Well nearly, we were all set to go in the morning 20/4/10, last job yesterday was to clean and polish the car and put on it’s cover. It’s main job was to protect it from the weather for the next 6 months, but now it is also a volcanic dust protector too. That’s twice that Iceland has had a go at us, first was Icesave bank going under, what next I wonder!! All we had to do was empty the loo and fix the continuous ¾ full light that was on regardless of tank level. Last night however I just thought I’d check to see why the engine room smelt so much of diesel after our run out a couple of days ago to see how Charlie got on (he was alright thankfully). The reason was that the engine tray (oil catcher) had caught some fuel, but where from. Hence another job for the morning. I did the loo, and the offending light went out this time, but I removed, cleaned and tested the sensor as well just in case. I think that not too much use recently had caused things to get clogged in the tank department if you get my drift! The fuel leak turned out to be a loose connection on the breather pipe union which only came to light because we had filled the tanks to the brim. So now I had to clean out the engine tray. Hot water, detergent, one of Charlie's towels, dust pan brush and the oil collector from the boat yard were all needed. Luckily I found a hand pump and was able to suck out the resulting mixture into a container and the boat yard’s scrap oil tank. Did I mention the lost canvas hatch cover that blew away in the wind, a sudden 3 second whoosh was the culprit…..is it me. Ordered a another one though, so no problem except the £120 for the new one. Then the washing machine stopped in the middle of its wash, but that was Margaret, she had the machine, the immersion, and the toaster all going at once and the 16 amp trip switch didn’t like it one bit. Perhaps we should have stayed at home. 
So all jobs jobbed, and the Voyage on Sammy Jo began at 5.00pm 20/4/10. Slack water and with a force 4 side wind we really had a lean on as we shot off down the cut at 2mph Graham! We had to stop at 6.45pm to get dinner and besides it has been very cold up here and the captain was getting chilly, but no rain. We are currently going south on the Staffs and Worcester canal where at Wolverhampton we go north on the Shropshire Union canal . Just past Nantwich we go left onto the Llangollen canal our first objective. B/day boy shot is Ironbridge nr Telford ...well worth a visit. Shrugborough was 5 minutes from the marina and we were hoping to visit it but didn't seem to make it.
