What a lovely day to start our short cruise. Hazy sunshine and for once no winds, the loo cassette was emptied and rubbish disposed of and the start of our journey to Aston Lock had got under way. Ian decided to repaint the gunwales and at the top of Aston lock, the bank height is perfect for the job.
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| Waiting at Derwent Mouth Lock |
After a brief stop in Shardlow to water up and visit Millers chandlers, the rest of the journey only took about 1 hour. On the canal the new prop had reduced our engine speed by 100 rpm from the equivalent speed we had had previously, and on tick over we averaged about 2mph. This should, hopefully, save us some money in diesel. One slight problem was trying to slow down enough when entering locks but no doubt that is something we will have to get used to. She also reverses like a dream so both of us are extremely happy with her performance. On arrival at Aston some of the moorings had been taken but the one right at the end was free. We pulled in, moored up, got Jade off for a quick walk and then.........BANG!!!!......... What on earth!! The dog, Ian and I about jumped out of our skins. It suddenly dawned on us why this mooring was free.We had moored within 20yds of a bird scarer. Jade shot back on the boat and lay behind the bed shaking. This gave us a bit of a dilemma. Should we move on for Jades sake or stay and hope she gets used to the noise. We lasted 45 minutes. The scarer went off every 10 minutes and by now Jade was hyperventilating, dribbling and trying to hide under a chair. We just couldn't put her through any more stress so the painting would have to wait, so we hastily pulled pins and high tailed it away from there quicker then the blink of an eye.
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| Aston Lock. Jade back at the boat starting to shake. |
We started to look for a suitable mooring but all the while we were traveling Jade continued to shake and dribble. By the time we reached Weston lock she was beginning to calm down and finally, having found a mooring with the correct bank height above lock for gunwale painting, she was back to her old self again. If the weather holds then tomorrow Ian will start painting and I will have a go fishing. No bait, mores the pity, but I can always dig for worms and most fish will take bread so I'm extremely hopeful of catching something.
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| Looks like the bird scarer failed in its job! |
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| Can anyone identify this bug? Size about 4mm (1/8th inch) |
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| First bumble bee of the year. |
4 comments:
Poor Jade! Our old boy Blue was exactly the same - we had to move from a mooring on the Avon to get away from a bird scarer, but once he was scared he stayed that way for hours afterwards :-(
I think that the bug is some sort of weevil - it's definitely a weevil shape but I don't know what sort.
Sue, nb Indigo Dream
Everyday is an adventure for you folks. Isn't it wonderful. I am sorry about the noise and your poor dog. I do have a question . . . the boat that is moored two boats in front of you, looks like it has some sort of windmill . . . is that some kind of a power source? I'm just curious:)
I hope you had good luck fishing and that you have a fine fresh fish dinner tonight.
Smooth sailing.
Your blogging sister, Connie :)
Hello Connie,
Yes the 'sort of windmill' is for generating power to keep the boat batteries topped up. We call them wind generators here and although they do a good job they can be very noisy. A lot of boats prefer solar panels but as the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, more often then not we need to run our engines to top up the batteries.
Best wishes
Irene
Hi Sue,
Now you mention it it does look like a weevil. Now all I've got to find out is which type.
Jade has fully recovered now. What a shame we cant explain to them that there is nothing to fear. Always amazes me that they call Labradors gun dogs when so many of them are frightened of bangs.
Irene
Xxx
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