No wonder the paint was peeling!

I started having a go at the front doors today, scraping the flaky paint from the woodwork.

I started using sandpaper, but found a much more effective tool was an old knife. This got under the old paint, flaking it off easily. The wood underneath looked completely untouched by paint. I suspect primer hadn't been used, or perhaps it had been stained in an earlier incarnation. It looks very dark.

I sanded and primed the bare wood, ready for an undercoat later.

We are currently near The Galleon, just east of Cosgrove's Iron Trunk Aqueduct. It's an excellent mooring, getting the full effect of the sun during the day and with great views of sunsets over the canal in the evening.

When October comes we'll move up to Thrupp Wharf Marina for overwintering. We won't be back on our original pontoon but online initially; we'll move to a pontoon with electricity when one becomes free. We had been looking forward to an online mooring with its greater connection to the canal and passing traffic, but mains hook-up will be useful when the weather gets colder. We have a small thermostatically controlled fan heater to reduce the likelihood of pipes freezing up.