Bartimaeus

Locking in the rain is something we try to avoid, so when the day started wet yesterday, we immediately rushed to stay where we were.  The forecast suggested that the best of the weather would be in the middle of the day and we were both hungry so we had an early lunch.  The rain had virtually stopped when I went out to get the boat ready.  A man on the towpath struck up conversation.  He was in a boat further up coming towards us, so we exchanged tales of what we could each expect ahead of us, and of our adventures further afield.

By the time we set off the rain had cleared completely.  Clare did the first few locks with me driving.  This canal has three or four locks per mile, and each lock is very deep.  It’s very clear that the purpose of this canal was to get to the other side of the Pennines.  The water levels in most pounds were fairly low, straying from the centre line usually resulted in grounding.  The locks often have a feel of having been squeezed in to tight spaces.

I had been told that the next good mooring was after lock 15E or 16E.  The open outlook at the first of these made the decision to moor up there fairly easy.  We had a view of the Titanic Mill across the field, now a spa, which originally depended on the canal for transport and the river for power.  It is only half the age of the canal however.

This morning was bright and still as forecast. We set off promptly to make the best of the sunshine.  The air temperature was low, but the sunshine easily compensated.  Clare continued to operate the locks with me occasionally getting out at the top to let down a paddle.  Many people passing on the towpath remarked on how pleased they were to see boats moving again.

At the edge of Slaithwaite (locals pronounce it sla-wit) we came through a lock rebuilt in concrete.  For some reason the rebuilt lock was several inches wider than all the others.  I fail to see how this can do anything other than waste water.

We stopped at the water point and filled up before moving on a few boat lengths to moorings beyond the shadow of a building opposite.  We walked in to the village looking for lunch.  The difficulty was choosing (many other cafes were available) but eventually settled on and enjoyed one with many bread puns (“We have all that you knead” etc.).  We had a little explore of the village in the sunshine.  The narrow canal continues to live up to its name on the way through.

We got back to the boat just as a light shower arrived, and there were dark clouds around.  I decided to press on with a job I had been putting off for a few weeks.  The replacement for the waste tank sensor has been awaiting my attention since it was delivered to Linton.  Yesterday I’d had a message from Rob at Ortomarine who had resolved the problem with remote connections to our control system.  I asked him to confirm details of the rewiring for the sensor, which he did with his customary thoroughness.

Physically replacing the sensor was straightforward but a bit fiddly.  The sensor is held in with five bolts, each with a small allen key head.  The old sensor is flat so undoing the bolts was fairly quick.  The new one gets in the way of tightening, so it was a long slow process.

The old sensor was digital, but the new one delivers an analogue voltage, so needs to be connected differently at the other end.  This only involved moving one wire, but I had to partially dismantle the cupboard at the back door to reach its new location.  It all seems to work and we are getting a reading.  The previous reading was 135L, the new one is 35.  Have we gained an extra 100 litres of waste capacity?  I suspect the reading may represent 3.5 volts, where 10v means the tank is full, so should be read as 35%.  Rob will probably advise, but I will monitor reported levels over the coming days, and also next time we empty the tank.