Day 3 Little Hayward to Handsacre

The day dawns cloudy and damp. I had been listening to the rain in the night, but it had eased to almost nothing by daybreak

Our new boat has a quite different toilet technology from our old boat. We have moved from a large holding tank that needed to be pumped out every week or so to a cassette based system that will need replacement after maybe three days. It has the advantage that when full we can simply slot in the spare cassette rather than trying to find a pump out facility, invariably over a weekend when places are closed. But I want to switch cassettes before it becomes a condition red situation, at least before I become familiar with the process.

The YouTube videos make it look a simple enough process, and so it is. Slide out the old, and slide in the new

The cassette not in use lives in this discreet box on the rear deck, and we have a few days in which to reach a disposal point

We set sail just after 10am. The canal meanders through very quiet and peaceful countryside 

with a lot of old, large, and expensive canalside properties

We have been following the course of the Trent over the past few days, and here we switch across to the other side of the river before entering the town of Rugeley

I have been advised to look out for some mannequins on the edge of town, and here they are, all ready for Halloween

We moor up by bridge 66 in the centre of town, and immediately draw the attention of a group of hungry swans

A spot of shopping for supplies, lunch, complete today's Guardian cryptic crossword, and we are on our way again heading for the Olde Peculiar Inne at Handsacre

It's turned into a delightful afternoon, it's a joy to be out on the water

On the way out of Rugeley, a single figure to provide a counterbalance to the earlier group

We reach our destination at 4pm, giving me time and daylight to do some work on the stern gland. I think the syndicate members are using far too much grease, which had been building up in huge piles in the bilge water. I clear this out, and tighten the bolts by one third of a turn. A messy, grease filled job

We head to the Olde Peculiar, and have finally found somewhere providing food. 

Previous 

Next