How bizzarre.

 Sept 17th

We left Tixall Wide today. The rubbing down and painting of the handrail finally completed. It had to wait until Monday though because Sunday was a complete washout. That day was spent rubbing down and revarnishing the window frames, well for Ian it was, as for me, I caught up on the second series of Good Omens. If you have never seen it, David Tennant as a demon and Michael Sheen as an angel have to join forces to save the World. The casting is brilliant and the two together, hilarious. Series 1 and 2 are on Amazon Prime.

While Ian painted the rail on Monday, I went fishing. I must say, sweetcorn and bread worked very well. As I fished 5 cygnets came past. I was very sad to see one of the cygnets had Angel Wing. Feeding white bread could be a cause although The Swan Sanctuary Professor Christopher Perrins, LVO, FRS of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University stated, 'There is no evidence of a connection between feeding bread and angel-wing. 

Leaving the Wide before 9am, the first stop was to fill with diesel at the Anglo Welsh yard. The reverse to the pump was really easy as only a couple of their hire boats were in. Diesel and 5 litres of oil purchased, the turn through the bridge to rejoin the T&M was a doddle. In windy conditions it can be a real pain, and for anyone who can remember Sue and Vic on Nb No Problem, it was where we first met them. We were on the facilities mooring as they came out of the junction, the wind had whipped Vic's hat from his head, Ian rescued it with the pole and then helped by grabbing hold of the centre rope to bring No Problem to the side. Click HERE to see the post.

A new sign by the aqueduct on the approach to Anglo Welsh base

Haywood and Colwich lock were again busy, Colwich especially with only the one paddle in use, the lock  filled very slowly. I took a better photo of the damaged lock beam, huge crack going right through it with just that 'cage' to hold it together. 

We made it to Rugeley, and it was here we made a difficult decision. Forget going to Milton Keynes, go back to Langley Mill instead.

Last winter, the problems we had with our CO alarm going off had me constantly on edge. With the cold weather approaching and with Ian convinced our problem could be with the flue pipe collar, it needed more investigation and that can only be done when we are back at the Mill. What was bizarre and a bit spooky, no sooner had the decision been made, a dark line of some sort of liquid ran down the wall. Certainly not tar, the fire had not been lit, Ian can only deduce it was fertan. He treated the rust around the collar on Saturday before the rain started, and the liquid had only now seeped through.

So we should be back in about 8 to 10 days. We could do in 6 days, but those long days at the tiller has long gone. Nowadays, 3 hours is quite long enough!