On the move again

Having left the car at Charlotte's house (we had a great night over in Kirk Sandall with Dave and Chris!) we are free to move on from our spot here at Burscough wharf. Also, the grandkids are away with Dad this week so no babysitting duties 🎉. Only kidding! Actually we had a good day out with them last week in Worsley woods, racing leaves and sticks

before tackling something a little more strenuous 

Thankfully, it wouldn't take my weight!

Yesterday we got a bit active first thing - using the boat services, painting the new stove pipe, visiting the chandlers for supplies, fixing the roller blind Elaine tore from its mounting (she doesn't know her own strength!) then waxing the boat to get her gleaming again. After all this it was time to watch others being active so we called in to watch a bit of cricket just off the towpath (with the obligatory pint, of course).

After this it was carry on to the Ship at Lathom for one last scoop then back to LottieD for a top class Sunday roast - perfect! Actually, on our previous visit to the Ship we bumped into Paul and Clare who, it transpires, live locally. We last met thirteen years ago in Tahiti when they were honeymooners and we were celebrating Elaine's fortieth. Details were exchanged and we will arrange to meet up as soon as possible, probably when we leave the boat here and go to France (again) for our wedding anniversary. It's a hard life!

Ready for winter

With our new chimney installed I can't wait to light up!

The local welder had the new chimney made up and ready to go last Friday so Gary wasted no time in installing it. Before he got going, however, I got in first and tidied the satellite cables that had been drooping in their trunking for about four years!

Gary cut away a bit more of the roof as he was concerned about how close to the chimney it was then he packed the space with lots of fire rope.

With everything in place all that remained was to paint it in stove blacking and we are now good to go. Hope fully, that's a job we'll never have to tackle again but, if not, I feel confident of doing it myself next time.

Today we left the marina (get those lights switched off 😉) and are now tied up at Heaton's Bridge where we left the car yesterday. Tomorrow we'll drive to Burscough then walk back for Lottie, getting rid of the car after our trip to Doncaster on Friday for little (!) brother Dave's retirement get together.

After that it's slowly eastwards for us as we head to the river Weaver and the Anderton Boat Lift - should be fun!

Fixing the Squirrel.

The Morso Squirrel wood burner, that is. As I may have mentioned previously a component has dropped onto the baffle plate and I can't get it out, meaning I'll never be able to sweep the chimney. Also, the bottom collar connecting the chimney to the stove is badly cracked and is a health risk. The last straw, however, is that the chimney itself has rotted through.

Not good!

Work started today and the first job was to get the old chimney out in one piece as it will be the template for its replacement. Here we are, covered up and ready to go.

After considerable hammering by our professional Gary

the chimney eventually came away, leaving a hole in the roof

and revealing just how clogged up the chimney was

When you look at this it's a wonder the fire was still burning OK. 

Gary cleaned everything up and was able to remove the part of the stove that was causing the problem. In fact, it was a part that should only be fitted to chimneys in excess of 4m and should never have been installed 😡

Still, the good news is that all we need is a new collar and a new chimney, which is to be welded up by a local fabricator. At one stage I thought I might need a new stove like the one, coincidentally, being installed in the boat next to us.

It's quite a dinky little thing and only costs about £230, unlike ours which are now going for £800+ but, if anything, are too hot for our boat. I've been informed of a local guy who will cut firebricks to reduce the size of the firebox rather than buying Morso genuine (and ruinously expensive) accessories. Think I'll give him a call. We can have a smaller fire, burn less fuel and hopefully be able to keep the door closed this winter!

Move over Titchmarsh.

Do you want to know the secret to a perfect lawn? It's ............. A sharp Stanley knife! I got stuck in over the last couple of days and Lottie has gone from this

Treat that rust!

...to this

Rear

Front

I even had enough "grass" left to enable one of our neighbours to "turf" the front of his boat too. 

Having got this done before we fly on Thursday means we will have lots of time to tart up other parts of Lottie when we get back from holiday, always assuming the chimney situation gets resolved easily - and cheaply! I'm expecting £300 minimum for that, we paid £250 to keep the boat here, just drawn out the holiday spends and paid £890 for Lottie's boat licence today. Plus we want new fenders when we get back and they're £65 each. Could be time for Elaine to rejoin the ranks of the employed at this rate 😉

Stuff the planet!

With all these lights on it can only mean one thing.

Yes, we are back in the marina and plugged into the mains! Actually, Daniel the marina owner has put us in a great spot, right in front of the coffee shop.

Also, as a nice bonus, the previous occupant left quite a bit of electricity on the meter so I've got the immersion heater on and Elaine's watching early evening TV. Living the dream or what? Tomorrow, I might even watch some morning NRL on Premier Sports! I know, I know, decadent isn't it 😉

After our holiday we will have 11 days left in here so we plan to get Lottie spruced up a bit and get a new chimney fitted. Also, we will lay new artificial grass front and back using very generous offcuts from Charlotte's new rear "lawn". So it's not "stuff the planet" at all, is it? Using electricity already paid for and artificial lawn that would've been skipped were still (pale) green I think 😇

Kendal

As we have the car here we decided to have a day out and visit somewhere we've never been. First impressions of Kendal were not great due to the constant stream of traffic.

Things improved greatly, though, when we found the pedestrianised bit.

We really liked the place and found that the numerous "yards" added lots of interest.

These yards are really alleys leading to a variety of different open spaces. Some have quaint houses hidden away but still in the heart of the town.

Many of the rest just contain small businesses but some (our favourites!) contain pubs like Smokies Bar

Just £1.50 a pint and free cheese biccies! Happy days!

Nose to tail at Burscough

It's pretty busy with boats here at Burscough, where we've been since leaving Gathurst on Sunday.

Can you see the mill and chimney in the background? Well, we were moored all the way back there initially. We moved up to the services on Monday and managed afterwards to reverse into this spot just a couple of boat lengths back, opposite the free car park (yes, Wigan Council, FREE car park!). It's a very handy spot with great connectivity and access to all amenities, albeit far from our more rural preference.

Remember last year and my post about the Pennywort that was clogging up the canal around here? Well, the C&RT have done a great job of cutting it back - it has totally disappeared, so credit where it's due. In fact, speaking of cutting, they recently came and cut the grass alone the towpath. It must be done, of course, but the result is this.

Lottie, covered in grass and with filthy, dusty windows. The woman on the boat right in front of us shot out to brush up only for the guys to return with a leaf blower and blow it all back again!

With our trip to France coming up in two weeks we had decided to put Lottie back in Scarisbrick Marina just to be safe. We have booked a four week slot and are due in there next Friday. Ooh, the luxury! All the lights on, immersion heated water, washing machine turned back up to forty degrees C and daytime TV if we wish - we really are spoiling ourselves 😉

It's not all good though. I've had another look at our wood burner and we have a definite problem. Something has collapsed from the flue onto the baffle plate above the firebox and its jammed solid. We have a specialist coming to take a look later and I'm bracing myself for a new chimney as a minimum, possibly a new wood burner too. The current one is a Morso and they retail around £800! I can get a new one for a fraction of that so may ditch the Morso if the repair costs are too much.

The annoying thing is that, if I had the knowledge beforehand, I could have looked after things much better than I have. When we started this life, no one told us anything! We've learned as we went along - fires, engine, stern gear, gearbox, water filtration. I'm an expert now, but it comes at a price! Still, it's a pretty pointless life if you don't accumulate knowledge as you shuffle along.

We have the car here now so will be getting about a bit before we fly away. We are definitely watching Logan in his home game on Sunday. He won his second Opposition Coach MOM last week. He would have had Miners MOM but the coach, rightly, chose someone else. He now has:-

Most Improved Player

Top Tackler (2)

Opposition MOM (2)

MOM (4)

I promised him a superhero replica shirt for every award plus a fiver when he scores (he scored last week, too). At this rate, I'm going to have to go back to work 😉

Finally, I'll finish off with his little brother Wilson. We had him for a while yesterday as we picked the car up and we had our second profound conversation as I took him to the toilet. The first one was a few weeks back wherein I asked him why I had to wipe his bum. He responded in all seriousness that it was because he didn't want to get poo on HIS finger! Yesterday, back in the toilet, he asked me if I had a fat belly because I ate too much food. When I answered in the affirmative he fixed me with a stare and said, "Don't.......eat.......FOOD!" I might have to start work and go on a diet at the same time!