Bartimaeus

We left Bartimaeus moored in Nantwich while we headed back to Edinburgh.  We'd lucked out with our timings as Clare's sister's birthday was only a few days from the date of my scan.  The promised sunny weather meant that we didn't need to worry about turning the fridge off while we were away which simplified matters slightly.

In Edinburgh I took advantage of the sunshine to get out for bike rides with Kenny and Ewan.  We had to be mindful of the haar blowing in from the North Sea and choose our routes and times accordingly.  In a six day visit I managed to be out for a decent length bike ride on four of them. I wouldn't have been fit enough for any more, but I'm a little fitter now.

I still get a CT scan every six months, three years after surgery.  I'm not expecting this one to find anything of note, and may not even get told anything at all.

I was monitoring battery levels remotely.  The cloudless skies meant the system turned the immersion heater on to make hot water with solar power that couldn't be stored in full batteries.  On several days the water thermostat turned off the heater too - we had more solar power than we could use.

Our train journey back went very smoothly and we were back on board by the middle of the afternoon.  What I hadn't been able to tell by remote monitoring was that passing boats had pulled out our mooring ropes. It looks like the stern rope had held, but the two pins at the bow had been ripped out.  In addition, the fender hanger had snapped and there was no sign of the fender itself.

Someone had clearly used our middle rope to pull the boat back in and then put the spikes back in for us.  Thank you to them!

While we were settling in, another boat passed, rocking the boat and making an unpleasant grating sound.  I suggested we should move on in search of a more comfortable mooring.  We'd only gone a few boat lengths when I spotted something floating on the other side of the canal - our fender!

I reversed back enough for Clare to fish it out with the boat hook.  I had bought a spare hanger a few weeks ago so it is now back in service.

There was no haar to cool us here.  We drove at a sedate pace on electric drive.  A pied wagtail alighted on the stubby aerials on the roof before moving via the solar panels and the roof to the gang plank.  The panels and roof will have been very hot, I hope it hasn't suffered damage to its feet.

A little further on I noticed the first goslings we've seen this year.  They were hard to see in the field, but the parents were very alert to our presence.

We went through the two locks at Hack Green before mooring up just before Overwater Marina.  We got fuel at this marina several years ago in cold weather with very strong winds and no bow thruster.  We have no need to make difficult manoeuvres this time, but in these conditions it would be a lot easier.