Blacking Annie and going home on the Chesterfield Canal

Friday 15 October  West Stockwith to RWBC Clayworth (10 miles, 4 locks)

We had to postpone a visit to family, sadly, due to their exposure  to Covid.

However, John rang West Stockwith Basin to see if Annie was ready to put back into the water after her blacking. She was, so we hotfooted it there. Annie was high and dry on an articulated lorry trailer, looking good. 

After coming out of the water last Saturday, she has been jetblasted, had three coats of bitumastic applied, and had four new magnesium sacrificial anodes welded on the hull, two at the front near the bowthruster tube and two on the swim at the stern, close to the anodes we had fitted six years ago, which still have a third of their aluminium remaining! Three years ago, we had the four anodes fitted, two  either side, along the hull, one third and two thirds along its length, and these have definitely protected the middle of the hull. They seem to protect the hull best for about two or at most three metres distance, so the eight anodes have done a great job. Now we have twelve on! 

In case you don’t know about anodes, the magnesium dissolves, rather than the iron/steel hull rusting, hence the name sacrificial anodes. The hull looks really good after sixteen years, so it works.

Once in the water, the  Waterside Inn had no cook, so we  drove to the Red Hart at Misterton and had an excellent and filling all you can eat carvery meal. We were full without having seconds! The staff were helpful and welcoming, too. We will go again.

Under cloudy skies, we took our time and enjoyed the scenery. The locks were rather hard work, with some stiff mechanisms. In fact, the last lock, Gringley lock, had one top gate paddle out of action, while Liana could not release the water conservation lock on the offside paddle to operate it, either, even though the CRT key was turning ok! John had to climb up off the boat with a mooring hammer and knock the jammed mechanism open. Liana left it open with some warning tape attached, purloigned from the other u/s paddle.

We reached Clayworth after dusk, with navigation lights on, waving to quite a few of our fellow members, some attending the Retford & Worksop Boat Club committee meeting that evening. It was lovely to see various friendly faces again after our long countrywide journey.

Saturday 16 October RWBC Work Day

We had a lovely evening with our fellow boaters in the RWBC club bar on Friday night, and slept on Annie. This morning we were up bright and early to enjoy the fine weather and take a full part in the club work day. Our online moorings are much cheaper than it would cost in a marina, partly because we save money by doing lots of jobs on the three workdays each year, plus keeping our own mooring tidy, doing bar duty occasionally, etc. This time, Liana and friend Shirl washed all the bar glasses and cleaned the bar area, shelves, etc until they shone. John and Will each had a petrol engine hedge trimmer, and trimmed the half mile of hedge on Clayworth 1, as high and as far back as they could reach! Tom and several other members worked hard to clear and burn all the hedge cuttings. John helped in this after he had finished trimming and had a bacon butty for lunch. There were lots of members working hard, grass cutting, hedging, making post holes, building fences, painting, gardening and sorting out the clubhouse. It really was a great team effort.

Later we had a club meeting for members to decide on a new heating system for the club, using modern heat exchanger technology. As John was bell ringing and attending church early on Sunday, we drove home later.