Burn Bridge to Gateforth Landing to Selby Swing Bridge

Tilly was allowed out as soon as we were up, no rush to get anywhere today. As she was out I took the opportunity to give the port side windows and frames a really good clean. This job hasn’t been done since we were in Mexborough beginning of last year.

First thing was to check that my phone was safely on a table and nowhere near the towels I would lay the panes of glass on. Last time I gave one of these a shake out of the hatch and lost my phone to the deepest depth of the South Yorkshire Navigations!

It’s a two person job to get the glass out from the frames due to our curtains being tethered at the bottoms. Someone has to pull one side right back to be able to eek the window past, but then I was on my own.

Armed with water, a cloth, an old toothbrush, handheld vac and cotton buds I set about clearing out the debris that collects in the channels of the frame. Yuck! Then washing the dirt and green stuff away before giving the rubber strips a good wash and checking that all the drainage holes were clear. Then each window got a very good clean, sparkling on both sides. I really should do this more often then it wouldn’t be such a big job, but there are other things I’d rather do in life.

Tilly was bemused that all of a sudden there were three one way openings on the side of the boat instead of just one. Of course as soon as the glass was back in the frame she returned to make an inspection. At least they got a Mrs Tilly Stamp of approval! Grrr!

The portholes have a couple of little supports in the bottom of the frame. Some of them work quite well, others have moved over the last few years and you have to jiggle the glass around to make it sit in a good place to be able to lock them. The supports had a thin bit of foam stuck to them. I decided to try replacing this with what we had to hand, a bit of weedhatch tape (sticky on one side and about 5mm of foam the other). The glass now sits a little higher and the lock works much better.

Mick spent some time with the cover of the inverter off. In the last week the cooling fan has been kicking in at odd times. We’re used to it coming on when the washing machine of dishwasher are working it hard. But these recent occasions have been when nothing unusual has been running.

He spent a bit of time watching a video from Victron, then removed the cover revealing all the brains that keep our power needs fulfilled. He’d wondered if an accumulation of dust inside might be causing the fan to run. Nothing obvious, a circuit board was removed to look further inside, gave it a little blow, but no dust. All was put back together, we’ll see if it happens again.

After lunch I moved onto the sliding galley window. I got to know the anatomy of it quite well. The frame being the same as the other windows just with a central bar added. Sliding it this way and that, removing rubber surrounds in the channels. This window was a replacement last year to a normal hopper. It’s not opened quite as far as the one on the other side of the galley, so I trimmed some of the rubber which seems to act as a stopper, making sure it stops short of the handle hitting the other pane of glass. Job done we could make a move.

Tomorrow we have a Sainsburys delivery back in Selby by the waste recycling centre. With no winding holes marked on our map we planned to cruise to West Haddlesey, go through the flood lock wind, drop back onto the canal and return to Selby. Quite a long way to go to turn round.

The duck weed has now been joined by quite a build up of pennywort. Large clumps float around, one such clump caught our bow, visible from the stern on both sides. It took a bit of manoeuvring to shift it, which was a relief as the drag factor could be felt instantly.

Mick had spent a bit of time on Google earth to see if there was anywhere possibly wide enough for us to turn, nothing was obvious. As we reached Gateforth Landing, here there is a mooring by a high wall, the width looked possible and we knew the depth by the wall would be good so Mick gave it a go.

He found a gap in the off side sideways trees and turned the bow into it. A bit of shuffling round, but there was enough space. We winded, just in time before a cruiser came into view, only our second boat we’ve seen moving since we arrived on the canal yesterday. That wind saved us about 3 miles of cruising.

Back in Selby before 5pm we moored up next to the layby to await our delivery in the morning. Tilly a touch disappointed to not be going out again, but she has got views to keep her occupied.

0 locks, 4.98 miles, 1 wind, 4 windows spring cleaned, 1 inverters heart revealed, 5 hours, 1 lamb hotpot thingy.