Woke very early this morning (Sunday), before 05:00 hours. We ran the engine all last night again and didn't get much sleep, exasperated by there not being much heat in the cabin due to the failure of the Webasto heater. By 08:00 we were on the move toward Hurleston Locks and the ice got thicker and thicker. At Hurleston Junction I had a job to turn TQ in the ice and I had to reverse several times and ram the ice to get TQ pointing in the right direction. Made it to Barbridge and that is as far as we were to go. I did a recce up the Middlewich Branch on foot, and the ice was 30mm thick or more so there was no way TQ has enough horsepower for that. I left Lin to do the housework and packing as we had decided to go home, and walked the 3.5 miles to Aqueduct Marina to collect the car, and brought it back to Barbridge Marina where we were able to load up near the water point. I then reversed TQ back to the mooring and went through the stages of shutting down the systems. I estimate that by this time the engine had been running for about 60 hours continuously. We made our way to Aqueduct Marina and handed in the keys, and then it was back to Sandbach and the M6/M5 to Taunton. Home at last. I hope our next holiday aboard TQ is is somewhat better than this one.
Here is a list of "happenings":-
Canal closed at Trevor in addition to Llangollen (not made clear by BW)
Flat engine starter battery
Alternator failure
Domestic alternator failure (Low output)
Even more "sluggish" bow thruster
Webasto failure (Valve left closed)
Webasto failure again (Flooding (fuel))
Being told that TQ wouldn't pass the BSS
Having to leave the engine running all night (2 nights)
Frost all over the inside of the windows (2 mornings)
Canal frozen solid
Kevin and Linda well teed off (and we don't play golf)
Frederick on test, and the C&O canal
3 days ago
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