Lazy days on the Ashby Canal

This week – Moored Snarestone, Ashby Canal

The engine problems of last week are now all cleared up, along with the mess left in the bilge.  The bilge pump was put to use to rid the diesel that had leaked badly.  Ah, but not to pump it over the side of course, but we pulled the hose from the outlet and directed it into containers.. that saved a lot of time.  Our hand pump was then used to rid the rest followed by some very good absorbent sheets that I had bought off ebay a couple of months ago.  These things are brilliant, they only pick up oil etc and leave any water they find!

Of course that was a mans job, so I did the womans job of giving No Problem a good once over inside that day.  I had two dogs last week you see, and well there is so much mud around.  The reason I had two dogs is because Chas and Ann of NB Moore2Life had been away ‘dan saff’ visiting the family for their Christmas.  We returned the favour when they looked after our narrowboat over the Christmas period for us.. they ventured south via buses, and had quite an eventful trip, of which I shall stay quiet .  I think if you look on their blog in a day or so you will get the full story there!

An absolutely perfect place at the end of the canal here for birds…

Here a green finch enjoying breakfast.. but there have been so many different birds on the feeder this week, including a fleeting visit from a green woodpecker… ah the camera is never quick enough to turn on when you want it to!  And this is one for my grandchildren… OK then girls, what is this one?

One thing that has been bothering me of late is how to dispose of oil.  We do our own oil changes, but trying to get rid of the old oil is a real problem.  It is certainly a problem that British Waterways do not want.  We have had old oil onboard for a couple of months now.. nowhere can we ‘dump’ it.  At British Waterways Rubbish Disposal areas there are signs warning that if oil is dumped then the dumper can be fined up to £20,000… EEK!

The nearest for us where we are at the moment, says the sign, is Barwell.  Looking at the map, that is some 5 miles away from the nearest canal mooring, and looking for other amenity dumps, they are all about the same distance from the canal throughout Leicestershire and Warwickshire.  Boatyards are refusing to take it from us too.. giving all sorts of excuses. 

I mention this because on one of my walks this week I met a couple at a stile, and they decided to stop a while and chat, telling me that they came from Barwell.. “Ah” says I “You have a tip there”… They were quite surprised that their little village was famous to me for the ‘tip’!!  I then went on to explain the problem with disposing of oil.. “Give us a ring when you get to Stoke Golding and I will come and get it off you and take it to the tip”.. See, walking across the countryside is not only enjoyable but very productive!!

Chas and Ann are back tonight, Molly their dog is delighted, and the cat, who stayed on their boat, is over the moon hoping to get total attention all evening on one of their laps… Tomorrow I think we will make our way back along the Ashby.  I have enjoyed it here very much.