The last couple of times Mick has been down to check on Oleanna he’s not been able to run the engine, the starter battery had lost all it’s charge. The battery charges as the engine runs and for the last few years we’ve put up a small solar panel which has trickle charged it when in a marina. But with one thing and another this year this didn’t happen straight away this winter and the battery is now dead.

It’s lasted us eight years so we can’t complain, time for a new one. Last week Mick had measured the battery tray it sits in and popped into the marina office to see if they had anything suitable in stock. There wasn’t anything that would fit. A hunt round on line and there was a suitable, lead acid 12volt, 80 amp hours, 740 cold cranking amps, maintenance free battery, one was put on order for us. Yes we could have sourced one ourselves, but it just seemed easier to get it delivered to the marina.

With both of us planning on a trip to Goole it made sense to hire a car. Originally booked for Tuesday, but the battery hadn’t arrived before the office closed for the weekend. The car was moved to Wednesday, no battery Tuesday. Then it was nudged by another day to Thursday, a chase up of the battery , it would be delivered on Thursday too. We’d already decided to go to Oleanna anyway even if it didn’t arrive, other jobs could be done instead.

An early pick up, an early walk, breakfast and we were on our way across the Wolds snowdrop spotting as we went, the daffodils still a long way to grow to meet the sun yet.

Today the temperature had changed from the cold it’s been for months to pretty warm. This showed itself on the front doors of Oleanna, condensation on the outside of the front door windows. The door stuck a little as usual in the winter when she’s unoccupied. Inside the ceiling and every wall had a coat of dampness, time to light the stove, turn the heating on and add extra ventilation to help dry her out a touch.

Mick headed over to the office and returned with the new battery on a trolley. Swapping starter batteries over would be his main job today. The location it needed to go in very awkward so it would take some time.

I set about giving the ceiling and walls a wipe down. It always amazes me how much spider poo there is, little brown dots. But more amazing is how they can poo on the ceiling, upside down! Just how do they do that?!

The stove fan took some time to get warmed up. A little nudge required to get it moving. Oh dear it squeaked! Thankfully after a few minutes it started to loose the noise as it turned, we’d not be needing to stop at Aldi or Lidl for a new one on the way back to the house.

Lunch, a bowl of soup each with some bread and a cuppa. Then back on with jobs.

It was windy outside, Mick considered putting the horn and light bracket back on the cratch board, but as it started to rain he put the job off and spent time checking things were good for the boat safety next week.

I took the shower to bits. Gave all the nooks and crannies a scrub with a tooth brush, then had a go at the glazing with lemon and bicarb, it worked wonders in the house. One of the door wheels seems to pop out of the track often, so I had a go at straightening both of them up, hoping this would solve the problem. Time will tell. In one corner the sealant wouldn’t come clean. Is it worth redoing? Or maybe leave it till next winter when more will require attention.

Mick by now had finished his jobs so as soon as the shower doors were rehung we packed up and made ready to leave. A chat with the Diver chap, sorry we’ve never got to know your name, and Alastair before we left. I took some photos of Oleanna so that I can do some colour schemes for her repaint. We’re so used to her being dark blue I want to see what she’ll look like being cream before we commit to it.

Oleanna had a new starter battery, the engine was run for a while. Shower cleaned, boat warmed up and dried out for now. But most importantly she’s ready for her boat safety next week. We rode back across the Wolds as the sun was setting in the west.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 damp boat, 10C warmer than yesterday, 1 dribbly flue, 1 boat wiped down, 6 dead spiders, 3 alive still pooing! 1 new battery, 1 engine run, 2 new horns and light left on the bed, 1 clean shower, 1 grubby bathroom floor, 3 down to 2, 1 new carabiner, 1st go at mosaic knitting, 1 cat left all alone whilst they went and had fun on the boat! When’s the outside going to start moving again? Soon…ish