Slap on that sun screen!!!!!!

As it was such a lovely day we were on our way by 9am this morning. Unfortunately by 10 the world and his dog were out too, lucky for us the majority were heading in the opposite direction. Still I mustn't be an old Victor every one is entitled to an enjoyable time on the canals. We finally got to the selected mooring for the day by bridge 193 just after Somerton Deep. No one here so we pulled in had some lunch then Paul got the paint brush out. He also took the dodger off the back so that every thing could be washed and polished dodger and boat had this treatment.

We were aware of the lack of paint on the stern corner sometime ago and have tried on various occasions to take photos without success, however the sun was in the right position and Paul had a go at taking some pictures which would highlight the under spray the following is the result. Paul says it isn't going to be easy to cover the showing undercoat by brush as it will stick out like a sore thumb as it is right on the corner encroaching both panels. We also have some under spray in the cratch area out of line of sight where Paul is going to experiment maybe with an electric spray gun or similar to see how good a colour match can be made after it is polished out.

One of the many places where the paint has run and not been flatted out.

It is such a shame as we have had many positive comments how nice the boat looks but when you look closely you see all of the imperfections.We appreciate that with any narrowboat re-paint we would not expect the ultimate perfect finish, this is not like a car sprayed in perfect conditions in a booth. However one should not expect to find these type of imperfections in the paint work like those above which would have been so easy to rectify.

We just couldn't believe this weather so warm how lucky are we this early in the year.

We encountered quite a few queues at the locks as we came up so it was nice to catch up with people and find out where every one is heading. Most it would appear are going on the Thames.

Will be another slow cruise tomorrow around 7 miles a couple of locks then sitting tight by bridge 170 just below Morrisons, near enough to walk into town but far enough to be nice and quiet. It looks like this weather is with us over the weekend so maybe the BBQ can be dusted off.