Onto a Mooring

Today's Canal : Slough Arm

During the morning we were in contact with RCR and the person who is looking after the arrangements for our repair. Whilst progress has been made, some of it is backwards. It has been established that High Line cannot lift us out of the water for several weeks and that all their hard standing is fully booked. (They only bring in a crame once a month) That would mean that the repair would have to be done on the day of the lift. That is possible but if an incorrect part is ordered or the wrong size or missing then there is a problem. Hence RCR are reluctant to go down that route and, in any case, we would be very unlikely to get back to Droitwich before the winter season. 

The preferred option is to arrange for it to be taken to another marine engineering company but the boat moving will need a tow and arranging that cannot be done until Monday at best.

Christine had already discussed with High Line the possibility of another few days back on the same mooring as the two previous times. After RCR had made as much progress as they could it was agreed that we would take up that mooring - apart from anything else, we are running short of water and having to run the engine to charge the batteries. The mooring has immediate access to both water and a hook up.

However , , , (there is always an however!) the mooring is almost half a mile down the towpath and on the opposite side. Mike turned himself into a towing horse and generated enough power to get the boat down the canal at a reasonable walking pace. Christine stayed on board to steer as much as possible in a straight line. The main issue was to pass the tow ropes over three boats that have been noored on the towpath for a while. It is surprising how fast the boat seemed to be moving when doing this as there is little margin for error and for getting a rope caught on any of the 'stuff' stored on the boats' roofs. We got it wrong on the first occasion but forefather timed it just about right.

Finally we had to push/pull the boat to the opposite side - luckily a neighbouring moorer came to our aid. As the canal is not very deep, the pole was also able to be used all the way across.

Once we were tied up and had the inevitable conversation with the other boater it was time for a rather late lunch.

Alas, with both of us rather busy towing and steering we failed to think about a photo.

Needless to say, the rest of the afternoon was very quiet as we recovered from the unusual activity.

0.4 Miles - 0 Locks