Toe-rags!

Judy and I went to Constance for the day. When we arrived we found the bow rope to have been cut!

Bow lines cut!

Luckily the mid & stern lines were still in-tact otherwise she would have drifted away!
Judy went shopping whilst I fixed the rope & did a few other little jobs.

Another beautiful Sunday!

Sunday was a most beautiful day. Another one of those 'bonus days' - sunny, warm and dry. It was a bit late by the time I arrived at Constance, then I could not find anywhere to park. Eventually I paid to park in the C&RT car park at Caen Hill and walked down to the bottom. By then it was 11:30. Was it too late to go up? The bottom few locks were set against me but there were several boats coming down, so the picture would improve. I decided that as it was such a lovely day it would be foolish not to go and with the pending closure for work it would mean I would be over-staying.
By 12:00 I was at the bottom lock on my way up. The café seemed to be such a long way away.
It was hard work but with the repetition you drop into a rhythm and the lock count gradually went up. By 14:50 I was looking at the café with the lock filled. I had made it solo in 2 hours 50 minutes!

The café at the top of the Caen Hill flight

Looking back down the hill

 The Caen Hill flight is due to close imminently for maintenance for a week or so. I am now above the flight and moving on.

Opposite the Black Horse

The mooring is good opposite the Black Horse. The solar panel can collect well as there are virtually no obstructions. I was tired but chuffed that I had been able to do the Caen Hill flight on my own. 20 locks and about one mile in four hours

Bonus days!

Sunday was one of those winter Bonus Days. One of those beautiful, sunny, warm, almost spring-like days. I call winter days like this Bonus Days because in winter every day like this is a bonus! Even my coat came off, and for those who know me, that is a rare event at this time of year! An early start took me up through the Seend flight and a brief stop at Sells Green to walk back for the car. As the day was so good I decided to move on up through the Foxhanger flight of locks.
9 locks and two swing bridges today.

Rusty Lane swing bridge in the sunshine

A windy Saturday

It was time to move on. Saturday was going to be very windy with occasional showers. The walk from Seend Cleeve & the Barge Inn to (near) Semington where Constance was moored was a head wind struggle. When I came to move her the wind was abeam and held her firmly to the bank. It took quite a bit of engine muscle power to get her going. The wind made steering exciting. There were some stops for the very heavy showers. Eventually stopping opposite the Barge Inn at Seend Cleeve.

Flooded fields - Semington Brook is in there somewhere!

 The fields around are all flooded

A rainbow over Seend Cleeve

And the rain still falls!

A good job done!

Some photos taken whilst Constance was in dry-dock.

The view down the weed-hatch

View of stern

Starboard bow (where Klingons can sometimes be seen - Jim)

Port bow

Starting to flood the dry-dock

Thanks to Ian and all his amazing crew at Semington Dry-dock!

We're out and on our way

Just as we left the dry-dock we met Spencer & Victoria on their fuel boat, we shared a lock and bought fuel. That saved us a trip down to Hilperton, thank you both!

Hull Survey

It is always a nervous time when you have a hull thickness survey done. You cannot see what is going on below the waterline and Constance is now nearly 34 years old. Duly taken in to Semington Dock.


Stop planks dropped in

Constance in position and the water being pumped out

The cleaning process starts with a jet wash

Hull survey under way

 The steel for Constance is known as 6/5/4. That is: 6mm base plate, 5mm hull sides and 4mm cabin top. The readings in chalk above and below omit the decimal point.

Starboard stern section

For a 34 year old boat these readings are pretty good. The anodes need replacing and have been added to the work list. Thanks go to David Williams for doing the hull survey.

More green

As Constance is under cover it was an excellent chance to put some more green paint on the cabin roof.

Constance in dry-dock

We are just waiting for the hull to dry completely so that the blacking can be done.


Semington Dry Dock

Another lovely day as I left Sells Green.

A gap at Sells Green for someone else.

The first swing bridge you come across is a challenge for a single-hander as there is no landing space on the far side. I had to 'rope' the bridge and pull it back. Interesting.

Long shadows in the winter sunshine

Between Sells Green and Semington Drydock there are five swing bridges and six locks.

Arrived at Semington Dry Dock

 

'Constance' will be going into the middle dock.

Arrived ready for dry-docking, hull inspection and blacking.