There's something of a cloud hanging over NB Kantara at the moment...

...and that's despite the bright sky (at last!)

The cloud is caused by my hernia. I had the telephone consultation last week, and the doctor booked me to see him in person next Wednesday. How long I'll have to wait for the surgery I don't know, but I do know that I'll have to be engaged in very little physical activity for at least six weeks after it's done. The bottom line is that we can fairly confidently say we won't be cruising this year -  the second year running.

(Real clouds drifted in as the day drew on.)

Many thanks go to the many previously herniated members of two boaters' groups on Facebook* for their helpful, sympathetic and often encouraging replies to my posts asking for their thoughts about the outlook for my boating life.

(*The Friendly Narrowboat and Waterways Group & Narrowboat and Canal Lovers Group)

Instead of cruising, then, Instead, we'll use the time getting all the outstanding jobs done so that Kantara is ready to go as soon as I'm ready. The jobs aren't too numerous, but some of them will be quite time-consuming.

• repaint the front cratch board (started yesterday)
• install the new horn and tunnel lamp
• pack the top of the flue jacket with rockwool
• paint the chimney inside the cabin
• strip and repaint the taffrail
• get the Thetford rinse pipe reconnected/replaced/repaired
• clean the cratch cover
• deal with paint damage on the port side of the hull.
• wash and wax the cabin (outside, of course).
• sandpaper the inside of the hand-grip along the length of both sides of the roof

That's all! Just those. (I was wrong. They are too numerous).

Today's sunset was phenomenal!

******

Water, water everywhere!

This isn't really May, surely? We've had appalling weather for several consecutive days; persistent heavy rain driven by very strong, gusty wind. Kantara's been pitching and tossing for hours on end, water's been sloshing against the hull, and we've been rocked to sleep at night. The BBC's forecast has been nonsense.

I have to say, though, that it's actually been quite entertaining in a perverse way, but it has stopped us from doing any of the work that needs to be done on the outside of the boat.

We were visited by the resident swans this morning. We'd had reports of their nest having had eight eggs, and that sort of number is what we've come to expect over past years, but there are only two cygnets this time.

 

The male seemed intent on drowning himself!

We overfilled our water tank. Put the hose into the tank, turned on the water supply, and forgot all about it. The first we knew about it was when we heard water pouring into the canal through the well-deck draining holes. I think we were so used to hearing watery sounds that we didn't register it straight away. In the flooding process, the tank's air vent pipe got water in a u-bend so that air could no longer be drawn into the tank to replace water being pumped out when taps were turned on, thus putting an excess load on the pump. The problem would have been easily solved if the vent pipe hadn't been in such a remote corner of the void under the deck, and if I wasn't looking after a hernia. So we gladly called in Colin "I hate boats!" Rowe to solve it. He also fitted a new stop-cock (or "cock-stop" as I inadvertently spoonerised it) because the original would no longer close fully. As always, the jobs were done quickly and efficiently, and with a good serving of laughter, too.

The problem we were left with was the possibility of dirt - always present on the well-deck - having been washed into the tank by the overflowed water.

"Aqua Tabs", said Colin.

Duly bought and deployed. Sad, isn't it? but the twenty mile return drive to Midland Chandlers in Braunston was almost exciting, despite - maybe because of - the weather!

                                                                (not Photoshopped!)

Hesitation, delay?

We've done the second trip back to house now, and have (we think) everything we need until we go back there in September - the reason for which I will divulge when the time comes.

The current and forecast weather is pretty dismal, and a significant number of keen boaters are still here. If we were already out on the cut, then we'd be happy to moor up and sit it out whenever it rained, but we see little or no point in leaving the marina for that. We'd barely move! At least the temperature has risen. It has been 8° inside the boat in the mornings, now it's twice that. Though that's not good for mid-May, is it?

Our resident swans have hatched two cygnets so far, and continue to sit on the nest. Their normal family is around six, so we're holding out for more to appear soon.

A major annoyance that will no doubt impact negatively on our boating this year is that I have developed a hernia in my groin. It's only small, and gives me no pain, but that's the way I want it to remain until I'm able to have the necessary surgery. I'm very thankful to Neil, the marina manager, for offering his help in doing the heaviest job I'll have to quit - swapping empty gas cylinders for full ones (13kg). 20 litres of diesel for the stove would probably be too much for me to carry, too, so I'll buy that by the 10 litres in future.

I'll be having a phone consultation with a doctor, and he/she will almost certainly put me on the path to surgery, but the operations waiting list is pretty long at the moment, so who knows how long it'll be before we can cruise. It's a bit of a downer, but I'm grateful that we have the NHS, and that proper care and treatment are freely available. There are people far more in need than me. I can wait.

Some good news is that Brian Hughes, one of my very favourite bloggers, is back in the blogosphere. Having had to sell the Mouse Boat from which he used to blog about his boating life, he's now producing a vlog that promises to be an amusing and fascinating look at his home county. Have a good look at his brilliant mouse prints while you're there!

"Buyer beware!"

Brian writes,

These days I'm still in Lancashire, albeit as a common landlubber, making short films about the county's rich tapestry of history, folklore and other associated rubbish. If you haven't already, then you might like to join me over at our Lancashire Footnotes page. Go on...it's quiet enough over there. because virtually nobody ever visits, but I've always got some hot buttered crumpets and a pot of coffee ready for visitors. 

Just follow the link and give us a wave...

https://lancashirefootnotes.wordpress.com/

So please do go and have a look. He's good!

Emma Jane's left her mooring to get some work done on her, so we have the light and view from that side of the boat again for a while, albeit a wet and dull view.

Please excuse me now to go and adjust my make-do truss - a bundled pair of socks.

>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<

It's all as beautiful as it ever was!

Back from St Albans with the inevitable bulging carful of stuff for life on board Kantara, all of it was offloaded and put away before we collapsed in a heap on the sofa to eat dinner and watch a dreadful film. But who cares about dreadful films, eh? We were back. And it's all as beautiful as it ever was!

There's a long list of things we need to do on Kantara; a couple before we set out on the cut, and the rest to be done en route. Where that route will be, we haven't decided. I'm all for tossing a coin at each junction, and seeing where that takes us.

Changing water filter (in a small cupboard very close to the washing machine - not easy) took three times as long (or was it four?) as it ought, but that made our final success all the more pleasing. The weather today's very good. Several of our friends are now back and planning their journeys. Tomorrow's forecast is for heavy rain, so we'll use the day to collect the last box-load of stuff from the house, then return to paint the cratch board, install the new tunnel-light and horn, and plant a trough of herbs.

Where we go and how we get there I'll be telling you over the coming months.

It's official!

We are now fully engaged in the process of returning to life on Kantara! As reported earlier, we had already made a couple of short visits to make sure the boat was okay, and to bring back from her a number of 'seasonal' things that we won't be needing this side of winter. Then, last Wednesday, we took a load of  things to replace them, but, better than that, we stayed for a couple of days, giving us the opportunity to begin to prepare to cruise. I know it sounds weird, but the sound of the engine revving and ticking over was a thing of great beauty to me. I did all of the fire safety checks - smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers - engine checks, electrical checks. We made the bed, we installed the new seat cushions, I washed the roof. We loved it. 

Regular readers may recognise these scenes from earlier posts, sorry. It was the best I could do on the mooring from which I've taken countless pictures in the last ten years.

I was very surprised to see how few boats had left the marina. Friends who we know to be keen cruisers aren't even in their boats yet. The marina was like a ghost town. Two hours after we arrived I'd only seen three people, and they were in the office. There were no dogs; I heard one bark just once.

We're back in St Albans again now, with a few domestic matters to deal with in the house. We had intended to go back to Yelvertoft today, but decided against joining the post-lockdown hordes on the M1. Tuesday will do just fine.

I've now run out of the boaty photos I've been using to create "paintings" with. I did say that I'd post them here once a month, but that didn't last long. I've been putting them on Facebook, and been bowled over by the complimentary reception they've received. If you're interested, you can find them all - and more - on Flickr now. I hope you enjoy them. I've had a few people ask if I'd treat a photo or two of theirs in the same way, and been happy to do so - free of charge. If that appeals to you, do contact me at nbkantara@gmail,com. 

The weather out there is positively autumnal; wet, windy and chilly. Fingers crossed for a big improvement soon!