Very busy three miles!

We woke up to a heavy frost which made things very pretty outside with the chimney just letting out some gentle smoke.

After our weekend of sport (Rugby, Football, and Grand Prix) and chopping wood, we really needed a change of scenery today.

This was the first time the Lithium batteries had been below 6 degrees, and when checking they were saying "Charging disabled" and an alarm had come on by the boat management system (BMS)

Lithium batteries don't like being charged in cold temperatures, so this can be a problem through the winter months.. So when you look at the Colour controller (CCGX) the solar panels had been turned off and alternator charging was also off..   So we have to get round this problem by warming up the engine room, either by the engine, the central heating boiler, or running a heater of some form till they are warm enough. On each battery there is a temperature sensor and it has to be above 5 degrees. We have set this to 6 degrees just to be safe. Watch this space to see how we get on during the coming months.
Anyway, by the time we did set off the sun had broken through the fog and the batteries were ok to be charged, so it was all systems go for us.. We stopped at Grove Lock marina and picked up a couple of bags of coal for keeping the fire in overnight.

We then dropped down the lock and headed towards Leighton Buzzard.

Our second stop was on the water point and Del filled Derwent6 and got rid of the rubbish, while Al walked into town and posted a parcel and also brought some new boots.

While she was away another boat turned up so Del moved on to the Tesco's moorings and waited there, and Al turned up with a lovely surprise of a Costa coffee and a nice bun.

The Aldi is closed here until December as it is being refurbished so we had to use Tesco's and stock up all the cupboard space.. We eventually got on our way and then met a queue at the lock with the hire boats going out for this week with the kids off school for half term..
We went down the lock with a guy moving a boat for someone, so we let him go as he was on a bit of a mission.. We trickled along for the next couple of miles past the Globe Inn pub.

We then reached our mooring and was surprised how busy it was round there.

Its a nice feeling sorting out Derwent6 knowing you going into a warm and snuggy boat as the fire had been going all day..
It had been a very funny day, as we hadn't gone very far, but we seemed to have done a lot.
Now with all the cupboards full of food it was time to tuck in!