Between 57 and  56 to Basin Bridge 22 

Halving the amount of miles we needed to do to reach a mooring for a grocery delivery Tuesday morning, we identified a good place to stop today, just by a disused railway bridge where there was definite tree cover. We pushed off just before 10am with about a three hour cruise ahead of us, or so we thought!

Leaving our wonderful mooring of last night Tilly sat in the window and watched her trees gradually disappear and the blazing sunlight took over from the dappled light we’d got used to under the tree cover.  Whilst we’re cruising at the moment all curtains and blinds are shut, along with the side hatch to try to keep the interior cool. If Tilly wasn’t in our lives I suspect we’d have front and back doors open to get a breeze through, but that would be too risky with a curious cat on board.

Yesterday as we’d approached Shackerstone there had been a couple of fishermen. As always we slowed down and Mick said thank you to them as we passed we try to do the right thing by them. These were grumpy men, few make eye contact let alone reply, but one chap sat chuntering to himself, the content of which wasn’t audible to us. Mick asked if he was alright to which the answer came ‘Too many boats!’.  This morning there had been a constant stream of boats come past, suspect they were heading back to their marinas.

As we approached the winding hole at Shackerstone we could see at least three chaps all with their rods out. A boat came to wind, whether they did it effortlessly or made a meal of it we’re not sure, but one thing is for certain you can’t turn a boat with out churning up the water on a canal. As we passed the chuntering was on going. ‘They churned it all up!’ ‘Constant bl***min stream of boats’ ‘Too many boats’ ‘Where do they all go too?!’ Did they really expect there to be no boats on a canal built for boats, in the summer, on a weekend, a sunny weekend? Maybe we all should just cruise in one direction instead of using the places that have been dug out with the sole purpose for boats to turn. Or maybe we should stop cruising altogether and leave the 2000 miles of waterways to the fishermen. Grumpy sods, they should go home and chunter in the comfort of their own homes, well they most probably do that anyway!

With the trees by the railway bridge in sight we looked forward to settling down for the rest of the day, only to round the bend and see that there was already a boat there. There were a few more patches of shade ahead so we tried there, only to get grounded, a five drawer moment! A boat that had been following us didn’t ask if we needed help to get free, just gave us some very helpful advice as to why such spaces were empty! Reversing off worked after a couple of attempts and we were now following them.

Approaching a bridge on a bend we heard a boat horn, we were just about under the bridge so I gave our horn a blast back, well it only did a little toot and then wouldn’t make any noise at all. Luckily the toot had been heard and the boat had put their breaks on as we appeared into view.

At Sutton Wharf the boat ahead looked like they were pulling in at the services, the lady hopped off but within seconds hopped back on board and they pulled out again, if only they’d stopped for water!

Any shaded spots were full, or far too shallow to get into the side. The sun beat down on us, my sun cream layer having given up and I was starting to cook nicely. The boat ahead found a shaded spot and pulled up. On the off side there was some moorings and Mick wanted to see if the water level had dropped or we’d got lower in the water, as well as getting out of the burning rays. We pulled in and retired inside as the cabin continued to heat up.

On and on, what felt like mile after mile. No shade, people pushing out just as we were passing, the sun beating down on us. Then at Bridge 23 a space, under trees, brilliant! Thank goodness we could stop. Except there were three frisky greyhounds from the first boat on the towpath. We looked at each other from each end of Oleanna and silently agreed to go on. Greyhounds and a Tilly would not be a good mixture.

We knew that by the next bridge there would be shade, but would there be a space for us? Yes and on rings. The back didn’t come in fully, kids were feeding what seemed like the whole duck population of the Midlands, but we’d cope with all that because we had shade at last!

0 locks, 12.13 miles, 4.5 more than planned, 5 chunterers, 3 in a winding hole, 5 drawers, 2 brooms, 1 mop, 1 brolli, 2 arms 1 neck nicely sizzling, 1 boat in our place, 1 overtake, 0 water, 1 more boat in our place, 9 cows, 1 full on sunny mooring, 1 corroded connection, 2 much sun already, 3 greyhounds, 1 incident avoided, 1 more bridge, 1 space about bloomin time, 4 hours about bloomin time! 5432679 quackers, 2 kids, 2 Macdonalds, 7 convertibles, 2 overly hot boaters, 1 horn reconnected, 2nd day of TDF.

https://goo.gl/maps/e7T21CfDpeB2

Carlton Bridge Winding Hole to Quarry Lane Winding Hole to between Bridges 57 and 56

No choice today, we resigned ourselves early on that we’d have no Saturday newspaper this week. A bike ride might have found one for us, but that would have taken up some of the precious cool morning. Instead we emptied the yellow water tank, we know how to live!

A little further on we came across the hire boaters, they were busy trying to work out how to fix their large St Georges flag to the side of the boat. Was it a good thing to be ahead of them?

We followed another boat along the cut winding our way keeping to the 300ft contour, every now and then a view spread out to the west of ripening fields and dark green trees. The butterflies still busied themselves around the flowers and meadow sweet.

Up ahead a hairpin bend just by Shackerstone Station, the boat in front meeting one coming the other way which seemed to ground them. They managed to get off and carried on to pull up on the 48hr moorings at the start of a large bend in the canal that goes round the motte and bailey of the old castle to the east of the village. Last summer the Shackerstone Estate was put on the market for £13.5million, not sure if it’s sold yet. A place to come back and visit, spend some time exploring. But that will have to be another time, hopefully cooler! I have a meeting to get to next week so we need to be back near trains. So we have decided that we will need to come back to explore properly at some point.

As we’ve been doing for the last week or so, we took note of potential shady moorings as we went, there were some good ones should the end of navigation not come up with anywhere. The moorings before Snarestone Tunnel were pretty full. The end boat had been doing some washing and a pair of trousers hung on the tiller looking like a topless person at the helm, they seemed to have grown a tail but no torso!  Our slow chug along gave us the opportunity to say hello to the lady on NB Sonia Louise a blog reader who’d been wondering if our bows would cross. Further along the line some organised boaters had set up their tv on the roof of their boat and had settled already to watch this afternoons match.

The tunnel was surprisingly warm, normally they are filled with chilled air and we’d been looking forward to our passage through. A couple more bridges and we reached the end of the navigable section of the canal by Quarry Lane. In a shorter boat you can go a bit further as there is a 50ft winding hole about a third of a mile further on, but for us we’d then have to reverse back to wind.

We moored up and went to have a look around the Ashby Canal Association kiosk. Here was a bric-a-brak sale with all sorts of stuff, none of which we were interested in. A selection of canal things was also on offer, but if you wanted a brass plaque for reaching the end of the Ashby, they were sold out. Maybe there was more to explore, but the temperatures at the moment are not conducive to such things. We will have to return.

As there was a tap we filled up then winded and started to head back as there were no suitable shady moorings at the end to keep us overnight. There was space amongst the boats near the tunnel, but too many dogs around for us to relax if Tilly was out. So we carried on to between Bridges 57 and 56 where the trees just about meet over the top of the canal and the towpath is good and wide. More importantly there were masses of trees along with some friendly cover. 6 hours! I’d do my best to make that longer. She did!

Mick watched the second half of the match as Tilly and I had a good walk along the towpath and then played chase the stick. She quite happily runs after sticks, but never returns them, so a good supply is needed, luckily here that wasn’t a problem. Then it was time for her to go further into the wood, only to resurface a couple of hours later with a friend in tow. All doors very quickly shut! The lull of boats going past that coincided with the match stopped an hour or so later, with the hire boat passing us early evening, luckily for us we’d picked a straight wide section of canal.

The farm shop sausages were very nice (to be recommended) along with some burgers and veg kebabs cooked on the barbecue in the evening dappled sunlight. We may not have quite got fully into the side but that didn’t matter. At gone 9 it was way past Tilly’s Dingding time, so the mad cat lady had to come out and walk along the towpath in the direction we’d last seen her go off in. It’s amazing how echoie a wood can be when you are shouting for your cat!

0 locks, 7.54 miles, 1 wind, 0 newspaper, 1 blog reader, £13.5 million for 1700 acres, 2 polar bears, 0 brass plaques, 1 shadiest mooring, 24 sticks thrown, 11 trees climbed, 1 friend, 4 sausages, 2 burgers, 4 kebabs, 2 bananas, 2 sweetcorn, 1 internet shop started, 1 location chosen, 4 echoes to every Tilly!

https://goo.gl/maps/GTPmvqePwAB2

Basin Bridge 22 to Carleton Bridge Winding Hole

Spinneybank Farm Shop sits close to the next but one bridge, so we pushed off to reach there as close to it opening as we could. They have a small campsite alongside the canal which was empty today, but the Open sign in the shop window was lit. Walking into a small shop like this you are honour bound to make a purchase, we decided that if they had sausages we’d treat ourselves to some for a barbecue tomorrow. With it being so hot and the shop full of freezers the lady had moved quite a bit of stock into the back so that she could try to keep the heat down. A selection of fresh veg hid behind a blind looked good, but we didn’t need any. A tall fridge had milk, cheese, some meats and pork pies, that was our first purchase sorted. She then brought out the sausages, Ashby (pork) or Bridge 23 (herby). We elected for the herby ones, had quite a long chat and then made our way back to the boat.

Today we’d set off that bit early with the hope of getting moored up before it got too hot, but the mornings don’t seem to be so cool anymore, so every day it gets hotter earlier and earlier. We passed what had been a pond a while ago, now just crusty dried out mud, any water long since gone.

The Little Chimney Company was busy making a new shiny chimney for a waiting boat that was breasted up to them. We wondered if he might be able to trim our fixed chimney down a touch or make the cap we have to cover it fit a bit better, at the moment it just perches on top. As we cruised we spotted several moorings which would be good for a delivery, the road coming right up to the canal, but no obvious address close by to use. We’ll see where else there is up ahead.

Along with the normal Slow Down past moored boats signs the local boaters have created their own. Yesterday a Speed Check area sign caught our eye, it suggested it was a C&RT sign, but as we’ve never seen these elsewhere I suspect someone has made it up themselves. Today a large red triangle suggested a speed limit of 1.2mph, very specific.

We made note of a few very shady moorings for our way back, it would have been nice to stop ourselves but we wanted to get further today. At Ashby Boat Company a group were loading a day boat and other boats were being prepared for the next hirers leaving a certain aroma in the air.

At Sutton Wharf we pulled in to dispose of our rubbish mountain and whilst there made use of the good water pressure to top up the water tank. The cafe here was very busy, plenty of people following the footpath up to Bosworth Battlefield. We decided to leave this for the way back and pushed off to cover a few more miles before stopping.

The number of white butterflies today was astounding, no photos as they flutter around to much, I did try! They seem to love all the purple flowers along the towpath and swarms (official name) clouds (my name) of them kept rising from the friendly cover to then rest again on the next set of flowers. We’ve never seen so many, only the occasional coloured one amongst masses of white fluttering wings. Wonderful.

Market Bosworth sits back from the canal to the east and a marina off to the west. A long line of boats stretched out away from the marina entrance, but strangely enough not right next to it. Signs suggest that you have to pay the marina to moor by the entrance £5 a night, wonder what you get for that? We didn’t see anything special about it, other than it was vacant.

From the first boat on a free mooring, a very jolly lady popped her head out of the hatch, a blog reader, fellow knitter and crocheter and vloger (Link to their latest vlog). Glad you enjoy the blog.

Another mile or so further on and we’d covered almost eight miles enough for the day, now to find some shade. Through a couple more bridges and a shaded spot was available, we pulled back as far as we could so as to give Tilly as much towpath to roam before a boat with three dogs. They didn’t spot me for quite sometime and then came for a sniff round. I guarded Oleanna from the roof and kept them from coming aboard. The afternoon was just too warm to do anything much. We removed windows on the towpath side and had all the doors open, but as there was no breeze this didn’t help. We sat out for a while, but the number of Thunderbugs became annoying too quickly. Just where is that thunder?!

Apparently Thunderbugs or Thrips do have wings and tend to swarm in certain weather conditions. They don’t fly in the normal way, but use a method of Clap and Fling to generate lift. There are 6,000 species of Thunderbugs, someone has actually counted them all and they can live for up to 2 months. Amazing the things you can find out, just a shame they land on us and wiggle.

During the evening we had two surprises. The first as we sat eating our tea. We felt the water shift under the boat followed by voices, a boat was on it’s way. You always look out of the window to check the name, anything unusual, just being nosy really. This was an Ashby Hire boat with a couple of ladies on the front drinking and chatting away as their rubber bow fender was getting closer and closer to us at speed, nobody other than me had noticed. Lets just put it this way Oleanna reduced their speed for them and helped  to get them back on a navigable course to pass the next few boats. There were apologies and a suggestion from us that maybe they should slow down, as then if they hit something it won’t be quite so bad!

Shortly after this it started to rain! Remember that, water falling form the sky. Blimey Jaq our rain dancing has worked, well for a few minutes. It lasted long enough for us to return the windows to their frames and bring the chairs in, then it stopped. Most of what fell was most probably evaporated straight away, but at least it tried.

This evening I’ve crocheted a couple of pieces together for my next project. The overall effect of diagonals is just what I was after, just a bit of nipping and tucking on the overall shaping was needed which meant pulling some out  and redoing it. I’ll need to repeat these sections a few more times before the whole throw can be put together.

0 locks, 7.87 miles, 1 pork and stilton pie, 4 sausages, 0 charcoal, 1 full water tank, 0 recycling, 1 blog reader, 1 more shady mooring for the afternoon, 1 director back from holiday, 5 hours! 3 woofers, 1 too hot for cats day, 1 boat stopped in it’s tracks, 0 dints that we can see, 4 apologies, 2 minutes of rain, 1 feather nearing completion.

https://goo.gl/maps/JxdwaRhbRoy

Bridge 6 / 8 to Basin Bridge 22

Three boats had the right idea this morning and cruised past us before 7am, one boat was particularly wide awake giggling and joshing with each other. We stayed in bed for some more shut eye.

Good news from Scarborough arrived as we finished breakfast. Poor Val who works for our letting agents has spent much of the last year contacting us with problems regarding our house, we wince when we see an email for her. Recently a water leak had been found in the front garden and last week a gas leak was detected under the kitchen floor (a large proportion of which was dug up last year!). Today she had good news for us for once. The garden would need digging up, but Yorkshire Water are trying to meet targets so they are paying for this. A plumber took five hours to pass a new pipe through the flexible one under the kitchen floor solving the gas leak without having to dig the floor up again. Not much rent next month, but at least our tenants will have a kitchen in working order again.

Our delayed start meant we didn’t push off until late morning, the sun already doing it’s best. We pootled on for nearly three miles stopping on route to fill the water tank and then pulled up at Nutts Bridge. The wine cellar empty of white wine we needed to stock up. We’d studied google maps this morning and found that Hinckley has a choice of supermarkets, just about all the usual ones, they just happen to be a distance from the canal.

Sainsburys seemed to be the closest at just over a mile so we took a bike with us to act as sherpa leaving Oleanna in full sunlight. There were handy signs to help people arriving on foot, just a shame we missed the bike racks! We hope to find somewhere for a delivery in the next few days as the shops in Atherstone had let us down, this also means we didn’t need to overload the handle bars too much.

We pushed off again just before 4pm, the heat starting to get to me. Give me cold weather an day, you can almost always wear more layers and keep moving to get warm, but heat like this! It’s staring to get a bit claustrophobic and the horse flies that come with it are a pain literally!

The hunt for shade commenced and we pootled on for another three quarters of an hour until we found a line of boats by tall trees, there was a gap, so we filled it.  With next to no breeze there was no cooling off even sat in the shade on the towpath. Thunder bugs were landing on us and wiggling round in their tiny way. For much of the time this goes un-noticed until they give an extra big wiggle! After an hour we gave up and returned to the cabin leaving Tilly to continue to hunt out ants. Luckily she didn’t find any.

0 locks, 5.09 miles, 1 kitchen floor in tact, 3 bags shopping, 2 boxes wine, 1 cheese twist fought for, 1 shady spot found, 346783974965665757489 thunder bugs (just where do they come from, how do they get there and when will we have the thunder and rain?), 1 noisy kennels, –6C would be wonderful right now.

https://goo.gl/maps/YT3uRC7Zwzx

White House Winding Hole to between bridges 6 and 8, Ashby Canal

You’ll be glad to hear that Tilly was back to her normal self this morning, desperately wanting to go out, most probably to get another fix of ants! We kept the doors firmly shut so that she could go cold turkey, hoping that we can avoid her having to go into rehab!

Whilst still in the shade this morning Mick lifted Oleanna’s engine board and went in to do a service. Well an oil change and oil filter, he’ll do the air and fuel filter another morning soon, when we have shade again.

I got the buckets and cloths out and gave the port side roof and cabin side a much needed wash. She’d needed a clean before she got covered in tree stickyness, then that had just attracted any dust in a mile vicinity. Boy she was filthy! The starboard side isn’t as bad, but now needs doing too. That will have to wait for the towpath to change sides towards the end of the Ashby or when we’ve winded and are coming back.

Numerous boats came past us and many seemed to be stopping for the day as we were pushing off. Yesterday we’d checked the price of diesel at Springwood Haven 92p domestic. We knew that was 10p more than down the way at Star Line Boats, so we cruised on into Nuneaton passing NB Grace we’d breasted up to in Worcester earlier in the year.

Here the locals seem to have progressed over the last couple of years in picking up after their dogs (and possibly themselves). The evidence is very visible with all the knotted black plastic bags that have been thrown across the cut, now covering the offside banks of the bridges! At least it did mean that we were safer than in the past to step off and moor.

A boat was having a pump out, water fill and diesel when we arrived at Star Line, so we pulled up opposite and made sure they knew we were waiting before we sought shade. When it was our turn we pushed over and watched as the diesel pump clicked up the units on the almost illegible screen. The pump clicked off at 100 litres which made the calculation very easy (domestic rate 82p).

Then we were off again dipping in and out of shade as we made our way to Marston Junction where the Ashby branches off to the north east. A tight turn in through the narrow bridge hole, a chap sat above signalled that there was a boat  coming. Luckily it was deemed that the bridge was ours just as we completed our turn and a Black Prince hire boat held back for us. We were now, at last on the Ashby Canal!

Within the first couple of miles we passed another three hire boats (one of each of the major companies) and a few private boats. A Viking Afloat boat made us glad that we hadn’t chosen a shady patch on a wide bend to moor as he misjudged it with quite a bump and scrape. The canal is known for being shallow and this was very evident to us when ever we passed moving boats, Oleanna leaning over towards them as the water got sucked out from under her. Hope our galley drawer runners last our visit here.

A cool wooded cutting sadly had no suitable mooring places, so we ended up pulling in further on and waiting for a hedge to give us some shade.

They had taken their time today. This outside was good, a few too many walkers on the towpath, but plenty of sideways trees and some extra catwalk to strut along, ‘That’s not your boat Tilly!’

Earlier in the day we’d wondered if we’d come across a coal boat now that we had a full tank of diesel. Sure enough we’d settled down when we heard the putput of NB Callisto come past. Sitting very low in the water with a full load of coal, he must be doing summer rates to be carrying that much. Oh well, if you don’t know where they are you can’t always use them.

0 locks, 7.52 miles, 1 left, 9 litres oil, 1 filter, 1 loose battery terminal, 1 chat with Ricky, 0.5 clean boat, 1 grounded junkie cat, 100.07 litres, 1 kamikaze branch, 7 none existant, 11 months to wait, 4 hire boats, 3 drawers, 1 trespassing cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/vfhAJzPRqVD2

Taveners Bridge to White House Winding Hole

No early start for us today, we got to enjoy our Saturday paper with a cuppa in bed and watch the early risers heading for the locks. After breakfast Mick headed off for the station to make his way back into Birmingham. We’d decided that at £12 return each, one of us should go with ID for us both to see if the Post Office would hand over all the post. If they wouldn’t then another £12 would have to be handed over for me to make the journey too.

With all the curtains shut to keep the warming rays out I decided to use some of the charge coming in from the solar panel and watch anther Indiana Jones film. The Last Crusade sees the return of the Germans and has Sean Connery in it so far far better than The Temple of Doom. I got a message through from Mick that his trip had been successful and that he was on the next trains back. He returned just after Harrison Ford had successfully crossed the leap of faith and come across the ancient knight who guards the Holy Grail.

After lunch we pushed off, the next week at least all on the flat, no locks. Not far today, Springwood Haven was our destination.

Between bridges 34 and 35 we were warned by a couple on the towpath of a large chunk of tarmac that had been dumped in the canal near a newly laid road and their boat. Several boats have got stuck on it, one this morning had required a tow to get free. C&RT had been informed. We kept a wide berth and were fine.

We passed NB Ferrous chugging along, large windows showing off it’s shiny engine, I believe she is a stainless steel boat, but a google search didn’t bring up much about her. The Anchor pub looks in better order than four years ago when we’d hoped to leave our car there but it was all shut up. A large awning over part of the garden helping to give some much needed shelter to drinkers.

As Mount Jud came into view a very shady spot showed itself shortly before our normal mooring at Springwood Haven. You remember places with lots of trees and assume that there will be plenty of shade, but the sun seems to be the other way round than in our minds so all places we’ve thought of have been in full sun. So we grabbed our Oleanna sized patch and tied up. We walked over to the marina, bought some filters, a new Pearson’s guide for the Ashby, a correctly sized plug for the tunnel light and some chilled medication. The latter was of the Magnum variety which was nice but mass produced compared to what we’ve been spoilt with recently.

Back at Oleanna Tilly was chomping at the bit to get out and explore the area. We mentioned to our nearest neighbours that we had a cat and they kindly said they’d keep their dog on a lead. Off Tilly went disappearing into the trees to have fun.

After a couple of hours she ran inside, low, scatty, not her normal self. Someone was coming along the towpath, this explained her coming indoors, but not how she was behaving. She wouldn’t listen and shied away from me touching her, then ran back outside to continue to be bonkers out there. In and out, frantically licking herself, just what was going on?! Had she been bitten by something? Rolled in nettles? What? All I got back was ‘buf thi twees crwling si ways, thay sig on fer san sid, bt smel far meeeeow!!! ‘

Next time she came in the doors were closed. What ever it was causing her to be like this could stay outside. Nothing was visible in her fur, we just hoped she’d calm down. After an hour or so she’d let me touch her and after another hour I was allowed to check for any lumps or bumps, but there was nothing. Mick did a bit of reading and discovered that ants when they die give off Oleic Acid, (intersting article) this is to alert other ants to their demise, they are then collected and taken back to the nest. Oleic Acid is present in cats facial pheromones, it’s used in Feliway spray to help calm them down. Large doses of it have a similar effect to cat nip. Tilly was off her face on ants! Well that’s what we hope was wrong. As the evening progressed she returned to normal. We’ll see what she’s like in the morning if there’s a problem we know of a vet an hours cruise away, but hopefully she’ll have come off her high by then.

0 locks, 3.41 miles, 4 trains, 3 items of post, 1 more forgotten about and not picked up, 1 on it’s way to Scarborough, 3rd Indie film, X marks the spot, 1 shaded mooring grabbed, 2 filters, 1 plug, 1 guide, 2 chilled medications, 54784ruigrfufjb, 584993y55e4hfdjbvacb, 1 ant junkie cat, 1 quiet evening, 1 football score checked, 7 penalties watched, 0 martinis for Tilly.

https://goo.gl/maps/xDQTG73y3rB2

Alvecote Priory ish to Taveners Bridge 40

With over four miles to reach the bottom of the Atherston flight this morning we set off just gone 6am with our usual mugs of tea in hand at the helm instead of in bed. It took us around two chilly hours slowing past the numerous moored boats. We’d thought of stopping to deal with rubbish and top up with water at Bradley Green but a boat was just pulling in, right into the middle of the bollards. No point in asking them to move up as we could do what we wanted further along.

Approaching the bottom lock it was obvious we’d be joining a queue, third in line. It now being 8am we’d missed the advantage of setting off early, it was guaranteed to be busy here, always is except in  winter.

The front boat headed into the lock, we pulled in and I strolled up to the lock to help with gates and have a morning chat, getting to know the people on the boat ahead. Plenty of hands to keep us all moving. The bottom of the flight is made up of three pairs of locks which have gaps between them. Everyone keen to get moving meant that we ended up with two boats in the short pounds between the pairs often, luckily the water levels could cope with this.

The lady from two boats ahead thought that there were eight boats ahead of them going up, so we were eleventh not third! They were out for a couple of months and had wanted to cruise in the north, but with stoppages they had decided to head southwards instead. With the Cheshire Ring, Four Counties and Liverpool out of action at the moment it was most probably a wise move.

In front of us was a freshly painted share boat, it was only it’s second trip out since it’s new lick of paint. Sadly yesterday they had caught a branch somewhere on the offside which had left a mark down the cabin side. This would be bad if it was totally your own boat, but with five other couples to explain it to! The lady was going to try her best to polish it out, but she had noticed that the bow looked like it had been touched up with a near but not quite matching cream. As her boat moved up the locks we were left on our own to open and close gates for the first couple of locks until another boat appeared from behind.

Their crew were very keen and they soon caught us up. No point in rushing as there was nowhere to rush to, just join in at the pace the lead boat was moving at along with a couple of boats that were coming down. On this boat there were two couples hoping to reach Calcutt by the end of tomorrow. One lady was very chatty and I did get to know almost all of her life history. With a caravan currently near Whitby she and her husband were astounded at the beauty of the countryside, we had lots we could chat about which made the ever increasing heat more bearable.

After lock 6 there is a longish pound with 48hr visitor moorings, we pulled in for breakfast in the shade of the big trees as a boat pulled out taking our place in the long line of ascending boats. It was 10:30 by now we thought we’d have been at the top, but you can’t rush these things. Breakfast seemed odd, maybe we should have had lunch instead!

It’s the first time we’ve walked into Atherstone for some shopping. Everyone tells you about Aldi and how handy it is. As their head office is close by I’d wondered if this store would be the best we’d been to, or would it be tired and old. It was neither, just the same as most we’ve visited. I knew I wouldn’t get a few things that I wanted, but there was far less than I’d imagined, so we crossed over the road to the Co-op to finish off.

With need of access to Birmingham to get our post we decided to not venture too much further, but we did need bins and water and this mooring was a touch too close to the railway for a peaceful afternoon. After Lock 5 we pulled in and topped up the water. We were following someone so the pause meant we wouldn’t be on their heals and a boat might come down in the mean time to set the locks. No boat came down.

There are normally volunteer Lockies on the flight and we’d seen a couple of them this morning collecting rubbish. One of them had stopped and asked if we’d been to Glasson last year as he recognised Oleanna.

They tend to man the top three locks, especially as there is a bend between 2 and 3, so you can’t see if anyone is coming (they have radios). There was nobody there, I set the lock as Mick exited the one below and closed the gates. In the pound above was the boat we’d been following, a Lockie was investigating this chaps weedhatch for him. I could make out movement in the water, was it the lock being emptied or just the wind? Around the bend came a boat and a Lockie who signalled to the helm to pull in. It was too late for Mick to leave the gate below open.

The Lockie stood by the top gate, I closed one bottom gate and walked round to close the other, suggesting that they should have a mirror so that you can see round the bend. He commented on our efficient locking method, even though he still just stood there and watched me walk all the way round!

Up the last two locks and it looked like we’d ended up being the 18th boat up today, well since the Lockies started in the morning, there may have been others earlier. We pulled in at the services to deal with rubbish and empty our yellow water as two boats arrived to go down. The next stretch of moorings had gaps and looked like they would soon be in shade. Not such a nice mooring as yesterday, quieter than further down, but it would keep us near the railway.

11 locks, 6.33 miles, 3rd, 8th, 11th, 18th inline, 3 passed, 2 hours pause, 1 nice town, 3 poohs posted, 1 albino pineapple, 1 empty wee tank, 0 recycling, 1 pooh bucket, 1 pooh box cleaned, 6 volunteers, 1 cat in a building site.

https://goo.gl/maps/BWxyZEh4zu52

Curdworth Lock 8 to Alvecote Priory ish Coventry Canal

Last night as we laid reading in bed I could hear someone outside, shoes on gravel. Nothing unusual about this people walk past on the towpath at all times, but this person wasn’t passing, they had stopped. Mick thought they had moved on several times and that I was just fretting. But I’d not heard footsteps leaving, just the occasional scuff of the gravel outside our bedroom window. In the end  Mick got up and dressed and armed with a torch went out the back to ‘check the ropes!’ A chap was leaning against the fence outside our bedroom and asked if Mick was okay and Mick asked if he was alright. There was a story of just having heard that his wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and he’d come out to help clear his head. This may have been plausible, but you never know. They chatted for a short while then Mick came back in, the chap then moved away.

The alarm was set for early, we wanted to try to beat the sun today. At 6:15am both ropes were untied, engine started and we pushed off through the low lying mist on the canal, creeping past our neighbours to the lock.

Outside the Dog and Doublet was very quiet compared to last night. Just after Bodymoor Heath Bridge we pulled in on the offside. There is a slightly confusing sign here that suggests that there are no bins until Fazeley, these no longer exist, but in the corner of the car park there is a bin compound including recycling. At last we cleared all the plastic, glass and cardboard, space again.

Down the last two locks of the Curdworth flight, back into the land of double bottom gates. The canal now runs alongside a nature reserve, the birds were being very noisy. Two winters ago we’d last been here, a stoppage on the locks meaning we were on a dead end.

The views then were better the hedges neatly trimmed and no leaves to block our view as today. Tilly, still only about five months old, could only look out from Houdini’s shelf at the view, shore leave not yet granted.

Drayton Turret Bridge today was surround by fat green trees and there was no big bump under the water as we cruised under Coleshill Road Bridge. For those who miss the services at Fazeley, you can now use those at Fazeley Mill Marina when it is open. We didn’t need to stop and carried on past Tolson’s Mill which has been a gym for the last two years, the fantastic wool shop now sadly a thing of the past.

At the junction we turned right onto the Coventry Canal, not many boats about and the cruising club looked quite empty too.

Glascote Locks were to start our ascent again. It turned out that what at first looked like a boat about to come down was just walkers stopping for an early morning chat. You quite often have to queue here, but our arrival at just gone 9am was before everyone got going.

I started to set the bottom lock, only to discover a huge leak on the top gate, a torrent of water was forging it’s way around a trapped branch. I quickly lowered the paddles and refilled the lock, hoping this would waste less water than if I fought to open the bottom gates then the time it would take to get Oleanna into the lock. By that time the small connecting pound would have been well down. As the levels equalised the branch just popped out of the gate, only a small thing can cause quite a leak.

Above the locks we made our way to the far end of the visitor moorings and tied up for breakfast. Then a top up shop from the very handy Co-op, including charcoal and quite a few items from their sad gits section. By the time we pushed off again it was 11:30 and starting to get quite hot. The canal was far busier than we’ve seen since Lapworth, mainly because we’d now joined a very popular route up and down the country where you can avoid going into Birmingham.

We wound our way around the outskirts of Tamworth. This is where Tilly had her first set of vaccinations so we got to know the gardens quite well. We were heartened to see that the immaculate lawn that gets swept was still very tidy. No one was sweeping it today, but the brush lay waiting should anyone see a rogue leaf.

Alvecote Marina was busy and the Samuel Barlow pub looked like they were in for a good afternoons trade. We carried on hoping that a tree would oblige a short distance further on, with sufficient distance from the railway line to have a peaceful afternoon in the shade. Having moored along this stretch before we knew roughly where we wanted to be, just one more slight bend would do. There in front of us was a shadow of a tree 59ft long, 6 inches spare. On the opposite side of the cut were more tall trees, maybe we’d get sun for an hour,  but then the shade would return. This mooring also had a bonus a wide footpath leading into the woods where we’d be able to set up our chairs and have a barbecue without infringing on the towpath.

They thought it was good! It was blooin bl**y brilliant!!!! I had a good sniff round to see what there was, then headed down the path to the far side. So much to keep me busy you would not believe it. At the current rate that the outsides get changed I reckon I’ll be fine here for a week. She said I had six hours and then maybe more as she and Tom were going to sit out this evening, so a whole lifetime! Pouncing commenced, followed by climbing. Even though there was lots of shade it was still quite warm so flopping to the ground was necessary at times.

She kept saying I should climb the biggest tree, ‘don’t leave it for tomorrow’. So I went part way up leaving loads more of it to conquer tomorrow, I didn’t want to use it all up at once.

Lump wood charcoal tends to burn hotter and quicker than the briquettes we normally get. I stupidly took a couple of photos and delayed turning over the veg and haloumi kebabs, they became veg haloumi and carbon kebabs. Oh well it’s meant to be good for you and it was only on one side.

6 locks, 7.93 miles, 1 right, 6am start, 1 creepingly quiet boat, 9:30am breakfast, 3 keys back in the drawer, 1 small stock up, 1 box of wine, 0 visit to the vets, 1 broom, 2 gnomes going for silver, 1 more hot day, 1 perfectly shaded mooring, 2 stamps of approval, 2 pork chops, 2 salmon fillets with sauce, 4 half yummy kebabs, 4 half blackened, 2 chocolate bananas, 1 gluten free IPA, 2 glasses of wine, 1 fox that stopped play a bit early, 2 Mrs Tilly stamps.

https://goo.gl/maps/VStaAi5btPE2

Minworth Arm to Curdworth Lock 8

Tea in bed was allowed today, but it wasn’t followed by breakfast straight away, we had a newspaper to find. We pushed off and cruised about a mile further on to just before Curdworth Tunnel. Here there was shade in abundance, maybe we should have pushed on to here yesterday, but the only view was of trees so no sunset.

With the thought that the Post office might run out of our chosen paper before we got there we walked straight into the village crossing the big main road. As we approached there was a lady leaning against a skip by the front door, she asked if we’d come from the canal. The Post Office closed on the 24th June for refurbishment, so no newspapers or milk available for a while, in fact there was very little inside the shop at all. She gave us directions to the nearest paper shop, back to the main road, turn left and walk for about half an hour. We went back to the boat to check on it’s location.

Over breakfast, google maps and street view were checked, no sign on street view of a shop, but there was an Asda on the other side of the canal a bit further on, a bike ride away. We’d stocked up on a few things before leaving Birmingham but had totally forgotten about breakfast things. So off Mick went on a Brompton, returning with a newspaper and enough to keep us going for a couple of days.

We could now push on, all of the 3 miles we had planned. Notes were made of possible sheltered moorings so that we didn’t pass them.

Through Curdworth Tunnel all 57 yards of it, good job Mick had bodged the tunnel light together yesterday even though we didn’t use it! Another half mile and we were at the first lock of the Curdworth flight. This is a modern lock as it had to be moved when the M6 Toll was built.

A short distance on we pulled over to top up with water just as a large group of lads cycled past us. They all stopped at the lock and then spent quite a bit of time trying to work out how to fill the lock, presumably to swim in it. They had no luck in filling it so after some time carried on cycling along the towpath. Glad we hadn’t come across them, ten teenage lads in lock.

We’d missed the cool hours by now and the heat was building up again. We came through here in October 2014 on a day with a different extreme of weather. It started to rain at the second lock, we managed to put on waterproof coats but no trousers, Mick sheltered under the pram cover and bridge holes, but I got wetter than if I’d fallen in! No chance of that today, although Mick took the opportunity to shelter under the bridges again, I had very little shade to wait in as the locks filled or emptied. All the locks have flower beds by them and are well tended with neatly cut grass. Having said that there was very little green grass around, most of it now parched and brittle to walk on.

After Lock 7 we started to look for shade, the spot I’d got my eyes on already had a couple of boats moored there, tall trees on both sides of the cut. We pulled in behind them but were soon going to be in full sunlight for the remainder of the day. Below Lock 8 on the 48hr moorings for the Dog and Doublet there was only one boat, but the trees on the off side didn’t look like they would give us much shelter, so we stayed put as the sun heated up our port side making the interior of the cabin like an oven.

I watched most of the second Indiana Jones film Temple of Doom, which suffered from having a 1980’s female character who screams a lot for comedy effect. Not a patch on Raiders of the Lost Ark! Mick sat reading his paper in the shade of some trees in the garden of Brook Marston Farm Hotel, which looked a touch closed, whilst Tilly had a good explore without a green mesh fence getting in the way.

In the evening we walked down to the Dog and Doublet for some food and a drink. It was tenth in the ten UK’s best waterside pubs in the Guardian this week. We especially like the quote in the article from the landlady. This didn’t seem to have put anybody off as all the outside tables were chocka and it was quite busy inside too. We stopped here before and had a pleasant meal. Tonight we both opted for a Sirloin Steak and chips each. If only the chef had seasoned our meat before cooking it, they would have been good steaks. As we headed back to the boat for some chilled medication Mick noticed a paddle had been left up at the lock, so he kindly returned with a windlass and closed it for the last boat that had come through. We really didn’t want to have to fill pounds again tomorrow.

7 locks, 2.93 miles, 2 moorings, 1 shaded, 1 very well heated, 1 refurbishing Post Office, 0 newspaper, 1 bike ride, 1 newspaper, 10 lads on bikes, 1 empty lock, 1 full water tank, 2nd Indie film pants, grade 3 hair cut, 2 steaks, 1 pint, 1 glass of wine, 1 happier cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/7BziPdmJq1M2

Perry Bar Top Lock to Minworth Arm, Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

Alarm set this morning, not too early but with the hope of setting off at 8am so as not to be doing too much at the full heat of the day. Our yellow water tank needed emptying before we left, holding us up a touch, which was maybe a good thing!

We got ourselves and Oleanna ready, opened the top gate of the lock in front of us at about 8:15. A C&RT van arrived with the two chaps we’d seen yesterday at Ryders Green, one hopped straight out with windlass in hand, walked over and lifted a bottom gate paddle on the top lock, Mick was just closing the gate, we were instructed to stay put whilst he walked down the flight to check levels. Oleanna began to lower in the lock, Mick opened a top paddle as we realised they were letting water down the flight.

A quick look into the pound below and the level was obviously down by a couple of feet. This was also the case down through the next few pounds in the flight. Paddles and gates had been left up at every lock in the flight by the chaps who came past late last night. Maybe they couldn’t read the big signs telling you to close everything up behind you! Yes there is a case of leaking gates not helping, but an extra minute per lock to close up would have saved a lot of water being lost overnight! Today because of the dry weather some canals around the country have put into place time restrictions on lock flights to help preserve water levels, the fellas last night certainly wouldn’t help.

The chaps in blue were on the case, they must have known before they arrived with us. They’d been to open up at Ryders Green letting the guilty boat through at 8am, the chaps on board had said that they had just bought the boat and were new to boating. The Lockies laughed at the thought of them trying to reach Kidderminster by the end of today when we told them, no chance!

One chap went ahead closing gates and paddles where needed and lifting others to let the water down in a controlled manner whilst we sat in a lock with water flowing past us, all being let down through the paddle gear. This stops the build up of silt which would stop you from being able to close gates if they’d been left open. Once the pound ahead had recovered enough for us to get over the cill we were locked down to repeat at the next lock as the pound below filled up. This gave us plenty of time to chat with one of the Lockies. They didn’t blame us for not having walked down to close up last night in the dark, apparently we could have called the Hit Squad out who would have turned up with torches

At the end of May the level on the Wyrley and Essington Canal had dropped, this is a huge pound possibly over 40 miles. The two chaps who were with us today set off on foot to walk the towpath to see if they could work out where the plug had been pulled. They both could see the direction the water was flowing and walked towards each other until they came to where there was a collapsed culvert, this was the culprit. The culvert is one belonging to Severn Trent water so they are in the process of sorting it out. We asked if the canal was likely to reopen in a weeks time as hoped, or did they know if works would over run. We didn’t get a yes or no, most probably because it is out of C&RTs hands and Severn Trent are needing to do other things at the site other than just the culvert.

The chaps gradually worked us down one lock at a time constantly letting water down the flight. At lock 5 we were given the go ahead to carry on on our own, one pound was still a little low but we should be fine to get over the cills. They waved us goodbye and headed off to check further down in case last nights boat had left every lock to happily drain overnight.

When we reached Lock 10 we could see that the bottom gates at Lock 11 didn’t leak that much as the long pound here looked more like a lake in an ornamental garden of some stately home, full to the brim it was.

Sure enough when we arrived the top gates were open and both paddles up. The next two had closed gates and one had nicely drained as a paddle had been left open just enough. On leaving every lock today we made sure gates were closed and paddles were where they should be, closed.

Up ahead behind a canal bridge we could see the start of all the concrete bridges that make up Spaghetti Junction.

Curling around each other, layer upon layer above our heads cars and lorries wove themselves in directions they hoped were the right ones.

I’m not sure I’ve ever driven this stretch in a car and now that I’ve been under it I’m not sure I ever will! Some of the roads are held up so high by so little structure and other sections have so much scaffolding beneath them. Quite an amazing sight which my photos don’t really do justice to. Link to video

Emerging out the other side we reached Salford Junction where the Grand Union Canal meets the Tame Valley, both joining with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal . The Birmingham and Fazeley towards Birmingham is the section that is closed at the moment, so we were surprised to see a boat coming down that way. At the junction he was able to turn straight onto the Grand Union as his boat was only short, this would have taken some negotiating for us.

As the roads over head subsided a large electricity sub-station takes over followed by a factory which was built over the canal. This creates a kind of tunnel but with light coming in from one side thankfully as our tunnel light is still out of action.

Hot and hungry now we sought out a shaded mooring for some lunch. Bollards appeared under plenty of trees and we pulled in just before Butlers Bridge. We still wanted to get further, even the Lockies had suggested getting through Minworth before stopping for the day. So with a second coat of sun cream we pushed on down through the next three locks and then started looking for some shade. We’d hope to reach the Dog and Doublet today, but the sun was too strong for us to work our way through the remaining locks. A few canalside pubs with moorings came and went but none had shaded moorings. Then there was a length of armco with several big trees, time to pull over, there was just enough depth for us.

Here there were trees, she took her time in letting me out! Freedom at last in what looked like a good outside, lots of trees, sideways trees and friendly cover. The only problem was getting to it! There was a big green mesh fence that was hard to see from the towpath, how rude to have such a playground and then put it out of reach like this! It took some time, but I found a way through. Climbing began, both up and down as I was joining the trees halfway up, unusual. There was lots to explore on the lower level and this kept me busy for quite sometime, no friends though.

Up above I could hear her calling for me, so I replied. I looked around. How had I got here? She was up there and I was down here! MUM!!! MUMMMMM!!!!!! I walked this way and that shouting all the time so she could hear me. She then walked the wrong way, could she hear me?! Was I going to be stuck here?! It had seemed interesting to start with, but now I didn’t want to stay here the rest of my life!

All she kept saying was ‘You got in there!’ ‘Numpty bum!’ Not helpful.

Then I spied a tree, quick calculations for a climb, jump, scrabble up a bank avoiding the fenced cages, a bit more tree and was that a gap in the fence? It was worth a try, my calculations were correct and I popped out of the friendly cover as if nothing had happened, she’d never know that I’d got quite concerned down there.

Relived to have a cat back, and not have to find a key holder for a factory that had closed for the weekend, we had a quiet evening in the shade over looking a field that stretched off into the distance as the sun set. We like big cities for a while but it was nice to be back in the countryside with the summer breeze rustling the branches.

16 locks, 7.82 miles, 2 straight ons, 24367 unders, 5 pounds way down, 2 heroes in blue, 1 tepid tea, 2 shady spots, 0 pub, 1 stuck cat, 1 challenged cat, 1 panicked cat, 1 communicative cat, 1 tunnel light bodged together, 1 big field, 1 sunset.

https://goo.gl/maps/vDx4ZGEqBnD2