All done and dusted.

Last nights sunset.

 At long last the roof has had a lick of paint. We were ready to get on with the masking after an early breakfast and although it took nearly three hours to do, we were relatively pleased with the result. We did have a few issues, though, with the wind! Although quite light it was enough to cause Ian to mutter a good choice of swear words. Instead of using newspaper to mask the side of the boat ( all we had was the towpath talk ) we had yards and yards of thin plastic dust sheeting that would do the job. Trying to tape that down to the roof with the wind whipping the sheet from below, was almost impossible. At one point Ian flew into a rage and very nearly ripped the whole lot off. After a lot of 'calm down dear' from me and another pair of helping hands, ( mine ) both sides were eventually covered.

Cling film covers the mushrooms and the a paper collar is taped over the rest.

Ian battling with the wind.

Hatch removed to make it easier to paint. This picture was taken after the first coat had been applied.

All rapped up!

With Ian on the waterside and me on towpath side, we used a roller instead of brushes. The finish is not as good but with the light grey gloss finish you can imagine the glare coming off the roof from the sun. Leaving it slightly mat from using the roller helps eliminate that. All in all 2 coats went on today. We were lucky that it was mainly overcast, the hot sun would have made it impossible to get a decent finish, and the wind did help dry the paint quicker. Having taken 7 hours in total from the start to finish, we are completely knackered but very happy that its finally done.

And finally:-

Demoiselle

Ringlet butterfly

Big stretch.

I wonder if that Damselfly is good to eat?