April 30

And we bid farewell to Wales after a great tour of Chirk Castle. However, the day was not without a little drama…

Last night, I thought I had a fortunate coincidence: Chirk has a lightweight ring of 6 and they practice on Tuesdays. Great. We made ready to visit the castle on Wednesday (they aren’t open Tuesdays), by going through the tunnel and across the aquaduct. Good mooring on the England side, so all is well. Strolled back across the aquaduct, with loads of little baby lambs gamboling in the fields below- chasing the rabbits and pheasants.They are AMAZING cute. Visited the church, and a nice lady stated that the bells were rung last tuesday (the vicar was retiring) but there is no resident band, so no practice tonight… Darn. We went back to the boat for a great night.

Today after touring the castle, and a hike across the sheep fields of the estate of Chrik Castle. We made ready for the return trip along the Llangollen canal. Nice day, all well. After touring along with all well, I met a hired boat who was not really able to control his boat, at the entrance to a bridge. I reversed smartly, and the boat ended in the mud along one bank. After he has passed by, I made my way on, but something was strange. We approached the next two locks and everything was decidedly NOT all right. I couldn’t stop: no reverse. I thought I had major prop impediment, but forward was still ok. I checked the weed hatch, but only a few straggly weeds. Hmmm. On I went, but still no reverse. The next lock was a little hairy, but we made it without crashing through the gates. Forward was ok, but no reverse at all. We got along to the next marina, and the engineer discovered that I had sheared the key on the prop shaft. In forward, it would jam just enough to turn the prop, but in reverse- slipping. The engineer removed the prop while upside down in the weed hatch (all underwater), and replaced the key. This would usually require a removal from the water (dry dock or slipway), but the engineer worked his magic, and replaced everything- except the locking pin, which needs a new hole through the shaft. Drilling underwater provides special challenges! All the bits I had just dulled on the hard stainless shaft, so we are marooned until they get carbide bits tomorrow to drill. If that fails, then we try and limp to the dry dock 4h down the canal and out things come to get fixed. More tomorrow! Canal life is SO exciting! But, all is well.