Or close to.

The weather is warm, the sun is shining. Spring has sprung. Birds are on the wing.

I even spotted a pair of these very close to the canal.

It’s an Egyptian goose. Initially, I asked Gemini ai what it was. I described it pretty clearly, cream brown body, dark brown wings. Brown ring around the eye. 1st answer from our trusty ai helper…. “It sounds like you might have seen a female mallard. They’re pretty common ducks, and the females have that mottled brown plumage you described. Is that a possibility?“. Obliviously not a mallard, I said, much larger than that. Have another go… “Barnacle goose” says ai. Again, a pretty dumb suggestion. A barnacle goose is black.

Ai bird identification skills 0/10. AI really hallucinating pretty hard on this one.

Like the black swan I spotted in Cropredy, initially they were kept as domestic pets on ornamental lakes, non native and non breeding. As the climate has changed, black swans and Egyptian geese have spread their wings, as it were, and taken to the UK countryside

Also heard a Cuckoo. It was in the tree behind the boat coo cooing until the crows came and chased it off.

Boat painting

With the improved weather conditions, I’ve had time to be given over to carrying out some boat renovations. Namely painting the roof.

Over the course of the last 8 years or so since it was last painting, it’s seen a little weather damage and the appearance of rust welts around the mushrooms.

It’s also faded and some of the white has started to flake away.

I’m using three colours on the roof of the narrowboat, these are

• Montego Blue – Rylards
• Chalky White – Craftmaster
• Oxford Blue – Craftmaster

Here’s the roof:

As you can see, it’s left to right. The majority being the Montego blue.

Sanding, undercoating and prepping took roughly 5 days. Prepping meaning washing and masking off.

Topcoating 2 days. This was delayed for at least 4 days because of the wind. Strong wind.

I eventually finished the Montego 2 days ago. It went on with rollers, very easily on the first coat. When the sun came out for the second coat it was slightly more tacky. The heat not really being ideal for painting as it throws fine wisps of paint off the roller. No wind, no sun, obviously no rain, no trees. No insects. Not a lot to ask for…

Before I can do the other parts, the Chalky White and the Oxford Blue this new paint needs to cure. Which is 7 days. If you put the tape on before it cures, there’s a chance it might peel or taint which we don’t really want, plus you don’t really want to be climbing all over a roof with fresh paint. Much better to let it dry. So that’s what I’m doing.

Engine mounts

Had some problems with a wobbling engine not so long back. I diagnosed this as the mounts would need replacing. As I was reversing Bonnie up after getting water at a previous stopover, I could hear a strange intemittent tapping coming from below. I was moving at low speed, so I took the engine cover off to see if I could get a positive ID on what was causing it. Looking down at the rotating shaft, I could see some of the bolts had become visibly loose.

These bolts on the prop-shaft had come very loose to the point that the rubber donuts, (as they call them), were moving under the bolts causing the whole shaft to vibrate.

Thankfully, no mounts or engine lifting to bother with! Socket and grips. Took about 10 mins to sort it out.

Traversing the Oxford canal

As I’m not in work at the moment, I’m a man of leisure. Not only that, I don’t need to be around in these places any more that I want to.

After Somerton, where I stayed for 1 week, I went and turned around and after a brief stay at Pig Place, which is not going to re-open for commerce as far as I can see, I’ve made it back up here to King’s Sutton in the fields.

Somerton is pretty close to the Cotswolds AONB, and whilst I was there, I cycled over in among the undulating hills. Here are some pictures from around and about the place.

I’ve decided to do more cycling now, as I have more time. As you can see, I’ve got a picture of David Beckhams’ gates which clearly exhibits star quality. I was kind of expecting a pair of golden balls to be mounted on the gate pillars, nope…

This of the church in Somerton. It looks very pretty in the spring sunshine!

Moving north

In the coming weeks, I will be heading more north in preparation to take Bonnie in for blacking.

On that note, I’ll leave you with some canal pictures.

Until next time.