The Blessed St Mike

When I was at the Maritime Museum on the Lady of Rock Island on my holidays there were many paintings of seamen and ships in peril, and all had a little Virgin Mary painted somewhere in the clouds looking down on the scene. Well, my own Virgin Mary came to the rescue on Saturday. The redoubtable Mr M, sailor extraordinaire, and no a bad diesel mechanic either, went out his way to get me a bevy of parts including a beautiful new water strainer, and through he came and we set to work. By early afternoon we got the old totally clogged, and useless, filter off and the nice new one on. Oh, the joy to see the water spurting out the back of the boat once we got the engine running. Rarely can a spurt have been so enjoyed. Cheers, Mike!
So, it was off up the canal, through Maryhill and on through surprisingly gorgeous scenery to the Stables at Kirkintilloch, where I moored up (above). Without looking back I legged it along the pontoon and up to the bar. A pint of Deuchars! Sat out in the sun and read the Saturday papers. Phew.