Narrowboatboy’s Big, Bad Blog...Narrowboat & Travel blog based on Lancaster Canal

  Storm ‘George Eustless’, aptly named after the Environmental Secretariat minister, has really made a mess around here with conditions having deteriorated all week. From the endless annoyingly lashing midweek rain to the weekend warnings of an incoming stupidly named storm as gusts build to ‘very windy’ on the big grownups wind-chart with records recording that it’s worse than the very old, stiff winds first recorded back in the blowy day’s of 1764 when wind was quite strong. The climate change is happening under our very runny noses and is also happening a bit quicker than he thought and us boater’s are feeling the brunt of it. Waves reaching up to 4 inches were recorded breaking on the banks of the very full Lancaster canal and all towpaths have now been re-classified as ‘treacherous’ by a government sauce. A 78 year old dog walker was seen battling the winds and struggling with the pooh bags billowing and blowing about uncontrollably, splattering startled fishermen with c...

 Todays technical blog is about engines so if any girls are listening you might want to turn over as its probably going to get a little too complicated for you to comprehend the ‘Vorsprung Durch Technik’ of it all.... The ‘head’ is back on now but while attempting this complicated surgery he severed a main artery and diesel started to piss out uncontrollably so unfortunately, under current NHS post -Covid rules, the operation had to be cut short. This ultimately means that another slot will have to be booked to finish the job off, thus allowing the head doctor to legally demand that I pay even more money 💰 than intended to pay in first place! By the end of all this he will, however, have completely pimped my ride and I’m sure I will fully appreciate the level of comfort and reliability that a newly refurbished BMC1500 diesel performance engine offers. The head has been completely lobotomised and skimmed with “seven thouw” shaved off, new injectors fitted and valve guides gu...

  It’s not all about performance...but i do have an expectation that things will work, especially when you have spent so much time and money and investment on them so when they don’t it’s very, very annoying. But today, I    still find myself waiting and waiting to watch the machine spring back into life and start to purr again. The anticipation of this happening is driving me mad and I’m still not sure whether or when I will witness such an event?....dark days indeed and powerless despair down here on the cut! It’s bad enough to have witnessed the breakdown first hand in such a harsh environment but then to have to wait such a long time so see if someone can fix it is frustrating to say the least. Are you not supposed to be the ‘man who knows’ when it comes to getting things to work?...I’m beginning to lose confidence in your abilities especially when you are supposed to have all the tools to hand and the best workshop in town. Yes, I understand that there are lots of mo...