Huddlesford Monday 24 February 2014

The rain woke us during the night and it was still raining slightly when we got up, but it had cleared well before we were ready to leave.

It was bit of a late start as I wanted to improve on the playing I did yesterday to improve the battery charging so that the engine does an equalising charge. Harnser is fitted with an ADVAC alternator controller which senses the voltage at the battery terminals so over coming any cable losses. What I did yesterday was to connect a diode in this line so fooling the ADVAC in thinking that the battery voltage was about 0.8 volts lower than it actually is. The problem was to mount the diode so that it was mechanically strong. What I did was to take an inline glass fuse to pieces and replace the fuse wire with the diode inside the glass tube. This then replaces the fuse in the sensing line in an inline fuse holder, to switch the system back to standard I just take the diode out and put a standard fuse in its place. It was a bit fiddly hence the late start.

It was almost 11am when we set off, much warmer than yesterday, very little wind and the sun was out. The offside bank at Pooley Hall was covered with Snowdrops, I think its the most I have ever seen in one place. I could only photograph a small section. 

Just beyond the Hall standing on the hill is an obelisk, as you can see, by now the sky was clearing out to a nice blue.

We passed through Alvecote where there was a wide beamed boat at the services, I guess it just comes out of the marina to fill with diesel as I don’t think it would get under the bridges. Just beyond here we met Phil and his wife who follow this blog.

We were hoping the Tamworth flight would be with us, but no, both empty and I am sure they are getting even slower to fill. The house part way down the flight still has a bright display of artificial flowers outside their house.

Most of the boats at Tamworth Cruising Club were out of the water with only one moored below the lock.

There has been no progress with the building project at Fazeley Junction, I do wonder if it will ever get finished. There was only one boat moored on the Fazeley Visitor Moorings opposite the CaRT offices. I have never seen it like this before, there were three moored just off the end of the official moorings.

We pushed on through Hopwas and saw a couple of trains cross the River Tame, there is still a bit of water about but the river looks to be running at its normal level.

Next it was the acres and acres of polly tunnels, well they are not tunnels at the moment, just thousands of hoops standing in long rows, if you get the angle right they make pretty patterns as you look through them. By now the clouds had started to gather, but it was still dry.

Many years ago when the canal was built they ran into a slight monetary problem and needed a little extra help, consequently a section of the Coventry Canal is actually the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal and the end of this section and return to the Coventry is marked by this shone set on the edge of the towing path. The inscription is the opposite way round to what I would expect and the arrows cross. I had to look twice to make sure I was going the right way.

Last October we attended a gathering at Huddlesford Junction, 3 boats that were moored in the area then are still there, but then again maybe they have been away and returned.
As we passed the pub I spotted this pair eating the hedge in the car park, they had a flat wagon behind them. But if the owner stays in the pub too long there could well be a hole in the hedge. We pushed on for about another half mile, almost to the marina before mooring for the night.
I then tested my alternator mod and it seems to be working OK, we will see what happens in the morning when the batteries are a bit depleted. I know the lack of water has ruined them, but I am attempting to salvage what I can from them.