Is yet to be solved

 Feb 15th

All morning was spent trying to find where the water was coming from. Nothing was found, no leaks, weeps or seeps! So the mystery still continues, but Ian is now more than ever under the impression that condensation has to be the main cause. This winter has been particularly cold, the stove has been cranked up to compensate, and we have one of those heat powered fans to move the heat around. Trouble is its always cold toward the floor, hence my cold feet!, We are pretty sure that's why the increase of moisture buildup. We could have had this problem every year during the cold months, and never knew. As to the pump running intermittently, that is still a mystery to be solved. Absorbent pads were bought from Screw Fix and placed under the bed by the calorifier where the most moisture was. These can be left in place for quite a while so Ian decided to leave them until the hull and weather warms up.

 

I also lost a lens from my glasses during the search to find the leaks. It's in the boat somewhere, but we have been through it with a fine toothed comb to no avail. Where could it have got too? How is it possible to lose something on a boat? I'm beginning to think there are borrowers around after all. Phoning the opticians was less than helpful. They won't order me another pair because my eye test is due, and the first available appointment isn't until the 7th March. I have reading glasses which is great to do nearby work but doesn't help at all when watching TV. Oh well, I'll just have to get used to a blurry picture.

 

With the boards up in the bathroom, Ian noticed that in the cavity quite a few bricks had been placed as ballast. FS has always had a slight list to starboard. Most of the heavy furniture is on our starboard side, bed, fridge, washing machine, calorifier, shower, toilet, sink and our seats in the lounge area.  We have both talked about trying to re-ballast FS and last year. Ian was offered a short railway sleeper which would have been ideal, unfortunately that never materialised. Anyway, the bane of my life has been when trying to bake the perfect sponge cake. Because of the slight list, it always came out lopsided. The plan then was to take out as many bricks as he could, he took 20 in total. Some were placed under the radiator and the rest stacked up in the bathroom, making it unfit for purpose for a while, while he thought about where they could all go! In the end, 8 were put in our 'cellar', stacked on the port side and another 8 stacked up behind the sofa. The kick board in the galley was removed and another 4 went in there. A level gauge was then placed on the work surface and yes....the bubble showed up in the centre meaning we were level. So hopefully, next cake bake, a perfect sponge will be forth coming. 

 Feb 16th

We drove again to Trent lock to do the 'biz' at the facilities. Wow, even more flooding was present. Nearly all the car park on one side was flooded and the Trent Lock pub garden also underwater. The house nearby had flooding across their drive and into the garage. I don't envy the occupants trying to leave. Waders would be necessary, me thinks!. 

car park

The pub garden

Driveway and the only entrance to the house.

 I think we have resigned ourselves to being here for the rest of February. The river shows no signs of going down and every time it rains, my heart sinks. Surely we will be home by March....won't we?  I'm keeping everything crossed. 🤞

Water in places not expected

 Feb 13th (gulp...it's a Friday)

It's raining...again! Started yesterday late afternoon and continued throughout the night. Of course, we know what that means, Trent will be rising with height predictions of nearly 3.00m by late evening of the 14th. A snow and ice warning has also been issued for this area, not until the 16th, mind, so could all change but arrggghhhhh 😧the only thing left to throw at us now is a hurricane! 

Chris and Sue arrived yesterday mid-afternoon. Tia gave us the warmest of welcomes, became the 'ships dog' by making FS her own and deciding we both hadn't done a decent enough job when showering by trying to lick clean faces and ears. It really did emphasize just how much we miss having a dog on board, she's a real gem.
 

Tia

 The New Inn once more showed how good they were by allowing Chris and Sue to overnight with their camper van in the car park. It's not an official motorhome stopover, the Navigation on London Road and the Clock Warehouse, both in Shardlow, are. We did have a meal there last night, lovely food, and a way to say thank you. 

After they left this morning, our plans had been to take the bus to Derby. Much too wet for us to venture out, the trip wasn't important, could be put off until fairer weather. Instead, it was decided to see why our water pump ran intermittently throughout the night. Taps had been checked for drips and leaks, but still nothing was found. The next move was to remove the drawers from under the bed and sure enough damp patches were found. Some head scratching as to where it had come from, obviously from one of the pipes either central heating or water pipe, so next step was take up part of the floor in the bathroom, where all the pipes leading to the washing machine and calorifier ran at the back. The floor was damp and growth of white fungi was present. This could have come from the shower, and feeling all the pipe joints, they all felt dry so didn't concern Ian at all. The washing machine was pulled out, that was dry underneath, so no leaks from there. The sink was checked, in fact everywhere a pipe that was positioned along the wall and still nothing was found. But a definite pool of water was found near the wardrobe in the bedroom. He is now convinced it has come from one of the fittings on the calorifier and is hoping it's not a joint that is almost impossible to get too without removing the whole thing! It's being left for now. Ian has ordered absorbent pads from screwfix to be collected, so moping up the water will be the first priority, and hopefully the problem will show itself after that. To be continued!

 

A tight squeeze. 

 

A nice gesture

 Feb 9th

You learn something every day! Walking to the water point, container and trolley dragging behind us, we met up with a fellow boater who had arrived only two days ago. His destination was Chapel Farm marina, where he had secured a berth for the foreseeable future. This marina is just beyond the floodgates, so imagine his despair when he realised the floodgates were closed, and he was stuck on the wrong side. His dilemma was having to leave the boat for 5 weeks due to family commitments so he was pretty peeved, when walking to said floodgates, to see no noticeable difference in water levels, even though the river level had risen to 3.10m. Phoning CRT was a waste of time, they were powerless to open those gates because it was more than their job's worth and after all, it was the environment agency who closed them in the first place so nothing to do with CRT. Anyway, we chatted on as one does, and noticing our water container mentioned that the New Inn Pub had a water tap outside and was more than happy for boats stuck because of the river levels to fill their container from the tap. We did no more, after saying fair well, then go directly to the pub to ask if the use of their tap was correct. They were very happy for us to use our hose, and with the small sailing dingy having moved from the mooring right by the pub, we pulled forward hoping the hose would reach. It did, just! Only one small problem, the hose had to go across the road. Now this road is quiet, only the pub and the few houses along it had cars going along the lane but today, all and sundry decided to use it! So the hose was constantly being driven over, and I was beginning to wonder if it would survive. But survive it did and we once more have a full water tank, another problem solved. The other alternative if the pub owner had said no would be having to reverse FS around a bend, the length of the visitor moorings and then manoeuvre through the bridge, this was something I would not have looked forward too.

Feb 11th and day 26

Another trip to Trent Lock to empty the cassettes. The river had risen to its highest at 3.11m on the 9th and although it is now dropping (2.66m) the land around the River Trent at Trent Lock was still flooded. The river and lock levels were at the same height, goodness knows what it looked like when the river reached 3.11m! Should have made the effort to go and see!

Car Park

All the steps are now underwater.

Plenty of rubbish built up by the lock

 Visitors arrive tomorrow. Chris and Sue with gorgeous Cockapoo Tia. Nice to have something other than watching TV to look forward too, although the Winter Olympics has kept me clued to the box. Shame some of our GB competitors have only managed fourth place so far, but it's early days and I have high hopes of Britain getting a medal soon. 

Will it go any higher?

 8th Feb. Day 23

We have been religiously following the Gov.org website on Shardlow river levels since we first arrived over three weeks ago, watching the river going up and down it never quite got down far enough for us to leave. But a window of opportunity arose on the 5th when a boat arrived off the river. With levels at 1.47m to see a boat heading our way was unexpected, so Ian dashed out to have a word, mainly to see if the levels had dropped. He was told they had left Sheet Stores on the Erewash that morning, travelled down to Trent lock fully expecting to wait for the river to drop, and then realised the gauge was actually in the amber. Only just, mind, but they decided to attempt passage to Derwent Mouth. On arrival, having struggled against the currant, they were amazed to see the gauge still in red! So we now had a decision to make. Do we also attempt the river crossing to Sawley, or wait? Ian was all for going, I was a bit more cautious, it's one thing to push against the flow...another to go with it! I wasn't prepared to risk that, so persuaded Ian to wait until the morning. Well I should have known rain was once more forecasted and that night it was torrential and continual. Come the morning, the river was already rising and had reached nearly 1.70. Damn....missed our chance because I hesitated, although Ian, bless him, said it wasn't just his decision to make. We were a team, after all.

Today, the levels have been at its highest. At 3.03m we walked to Derwent Mouth to see just how high the river was.

This was a first for us, Floodgates closed!

 

 

I noticed a pump had started opposite. Not sure where the water was coming from, it certainly wasn't going into the canal, so there must have been a large pipe under the canal bed, The water appeared to  come out from under a fence into a ditch near where we stood. The pump only ran for about 3 minutes before closing down. Anyone have ideas?

Gauge marker just visible under the water.

Path and lock landing completely underwater.

Steps going up from the wall and the cruiser on the visitor moorings

Normally you can't see the main river from Derwent Mouth lock.

This cruiser has been moored here since we arrived mid-January. I think it has been abandoned but is now in danger of sinking if the river comes up any more. Ropes are already tight and has started tipping the boat. 

A very short cruise

 Feb 4th

Today we left the moorings above Shardlow lock, and today we hoped we might be able to leave for home. Levels had dropped to below 1.53, lower than it had been since we arrived over two weeks ago. While I went to the water point below the lock, Ian walked down to see what the state of the river was according to the floodgate light, a phone call came back to say it was still on red! I had a feeling it would be, as a comment from Pip Nb Oleanna said they had to wait for the levels to come down to 1.25 before it went into the amber. Anyway, not wanting to reverse back above the lock again, Ian had mentioned the moorings by the Malt Shovel were free. Not sure how much longer we will have to stay, but being by a pub...well I can think of worse places to be! 

 

We did walk to Derwent Mouth lock, really to see for ourselves what the gauge showed and yes, about a good 2/3 inches to go before it went into the amber. A boater at the lock had the top gate paddles raised. We had a long conversation with him and turned out he too moored on the Erewash, at Hallam Fields, about halfway along the canal. Like us, he was getting fed up with having to wait and was in two minds whether to just go for it. His anchor was at the bow ready 'just in case', but I think we managed to persuaded him to stay, stating the insurance would be null and void if anything happened.  We left him pondering and wished him good luck if he did leave. 

And seen walking to the lock

Expecting high canal levels, perhaps?

 

And still we wait.

 Jan 30th

Still here...thirteen days later and the river refusing to go down. In fact, the one chance where we may have been able to leave, the levels having dropped to 1.61, happened at 5am on the 27th before rising swiftly again 4 hours later! No way would we have even attempted to make a break for it at that time of the night, in the dark, with the river still flowing fast...nop that was never going to happen!

 

So what have we been up too. Well.....

Getting low on water, we decided to look for our water container, felt sure it was in our cellar. Yep, we have an area under the floor where no ballast had been placed; Ian utilised the space by making 6 drawers to increase our storage.  But as Ian pulled the drawers out, shock horror...water lying on the exposed steel and the drawer bottoms wet. After the initial panic, Ian deduced that it was condensation, the insulating foam along the cabin sides didn't quite reach to the bottom. Hmmm....no wonder my feet were always cold! Anyway, FS looked like a bomb site with everything on display, and the underside of the drawers placed near the stove to dry out. Oh, and after all that disruption, the most annoying part, no sign of the water carrier!

We took the bus into Castle Donnington. Gosh, I'm impressed with the transport here. Every 15 minutes a bus arrived to either take you to East Midland Airport and onwards to Leicester, or in the other direction to Derby. Castle Donnington was on the route towards the airport, with a bus stop right outside Aldi. Result. A short walk from there and up a very steep hill (about killed me) was the small town centre with a hardwear store where we hoped to purchase a water carrier. Unfortunately, that was the one thing they didn't stock. Oh well, plan B. Ian would take the bus to Sandiacre to fetch the car in a few days. The bus wasn't needed though, as to the rescue came our daughter Christine and son-in-law Kev, turning up at the weekend with the offer to take Ian to our bungalow where the car was kept.  

Life became so much easier after that. The 3 cassettes (last one nearly at the critical stage) were taken to Willington facilities to empty, and rubbish also got rid of. A new water container was bought from Kimberly caravan dealers, so water wasn't too much of an issue for the time being, Below Shardlow lock was the water point, easy to walk to, to fill up. The only trouble was that blooming widebeam had decided to take up residence by the tap which would mean mooring up by boat a tad difficult. 

Today (Jan 30th) water situation became the talking point whilst still in bed with the first cup of tea. All well and good using the 20 litre container, but water soon ran out having used it for stand up washes, washing pots, filling kettles and flushing the loo etc. We therefore made the decision to take FS below the lock to fill the tanks and hope we could get near enough to the tap for the hose to reach. 

 

There was just enough space between the widebeam and that narrow boat, (which had arrived a couple of days ago and moored towards the end of the lock landing), to squeeze in. 30 minutes it took to fill both tanks, FS must have been very close to empty. Although moorings were available through the bridge, we both wanted to get back to the mooring above the lock so it was left up to me to reverse from the water point into the lock, and then try and get back to our vacated mooring. It was interesting to say the least, a slight breeze blowing toward the offside meant I had to keep correcting the way the boat moved, FS is notoriously bad at going in a straight line backwards. But all came good in the end, I reversed into the mooring, pins knocked in at the exact holes they came out of, and now we should be okay for another two weeks. Hopefully it won't be that long before we can leave, but not sure, as this sent to me by Kev. It's for the Swadlincote area, but not that far as the crow flies to Shardlow. Hmmm doesn't bode well for the future!

 

Closing the bottom gate.

A bit nerve racking seeing how close the gushing water was to the stern. I kept FS's bow as far to the front as possible.

This afternoon we went for a car ride to Trent lock, mainly to get rid of our recycling material, but also to see what the river was doing. Oh, yes it was high, we have seen it higher though. This in 2012.

Sawley flood lock

 Driving over the bridge at Sawley this afternoon, the flood lock was nowhere as bad as that. Check out MY POST from then. 

Back to the present, and at Trent Lock there would have been no way one would even want to attempt to turn into the Erewash with the flow as fast as it was, but not just that, I doubt if any narrowboat would get under the bridge to reach the safety of the lock!

The river gauge has lost its colour but still in the red!

 Back to FS and looking through the hedge, wow, river risen even more! The first photo taken a few days ago and the second this afternoon.

 

 

Looking at the Gov.UK website, although the river has dropped from the highest level last night (2.40m) now at 2.28m, there are no signs of the river coming out of flood for several days yet. Check out the website HERE