es), creating a small hole which will allow the fluid to drain away from the front part of the eye, should my trabecular meshworks ever get clogged.

This has little to do with Erin Mae, of course, except in the circumstance that I be struck by an episode of acute glaucoma in the middle of Harecastle tunnel, or when encountering an ex-working barge coming through a narrow bridge round a blind corner. Under such conditions I'd regret not having had the laser treatment.

So that's done with the penultimate appointment currently keeping us from boating. The last (something to do with my best beloved's canals or roots or something) is tomorrow. Then we shall be free to head out into the wild for a while to see whether all my 12 volt machinations on Erin Mae enable me to sleep at night, content in the sure and certain knowledge that my batteries are having no greater demands made of them than is right and proper. I see that Halfie has been moving in a similar direction.

Furzey Gardens

Being in the south for the weekend, we drove over to Furzey Gardens, in Minstead in the New Forest.

I'd left my camera behind, so experimented with using my best beloved's phone to capture the azaleas. It was odd when I came to work with the photos to have to deal with a different aspect ratio from what I'm used to.

It was the first time we'd seen examples of Primula beesiana, a type of candelabra primrose.

The gardens are beautiful – a real haven of peace in the New Forest. They are closely linked with the Minstead Training Trust, a charity which works especially with people with learning difficulties. Many vulnerable adults are involved in the activities of the gardens, and the whole project is a model of its kind. It's not the first time we've visited and we will probably do so again in July when our grandchildren are over. We were sufficiently impressed again today to take out membership.

Test run

As we started out from the marina yesterday the batteries, naturally enough, were full. But we'd stopped before lunch, relaxed in the sunshine, watched a bit of TV early evening, charged our devices  and generally done what we usually do. So the question was – what state would the batteries be in by the morning? That, after all, was the point behind Erin Mae's 12 volt revolution.

By the time we went to bed the SmartGauge was showing 94%, and that was encouraging. I woke at 5.15, and the SmartGauge said 91%. That was extremely encouraging. I went back to bed until about 8, by which time the SmartGauge was reading 90% and the solar panel was already providing enough current to offset the drain from the fridge. Now this is only one day's test, since we have to travel south by car tomorrow for the weekend but, as first indications go, these have been good.

So we travelled on, down Colwich lock, and stopped at our favourite local diesel supplier, variously known as the Taft Wharf or the pig farm.

These days they stock more than pigs and diesel. Not sure whether this is an alpaca or a llama…

Warm and woolly, a sheep on stilts. In the Great Haywood area there are stocks of sheep with mostly variegated brown colouring.

Whether or not it was the prevailing wind, they were nearly all facing the wrong direction for a decent shot.

What makes some mottled, some all white and some all chocolate I have no idea.

Time to turn at the winding hole half a mile beyond the diesel, re-trace our route and stop for lunch just short of yesterday's siesta spot. Since it was cold today, we had hot soup inside, and I noticed that Andy Murray was just starting his 2nd round match at the French Open. We rigged up the aerial for a little bit of tennis, and found ourselves spending most of the afternoon watching him struggle to overcome the 164th best player in the world. Rather more than a test run for him.

That meant we got back to the marina rather later than intended, but it doesn't matter. It's late May, but it's raining and it's cold, so we've lit the fire.