Solar power

We had a very lazy Sunday and Monday,apart from a cycle ride into Tesco, Homebase and Aldi to pick up a few supplies.

But i did spend a few more hours fishing and guess what ???

                                  I caught another Carp. This one was a little smaller at 8 lbs .

Tuesday morning soon arrived and at about 09.30 Tim arrived from Onboard solar to fit our solar panels. We are having 400 watts of solar panels fitted and an mppt controller.

                                            Tim preparing the roof to take the panels.

It took Tim about 4 hours to fit the panels and controller. The results where instant. As soon as he connected to the batteries we were getting 26 amps in full sun and just over 5 amps when cloudy. We are well pleased with that.

         As you can see in the picture the panels are fully adjustable to enable them to follow the sun.

I must admit I do not think they look very good on the roof and I think they spoil the look of the boat. I mentioned this to Tim and he said " I have fitted this set up on over 300 boats and you are the first person to say that" Anyway he assures me they will grow on me, we will see.

                                                                  Tim's web site

On Wednesday morning it was an early start and we pulled pins at 07.30. We moored on the Tesco moorings at Leighton Buzzard as we wanted to stock up Inca with all the heavy items as we could wheel the shopping trolley out onto the towpath.

  Carolyn working up the locks on route to the Tring summit.After several hours and locks we finally found a mooring just past the Dunstable and District boat club near Cheddington.

As the towpath has changed sides we spent Thursday washing , polishing and touching up all the scrapes on the starboard side of Inca .It is the first time for a long time the towpath has been on this side and the dogs as well as us have to make sure we don't naturally step off on the wrong side.

On Friday we set off early again as we wanted to get to the Tring summit and we really wanted to spend the weekend on the Wendover arm. On route we filled with water and got rid of the rubbish so we are all set for a few days out in the country

It rained cats and dogs but we still enjoyed the cruise and the journey up the Marsworth flight of locks. At the top lock there is a very sharp turn on to the Wendover arm.

                                                 "It' a bit narrow up here" said Carolyn

The Wendover arm does not go to Wendover as it is still being rebuilt . It stops 5 miles short in a basin which is one of the few places to moor on the arm.

                                                      Our mooring for the weekend.

We arrived at the basin just as 2 boats were leaving so for the time being we have the basin to ourselves and with only 3 other boats on the arm it is very peaceful. We also have good satellite reception and over 20 megs of 3g. With Glastonbury , Wimbledon and the Grand prix this weekend we are not moving.

Happy days