We have snowdrops and crocuses out at home but no daffodils yet so a trip to the boat was required to get her ready for our spring cruise.
Unfortunately on arrival we found that the canal is still very much in winter mode - frozen over with a cold wind.
Anne and I went up last Sunday as we needed to replace the domestic battery bank.The builder fiitted 4 -Elecsol 125ah batteries 6 years ago. They have performed very well but started to give trouble when we were on the Thames last July in that they required to be charged for 6/7 hours to reach on 97%. The space where they are is above the swim at the stern as is very tight. I therefore decided to keep to the same and hunted around the internet. The cheapest price was direct from Elecsol at £125 each delivered.
The job was done on Monday by Dickie in the marina and the ice cleared from the canal on Tuesday. A window for a shake down cruise - at trip into Braunston with an over night stop at bridge 103 to test out the batteries. Everything was working OK with the new bank only reducing 20% during our 15 hour stop. The canal remained clear of ice until the Thursday morning but we had returned Wednesday afternoon- it had dropped to minus 5 overnight.
We had turned outside Braunston for a lunch stop and warm around the fire and spotted this very interesting narrow boat. Its nb Sickle with a fascinating history. It was built in a batch of 8 pairs ( motor and butty) by W J Yarwood of Northwich in 1935/36 with a V bottom for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co (GUCCC). During the war the Ministry of War shortened 4 of them for use as ice breakers. Sickle has now been restored to her 1950's condition. Full history can be found on her website.
