Wednesday 11 March 2015

The troglodytes of Tyrley. No, I don't mean the painters.

Now sitting with fingers crossed. The amount of water below the floor is reducing. Hopefully it is now just the last drops seeping out from below the ballast slabs. But that blasted pump keeps cycling. I am inclined to agree with Andy Gic, could well be a faulty pump, although the present one has only been fitted for about nine months. May well bite the bullet and fit the spare and see how that does. And thanks to Roger for the offer of help.
But at least we are now on the move, yet again.
Having spent the weekend at the Anchor we set off yesterday, aiming to go back up the Welsh canal at least as far as Ellesmere and then dive down the Montgomery for a few days.


At the southern end of Woodseaves cutting C&RT's contractors are busily getting on with remedial work to try and prevent the sides joining the middle.


These gabions may not be pretty but hopefully they will stabilise the sides. How they will deal with the off side I have no idea.
At Tyrley the volunteers were out in force, paint brushes in hand and doing a splendid job.

 You can't say that C&RT were stinting in the equipment that they had provided.


They even offered us a coffee if we had cared to stop. Not only that but they did all the work and had us down Tyrley in just under thirty minutes.
A while back, in conversation with another boater, I happened to mention how well C&RT were doing with cutting back vegetation and smartening up some of the lock flights. He bemoaned the fact that a lot of it was being done by volunteers. Now am I missing something? I don't care if it is being done by volunteers, the W.I. or little green men from the Alpha Centauri planetary system as long as it is being done.
The niches in the cutting side by the bottom two locks seem to have been taken over as dwelling places by some homeless locals.




It seems that the housing crisis is hitting all levels of society. Some are reduced cave dwelling.
Shopping at M. Drayton today and hoping to be down at Coole Pilate for the weekend. Six Nations, we're playing Scotland. Hopefully we will get the win.

Watch this space........



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