Chop!

Great! Thanks Athy!

Tomorrow we'll head back from the Great Ouse to the Middle Earth Levels, prob stop overnight in Outwell or Upwell, any recommendations Athy for good mooring spots? Thought maybe by the pub or the shop.

If Scholar Gypsy and Moomin Papa are wanting to follow us, the E.A. won't be sorting this until next week. We just cruised up the Little Ouse, very shallow under the railway bridge, the a few hundred yards downstream from Brandon lock there is a tree down, we managed to slide over the branches close to the bank, so risking grounding. Very shallow at Brandon lock 48 hour moorings, we had difficulty winding.

Diolch yn fawr iawn! Thank you very much! Great photo! Just struggled to reach Brandon Lock, had to go over a fallen tree, only just made it, struggled to wind at the E.A. 48 hour moorings. Fingers crossed that we are as lucky on our way back out!

Love it! Tidy job! Did the photo you took of our boat come out OK?

Love the Black Country flag, our neighbour flies one!

Hi Athy, Probably not, we only have our motor, left the butty at the marina. And as we crossed to Denver Sluice on a Spring tide, I was thankful that we never brought it! We'll be back through Upwell around the 21st. We're probably the only narrowboat on the Great Ouse that's flying a Welsh dragon!

You were probably in front of us then, as you say we weren't bothered by the weed, as we went back to skin cooled when we fitted the Sabb. We lost a day and a half due a funeral and another day and a half to bad weather, so we winded at Great Barford, shared St. Neots lock with a steam launch, then got several sightings of the seal at Brownshill staunch. Got to moor right outside the Red Herring restaurant in Ely, highly recommend eating there, the fish platter starter was enough without the mains we'd already ordered! The finished the evening off with a visit to the excellent Drayman's Son micropub.

The day before yesterday, it was nice to see Scholar Gypsy going upstream on the very weedy Old West River, we were cruising back towards Ely. Today we battled through torrential rain and strong winds to get to Jude's Ferry (end of navigation on the river Lark). Probably do the Little Ouse tomorrow and the river Wissey the day after. Nice one month trip out from the Nene to Bedford and back.

10 hp single pot, obviously!

Make sure that your injector pump is bled, slacken the pipe union on the top of the injector pump, and manually pump vigorously the lift pump. Sabbs can be a bugger to start if there's any air in the injector pump. +1 check that there is/was no water in the bottom of your tank, preferably, change your fuel filter before you start bleeding it. Good luck!

Thanks Steve, finally got one coming from Lee the caster. Great to hear that you have a steady supply now. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-100mm-Cast-Iron-Flue-Pipe-Damper-Wood-Burner-Burning-Stoves-Fire-Heat-Control-/180869092639 These people do several different sizes of cast iron dampers including a 4" version that should fit these smokeboxes.

Thanks Frangar, I've been trying to get hold of Lee that has cast the Nipper smokebox in the past, trying his mobile and through his eBay shop but no luck so far.I would prefer one that allows me to fit the brass plate on the front, failing that, I'll get an Epping smokebox and try getting the front plate cast in brass or bronze.

No cage = fox's delight! ? ? ?

Wow! Tidy little trip.

I spoken to the guys there many times, but never to Sarah as yet, she doesn't respond well to e-mails either. I may actually get to speak to her within the hour... allegedly! ;0) I just rang them and it's long gone, unfortunately. But thanks for the lead!

I'm still struggling to find one of these smokebox. Can't find the listing at Budget Chandlery. Thought about using an Epping smokebox but getting hold of Sarah Edgson seems pretty near impossible.

They don't seem to list them or anything like it.

I would like to say that we're running out of things to replace, but my Mummy taught me not to lie!

Thanks Dave, I'll give her a buzz. !0)

The oval cast iron collar that joins our back cabin stove to the flue pipe has broken, does anyone know where I can buy a new or second hand one please?

You'll be on a sticky wicket if you've killed it!

Our motor had storage for fishing rods under the gunwales, I made it my bottle store. ;0)

Thanks Jen, I was wondering if I could use something like this! ;0)

Our Slx Digidome aerial failed following a thunderstorm, while looking for a replacement online, I read a buyer's review, he claimed that he had by-passed the 240v transformer and connected direct to the 12v amplifier. As our aerial was stuffed I decided to strip the transformer down to investigate. Nothing to lose and perhaps a lot to gain. On stripping it down I found that by connecting 12v to the leads, that had come out of the transformer gubbins, I once again had a lit LED and on re-connecting the aerial leads we got all our channels back. This was a double result, we were saved from having to buy a replacement and, as it was now 12v, our inverter would not keep 'seeing' it when on eco mode.