Well darn!!

Grace and I have always shared everything. Today, on my 72nd birthday, she shared Covid with me! I've just tested positive. In fairness, it just had to happen, didn't it? We've not kept apart, so it was not a case of "will I catch it?", but "when will I?" But our symptoms are pretty mild, so we don't expect it to last long. The worst thing about it is having to keep away from others as much as  possible.

But I'm reminded that this might have happened to us while we were cruising and we hadn't had to return to the marina to get new batteries installed. Isn't it amazing how bad situations can sometimes turn out to be good? We're thankful.

Good timing, or what?

A week after we retuned to the house, Grace went down with some kind of virus; sore throat, cough, headache, fatigue. Covid? Nah. Where had she been, that she could contract that? In the Co-Op? In the boat with an infected electrician the previous week? Nah. He was healthy enough. We had no idea, but then there's no knowing what bugs you're exposed to when you're out and about is there?

She went to bed, head-achy, fatigued, tickly-throated and coughing. Covid? She took a test. Positive! Her symptoms aren't too bad. The worst thing is the tiredness. She's not had Covid before. Nor have I, but I seem to be immune. We're still sharing a bed at night, and I'm with her often during the day, but I feel fine.

But hey! How awful it would have been if this had happened when we were on the cruise we planned to do! Good timing, or what?

Kantara, you and the cruise can wait!

To cruise or not to cruise?

That was the question. It's been quite a while since I last posted on this blog, largely because our lives have been necessarily focused on our house and family, and our connection with Kantara has simply been an occasional quick visit to make sure she's okay. But I did say in that post that we had booked time provisionally for a cruise in September, and last week was the time we chose. The weather was extremely hot, the occasional rain was extreme, but we're boaters! Real boaters don't care about the weather, do they! Off we go then...

The day we arrived, we stepped off the pontoon down onto the well-deck, under the cratch cover. The thermometer there told us that the maximum temperature had been 56.4℃, and it was currently 31.9. Down in the cabin, the max was 35.8 and currently it was 23.7. Tolerable, but we opened doors front, back and centre, and allowed the gentle breeze of the through-draft to cool us. Time to look around to see what needed to be done.

The outside was the worst. Leaves, spiders alive and dead, and spider webs also full of leaves and spiders alive and dead were to be found in every nook and cranny. The roof was filthy.  When was the last time I'd washed it? July! It looked just the way I found it back then; sooty on top of stickiness. I feared for the condition of the paintwork under it.

"Hey!" I told myself. "At least she's still afloat!"

There were very few folk in the marina, and not many of the boats out on the cut. We put that down to the weather, and people still on holiday. The ducks and swans came to visit with their offspring, all of them almost ready to leave the family. I was surprised to see so many swallows fly-fishing as they swept low over the water. I would have thought that they'd be gone by now.

We were back and ready to cruise.

The heat continued through the day, and bed-time was uncomfortable, too. The early morning was rather cooler, however, and we hurried off to the local Co-op for provisions for our trip.

After the usual engine-check, and the checking of the diesel fuel for stickiness or diesel bug (all was well), we set off.

Cruising again after such a long time was brilliant. There were very few others on the water, the air wasn't too hot, and the canal was beautiful, as always. What a day we were having!

Until the bowthruster stopped working. And then the horn. We pulled over and moored to look into the problems. It didn't take us very long to decide that we had no idea why these failures had occurred. We could carry on without the bowthruster, though there's no denying that it can be very useful at times, but the horn was a different matter. They can be essential on bends or approaching bridges, and, equally importantly, it's illegal not to have one.

We turned around, skipper Grace demonstrating how to do that without a bowthruster, and we moored shortly afterwards. There was only one other boat on this lovely stretch of mooring, and we had a silent night there.

After a boaters' breakfast (fried egg, bacon and tomato sandwich) early the next morning, we set off again under a much cooler sky. We were in no hurry, we just soaked up the beauty of the scenery we were gliding through. Again, were were pretty much alone.

Back on our mooring, I phoned Simon, the guy who last dealt with our bowthruster battery some years ago, and told him our problems. He said he could look at it the following Tuesday.

Our own further investigations found that the horn was not working at all. It was defunct. A quick visit to Midland Chandlers resulted in a replacement, and we fitted it. We're legal now!

Then the battery monitoring system started to sound an alarm and show a red light, advising us of low voltage. The boat has six lead acid batteries. Which was/were faulty?? The 12v domestic devices - water pump, toilet flush, TV, shower pump, central heating, lights and fridge - were all working fine, so we just turned the alarm off and ignored the warning. There was nothing we could do about it, but the problem surely had to be the bowthruster battery.

To cut a long story short, Simon came on Tuesday afternoon and found that, indeed, the battery was dead; it was old, we'd had it right from the very start of our Kantara adventure. Then, when I started the engine for him to test a circuit, the starter battery died, too! Simon left with a promise to return within two weeks to replace the batteries. We're unlikely to be there at the time, so he'll do it in our absence.

The rain had poured heavily while Simon was with us, and carried on afterwards for hours. The next morning, I had a pleasant surprise. It had washed the roof clean for me!

We're back in the house now, looking at the garden and hoping the temperature falls soon. It'd be good to get all of these jobs done quickly enough to return to Kantara and do that cruise!

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