ice on the canal

The last few days have been very cold; my thermometer showed a ground temperature dropping to -12C overnight. And the canal is frozen over, up to IC5-6 on the Canal Ice Scale.

But boaters need to stay warm, and not all of them can get to a coal merchant and carry sacks back to their boats. So there are fuel boats serving the canals. But the West End of the Kennet and Avon, from the bottom of the Caen Hill locks below Devizes to Bath, didn't have a working boat after the last operators stopped, last year.

So the folk at Bradford Wharf Services,* in conjunction with charity Floaty Boat, have organised fuel runs on Ishtar, crewed by volunteers. Here they are in action; they arrived here in Bathampton on Wednesday, and breasted up on my boat overnight as the light was failing.

Shortly after setting off on Thursday morning, they had to stop; the ice was just too thick. We're all waiting for the thaw now.

*this is a link for ordering fuel for your boat; there's also an option for 'paying it forward', where you can put in funds for fuel for boaters who can't afford it.