Saturday 30th
June 2018
Sandra called with a shopping list of electrical parts we need to
upgrade the boat. The solar panels do not appear to be working so a new
controller is required. Also having separate voltmeters for monitoring
condition of both start and leisure batteries. At present the only monitoring
of batteries is the leisure batteries via the solar panel controller.
The cost of all this will be just under £500 but it will be well worth
it, for peace of mind if nothing else.
So we are in Orchard Marina until Tuesday at least when Sandra should
be able to do the work.
The marina
itself is basic with no rubbish disposal which could become an issue with us no
longer having a car. As with the other marinas we have experienced, it too, has
its share of characters. It is good of the management to let us stay until the
work is completed, however, neither of us wanted marina life, not yet anyway,
and we are finding it difficult feeling hemmed in, rubbing sides with one boat
and being 18ins off another. At least neither of them is occupied.
Tracey
delivered new optics for us to replace the set broken during the move onto the
boat. She gave us a lift into Northwich. With the sheer volume of traffic and
the perpetual queuing, I find I am not missing driving at all. But it was nice
to get out of the marina.
We had
breakfast in Northwich and did some shopping before walking back via the Broken
Cross pub. The pub never had a good reputation but has just been taken over by
a couple who previously had the “Eggy Ferry”, the Egremont Ferry just outside
Birkenhead, a term I hadn’t heard for many years. They are hoping to turn the
place around. Good luck to them, it’s a fascinating place inside and in a prime
location. It was built in 1777 so would have been built along with the canal. If
only walls could talk.
While
sitting outside the pub we were talking to a couple who lived just down the
road who remembered our boat from Middlewich Folk and Boat.
We heard a
shocking story this evening of a boat working its way through the Wigan flight of
locks that was set upon by a large gang ranging from 10 to 30 years’ old who
were dropping bricks, fence posts and metal bars onto the boat while it was in
a lock, causing severe damage to the boat and the owner to have a seizure.
Why do so many
people feel they can target boats in this way?
Glad you're getting the electrical faults finally sorted out. Hopefully after that you will have problem free cruising.
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