Wyre Aqueduct to Wyre Aqueduct

The weather has been on my side today. Sunny, but not too hot to be painting.

Before breakfast the fertan was washed off the port side of Oleanna with the hope that by the time I’d finished my bowl of cereal it would be dry. It however needed a bit of encouragement. Once the curved ends of the Epifane were masked I could apply a coat of paint. It goes on so easily, just a shame I needed to be on my hands and knees to do it.

With there being a winding hole on the other side of the aqueduct it seemed silly not to make the most of a dry day. So whilst Bridget and I stood guard at our mooring Mick pushed off and winded Oleanna, bringing her back to the same space for me to start on the starboard side.

I have been allowed out for much of the day. Below the canal there is a large area of grass, all neat and fairly useless to find friends in, they tend to see me coming! But amongst the short short grass there are areas of sand. These are very good for digging in, deeper and far bigger than my box on the boat. Every now and then some people walk along with sticks and balls. The balls are hit high into the air before they reached the grass. I like chasing balls, but I decided to watch from the trees instead. They kept hitting the balls until they fell into a hole. Well that needed investigating. I can fit far more than my arm into the hole, in fact most of my head fits in there. But it is quite boring, no friends live in it and it’s not very deep. So it was back to watch the world go by on the canal and keep an eye on that Max.

Max sometimes stands on the back of his boat and looks at me. I stand on my boat and look back.

They went out for a walk earlier, so that gave me chance to check out Max’s boat. I had to check all of it, the cat walk is black like mine, but only wide enough for cats, so why has he got one?

When we came up the link the other day there was a lot of overhanging trees. We suspected that Oleanna hadn’t got off without being marked and once she was turned we could see what damage had happened. A scratch from front to back. After I’d sanded the gunnel I gave the whole side a wash down, hoping that the mark would disappear, but sadly it didn’t. Is it worth getting the T cut out to try polishing it out? We will leave it until next month so any damage on our return can be dealt with at the same time.

So with a coat of paint on both gunnels most of the day was gone. My back and knees now ache and I suspect I won’t be moving much this evening. If the weather stays good I might get chance to get some Woodskin on the cratch before the covers arrive, but the forecast for the week ahead has a lot of rain in it.

0 locks, 0.47 miles, 1 wind, 2 gunnels looking good, 11 complementary comments before it was painted, M6 builder, 2 stare offs, 1 friend, 2 sand pits, 1 hole, 6 balls, 1 woofer with a catwalk, 2 aching knees, 1 aching back.