Bartimaeus

Yesterday we returned to the museum at Hartlebury Castle that we had not found the time for last week.  The forecast had some rain in it for later in the day, so we set off soon after breakfast.  There was enough in the museum to occupy us until lunch time and then we headed for the cafe.  It turned out to be on a sandwiches only menu due to staff holidays, so we opted to look elsewhere.  The nearby pub was not open, so we headed in to Stourport.

An often recommended canal-side pub provided us with a good meal and yet another unusual mural.  One side of the pub had windows looking out towards the canal.  On the opposite flat wall was a rendition of a bay window looking out on to sunny woodland.  There are few clues in my photograph that this window is not real, whoever commissioned it must have been pleased with the result.

We cycled back along the towpath to our mooring, and then cast off to head towards Kidderminster.  When we reached the first lock I went to work it, but found it set against us with the far gate open.  I looked around the corner and saw a boat coming, so I assumed they had set it for themselves.  It seemed not, this was somebody else's omission.  Since the lock was ready for them I helped them through, which also gets the lock set for us.

Clare was driving in as the rain started.  She got herself a coat, but I didn't feel the need, it was still very warm.  By the time we had cleared the lock, the rain was off.  It had been just wet enough to make the dust on the boat sides look like tear stains.

As we lined up for the next lock, a young girl and her mother on the towpath engaged us in conversation.  Clare got off to work the lock and enjoyed showing them how it all worked - with a very appreciative audience and helper.  The girl was delighted to be told that we had a special word for people who took an interest in boats as they went by - a gongoozler.

The water tank was needing filled again.  It was sufficiently low that I wanted to try an experiment.  Before filling at the water point I ran the tap until it started to spit as it reached empty.  I was pleased to see that the recalibrated gauge showed about 3 litres - that's close enough for jazz.

We moved on through the next lock to moorings outside a supermarket (other moorings outside a supermarket are available) which was our rendezvous point for this morning with Nick from Hydrogen Afloat.  He was brought by Caroline from Ortomarine, but she was too busy to stay.

Nick phoned Kensa, the makers of the heat pump to run through the completion of its commissioning, which seemed mostly to consist of reading out temperature and pressure values.  After a few minor telephone issues he got the first part done, but was then stumped when asked to put the heat pump in to the mode for heating water.  He called Rob at Ortomarine who turned up a little while later to help.

After some discussion Rob made a suitable internal connection and the unit started to make hot water and some more readings were transmitted.  The outcome is that the installation is now officially approved and so our warranty is valid.

Rob also managed to get a little more information from Kensa about how to control the unit.  The original plan was to send instructions digitally using modbus, but this has not worked so far.  Kensa are looking at their firmware, but in the meantime we may have to revert to direct electrical connections.  This is Rob's forte, but he'll need to squeeze another piece of kit in to our already full electrical cupboard to do so.  He's committed to return to us one day next week.  

Before moving on we took advantage of the nearby supermarket .  I bought two 5 litre bottles of water which I have stashed in the bow locker.  That should mean it's not so desperate if we manage to run out of water again. I also bought some lemonade - Clare had already bought Pimm's - that would help too.

Setting off in the late afternoon sunshine it was a pleasant mile or so to a rural mooring before the next lock.  On the way we passed a moorhen chick, some ducklings and a kingfisher sculpture.

Rob had also brought along another package that had been delivered to their unit during the morning.  This allowed me to restore the onboard computer, so we are now back to our usual music service and can publish new pages (such as this one) without me having to intervene.

After dinner we had a short stroll along the towpath to look at a heron sunning itself.  It seemed content to sit there even while we had a chat with a woman cycling along the towpath with her grandson.

Soon after we got back to the boat, a heron - I presume the same one - flew in to land directly opposite the open side hatch.  Was it just lucky that the water there came just to the top of its legs, or can it tell?  It didn't seem perturbed by us, but flew off over the fields when a dog walker drew level.