Outward Trip

The trip on Shangri La down to the dry dock was pretty straightforward – 6 locks, 5 swing bridges – Set out at 12.20 on Sunday, and arrived at 17.25

Karen had to do all the hard work – she hadn’t done locks or swing bridges for a while, but she soon got back into it – and did a great job!

Shangri La – At lock landing

I am a bit old-fashioned, and I like flag courtesy, a hangover from my seagoing days, so Shangri La is flying the Red Ensign on the stern.

Also, as you can see in the main picture, we fly the English flag on the starboard side, and the South African flag on the port side. We don’t have the mast up when cruising, due to occasional low bridges, and overhanging trees.

In Semington Dry Dock

Dry dock work done

The main reason for the dry dock was naturally to have hull cleaned, and fresh blacking applied.

It was last done in 2023, so was not in too bad condition. So that all went well. Some anodes were renewed.

I added 2 coats of paint to the roof, which looks so much better now.

The engine bay was looking in a bit of a state, so I thoroughly cleaned and painted it out. Looking good now.

Also took off all the canvas covers, and high pressure washed and cleaned them.

And next

So the dry dock was all good. We had planned to carry on down to Bath, and maybe even Bristol, before returning to our mooring at Foxhangers.

Due to a number of reasons, we decided not to do that, but just a shorter version down to the aquaducts and back.

Bit of a nightmare trip! All about it in the next post.