It was all going so well …..

Friday 6th April; into the marina

It was cloudy but dry as we set off for the marina, meeting no-one till we approached the locks where we met a boat that had just come out of the marina.  Here is Dave rounding the junction, with the CRT boats behind him on the visitor moorings.

The indicator board at the top lock showed the Salwarpe in the orange and going down, but the Severn was still on red.  We were soon down the locks where we picked something up on the prop, making getting into our marina a bit of a challenge and berthing even more so.  But with the aid of a fortunate wind direction (for once) Dave reversed us in smoothly.

Going down the weed hatch had to wait, as we drove off straight away to spend the day with daughter Jen and family down the M40.  We had a lovely time with young Finn who, true to his age, found the box more interesting than the contents! 

 

But best of all was Grandad.

Halfway back to the boat a warning came up on the car dashboard – a failed fuel injector.  It’s happened before so we knew we’d be limited to 2000 revs till it’s fixed!  So it was a tense drive back along the M42. Luckily for us there were no hold-ups on the motorways (you can’t pull away easily from standing) and a lot more downhill than up (where the car handles like an overloaded lorry trying to overtake in front of you on a hill).  What to do about getting home?  We’ll have to think about that.  Dave had the scary experience of coping with the previous failed injector on the busy M5 and doesn’t want to repeat it; driving down the motorway on a busy Saturday is probably not the safest option.  So we lit the fire and considered the alternatives over a glass of wine.

3 locks, ½ boat mile, lots more road miles, some very fraught.