Garstang

Whilst Bridget and Storm headed off to have a look at Fleetwood we stayed behind to catch up with some chores on board. The cooker needed a good clean as did the shower. It always amazes me how much of my hair ends up down the plug hole. On Lillian there was no way of cleaning it without contorting yourself through a bathroom cupboard to underneath the shower. We only did this once and the slow emptying of the shower tray turned out to be down to a small bit of plastic from a shampoo bottle lid, not my hair. On Oleanna you can just lift out the cover over the hole, this is where stuff collects, undo a screw and clean it out a thirty second job that you just need to get round to doing.

Finesse got back in touch regarding the removal of bulbs in the control panel. It is just a case of pulling and they slide out.  They also suggested opening up the grills on the bowthruster tube and having a clear out, which might save having to have Oleanna lifted out of the water to solve the problem. We had wrongly assumed that the grills were welded onto the hull, but they are held on with two bolts. Hopefully it will be possible to reach over the bow to do this, if not I think Mick will need to go in! He’s after finding some waders, I think some trunks would do. Anyhow both options would be cheaper than taking her out of the water.

They asked if we could send them some photos of the chimney, which I did including one of our next door neighbours chimney capped off. We are still concerned that the height we have will be a problem at low bridges. We’ve not come across any yet, but as we head southwards we make take a trip up the Caldon where there is a very low bridge, NB Winding Down certainly had to have it’s chimney removed to get under it.

My knitting was completed and popped in the post to Hebden Bridge and then we stocked up the cupboards including the wine cellar.

This evening we visited The Tithebarn and met up with Roger, one of the original syndicate members from NB Winding Down, and had some food. Their menu said that they had a gluten free burger option, so I jumped at the chance. However they didn’t have any gluten free buns to put my burger in. So when my food arrived it looked a third the size of everyone elses. I should have changed my order to something else, but didn’t.

We had a lovely evening catching up with Roger and hearing about the boats he helps skipper on the Lancaster Canal including Tavy Cleave that we saw him on the other day. Weather permitting Roger will join us to do the Ribble on Saturday, he’s an old hand at the crossing.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cardie finished, £3.40 postage, 3 boxes wine, 2 emergency meals, 1 clean shower, 1 pair of trunks required, 4 burgers, 3 buns, 1 stir fry, 8 pints Guzzler, 2 J2O.