I do, but it's LiFePO4 and charges quicker than the Lithium Ion power bank I've used until now, and it has 3x the capacity. I still have to run the gennie, just not every day now. Boat's batteries only power the cabin's LED lights now, and my 130w of solar should hopefully handle that.

6/x
To add to the general cheeriness despite the plummeting temperatures, there is a laundry opportunity imminent that won't, due to the accumulated weight of washing occasioned by a dearth of facilities recently, carry the risk of my expiration between boat and washing machine. Happy days 😀

5/x
...not least because I won't have to run the annoyingly noisy generator of dubious reliability quite so often, nor up sticks in the worst possible weather to set off in search of petrol to run it quite so often.

4/x
And to make this cold start to winter even more comfortable, I took delivery of my new Black-Friday-Bargain Jackery power station today (thanks to the most excellent Brinklow Marina), which will be a game changer for powering the devices that keep me busy and entertained and, therefore, sane...

3/x
That's gonna save me a fortune in fire-lighters and kindling, and make winter mornings a whole lot less traumatic 😀

2/x
And as I enter my fourth winter aboard, I've just discovered that closing the wood-burner vent entirely does not starve the fire of oxygen, as I thought, but changes the heat setting from 'furnace until 2a.m. then rapidly cooling to outside temperatures' to 'comfortably warm til morning'

2/2
Amongst other things, the Commission recommends review of the current CC movement requirements. It does not recommend a specific alternative, but does provide an illustrative scenario in which the range a CCer must cover in a licence period actually reduces compared to current expectations.

Barley Mow looked a little run down when I passed, but it looked like it was open.

Newbold, just north of Rugby. A few arms like this on the North Oxford remain after the canal was straightened. For a while this one remained navigable for quite some distance to serve a lime works near the original Newbold tunnel (the bricked-up north entrance of which can still be seen).

One of them is a hire boat. Scuttlebuck around the cyber-block is the two boats became wedged together side by side against the lock walls which left the fronts hanging as the lock emptied. Apparently the lock is now notified for single boats only.

Ha ha, yes, thanks, though the constant fouling of the prop by all the leaves made it even more of an anxious experience than usual 🥵

Rare moment of sunlight...was beginning to forget what sunlight was.

Good luck. Lots of canal loveliness to explore out west.

Up, heading back west. Grand Union is highly recommended and the Leicester Line glorious, but I prefer there to be more junction choices and fewer scary tunnels (still got to get through Braunston yet), and as a single-hander of advancing years I find narrow locks easier.

Fond memories as a rookie turning off the Grand Union onto the South Stratford here and promptly wedging my boat in the very first lock😵‍💫 A certain amount of fender indiscipline had crept into my routine after all those wide locks on the GU🫣