Lungs at risk from Dust

The powers that be never tell you the whole truth, general advice is for those with breathing problems stay inside


First Picture is facing East just before dawn








Second picture is facing North, you can see the concentration of dust in the atmosphere








And finally still facing North but a little later, you can clearly see two layers of dust. Please remember this is made up of ground glass and pumice. The experts seem unwilling to let us know what the proportions are so I think the only advice for all especially in Europe is, "STAY INSIDE" where the air is clean

Keeping the dream Alive

Just for those contemplating buying a barge and cruising the French waterways for an extended retirement. Sorry no pictures, for those you will have to push the link to get those. Annie and Mark decided on an early retirement and came to bargeing late in life, better late than never, togeather with two large bearded collies, Boris and Brushka, who both love mud and water in equal measure. They are also doing a Blogg on their travels south. Have a read and look at the pictures to keep those dreams alive. All you have to do now is push this link http://www.somewhereinfrance.co.uk/ Enjoy

Now Pay Attention or Pay Again

A serious word of caution for persons buying barges and having work done without having the work overseen by someone who knows "BE WARNED". After spending £35,000 on work done in a Dutch Shipyard. The invoice read, Service Engine, Clean all fuel Tanks, Renew all filters, Repack Stern gland, Renew shaft bearings, Steam clean Engine room and bilges and £7,500 to shorten vessel to 30mtrs. This means that £27,500 was spent on those jobs listed above. 20hrs running time saw us with engine at idle due to fuel starvation, 15 inches of water in the bilges due to a leaking stern gland, and the oil floating on that water did the rest. An emergency stop at Ijmuiden to renew the fuel

filters and
reconsider our position to continue. Surveyor called to explain how after spending 35k this could happen. Only explanation given that a certain yard was run by a crook. Bit strong but I can see his point. It cost a further 15,000 Euros to get the work done properly, The fuel was condemed as too contaminated, two buckets of sludge removed from fuel tanks, Stern gland had to be repacked as the old packing was hard and dry, report said it had not been repacked for some years, To complete a sorry tale the engine broke down as one of the oil filters on the engine was over 25 years old. We noticed a small drip around the seal and stopped it before the

filter burst the seals, took 3 days to get a


replacement filter up to Newcastle. We still managed to complete the delivery to Northern Ireland with a clean engine room and all machinery running like a sewing machine. Engineers earnt their pay on this trip.
The moral of this tale is make sure the work you pay for has been done, or employ someone to oversee all the work being done

Holland's loss is someones gain

Here we go again, flight to Holland and a short train ride to the ship/barge. Install the gear and away we go-well that's always the main idea. On this trip we had Peter the Pilot with us once more and it is always good to have experienced crew on one of these trips and maybe Peter will decide to be a delivery skipper one day when he tires being a river Pilot. Our Dutch friends Pieter and Nerine pick us up from the rail station and a few hours later see us ready to get underway, with goodbye's said we slip the mooring ant through the Sluice and into the North sea. Picture shows Ijmuiden fading fast with the last of the daylight, engine splutters and stops is not what we had planned but it happened. The engine was newly fitted but was second hand or should I say used, well tired may be a better description. Fuel tank below engine is not a good thing if the fuel lift pump is tired and leaking, air in fuel means engine no go. How lucky we are that the owner Garf had fitted a stern cabin diesel heater, with its own fuel tank. A lot of grunting and shoving saw the full 30 gallon tank being turned into that good Dutch practice of using a day tank, fuel gravity fed, no need for lift pumps especially if they leak. Engine restarted and ran perfectly for the rest of the voyage, only down side was it was a bit nippy in the early hours. Total distance of voyage was 198 nautical miles and an average speed of 7 knots made for a good voyage. Next picture shows the Luxemotor alongside a trawler in Kings Lynn Harbour. Delivery skipper and crew tired and pleased to be home

Time to attach one's wings and over to Nevereverland as some one puts it. A quick call in to visit old friends and then back to sea. New camera toy packed, loads of spare batteries and memory chips, hold the vinegar. Fingers crossed for some decent piccies