Kidlington (2)

Here I am Rune

Distance 3 miles

Total 1732 Locks 86 Tunnels

Running total mileage 2493.5 miles

No real change in position today other than we are now facing the other way around. It was just a day for doing the domestic chores of refilling the water tank, emptying the elsan cassettes and, by chance taking on some more diesel fuel. The first two were planned operations since it is six days since we last filled with water so it was necessary to chug down the canal to the nearest water point just before Dukes Lock. This now holds the record as the water tap on the system with the lowest pressure, taking over 45 minutes to fill the water tank. The elsan disposal point was another half mile further along the canal but since I had so much time to spare (whilst the water tank was filling) I manually took the cassettes on a trailer rather than trying to reverse the boat down to it (once you’ve passed Dukes Cut the next place to turn is in the middle of Oxford). We winded at Dukes cut.

One the way back we had a striking piece of luck meeting ‘Dusty’ the coal boat that also sells diesel so we topped up our tank, which should see us OK into May now. The real point of luck was that whilst manoeuvring alongside the coal boat he picked up some crud around his propeller that we had disturbed at the same location on the way down, but fortunately it had dropped off our propeller. ‘Dusty’ didn’t have quite the same luck and it seems that is was an old tyre that had wrapped itself around his propeller grinding him to a halt. With a lot of swearing it looked as though he will be there for a while. I did offer assistance but he was happy, and equipped, to get the offending tyre off himself.

Tomorrow I think it will be a trip into Oxford, having just serviced the engine I’ve got a gallon of waste oil to dispose of.