MoominPapa

I enjoyed the statue of Ronnie Barker in the square outside, looking over towards the Waitrose. I imagine him exclaiming "'Ow much, Ggggggranville?". MP.

All the more reason to go to Retford instead. MP.

.... and a smell of ozone? MP.

How would I spot her? MP.

In the charts for most convenient discount supermarket when arriving by boat, we have a new entrant. The Lidl in Warwick has been pushed off the top spot by Aldi in Retford, straight in at Number 1 with bollards for mooring and everything. Bridge 56 on the Chesterfield Canal. MP.

I'd been warned about being swept past, so I turned early, and ended up, perfectly under control, stemming the flow parallel to the piling just upstream of the lock, using substantial, but by no means all, engine power. I was feeling quite confident at that point, and lost some power to drop back to the equivalent point just downstream of the lock, ready to do the turn in. The problem was that as soon as I turned away from the direction of the flow, the bow went downstream so fast that there was no chance to get enough of the boat's length beyond the corner before it was swept down onto the corner. That left us being pushed very hard by the flow onto the corner and the boat was immovable by engine or human-powered ropes. I could easily get off by letting the stern go back with the flow and transition back to a ferry glide to reposition for another try, but every attempt, so matter where I started from, ended in the same way. I went back upstream to the moorings on the piles upstream of the the lock entrance without problems whilst we stopped to consider things, and from there dropped back onto the downstream corner under control, with the bow close to the upstream corner for a rope to be dropped and attached. I then used full power to pivot as far right as I could to point the bow closer towards the lock, the 4x4 in the carpark pulled the rope, and we were in! The final solution was quite calm and under control, but it took some stress to arrive at it! MP.

Keadby is a problem still to be resolved. I'm under instructions to give plenty of notice for when we want to go down there, and they'll find us a "gentle tide"! MP.

This was on Monday. Did we pass you on the Pontoon at Torksey? We left Torksey a high water, so to get slack at W. Stockwith we'd have had to wait until low water, which was considered, but would have been a long wait. The fresh meant that we'd have been able to get over the cill even then. MP. Yes, I think the problem was two-fold. Not enough acceleration to get into the lock apron and out of the flow once committed, and being deep at the back; the lateral force of the large wet area of the hull from the current pushed very hard against the corner, and effectively wedged us in place. MP.

Not entirely sure why, but we couldn't get into the lock. Every attempt ended with the boat wedged with the downstream corner halfway down the hull and the pressure from the flow was sufficient that full power and the lockie pulling on a bow rope just wouldn't move things. There was a lot of fresh coming down, and a big-ish tide. In the end we moored up on the pilling next to the lock to regroup. A 4x4 was set up in the car-park with a long rope around a lockside bollard and onto the T-stud. That did the trick with no drama at all. Main casualty was a rooftop pot of strawberry plants which went into the oggin during a particularly violent coming together with the bank. Props to Jim the lockie, who didn't lose his cool at all. MP.

Sorry to have had to rush away, but we're having a great time on the Chesterfield, after a somewhat traumatic experience at West Stockwith. Lovely and quiet. MP.

Big thunderstorm just now on the Chesterfield. MP.

The chancellor found enough time and attention to attempt to push through a change in the opposite direction. I don't think he's on our side. Do you? MP.

Another entry in the List of Disappointments. MP.

If you recall, boaters used to be able to use red diesel for everything, the self-declaration, pay more for propulsion, less for heating, arrangement was brought in at the behest of the EU, or at least to attempt to conform with EU law. I was expecting our newly-freed government to take us back to the status-quo ante on this. Also to remove the prohibition on vintage engines in new boats, and the general one-size-fits all construction rules which don't sit well on English vernacular narrowboats. In fact I expected those changes to be just a small subset of all the "quick wins" we were assured would happen once we were freed from evil Brussels rule. I'm starting to worry that the government is not actually on our side with this. Maybe they've headed off EU tax avoidance rules, and got the ability to revoke EU employment rights, and used crude nationalism to destroy the Labour Party, and they're not so interested in helping us little people anymore? Maybe that Bullingdon club photo shows reality, and not students doing cosplay? Ah well, at least they've stopped immigration. Well, apart from 3 million Hong-King Chinese, and however many visas for Indians they're exchanging for the new trade agreement to replace the EIU-India agreement. MP. MP.

How can you say that? I'm looking for the upside here. I was looking forward to no paperwork, no ban on vintage engines, maybe go back to unrestricted red diesel. Just can't actually seem to find any upside. Help me? MP.

Now we've left the evil clutches of the Brussels Bureaucrats and their evil, over-prescriptive regulation of how we can build boats, there are now new, red-white-and-blue regulations more suitable for the use of free-born Englishmen with a copy of Magna Carta tucked under their arms, which apply after Freedom Day at the start of this year. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/950712/Guide-to-recreational-craft-regulations-2017-tp.pdf But, wait, they seem to be exactly the same as before! Boris, what have you done? Where have you gone? MP.

I think you'd need a very strong rock to generate enough pressure to puncture the 10mm baseplate of the narrowboat. In the days when we did blacking on a trailer, the whole weigh of the boat would be supported on two steel pipes across the width the hull at 1/3 and 2/3 of the length without problems. Given the amount of support you'd get from deform-able sand, I just can't see it. I'm sure our engineering colleagues will be along to comment soon. MP.

Navigation now closed. http://www.sleafordnavigation.co.uk/news/new-problems-at-bottom-lock/ MP.

Many marinas either use meters in the pedestals, or "Meter Maid" tyoe inline meters, and charge monthly or quarterly for electricity already used. MP.,

No, it has a BS1363 outlet, the standard UK square-pin type. It's bonded in the plug that lives in that socket, as far as I remember. MP.

There's a whole empty pontoon opposite you We just nabbed the last spot at Kirkstead Bridge. MP.

Have a great trip. Despite your time away, you will find all the same locks in all the same places MP.

A fuel leak is more likely to be the diaphragm, I'd have thought. Suggest replacing both (or all three, there may be two diaphragms. MP.