Wroxhall Abbey, covid and filter fun

Anne (Izzy the dog's owner) had celebrated a nice round birthday a while ago but our joint celebration was set for January as she had so many other "events" booked. Just before we were due to head to Wroxhall Abbey for a little pampering, her youngest son tested positive for Covid. Yes, not totally a surprise as the kids seem to all be little super-spreaders. 

Not tempted to her company under those circumstances and as it was too late to cancel the booking, we amended it to take the Toddlers instead. Their first escape from Hythe Marina since covid kicked off so quite an event.

The hotel is a lovely old building, recently refurbished, with the old Abbey in the grounds as you can see: 

Have a look at their website for more information on the history of the place, very interesting  - Hotel website link

Part of the birthday treat for Anne included a bottle of prosecco in each room so for the first couple of nights we enjoyed "Prinks" before dinner;

and this seemed to make Mrs Toddler smile a lot although she kept a tight hold on her face mask just in case:

Mr Toddler was way more relaxed:

The real issue was day three when we had run out of fizzy stuff. Mr Toddler pointedly told us that as we were going out, we could buy another bottle. For some inexplicable reason, we complied.

There is plenty to see and do near the hotel:

Stratford-Upon-Avon and Royal Leamington Spa were the chosen destinations as we didn't know either of them well. Both were well worth visiting.

Close to the hotel is the famous (well, to canal boaters anyway) Hatton flight of locks. 21 of them in a very short distance that looked like hard work to us:

Quite a busy day getting through all of those, we much prefer the single lock out from Cardiff bay into the sea which is hydraulically operated by lockkeepers  too. The tea rooms at the top lock are a real throwback to the days of friendly family run places and the advertised "famous scones" really are very good. Just don't use the customer toilet in cold weather.......

We loved the buildings and buzz in Leamington Spa too. Somehow this broken glass repair seemed very apt:

and the views from the riverside walk were good if gloomy, thanks to the weather:

All in all a good little break!

Maintenance news:

It starts to feel like "preparing for the new season" time. So, the captain had his annual diesel fuel fun and swapped out the fuel filters. Only 8 this year as the heating system filter was new during the summer. The worst bit was taking them up to the filter disposal drum in the marina to find that it had gone (apparently it was run by the now failed marine engineering shop, Team Marine). So, they came back and resided in the engine room until alternative arrangements were possible. That was fine until one of the strong ziplock bags holding them decided that it had a poorly made seam which allowed a little diesel to weep out. A little diesel makes a lot of smell that likes to linger too. So glad they were in the engine room.

Why 8 filters? Well, one polishing filter to clean fuel pumped from the storage tanks into the supply tank. A pair of Racor primary filters for the main engine (redundancy) and one on engine filter. Then a primary and secondary for the genset and the same for the wing engine. This year was way easier than before having swapped out the original primary cannister type filter on the wing engine (it was horrid) for a Racor turbine unit. That saved a good 15 minutes and lots of bad words.