Back on the canals at last.

We had a great days cruising today, leaving our mooring at around 09:50hrs and arrived at our first stop Birstall. After two, yes two trips to the Co-op and posting a letter, we wended our way through Leicester, which in the excellent weather we had today was a very pleasant trip. Leicester isn't at all as bad as we've heard in the media, although the Northern side is somewhat more decrepit, but we didn't feel even slightly intimidated at any time. Back out to the countryside tonight and we're through Kings Lock which signifies the start (or end) of the Grand Union Canal.
I spotted an adder today, clinging to a twig growing out of the wall close to the waters edge in Birstall and I tried to take a photo of it but as soon as the camera was ready it unraveled itself and swam off in the water along the edge of the wall. It was definately an adder as it had the black zig-zag down its back.
I had the bow thruster out this evening and inspected the brushes and commutator. It's not a horrific sight but we need a new set of brushes, two of them are down to their limit and the other two are OK, so I'll keep the two good ones as spares when I fit a new set soon. The commutator is worn slightly and was covered in a thin layer of black carbon and the brushes had lumps of carbon adhered to the joint face. I cleaned it all off and also cleaned between all the segments on the commutator, and then reassembled it and tested. They work better than I've seen for a long time. Having sealed up the two holes in the floor where the cover attachment bolts screwed in, the cavity is now bone dry and I'm wondering if cutting ventilation holes in the hull are necessary. Something else I've noticed, the brushes have a high cupric content hence the coppery colour, Vetus specify carbon which is black.



Right Style, wrong material?



Minimum specified demension is 14mm

Currently moored a short way South of Blue Banks Lock on the Grand Union Canal.