Bartimaeus

We were due at Brinklow Marina on Thursday, the day before Electrika 2025 - the electric narrowboat show.  It was also forecast to be one of the sunniest and hottest day of the year.  I got a message from Paul asking if he and Richard could meet us that day.

At first I thought it was going to be tricky to work around meeting and booking in to the marina, but it eventually dawned on me that we just needed to do things in the other order.  So on Thursday morning we set off for the marina in the already hot sunshine.  The last section of canal before the marina is the Easenhall Cutting.  When we were at Electrika last year, this cutting was blocked by a landslide.  This year we had been warned that there was a tree down, but it was passable with care.  Before we even reached the cutting we encountered a moored boat with one of its mooring pins pulled out.  We decided we should re-tie it - we have been grateful to passing strangers who have done the same for Bartimaeus.

Their stern was still fixed to the bank and I managed to tie ours to theirs.  Clare crossed to the bank and used their ropes to pull the boat in.  I brought a hammer and knocked in their mooring spike anew.

We had no difficulty identifying the site of last year's landslide.  After weeks of work, the cutting is stable enough to allow boats to pass, but the towpath has not yet been reinstated. Select an ImageEarthworks at the Landslide Site in the Easenhall Cutting

The tree in the cutting wasn't difficult to pass, but it was a slow dance between two boats coming in the other direction.

At the marina I set Clare off to go to the office while I hovered outside.  It took quite a while for that to get sorted, but not so long to get in to our mooring spot.  We plugged in to the electric and hurried to get the tandem out.  We were in the middle of assembling it when Paul phoned to say they had arrived at the planned meeting place - a pub in Brinklow, about ten minutes away.

We joined them for lunch in the pub, and then we all returned to the boat.  As I'd hoped, by the time we got back, the batteries had completely charged and the automatic system had switched the shore power off to make best use of the sunshine.

The plan for the afternoon was a short (electric) cruise.  The nearest winding hole was the other side of the Easenhall Cutting, so we set off that way.  I had hoped that the tree cover in the cutting would make the cruise a little less hot.  That worked for the sections where there were trees, but it was very hot out of the shade.

On the way back in to the marina I completely misjudged the corner and bounced off the piling - luckily the only thing damaged was my pride.  I joked that it was the heat, but in reality it was something I describe as the "expert effect".  I know I am an expert at handling the boat in tricky situations.  In this case it was a sharp corner in shallow water.  Having identified the issue, I then considered the problem solved and just carried on - oops!

The following day we went to the talks at Electrika.  They were mostly very good, but we didn't get quite as much out of them as we had last year.  We did enjoy the company, food and entertainment though.

One reason for coming to the show was to talk to Caroline and Rob from Ortomarine about upgrades for Bartimaeus.  One of the speakers mentioned water source heat pumps.  I spoke with him and Rob afterwards.  It turned out they were looking for a candidate boat ("guinea-pig"?).  So we now have a further upgrade planned for the coming winter.

One of the other upgrades I have been thinking about is additional solar panels.  It is fairly easy to fit three more panels identical to the eight we already have.  We would "only" have to find new places for the gang plank and poles, and re-site the antennae.

Unfortunately, the way our electrics are configured, we need to add these panels in groups of four.  While waiting for Caroline to call in to talk about details, I realised where the fourth panel could go.  One of the roof vents (often called "mushrooms") occupies a disproportionate amount of roof space.  I also know from having our Boat Safety Scheme inspection that we have more than enough of them.

We'd have to remove (almost certainly destroying) panel 2, but we could replace it and the mushroom with two new panels - making twelve in total.  That would increase our solar power generation by 50%.

With the show over we headed back through the cutting.  Work was in progress to remove the fallen tree.  We felt obliged to pass even more slowly, but it's probably completely clear by now.

We continued along the canal to the mooring we had used before at Ansty.  I had a scheduled video meeting after lunch with ex-colleagues, but was distracted during my lunch by a very bold moorhen.

Once the moorhen noticed I was at the open hatch with food, it flew up on to the gunwale to request some.  It was happy to take scraps of bread out of my fingers, fly off to feed them to its squeaking fluffy young and then return for more.

When I opened the rear hatch to set off this morning, my new friend flew straight on to the roof next to me.  I took the hint and fed the family again before we set off.