Screwfix

Thank you for all the comments regarding the toilet roll and how to correct the offset in the perforations.  It was a little tongue in cheek and seeing the subject Is so popular I might mention another couple of toilet paper incidents in a later post……..  But then maybe they won’t get past the censor on the boat!

Jan and son went off to the supermarket this morning leaving me to do the engine checks and replace the engine bay condensation wicks.  The last two Towpath Talk newspapers have been saved and this morning I tightly rolled and taped them.  The old wicks look like they have been doing their job.

Everything looked fine, although I’m going to need to wire brush and repaint the area under the dripless stern gear. 

I’ve been meaning to buy some replacement sacrificial ‘D’ shackles for the bow and stern fenders.  We broke our last shackle in a lock on the Llangollen Canal and I’ve been using a plastic cable tie as a replacement.  Yesterday I happened to be browsing through the Screwfix catalogue (drooling over the power tools section) when I noticed they had M5 size shackles selling at £2.95 for 10.  The sacrificial shackle is the weakest link in the chain securing the fender to the boat.  It’s designed to fail if the fender gets caught.  Better to lose the fender than sink the boat!  The nearest Screwfix outlet was at Trafford Park around 5km away.  Son and I decided to walk there via the towpath.  Along the way I wanted to check Stretford Marine Services near Waters Meeting to confirm they have a water point.

There is an up stand between the canal and the building in the distance.  A local informed me the water is free.  Having established where the water point was we walked the short distance to Waters Meeting.  Go right to Manchester or turn left onto the Leigh Branch and Wigan.

There’s a white notice at the top of the arch on the bridge to the left advising the Leigh Branch is currently closed whilst maintenance is completed on the Barton Swing Aqueduct which takes the canal over the Manchester Ship Canal.  The aqueduct is scheduled to reopen on 21 March.  We were planning to go that way but will now have to defer that part of the journey until it reopens.

One of us (with younger plumbing) needed a comfort stop after I had purchased the shackles and a detour to the Trafford Park Shopping Complex was quickly planned.  Last time we came this way I had a quick look at the complex.  This time we had a good look around.  Access to the complex was obviously planned with vehicles in mind because pedestrian access is very difficult unless approaching it from the canal.

I found the décor a little vulgar.  It’s something I would have expected to see in Las Vegas or Saudi Arabia.  It looks like (and is) a cheap imitation.

 

We were looking for the food hall to buy a drink and discovered it by accident when we wandered into an area labelled “New Orleans”

Inside was the food hall in the shape of a river paddle steamer.

All today’s photos were taken with the phone camera.  I’ll try and get better photos when we head towards Wigan.  By the time we returned to Waiouru we had walked just on 20km.  Slightly further than I had anticipated and no doubt my feet will tell me about it tomorrow morning.