Diesel from Towcester in Braunston

This is Towcester, Jule's boat, and we're getting diesel. Jules usually delivers our coal in all seasons, but we've never had diesel from her before! If you follow the hose to a yellow shape, that's the top of the fuel reading tank (!). Just like usual garage tanks, but on a boat. We love this.

We're also enjoying all our 12v LEDs which we installed over the winter and are prepping to put up two more. It means that we hardly have to use Ivor (to give us 240v for table lamps), especially now that we discovered that the 12v laptop charger works. That's because, in all the electrical work prepping for BFG, Pete fixed the 12v sockets which had been dead since we took over Bella years ago. Less Ivor, less fuel to create the electricity we need. All good!

Out! At long last.

Well we're out. We should have set out yesterday, but as we started the engine, we saw that the rev counters was not counting and we heard that the familiar diesel engine warm up squeal was not stopping. A few lovely boat neighbours offered help and advice, but no go.

Today, we called River Canal Rescue, the boaters' AA/RAC, and they told us that the problem is the starter motor alternator. And he said we were safe to set out. So we did RCR will bring an alternator to is tomorrow whilst we are in our present mooring in Braunston. The pic is of the throttle stantion wrapped up to muffle the squeak sound!

We'll be here for the week as Pete works out his time in Napton and then we'll set north so he can take up duties in his new patch of the Canal and River Trust.

After 7 months at Hillmorton, it is Fabulous to be OUT!

Oh - and I found all those lost posts on my phone, so re-posted them.

Somehow, I've removed a year of the blog

Well there we are.  Elizabeth lost a year of the blog by deleted drafts and too late realised that they were not draft.  Lesson learnt.

Not much happened, thankfully, as we didn't travel much in this last set of months.  What with the drought, then the floods, and our boat works, we've been in our home mooring since last October (!)  A bit of a shock for us, but it meant that Elizabeth had much more time in her studio.  Finished works abound So, a bullet point summary:

• We have a new generator called the BFG which will allow us to be fully independent of shore electricity.  It means that we can go anywhere and not have to look for laundrettes or marinas with visitor moorings. This is stupendous news.  Here is Simon doing the final connecting:

• Pete was a Volunteer Lock Keeper and is now... a Canal and River Trust Employee!  Here he is:

So now we'll travel around the network of his work.  Not a small area, he'll be managing water in reservoirs, rivers and canals in the northern Grand Union section, covering the area from Stoke Bruerne to Braunston on the Grand Union Main line and from Norton Junction to Kilby Bridge on the Grand Union Leicester Arm.

We've been around the whole of the area in the past and we do look forward to longer visits!

• We wrote about Jules Fuels keeping us warm in the winter and here is Towcester, her boat, and Richard, her Man, pulling alongside to deliver.

So that's it!  We've been keeping our home mooring occupied, having different bits of electricity and engineering done, working hard and trying very hard not to be impatient about not travelling. 



A whole year in one post!

The BFG close to complete

We spent last weekend cleaning, wrapping, sealing and replacing much of our steel ballast rods. They nestle in the newly painted engine bay alongside the BFG. This is Simon the sparky, making sure that the electrics work.

We're almost there. This past Friday Simon made sure that the BFG can run the full 240v on his own. This is good; it means that we can run the washing machine whilst we travel or are away from shore power. The next thing is to ensure that the BFG talks to Ivor (the inverter) to ensure that we can charge our batteries from either Bella donk (prop engine) or the BFG.

Soon!