Today we planned to do a little cruise to show Pete and Vicky what this barging is all about. But we needed to fill the tank after a winter’s usage for heating while Nico and Miya were living on board. So first it was a short trip over to the fuel pump of the other side of the canal - or so we thought! But just like last year, after we started the engine we tested the bowthrusters - and nothing!. I told Pete how Iain had fixed it last year with a hammer, but being a proper marine engineer, Pete said that while that would work, it would not “fix” the problems. After a little bit of diagnostic work, he concluded that the solenoids were jammed shut and even a big hammer would not fix the problem this time. He explained that moisture in the boat over winter could corrode the solenoid surfaces, and that we should ensure that the bowthruster box in the forward wardrobe was kept open and dry over winter. He recommended that we pull the bowthruster solenoids apart and clean up the contacts in the solenoids. I would never have tried this myself, but I trusted Pete, so we got to work.

Pete disconnected all the circuits then pulled the solenoid assemblies away from the bowthruster, then after carefully labelling various components, he pulled the solenoids apart. The contact surfaces were indeed very pitted and dirty, so we both got to work sanding and filing the surfaces, being careful not to wear through the “silver” surface. After all these were cleaned up, he reassembled the solenoids and refitted them to the solenoids. And voila, they worked!

So off we headed to fill the diesel tank, and our second surprise of the morning. Last year, we filled over 950litre of diesel; this year it was over 1100litre!!!  And all this without doing any barging at all. We now realise what keeping a barge warm over winter really costs.

So finally, around lunchtime, we were ready to go for a short cruise down the canal. Being boat people, Pete and Vicky were very interested in how the barge worked, and how we managed the locking process. Pete also was dying to have a go at steering the barge, and was very quick to get the feel for it. You could tell he’d done this sort of thing once or twice before.

As we cruised out of Moissac, we couldn’t resist getting a photo of the house with the new Belvedere.

Further down the canal nearing Malause, we were surprised by the sound of two water-planes (flying-boats) flying down the line of the canal. We were even more surprised when they banked and landed on the expanse of water alongside the canal that provides the cooling water for the Golfech nuclear power plant. No idea what they were doing there!

Having nearly reached Malause, we decided we had better turn around now if we were going to get back to Moissac before the VNF closed the swingbridge for the day at 1900h. So we nosed Kanumbra into the soft bank next to the train line, put her on hard right rudder and powered ahead, pivoting around the bow and turning in less than a boat length.

On the way back to Moissac we had to go through two locks, and so not knowing exactly how long that would take, we called ahead to VNF to let them know we were coming.  We arrived back at the swingbridge at 1901h, and they were waiting for us. The VNF guy thanked us for calling ahead. And just as well, because the hire boat that was following us by a couple of hundred metres was too late, and we found him moored at the small dock just to the west of the swingbridge in the morning.

We moored in the port in the same spot as previously, but facing the other way.

We then settled down to dinner on the rear deck with Pete, Vicky and Dexter.

Later in the evening, the weather turned again and became a bit rainy. So we moved into the wheelhouse and continued a long chatty evening.