Wild Tixall wide

We have had a good mixture of weather here at Tixall wide from high winds and rain to glorious sunshine. But it doesn't really mater as the view from our window is superb. It is such a difference to look out over a large expanse of water .The water is also very clear and it makes a change to be able to see more than a couple of inches down as most canals are very murky mostly due to them being shallow and a lot of boat movement.
                                                                                                    A rainy Tixall wide on Thursday

                                                                                          But it cleared later to give a lovely evening.

There is always something that needs doing on a boat and it doesn't take long before its engine service time again. Our Beta 43hp engine needs to be serviced every 250 hours. When we bought Inca it was 3 years old and had done 270 hours. We are now nearly up to 1300 hours and this is the fourth service we have carried out in just over a year. And don't i struggle to get down in the engine ole. For some reason I'm not as nimble and flexible as i used to be.Must be an age thing…

                               The most important tools to carry out this service is a syringe and a drinking straw from McDonalds.

We have a very good Volvo stern gland on Inca and all it requires is a small amount of grease once a year. And the easiest way to grease it is to fill up a McDonalds straw with grease from a syringe then squeeze the end of the straw so it passes between the shaft and the seal. The seal has never let a single drop of water pass through it in to the bilge.

               That's better, Oil and filter replaced , new air cleaner and a new fuel filter plus all cables oiled and greased and fan belts adjusted.

On Friday afternoon we had a walk in to the farm shop at Haywood Junction and got caught in a few heavy showers ,good job there are plenty of bridges to shelter under. At the farm shop we bought a lovely punnet of strawberries. We had intended to have them as a dessert with tonight's dinner but they looked so good we eat them on the way back to Inca.


On Friday we were very happy to meet up with Jacquie from Nb Like Ducks 2 Water. We have followed her blog for a long time. We are both heading towards Llangollen so hopefully we should meet up again.
We plan to move in the morning (Saturday) .We are now on the Staffs and Worcs canal and this is a new canal to us. There is something exciting about not knowing what is around the next corner. As long as we don't drink too much of the red stuff tonight it should be an early start in the morning…….
                                                                 Happy Days