Up until now I’d been on the towpath each night and hadn’t stayed in a marina so I thought I’d give it a go. Unfortunately, five minutes from the marina, outside the Turning Point pub (now unimaginatively re-named the Water’s Edge) in Cowley, the engine cut out. The engine restarted normally but a slight turn of the propellor and it abruptly died again. So I checked the weed hatch and found a tyre stuck fully around the propellor. I think I’d backed the boat into a tyre being used as a fender while I was turning the boat round.
It was a freezing cold day. A chap who works at Packet Boat marina let me have a huge arm-length rubber glove – without it I couldn’t have spent a whole hour leaning into the hatch and sawing away at the tyre. Apparently they put strips of metal into car tyres to strengthen them.
It was a relief to be able to drive into the marina, moor, hook up to the electricity, have a shower and relax. Think I might enjoy staying in one place for a while.
