Sunday, September 20, 2015

Enfield moves to Uxbridge

I don’t generally volunteer for any CRT activity east of Little Venice, but I seem to have capitulated this time.  A work boat called Enfield sits in not very good shape at or near Bow Locks and they want it moved to Uxbridge Boat Centre to receive a bit of TLC, or more than a bit I suspect.  So my volunteering comrade Richard and I will be doing the trip on Tuesday and Wednesday.  According to CanalPlan, it should take eleven and three quarter hours at the default settings of 3.25 mph and 15 mins per lock.

I don’t suppose for one minute we will keep up those speeds for the first half of the trip, but day two might make up the difference.  That day we should have less moored boats to pass and only one lock to slow us down and the canal is wide and deep out west.  Richard has kindly offered me a bed for the night at his house in London on Tuesday so we can get an early start on Wednesday  I took the trouble today to knock up one of my CanalOmeters for the trip.  The first one in colour as a matter of fact.

cometer

Pretty huh?  It’s been so long since I made one that it took me ages to work out how to format the Excel pie chart that it is based on. I really should take notes.  For those unfamiliar with my CanalOmeters, the inner disc shows hours taken and the outer ring, various places along the canal. Turning the top of the inner ring to any point lets you read off the hours to any other point. Anyhow, there it is, no doubt only approximately accurate given the conditions in London.  I’ll try and do a blog during the trip, which I suspect may be eventful.

On Monday evening we have a CRT Lead Ranger’s meeting in Kings Cross to hear about a new Ranger plan for London.  The Rangers in my area are finding their voice lately and I am bound to speak up on their behalf if the plan doesn’t make sense in what our CRT leader calls The Wild West.  Should be fun.  Being a Lead Ranger seems to involve a hell of a lot of emailing.  It’s like being back at work!

1 comment:

Vallypee said...

It seems you've found a volunteering job with lots of potential, Neil :) Both graft and challenge. That's what most people wish for in their work life too. Seriously though, this CRT work sounds great!