We paid the boat another short visit today, just to be sure that all is well. It was very misty when we set off from home but by the time we arrived at Droitwich the sun had come out and it was then a very pleasant day. The drive was straightforward except that the delay at the Air Balloon roundabout cost us at least half an hour. The pub is now closed, having been bought up in preparation for the new road construction that aims to remove these delays. According to National Highways, work should be starting soon but it will take until 2027 before it is complete.
We brought with us a new microwave as the original one had started to misbehave on our last few trips. It took only a few minutes to install. Later we took the old one to the nearby tip for disposal.
We have long had problems with water ingress into the port stern locker but that was not a problem this time (there is a little but not enough to be worth emptying out all the gubbins stored there. However, for the first time we can recall, the other locker had quite a bit if rain collected. This is where we store vegetables and drinks cans when we are out cruising. We had left a couple of boxes of cans and one had become too soaked to cope with being lifted out. We mopped out and dried the space. We may need to keep an eye on this when we start cruising.
We brought filled rolls with us which met our lunch needs.
A small quantity of logs came up from home and had to be stowed away. The last of the logs we bought near home last year were all too large for the stove so had to be split before we could put them away.
Mid afternoon we locked up to make our return trip. Just as we were leaving we called at the office and, as it happened, Nick the marina owner was there and we were able to ask him for a bit of background to a text he had recently sent out to all boaters. It seems that a problem has arisen which has left a lot of silt from Body Brook deposited below the locks between the marina and the motorway, in the direction of the town. CaRT have issued a closure notice with no clear commitment about re-opening. This had rapidly become an important and popular link in several cruising routes since the canal was restored a decade ago. Subsequent enquiries confirm the lack of a plan and we have expressed our concern to the area manager. We may well have to change our route for the start of our cruising season if it is not fixed quickly. (We plan the usual short shake down cruise in a couple of week's time but we can go down to Worcester by canal rather than river for that)