Timelapse: Preston Bagot to Hatton, two other short bits and power supply problems

I was having a few power supply problems with the timelapse camera on our April 2011 cruise. The camera is designed to run from two AAA batteries - no good for the lengths of time I need to run it - or a 12V cigarette lighter plug power supply, connecting via a small plug into the camera. Ideal for a boat, you'd think. But the connection between plug and camera is not reliable, so I soldered a couple of wires to the battery connections inside the battery compartment and lead them out to a home-made power supply which I run from a large rechargeable 7.2V battery. The bodged way I connect to the large battery involves pushing the wires into the connection holes. Hardly surprising, then, that they sometimes come adrift. I really will have to come up with a more reliable solution!


When we'd got to lock 31, as on yesterday's timelapse film, the camera's memory card had filled up. I realised that that was what had happened when, still aboard, I transferred some of the files to the laptop to make space for the rest of the trip. Before that point I suppose there was enough space for a couple of (very) short sequences.

First, six seconds of our entering a winding hole just north of Wilmcote.



Next, and more interesting, a whole 14 seconds including steering onto the Edstone Aqueduct. It would have been good if it hadn't stopped before we got to the end!



Now for the full-length feature. Day 13 of the cruise saw us climb from Preston Bagot on the Stratford Canal to Kingswood Junction, turn right on the Lapworth Link, and right again down the Grand Union. Ally and Ben had joined us again; we had a barbecue when we tied up above Hatton Locks.



Tomorrow: the delights of the Hatton Flight.