Tuesday 19^th February 2019

A full moon last night, which I photographed and also photographed the reflection in the water. The reflection showed up much more detail whereas the actual moon itself was too bright. 

The boat behind us, with a guy on his own on board, is broken down and waiting repairs by the marina here. It always amuses me somewhat when somebody choses to live on the canal and knows hardly anything about them or their boat. Surely you would want some knowledge of the technicalities of your own boat even if you didn’t necessarily work on it yourself. It was one of things I respected about my mother. After my father was killed she became convinced that garages were ripping her off, so she went to night school and took a car maintenance course. As for the canal system, this guy didn’t know where he was in the country or any of the system, not even the route into Birmingham from here or the fact that you could get to Oxford.

There is a windmill marked on the canal guide on the hill south west of us, Caldecote Hill. After breakfast we walked up to see it. The views from the top were amazing, or rather would have been if there weren’t so many trees. We could see right over the area through which the Ashby Canal passes, and we fancied we could see Hinckley and possibly Ambion Hill, the sight of the Battle of Bosworth.

There was a nature park at the top that was bounded by what looked like a water pumping station, Judkins Quarry and the windmill site. There was lots of house building taking place around the pumping station and security fences around the windmill site and the quarry. The path between the fencing became very narrow, about 5 feet. The windmill has a large scruffy house and outbuildings around it, with two vicious looking and sounding Dobermans roaming free. It was very intimidating and a bit scary walking past. I had to carry Harvey who was shaking like a leaf.

The windmill is sail-less and difficult to see, the owners obviously like their privacy with trees all around the site.

There was a small ridge built between the fence and the quarry edge that was also difficult to see over. However, when you did get a view, the scale was quite staggering, it was hard to comprehend what you were seeing. It transpires that only part of the quarry has been capped and the remainder is still used for land-fill. Again, only part of the quarry is presently being used for that purpose and there is plastic sheeting covering the areas already filled. Quite an operation.

Judkins Quarry Land-fill site

 Fly-tipping.

                                                                           Disgraceful and a scourge on the landscape.

Returning to the boat we called into the shop at Springwood Haven Marina. Their engineer, Kevin, is a specialist in Victron equipment, the manufacturers of our inverter and battery monitor. He agreed to look over, and explain, our system. It cost £60 for his time but, I felt, money well spent and not just for peace of mind. There is a shunt between the solar panels, alternator and batteries that detects the amount of charge passing to the batteries. He found that the wire coming from the alternator was connected to the wrong side of the shunt, such that charge from the alternator was not being detected by the battery monitor. Hence, the strange readings sometimes when charging from the alternator. He also explained that with five leisure batteries, we should have a bus-bar between them and that, with proper battery management and continuous cruising, five batteries were unnecessary, that three would suffice. It was good, and trustworthy of him, that he didn’t push to have that work done immediately but rather, to bear it in mind when we have to replace the batteries.

He then explained the battery monitor operation and found that the monitor had not been set up for the boat and still retained its factory settings. So now all should be good. Thanks Kevin.

On the boat we decided to move just ½ mile down the canal to bridge 29 and the Anchor pub passing a working boat cutting back trees and vegetation.

We went to the pub for lunch, a tuna mayo and a steak and onion baguette with chips, side salad and coleslaw. Very nice, but we were the only customers. The landlord explained they are very much a seasonal pub.

Weather: a lovely spring day.

Day Total: 0 locks; ½ mile; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 0.6                                                                                                                       

Overall Total: 331 locks; 731½ miles; 32 tunnels; 7 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 459.1