Banbury cut in half - plus Herbie sea trails

 Banbury cut in half? What's he on about?  Is it just click bait? Well I'll explain that at the end.

Meanwhile for the first time in many months Herbie has left the marina.  I don't know who was more nervous about it, Herbie or us. Well we needn't have worried the old BMC engine chugged along as normal and we remembered how to steer and do locks. It was not without incident however because we got stuck for nearly half an hour in Slat Mill lock. Same old problem, something stuck behind a bottom gate so it wouldn't open wide enough for us to squeeze out. A small crowd soon gathered and another boater offered his extra long boat shaft for me to poke around from Herbie's bow.  I couldn't really feel anything but suddenly the gate got freed and we were on our way.  Later on we heard that the culprit had been a plastic baker's tray,

 Anyhow we got to Banbury and decided to pull in by spiceball park which would be a nice quiet spot if it wasn't for the 24hr baking factory opposite. So that's twice in one day we got annoyed by bakers. Actually I don't mind that king of industrial noise as long as I know what it is.  They have these huge silo things

You have to suppose they're full of flour, I can't think what else. At the weekend, Spiceball park seems very popular and there were throngs of people about on Saturday afternoon. After they'd all gone home I took a stroll round.  It's a big park with several large fields, some woodland, a riverside (Cherwell) walk and a BMX thingy for the yoofs to fall off their skateboards and bikes on.

and it's only a short walk to the shops and entertainments in Castle Quay, see here in the sunset.

earlier I was very surprised to walk up to the Castle Quay moorings and found them empty -on the towpath side at least. Most unusual.

Ship's cat Gertie doesn't like the sound our engine and it took some time after we arrived to coax her out of her hidey hole on the wardrobe shelf, but I eventually coaxed her out onto the towpath where she followed us about and took a great interest in the many rabbit holes in the bushes.

We decided to go and turn the boat which meant going through the lift bridge by Tooleys Yard, down Banbury lock  and about half a mile up to the Tramway winding hole and back. Ariving at the lock on the return trip I was accosted by a suspicious looking gent saying "How are you and where you been you old $%$£*"  "Aah hello Maffi" quoth I, for it was he along with the lovely Susan (I can't see what she sees in him) Anyhow we had a quick catch up while we worked through the lock and by the time we waved goodbye we had learned that the lovely Mort Bones has moved her boat Bones (I know) from Cambridge to somewhere near Audlem on the Shroppie where she now resides. That could explain why we couldn't see her boat in cambridge then.

There were lost of very young kids kids about with their parents so in the interests of public education I allowed them to open and close the top lock gates and off we tootled back to the very place we had left an hour earlier but now facing in the opposite direction. 

And there I sat it a camping chair on the back deck enjoying the warmth of the rays from the setting sun.  I was not alone in this, for just across the towpath I had a sunbathing companion.

A peacock butterfly. just look at those markings.  They look like they've been painted on.

Earlier that day we made the sad discovery that the inverter on Herbie wasn't working. Dead as a doornail. Now that was a problem because the only chargers and leads we had brought for our phones and computery gubbinses were 240volt ones. So out of necessity we strolled into the shops and payed over the odds for some leads to plug into Herbie's 12v cigarette lighter type socket. 

We later realised that we could have moved the boat up to the electricity bollards at Castle Quay. I took a closer look at one earlier.

I did some research and found out that you use their app to deposit some money, then log on to the bollard number and hook up and switch on.  I couldn't find the latest tariff but in 2023 it was 95 pence for a kilowatt hour, which seems a lot, but as someone on CanalWorldForums pointed out it compares favourably with what you would spend on diesel to charge from a genny or your engine, and of course you get 240v which is what we needed.  I might give it a go one day.

With bit of luck the inverter might have blown the gert big fuse that hides somewhere in the engine 'ole. When I feel up to doing a contortionist act and squeezing my old frame into it's dark recesses I'll take a look. No hurry.

While we were in town buying leads and it being a sunny day we popped along to the market square where our favourite bread and cake man was plying his wares. Fortunately for the state of our health he had sold out of his delicious but deadly lardy cakes so we had to settle for a piece of cold bread pudding (yum) and a Banbury cake. A Banbury, for those not in the know, is very much like an Eccles cake  but a different shape. 

Returning the the boat we divided the Banbury between us, hence today's blog headline. Sorry about that.

Waking up a sleeping boat.

Well here we are back on board. Herbie seems to have survived that long wet wet wet winter and we're reasonably shipshape. We may even venture out down the canal later this week although we've abandoned any ideas of taking her through the Straits of Hormuz. And just like HMS Dragon, now at last bound for Cyprus, we need a day or two to get victualed up and test all the equipment first.  

I always suffer from some trepidation at this point, all of this equipment isn't really meant to lie dormant for some months, so I go through it all with fingers crossed and mentally prepared for disappointment.

So far the electrics, gas and plumbing all seem hunky dory as does the Eberspacher heater.  I feared to open the door of the coal stove because one casualty of the winter has been the chinese hat on the chimney which we found lying on the bank minus its legs and with a gert big hole in the middle.  Lots of rain must have got down the chimney, but probably because our grandson Jacob left the stove full of ashes, they soaked it up nicely and no harm was done.

Just hang on for a couple of minutes and I'll go and attempt to start the engine . . . . (Yes I'm typing this in real time folks!)

I'm back.

Oooh it very nearly didn't start. It took along time on the starter key and the old battery was struggling but it finally rattled into life. I dare say the fuel took some time to make its way back to the injectors, a bit like when yo have to bleed the engine after  some jobs. I've left it running for half an hour now while it gets its breath back and get a nice bit of hot oil flowing through its veins.. You'd take a while to wake me up if I'd been asleep for several months. There's a bit of rainwater in the old engine 'ole bilge but not too much.  The domestic batteries were of course fine thanks to Bright Phoebe or Helios or whatever you call the sun. Solar panels rule!

Next job, waking up the dear old Morco gas water heater.  Wait there . .

Well I got it going, and hot water came out of the tap, but the  Morco gave me a hard time as it often does. The Morco and I have a fractious relationship at best. When it works it's a boon, but it does like to play up after  a long rest. The best treatment seems to be to use an old toothbrush to clean the gas jets but that means taking of the outer cover.  

If anybody has a good trick for getting these covers back on again without twenty minutes of cursing and swearing I'd be eternally grateful for their input. Anyway it's done now and it seems to be working.

And outside the boat the paint I put on the roof last summer seems to be holding up despite it only being a couple of coats of rust beater primer undercoat. Quite impressive after all the rain we had. I need to finish the job this spring.

So not a bad afternoon's work.

Meanwhile Gertie the ship's cat is tentatively refamiliarising herself with the surroundings. Actually she likes it here in the marina and goes off exploring for hours.  She's not so fond of Herbie's engine noise though. We might have another day in the marina tomorrow then for sea trials we can pootle down the four locks to Banbury on Thursday.  If that goes OK we can declare Herbie fir for service for another year.