What a Wally times 2

The day started with a leisurely breakfast and the usual preparation for the off when Keith lifted the hatch on the stern deck to stow something away when he noticed that we were awash with water in the bilges! Panic, where was it coming from? The stern tube gland had shown no signs of leakage and it didn't rain too much in the night. He started to mop up and soon discovered that it wasn't water it was DIESEL. Was the tank or the fuel lines leaking? No. Then a drip appeared on the upper side of the sloping slipper stern from underneath the newly fitted Fuel Purifiner. This device is designed to remove water and solid particles from contaminated diesel by centrifugal action. These can then be drained off by releasing a tap with a screwdriver. This he did yesterday but did not turn the tap fully off therefore it dripped throughout the night.
Before we could go anywhere it all had to be mopped up. So all the boards in the engine room were taken up in preparation for the task that lay ahead. Obviously not a job for the Captain but for the 1st Mate.

Dianne is the smallest member of the crew to fit down here!

Two hours later we were ready for the off with the smell of diesel lingering throughout the boat. We got to Kidderminster to do some shopping in canalside Sainsburys ready for the WE and Keith went off to Maplins and Halfords to purchase a cooling fan for the batteries and to replace the water powered brush that was lost in Bristol City docks on day1.
It was then a steady run back to Stourport from whence we started.

A pair of Kingfishers carved from the stump of an old tree

 

The last lock

 

Well, this is journey's end that originally began in Stourport  on 19th June and has seen us travel through 11 counties, 456 miles and 256 locks! Well not quite journeys end, remember the title of today's blog?
We left one of cars in Stourport ready for the return journey to Bristol. Keith suggested offloading some stuff from the boat and into the car. I'll just get the keys he said. Keys, what keys? We searched high and low for them to no avail. What now? A quick phone call to our neighbour Andy, who had kindly been looking after our house, revealed that they were hanging up in the key cupboard. Wally act No2!!
One of us had to return to Bristol by some means in order to retrieve said key. Out came the laptop to look at bus and train times. Dianne has a rail card and so volunteered to make the journey.
The train should got into Parkway at 1pm and a bus to home was caught almost immediately. A cup of tea and pick up keys, it was time to drive car back to Stourport. Normally this takes in the region of 1hr 15mins but, because of all the holiday traffic, took 2hrs 15mins!
All's well that ends well and we were soon packed up and on our way back to Bristol after a very memorable holiday.