Bartimaeus

We continued through the locks in the sunshine yesterday.  The battery voltage gradually crept up towards its maximum value, but the reported charge stayed below 95%.  There were also warnings about the mid-point voltage delta – this is a measure of battery health that has previously indicated a problem with battery watering.  When we found a mooring spot at around lunch time we stopped again.

In the afternoon I spent some time cleaning some of the autumn (and summer) debris off the boat, and then turned my attention to the batteries.  I re-pressurised the watering system and then checked the voltages.  The cell that had been problematic before was still slightly low, but all the other cells were showing identical voltages.

There was a bit more water at the bottom of the engine bay than I’d like.  I tried to pump it out with the bilge pump but eventually started to doubt that it was working.  I dived in further than I have before and managed to lift it out above the propellor shaft for a proper look.

After some fiddling I worked out how to disconnect it from the pipe, and how to remove the impeller from its housing.  More experiments showed that the pipe to the outside world was not blocked, and that the impeller could push water in to it, but with not enough strength to eject the water from the boat.  I have ordered a replacement pump, fingers crossed we don’t take on too much water before I fit that.

Today we set off in sunny weather again.  Unfortunately we were in the shade of the hill before we went in to the lock near the moorings.  After the lock we were in another narrow part of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal.  Before entering it, Clare wondered what she would do if she met a boat coming the other way.  In fact we could see the whole length of the narrow section, we just couldn’t see where it widened.

The locks on this section are slightly further apart than higher up, so there was more chance to get charge in to the batteries.  We stopped at a supermarket in Staley Bridge with moorings and a car park on each side of the canal (other supermarkets are available, but not with moorings).

We had passed through lock 3W when the system that was stubbornly reporting 94% charge updated its world view and jumped to 100%.  After nine days of not quite charging for long enough, the dead reckoning had drifted.

Clare had been locking earlier, but I had taken over.  I had walked ahead to lock 2W and glanced at the tail gates before opening a paddle on the head gate.  It was only as I walked round the lock to open the other side that I realised my mistake.  The tail gates are of an unusual design, with arms set at right angles to the usual arrangement.  At a glance the gates looked closed, but in fact they were both wide open.

I hurried to close them.  The water washing through the lock helping them to stay shut.  I found out after Clare had driven out that the gates fall open unless water is running through the lock, so perhaps I had handled the lock correctly after all.

The section of canal leading to lock 1W was characteristically narrow.  The high walls on both sides, frequent bridges and overhanging branches made it look like another tunnel.  The sun shining on the last lock masquerading as the light at the end.

The final lock of the canal had a sting in its tail.  The tail paddles were extremely stiff.  I had to go back to Clare and swap for the ratchet windlass.  Even then I had to use the ratchet mechanism for both paddles almost the whole way up.  I wandered back to quip to Clare that I was fed up with this canal and wasn’t going to do any more locks.  At that point the boat lurched – the bow had caught on something, but then released.  I rushed to the paddles ready to let them down, but things seemed to have stabilised.  We’re still not sure what happened, my best guess is that a stick had caught under the bow and given it temporary support before giving way.

By the time the lock had fully emptied, the head gates leaking were producing more of a spray than usual.  Clare managed to keep out of the fountain, but only just.

 Just around the corner was another tunnel, directly under a large supermarket which has been built on top of the canal.  The tunnel is large enough, but we could see an obstruction.  I steered to the side with most room while Clare went forward for a closer look.  It turned out to be a discarded fridge-freezer.

It wasn’t far to the end of the canal at the Dukinfield Junction where we moored up and had some lunch.  We’d had lunch here over three years ago when we’d come by tandem to investigate a blockage.  At that time, there had been an open cafe and a closed museum.  Today the cafe was closed but the museum was open.  We enjoyed the museum until it closed at 4pm.  A light shower started as we walked back to the boat, so that finalised our decision to stay put for the night.