Last summer an old friend indicated that he’d like to visit me on the boat in England. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, mainly because I went back to Canada earlier than originally planned. This year he didn’t let the opportunity get away.

Rob graduated with me from high school in Parksville (many of you will know him) and we’ve kept in touch off and on over the years through Facebook. We met once, briefly, at a reunion years ago. I won’t mention the last time before the reunion that I saw him, many of you might also remember that (it has to do with a certain grad party in 1978).

He is now an airline pilot, and has the fortunate ability to hop on flights (if there are empty seats) to almost anywhere. So this year he came for a visit! I was still in the marina at Church Minshull finishing off the solar panel installation when he arrived. And, as these things tend to be, it was like no time had passed. We fell right back into our friendship, and quickly set off on the canal. I, also as is usual, put him to work on the locks. With minimal instruction of course. Well, I suppose I should have known that a pilot would figure things out pretty quickly…he got the hang of the whole narrowboat world faster than most. Before long he was doing all the driving! To say he loved the canal life might be an understatement, you’d have to verify that with him, but as he’s already planning on returning next year (and an earlier retirement?) I think it’s a safe bet.

We also managed to visit several pubs, another pastime we both had in common…

 

The highlight of the week, and the reason for heading up the Llangollen canal into Wales, was the Pontcysllte Aqueduct. The structure is a World Heritage Site, and a wonder of 19th century engineering. Built on 18 huge stone piers, it’s a cast iron aqueduct carrying the canal 126 feet above the River Dee.

It’s pretty windy up there so the boat tends to careen off the sides and as the metal is only 1/2 inch thick, the sides do bow out as you bounce off. Very disconcerting to say the least but the crossing is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I recommend it.

The town of Llangollen at the end of the canal is very pretty and generally centred on the canal. It has good moorings (at a small fee but with power and water), decent shopping, and lots to see. We didn’t take the steam train but I do hope to do so in the next couple of weeks. It was also pretty cool to see the horse-drawn day boat, a bit of living history…

The return trip ‘down’ the Llangollen canal included a side trip to the Chirk Castle. It was a bit of a hike but we were lucky to get a ride from a shuttle bus that was off it’s route. The castle has an interesting history. Much of the building is medieval, having been started in the 13th century by Roger Mortimer of Chirk on behalf of King Edward I to help ‘subdue’ the Welsh. It is a Grade 1 listed site now owned by the National Trust but was lived in as a family home until 2004.

The same family occupied the castle for over 400 years, and most of the furniture and art is still there.

I can’t overstate how great the ‘reunion’ with Rob was. Old friends remain friends, as if no time has passed. We relived past glories, commiserated about never-forgotten troubles, shared our histories over the last 40 years, and compared our plans for the future. I certainly look forward to doing it all again next year! And if anyone has any doubts about why I’m doing this adventure, just ask Rob, he gets it.

 

So, as many would know through my other social media posts, I finally made the decision to install solar panels on Cool Change.

As a bit of background, it’s common for narrowboats to have the panels as it’s rare to moor in a marina with ‘mains’ power. Most of the mooring is on the towpath, often in quite remote areas, but just as often in an area with other boats. It’s bad form to run your engine or a generator while moored up and since many of the systems on board require significant power (the fridge, computer, TV, starting up the water heater, etc), solar is a great way to keep everything working without the noise and smell of a running motor. Keeping the fridge running is particularly important, I like my ciders cold.

The way this summer has been going, battery power has become even more of an issue for me since I am spending considerable time moored up, waiting for the rain to stop. Certainly much more than last year which was a record warm and sunny year. I therefore made the final decision to just get the damn panels installed. I have wavered and waffled at every boat show and chandlery, looking at alternatives and options. There are large, high power and very efficient solid panels, smaller ones that would fit better on the roof but not give as much output, and easy-to-install flexible ones that are simply glued down. Many of the flexible ones can even be safely walked on but they aren’t as efficient and often come with heat problems, further reducing their power output and lifespan. Being able to walk along the roof is particularly important for me as I mostly operate single-handed and need to climb in and out of locks. There are ladders in each lock but their location isn’t very predictable so can usually only be accessed from the roof. 

First I chose a boatyard with a good reputation and close enough to where I was going. Aqueduct Marina near Church Minshull fit the bill, and could slot me in. Once I arrived we made all the measurements and ordered the parts, but as they would take a few days to arrive, I cracked on with other projects that I’d been putting off for far too long. Most importantly, I got most of the roof prepped and painted (since once the panels were installed this would be considerably more difficult). As I wasn’t allowed to grind, sand, or paint in the marina (the boats are very close together, after all), I had to pull out onto the canal and moor on the towpath each day to do the work. Unfortunately due to the rain I wasn’t able to paint every day, which slowed the whole process. I also had to return to the marina often to recharge the sander and grinder.

After finishing the roof, and during times I couldn’t paint, I installed a second foot step to climb on the roof, redid a bunch of plumbing that’s been annoying me, sanded and painted the deck at the stern, added some coat hooks, and a bunch of other little chores that I’ve been putting off.

As for the solar installation, I decided to go for the hard panels but somewhat narrower than usual (a special order of course). I wanted to position them on the centre line with enough space on either side to walk safely. As it turned out, they fit very nicely between two ‘mushroom’ vents, allowing safe access to much of the roof.

Another issue was always where to run the wires. I had already resigned myself to a slightly longer wire run than is recommended (voltage drop on long runs reduces the power received at the batteries) by having the panels mounted more forward on the roof. This space was clear and would make the installation simpler. Many people simply run the wiring along the outside, on the roof, to the stern where they can then access the control area and battery compartment. I didn’t want that, I wanted everything hidden and protected (from the sun, from stepping on them, from dirt and rain, etc). As it turned out, we were able to place the panel wiring directly over a cupboard in the galley. Drilling into the boat at this point made it possible to cover up inside and run the wires into the walls. From there back to the stern was a simple run, tucked up under the gunwale ‘ledge’ (this is a walkway that all narrowboats have, to walk along the outside of the boat when necessary).

There was potentially a better way, through a wireway on the ceiling, but we weren’t able to remove the woodwork without significant damage. I wasn’t interested in hiring a carpenter to fix it afterwards (although getting Darren over to do it did occur to me).

Finally, once all the wires were routed into the stern cabinet, the electronic control box was mounted and connected to the batteries. Now, the panels can continuously supply current directly, with the ‘smart’ box regulating how much. This box is monitored via Bluetooth from my phone, and some settings can be changed. Other things are set on the box itself, different charging profiles for different battery types, for instance.

I’m not going to show the battery connection, I’m too embarrassed about the condition of my engine compartment. It’s my next project!

It’s been a lot of work (compared to what I’ve become used to) but I’m looking forward to being out in the middle of nowhere, or moored outside a pub, and not have to run my engine for a couple of hours, twice a day, to keep the ciders cold.

I’d like to give a big shout-out to the beautiful Aqueduct Marina at Church Minshull. I’ve been treated extremely well, it’s all gone as smoothly as these things can go. Thanks to Brian for his expertise and hard work, it was a pleasure to work with him. Also to Chris for arranging things, to Nick for getting me a spot, Georgia for all her help at the front desk, and to Dave and David in the chandlery. It was pretty handy being able to drop in several times a day for tools, paint, and parts. I’ll see you all again in the fall when I drop the boat for the winter.

 

It’s July 1 already. Wow, the summer is going quickly. Or what summer we’ve had. The record-breaking heat wave that is sweeping across Europe hit here the other day. That’s right, one day only. The temperature got up to 30, I had to get the fan going, take off my jacket, and put on shorts! But at about 6 pm the temperature plummeted to about 15 and has pretty much stayed there or below ever since. I’m not complaining, just noting that if Climate Change is going to happen one day at a time, we’ve got nothing to worry about!

The last couple of days were nice easy cruises to reach the marina for my solar panel installation. Having said that, the turn onto the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union Canal was an experience in itself, and my blood pressure was the highest it’s been for a while! It’s a blind junction with a boatyard and locks right there on both canals so it’s already a tight space. Boats coming down from the Middlewich can’t see under the bridge and around the corner to know if anyone is coming the other way

I <was> coming the other way, and had waited for three boats to pass through ahead of me. I also did the right thing; I walked up to the lock and told the crew of the boat coming down that I was waiting to go up, to leave the gates open when they exited. I said it at least three times. After they came out from under the bridge, I turned the very tight corner into the pretty confined space before the lock (see photo above). Someone had closed the gates and started filling the lock to come down! I honked my horn, waved and shouted and they just said “we were told to close them”! They didn’t stop but just continued poaching ‘my’ lock…

(I might be making too big a deal out of this but don’t have much else to write about)

I managed to pull myself out of their way, we had a short chat, blamed the hire-boat that had just gone through, and carried on with our day. That’s about as exciting as things get on ‘the cut’.

The Middlewich Branch is beautiful, I loved the day cruising along it. Very rural and quiet, almost nobody around. Even the towpath was just a grassy sward with no sign of an actual path (indicates nobody walks or cycles it). Part way along was this well-kept building, what looked like a cottage. It was quite confusing as there were no windows, until I reached the end and could read the sign. It said “Canal Stables”… so this was a spot that the horses that pulled the canal boats were stabled. It’s only about the third location like it that I’ve seen, not many seem to have survived. After a bit of research, I found that it was converted in 1999, not to everyone’s satisfaction but at least the building is still intact. Actually it was quite lovely, even without windows. And the boaters couldn’t gawk into their front room like many of the canal-side homes!

As it’s Canada Day I’ve done the best I can to announce it over here. It’s not a holiday of course, so the solar panel installation should begin soon…more on that in the coming days. In the meantime, Happy Canada Day everyone, I hope everyone back home feels the same pride that I do for our country, our people, and our place in the world.