Wet Walk

It has rained on and off for the entire day and that has put a stop to any thought of continuing with the painting.  I went for a walk up to Froud’s Bridge Marina to see if there had been any change in the water level since passing that way yesterday.  The stretch of the canal between Aldermaston Lock and the lock at Woolhampton is one long pound.  The River Kennet joins the pound below the Woolhampton Lock and diverts from the pound at Froud’s Bridge.  So any inability to handle the volume of water by the River Kennet should see the water level in the canal rise to the point where it flows over the top of the Aldermaston Lock gates.  Actually this is most unlikely because there is a weir on the River Kennet shortly after it diverts from the canal.  Once the water spills over the weir the area is a low lying flood plain.

Jan and I checked this assumption by walking along the new footpath adjacent to the A340 between Aldermaston Wharf and Aldermaston Village.

The contractors have been doing a good job with the new footpath.

When we reached the road bridge over the river it was possible to see the volume of water being discharged over the weir on the up stream side.

Paul (nb Apache) had previously mentioned that a large tree had collapsed across the river creating an obstruction.  However it doesn’t look as if is having much affect on the flow.

But the water level has definitely risen on the floodplain as the new footpath on the far side if the bridge has been submerged.

Back at the boat Jan found a courier delivery had arrived for us.  We now own two Binetone model 900 walkie talkies purchased from Amazon.

They are waterproof to 1 metres and will float if dropped into the canal (note Elly & Mick ) and the battery life is 16 hours.  The battery life is achieved by the radio going to ‘sleep’ mode if not used for 30 seconds.    So now “Hot Mama” will be able to talk to “Fat Boy” when doing the locks!

Darren has finished painting the sliding hatch cover for the rear cabin and this morning Nick masked it up before applying the mastic seal around the inside edges of the timber lining.  However the exposed timber edges to the hatch opening on the boat also need to be sealed with mastic before the hatch can be refitted.  This isn’t going to occur whilst the area is exposed to the rain.  Consequentially we are going to be without a proper hatch for at least one more day.