Well one week later and we are still at Debdale Wharf with no alternator.  That has been sent off cleaned and returned.  We are now waiting to hear when they can look at putting it back in and carrying out the other jobs we want done!  We knew they were busy this week, just we couldn’t get here any sooner.  We did have Tesco deliver yesterday so that was exciting and at least we have plenty to eat!  We are a bit cut off here, there is a village a short cycle away on the A6! There are footpaths but the ones we have tried are very muddy.  Giving us chance to sort out on board.  Paul has been busy filling and painting and I have done some sewing.

So not much else to say, so until next time, bye for now.

Well Monday saw us finally move on.  Quite an easy day really and we didn’t go far.  Well Tuesday more than made up for that, we travelled 5 miles with 12 locks!  Phew, with Paul at the tiller and me ashore.  The locks were quite heavy going, in particular one gate and one ground paddle which were really hard to shift, but I made it in the end and Paul didn’t have to get off to help me.  This year I shall have to get more into the boat handling, leaving Paul to cope with big lock gates etc.  I do like working the locks much better though.

Yesterday there were no locks just a tunnel so I stayed inside while Paul was out in the cold.  And it was very cold and later started to snow, but we have made it safely to Debdale Wharf.  Seems like we will be here for a while as an engineer has just been on board and removed our alternator!  So it looks like we are finally getting our electric problems properly sorted.

So that’s all for now, it will probably be next week before I post again.

Kilby Bridge Lock, on the move again.

Well today finally we are on the move again.  We have spent a week at Double Rail Lock as it was closed.  Once we got our bearings it wasn’t so bad.  The main drawback, was whichever way we went meant that we had to walk along a muddy towpath.  We found the shops and also a leisure centre where we went swimming a few times, mainly so we could have a shower...........

Anyway this morning, good to their word, the Canal and River Trust guys got the water back into the lock and at about 11 they were letting us through.  During the week we have had just about every kind of weather.  Obviously rain, a fair bit, plenty of wind (not just inside) and one morning the canal was frozen over.  Thankfully we have our lovely stove which keeps us nice and snug.  Then this morning we woke up and it was all white, as you will see in the picture.  This Kilby Bridge Lock the second of only two we have been through today.

But we have carried out the important task and now have a full water tank and an empty waste tank.  So that has been a relief in many ways!  Onwards tomorrow towards Debdale Wharf where hopefully they can carry out some work for us.

Well it is time now for dinner which has been simmering gently on the stove all day, yumm.

Paul waiting while I work the lock.

Snow at Leicester Marina

Breaking the ice so we can go for pump out!

The tree that had to go!

The weekend passed well.  Saturday was a lovely sunny day with lots of people out dog walking and cycling.  We moored for the night about at about 3 seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  So plenty of daylight hours left.  Paul even watched the rugby and saw England beat Scotland.  Sunday morning we set off again, grey skies this time but it was still dry and we were making progress.  We stopped for lunch at South Wigston.  Paul had made lentil soup which had been simmering away on top of the fire all morning.  It was delicious.  So just 3 more locks then we would be at Kilby Bridge where we planned to spend the night.  It was as we approached the second of those lock we realised we had gone horribly wrong! There was scaffolding and the lock was drained and empty.  A bit too late in the day we got out the computer and checked the stoppages to find that Double Rail Lock was closed to have work done until 1^st of March.  So here we are for the duration, half hour walk to the nearest water point and not enough room to turn around.  That will teach us to do our homework!!  Talking to the workmen this morning they say they are ahead of schedule so we have our fingers firmly crossed as we have yet to come up with a plan B!  The plus side is we are both well and Falcon is fairly well stocked so for now we are OK. 

So watch this space for developments, meanwhile I will post a couple of pictures for you to look at.

Well finally at last we have been able to move on from Leicester Marina.  It was with mixed feelings as we have enjoyed our time there.  Especially one ice breaking day when we just HAD to go for pump out whilst part of the marina was still frozen!  The area over by the pontoon was free flowing however we had to break up the ice behind, beside and in front of us.  It was thicker that we had thought.  I lost hold of 2 boat poles on the way over but luckily we were able to retrieve them both.  

So this morning we waved goodbye to Julie the marina Manageress and set off towards Birstall Lock.  Got safely through the lock only to find that about three hundred yards further on there was a tree across the river.  It was quite a large one which looked as though it had arrived there on the recent flood water.  Taking our trusty poles we walked down to see if we could move it out of the way.  No such luck it wouldn’t budge.  So we had to revert to plan B and call Canal and River Trust to come and help us out.

First time we have had to do anything like this and must say we were fairly impressed.  Within two and a half hours they had moved the tree sufficiently for us to continue.  They thanked us for our patience, and we left them working out how they were going to secure the tree until they could get suitable equipment there to remove it.

Whilst we were waiting we had our lunch, so 3 more locks to go and we are now moored at Castle Park near to Leicester town centre.  The pontoon here is a floating one to if it does rain heavily we should rise up with it.  But we are hoping it will remain dry enough tonight so that in the morning we can move off and get off the river and back on to the canal proper.