Wednesday 21 May 2014

Doing the oil change - Hartshill to Alvecote

(Boat Chalice - posted by Cath)

Starting decent of Atherstone locks
We moored at Anchor Bridge, near to Hartshill on the Coventry Canal. This was a very big mistake, as we were woken at some godforsaken hour by aggregate lorries backing up and loading on the other side of the canal. There was no break, and despite our best efforts we just did not manage to get any more sleep. So we grumped around, ate breakfast late and didn't get started for ages.



"Aber" is an "under cloth" conversion, with living space in the cargo hold.
I shopped at Atherstone, while the others serviced the boat - filling the tank, emptying the loo. Then we worked down the 11 locks - no problems except that one paddle was not working at lock 10, taking a very long time for the lock to fill. Afterwards we carried on until Polesworth where Alan did a much needed engine oil change, and discovered that we have water in the cabin bilge - not a good thing. He eventually tracked the problem to a leaky water pump, which will need replacing - in the mean time we have a tray under the pump, and we need to mop regularly.

"Odin" in the Atherstone flight

Bottom of Atherstone
We continued on to Alvecote Marina, where we ate in the Samuel Barlow pub, before a fairly early bed. We may have to make changes for our route this weekend for the 24 hour BCN Challenge, and so we are getting some rest in advance.










We are guessing this will be the only Bolinder on the BCN Challenge
Hartshill to Alvecote Marina
Miles: 1.0, Locks: 2

Total Miles: 3.0, Locks: 4

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