Monday 2^nd December 2019

Kenny and Sue left at 10am, headed back into Middlewich while we had decided to stay a few more days. The day was very frosty again, another white world with ice on the canal. However, as the day wore on it obviously warmed up, the grass thawed out leading to a muddy towpath and the ice cleared from the canal.

We largely had a nothing kind of day, enjoying the peace, quiet and solitude. Just a shame about the trains rumbling past on the Main West Coast Line just across a field from us.

Brenda sorted out her bedroom vanity unit and the wardrobe, while I did some ordering with more improvements in mind. Some 12V USB chargers and a small 12V computer type fan.

The USB chargers will enable us to charge items without having to switch the inverter on. The inverter converts the 12V dc power to 240V ac that supplies the mains sockets on the boat, that have integral USB charging ports. With the exception of the washing machine, the inverter itself is the biggest consumer of power on the boat, even when not supplying anything. It seems pointless having the inverter on to supply the sockets just to charge small items when the charging adaptors drop the power to 12v anyway.

We tend not to use the diesel-fired central heating, relying on the multi-fuel stove instead. Throughout the whole of last winter, the heating ran for a maximum of 2 hours, just to warm the boat on the coldest of mornings. However, this does mean the bedroom and shower room are cold. While we prefer a chilly bedroom anyway, the shower room is a different matter and, while sorting out the wardrobe, Brenda found ice in the water collector of a moisture trap which was a worry.

The warmest area on the boat is that surrounding the stove when it is lit, obviously with the hot air rising. I have always had an idea since moving on the boat, that it would be beneficial to have a small fan and route some of this heat through trunking to the shower room and bedroom, if only to take the edge off the cold. With this in mind, the 12v computer fan will be jury rigged with temporary trunking to see if the idea is viable.

Just the one boat passed, ‘Adagio’, a shared-owner ship boat early in the day and going far too fast in the icy conditions. He got told off as he was alongside. Boats passing too fast are annoying anyway but, pushing the ice ahead of them and to the sides, they damage the paintwork of the sides of the moored boats they pass, if not the hull itself in extreme conditions.

We had a steak dinner with an oriental mushroom in black pudding and brandy sauce starter. We were in between starter and main course when Halsall, the fuel boat, started to creep past at 7:30 in the darkness. We had been looking out for them and so hailed them down and took 6 bags of coal and 3 bags of logs.

Last winter, we cut our own logs from fallen trees at the canalside but, with them not being seasoned, they gave off a tar deposit which stained the roof. This year we are burning only seasoned, kiln dried wood and so far, there have been no deposits.