Home to Yardley

Yesterday, we finished our River Nene trip with a short trip down the Stoke Bruerne Flight to Yardley Gobion. We managed to pair-up at the second lock with a Alvechurch Boat that were out for a long weekend. They were helpful but our experience reinforced our hypothesis that the efficiency of a crew at locking is inversely proportional to their number, in this case seven crew.

Jules Fuels boats ready for autumn deliveries at Stoke Bruerne Bottom Lock
(motor Towcester & butty Bideford)

Our DAB/FM/AM radio had been playing up with poor erratic reception on all channels. On investigating back at Yardley Gobion I discovered the magnetic base of the DAB aerial, which had previous served for many years as an aerial for mobile phones, had corroded away and obviously reached the end of its life. When I removed it FM reception improved dramatically (separate aerial). The DAB aerial was probably making a connection to earth and upsetting the whole radio. I ordered a replacement on-line.

Must start planning my other winter boat maintenance jobs - oil change, getting small damage to cratch cover repaired, engine service and of course touching up those hull scratches caused by locking. For the first time for a while we also need to replace lost windlasses - two.