Saturday, April 02, 2011

Quiet Week

Well, we were going to move on Thursday, then Friday, but finished up toddling on a bit today. The reason? I’ve had a cold getting steadily worse all week, and it came to a head on Thursday. Just couldn’t raise the enthusiasm to cruise, especially with the wind picking up.

It gave me a chance to explore a bit of the rolling countryside around Stoke Golding.

These guys had just been delivered to a farm along the towpath. Still finding their way around.

Meg enjoying the breeze on a meadow near Highfield Farm

Good to see. Replanting of hawthorn hedgeing.

Daffodils at Millfield Farm

The wind brought some rain in with it, but it’s only been odd showers. This morning we had a bit of light rain as Meg and I set off for the village for a paper, but it had stopped after a few minutes. It’s stayed mild, daytime temperatures hovering between the mid-teens to low twenties.

It was about noon when we finally pulled pins. We passed the Ashby Boat Company at Wharf Bridge. Their two day boats had already set off in the direction of Hinckley, so the wharf was empty.

With it being early in the season, there is still most of the hire fleet here.

Ashby Boats boats.

We hired from here, many years ago. The crew we had with us that time didn’t want an active holiday, so the 32 mile lock-free pound including the Ashby, and the Coventry from the city up to Atherstone, was ideal for a lazy week.

We had a very gentle potter along the curve around Stoke Golding, then around the sharp left-hander with the very popular moorings nearest to the village.

Stoke Golding moorings.

You have to be lucky to get moored here.

The canal does an extravagant loop above Dadlington, north, east, north again then west, to arrive at Sutton Wharf.

Sutton Wharf, a popular start point for walkers.

We filled and emptied the respective tanks here, then moored a little further along on the “Plastic Pontoon”

Flexible Friend.

This was closed last time we came this way. It had slumped as the supports gave way, and BW couldn’t repair it without ensuring that the voles living in the bank behind weren’t disturbed……

Locks 0, miles 3½

1 comment:

Unknown said...

An interesting tree in the U.S is the Osage Orange all so called bois d'arc tree used as hedging in the mid 1800's before Barb wire.