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?










Comments

  1. MartinJune 30, 2018 at 11:55 PM

    Glad you're getting the electrical faults finally sorted out. Hopefully after that you will have problem free cruising.

    ReplyDelete

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