MM Out of the Water and Repaired.

Monday 27th June, 2016 at Mountsorrel.
Fixing MM's rudder was a priority. Overnight, R managed to do a temporary repair so that at least he could turn the rudder both ways although it still required a great deal of force. M studied the waterway guide books and discovered that MGM Boats (a well known narrowboat builder) was just a mile along the canal.  So, as soon as the boatyard opened, R called them to see if their slipway was available. Luckily they said that the slipway was free but only if we got there quickly. We set off as fast as we could with "Vagabond" just behind. As we arrived at MGM boats, we waved goodbye and a heartfelt thank you to Dudley and Rosemary, saying that we hoped to catch them up fairly soon.

R steered MM, with some difficulty, towards the slipway and on to the cradle. Then Mark and Rachel hooked the front of MM to a JCB and pulled MM and the cradle up the slipway and out of the water (with us still on board).

Once out of the water, we were able to see that the rudder had been knocked right out of its lower bearing. Luckily there was no damage to the rudder, the skeg or the bearing in which the rudder sits. So it could have been a lot worse!

Mark and Rachel set to work. It was heavy work but they were able to get the rudder back in its proper place fairly quickly.

Soon MM was fixed and the rudder was back to normal. Hooray!!

We walked around to their office to settle the bill. M had to go back on MM to get her cheque book and said it was a very strange feeling walking uphill in MM!

After parting with a large cheque, we climbed back on board MM as she was pushed gently back into the water.  We waved goodbye and "thank you" to Mark and Rachel, incredibly having lost only about an hour.

It was such a relief to have normal control of MM again! The cruising on the River Soar was lovely.

We did the next few locks on our own, just using a single gate to save time and effort.

At Mountsorrel we caught up with "Vagabond" and, with their agreement, breasted up beside them as there was not a free mooring place.

They were expecting us as word of our successful repair had gone ahead of us - the old jungle drums of the waterways!
It was a lovely sunny afternoon. M pegged out the washing and washed down the rear deck (very muddy after the repair) while R washed down MM's roof with his new "Wonder Mop" purchased at the Crick Show.

Later in the evening, we walked into Mountsorrel to explore and stretch our legs. A pretty and curious name; apparently it was originally "Mount-Soar-Hill".

The evening light and the reflections in the water made a magical picture. What a day!

Today: 6 miles, 4 locks and 3.2 hours.
Trip: 142 miles, 91 locks and 108.3 hours