The prop test

Today was the last day at Kingfishers. Having moored on the outside of Jandai these past 4 days it was time for us to leave. As we pushed across the sun appeared and shone right into the reflected porthole. Quite spectacular.

 Mick and John had kindly allowed us to stay moored alongside Jandai during Ian's visit to his brother's 70th. It was a real bonus that we could stay attached to the shore line. We have a small power meter that can be plugged into any socket and tells us the exact amount of electricity used. Having paid the lads what we owed, we set off by car for Ilkeston for Ian's weekly blood test. From there we drove to Ripley to stock up with 6 more bags of coal. Then we did the last minute shop before returning to the boat to unload. On our arrival The Cats Whiskers were in the process of watering up. Quick natter to Roger confirmed they too were heading toward Sawley and it seemed logical to pair up on the way. After using their hose to fill our water tanks (we have two) we set off toward the lock.  Roger allowed us to leave first as we wanted to give Free Spirit a good thrashing and once Ian was safely back on board and giving a loud blast on the horn as we eased the nose out, and not hearing a returning blast, I pushed the throttle forward and swung out into the river against the current. She responded magnificently almost turning on a sixpence (slight exaggeration). Using the GPS we compared our speed for the new prop to the figures we had recorded ages ago. Quite an improvement, and an amazing amount of water being thrown out at the stern. Not knowing exactly what the river current was running at, it is difficult to be precise regarding the improvement, but we did record a smidge under 6mph which is much better than we have done previously. So to summarize the new prop's performance, we can say that it has much better drive, forward and astern, and the boat handling is vastly improved on the river. How it behaves when we return to the shallow confines of the canal system we shall find out later this week.

The Cats Whiskers bringing up the rear.

As we approached Sawley lock I looked round to beckon to The Cats Whiskers that the right hand  lock was empty and the gates open. No sign of Roger so we roped up waited. Sure enough minutes later he turned up.

Roger and Pat

  Roger and Pat are heading further up the river and onto the T&M. We said our farewells and saw them sail off into the distance to begin their adventures. Hope to see you somewhere on the system guys(:   Meanwhile, after finding a good mooring, we set of on foot back along the river to Trent Lock where we had left the car. Tomorrow is the dreaded chemo day again and boy does it come round fast!!! Although I feel for Ian having to go through it every week, at least it means it's another week closer to when we will eventually be setting off on our own adventures again.

Sunlight trying to break through the thin cloud.