Showers, sunshine and a bit of wood…

After last night's rain, today dawned bright and sunny, with very little wind. By the time we moved off at around 11, though, the wind had increased and clouds were starting to build.

Leaving Fazeley

We’d had a “shall we, shan’t we” few moments before we set off, but decided to toddle on up to Whittington.

Sunny spells as we approach Hopwas
Hopwas Wood is dead ahead on the horizon, and if you look closely left of centre you can just see the thin needle of the TV mast at Hints. Ha, got it right this time…

Oh, o. Is that rain coming in? It might just pass behind….
No such luck!

First time buyers builders…

On the way out of Hopwas, alongside Hopwas Wood, there was a beech tree (I think) felled last back end. It was get at-able, on the towpath side above the river. It had steadily been whittled down by passing boaters foraging for fuel, what’s left is quite big, too big really for my 14” chainsaw, so I had to go at it from both sides.

Hopwas Wood

There’s still some left…

I took four “rounds” off it, enough to last over a week, I reckon. I’d had enough then, the log is about 18” in diameter. And gets considerably bigger below the fork…

Wood Anemones

The rain had stopped while I was using the saw, but came on again while I was splitting a couple of the rounds for the fire. I thought it was in for the day then, but the brisk wind whisked the clouds away and left us in bright sunshine as we headed for Whittington.

Tamhorn Farm Bridge
The bridges all have names rather than numbers along here, because we’re on that 5½ mile section built by the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company. At Whittington we’re back on the Coventry.

Aah, woodsmoke! Warms the cockles of my wallet!

We cruised through the village and moored on the rings just beyond Bridge 80 (back to numbers…).
I thought we might just make it, but I finished up tying up in a heavy, blustery shower.  Since then it’s been sunny, would you believe.

Mags demonstrates why you shouldn’t try to scoop up hot coals with a plastic dustpan…
♫ There’s a hole in my bucket dustpan, dear Geoffrey, dear Geoffrey…. ♫

Tsk, tsk. More expense...

Locks 0, miles 6

A bit of sideways cruising…

In the exposed bits of today’s trip it was a struggle to avoid being blown onto the right-hand bank, but it could have been worse. I wouldn’t have fancied the challenge of those long embankments on the Shroppie!
As it was a lot of the cruise was spent alongside the River Ankar, down on the right, with the rising ground out of the valley acting as a windbreak to the west.

Ex working boat NB Kangaroo at Grendon Dock

Dead calm on the water under the lee of Hoo Hill, just south of Polesworth….

…in contrast to wind-blown willows in Amington

NB Sanity Again was moored just north of Polesworth, and we had a brief exchange of greetings as we passed.

Bruce and Sheila

Under the M42, with the large spoil heap on the right

The bridge ahead connects the now accessible area around the mound with the Pooley Fields Visitor Centre.

Most disappointed to have to leave this lot, but I just couldn’t get close…
That would have seen out the rest of the winter… Oh, I forgot, it’s actually spring, now. Vernal Equinox today.



Passing Polesworth we spotted Kangaroo’s stable-mate, NB Greyhound…

…and at Alvecote, Maffi’s Milly M.

It’s at Alvecote that NB Dane is being restored by the Narrowboat Heritage Foundation. Dane is a wooden narrowboat built in 1907 as a horseboat and converted to a motorboat in 1929.
The thing is with restoring these old boats is, how much needs to be original to claim that it’s over 100 years old? It will certainly have been re-bottomed during it’s working life, there’s a new stem post fitted and a lot of the timbers on the hull look to be new.
A case of “I’ve had this broom for 10 years. It’s had 4 new heads and 3 new shafts…”

Don’t get me wrong, I love to see these old boats on the water. I once restored a Riley 1.5 and by the time I’d cut out all the rot it must have weighed half as much as when it left the factory. That was all replaced with new steel.

My 1965 Riley 1.5 and 1956 Riley Pathfinder, both restored from the ground up

We arrived at Glascote Locks to see a boat just ahead of us, so had to refill both to go down, and then cruised the last 1½ miles to the moorings opposite Peel’s Wharf in Fazeley.

Glascote Locks

Fazeley Junction and the route to Birmingham

Moored in Fazeley, Meg has made herself comfortable.

We succeeded in beating the rain, but only because it was later than first predicted. We even had half an hour of sunshine when we pulled up.

Not sure what we’re doing tomorrow, Plan A was to stop here then move on after a bit of shopping on Saturday morning. But tomorrow’s forecast looks better than Saturday’s so we might move on to find a spot to sit out the weekend.

Locks 2, miles 8¼

Down Atherstone Locks

Maffi was ready to go before us, I still had a bit of shopping and another cup of coffee to deal with before we followed on down the flight.

It was an uneventful trip down, a few boats in the flight going down and coming up so some locks were with us, some against.

Going down in Lock 1

Passing boats between L4 and L5

There were a couple of volunteers working the flight, but we saw nothing of them till we done 9 of the 11, and then they were going back up. Still, we didn’t expect any help, if you get it it’s a bonus. Like boats coming up setting the locks ready for us, if it happens all well and good. If it doesn’t no worries, you just have to refill them and it takes a little longer.

The lower half of the flight sees the locks further apart, enough room in the pounds to accommodate groups of anglers.

That’s it, heading for Lock 11 at the bottom of the flight.

We pulled in below the locks, my legs were starting to ache. A hard run first thing, walking Meg and then up and down the flight doing the locks had taken their toll.

It’s was a bit gloomy while we came down, but it’s turned into a beautiful sunny afternoon, although still breezy.

Tomorrow morning we’ll head for Fazeley, aiming to beat the forecasted rain in the afternoon.

Locks 11, miles 2

To Atherstone in wind and showers.

A change in the weather today, gone is the warm sunshine and mild westerly, arrived is cloudy skies and wind from the north. Decidedly colder!

We hadn’t far to go today, so it was half-eleven before we made a move.

Unlike the weather, the scenery was looking springlike…

Must be blackthorn, flowers before leaves.



Old quarry wharfs are very much in evidence along this stretch.


There must have been lots of small quarries operating in the area.

We did get the odd patch of sunshine…

Just over an hour saw us arrive at Atherstone and we moored above the locks.



There was a familiar looking man and dog lurking in the distance, so I walked up with Meg to investigate…. and came back with Maffi and Molly. I knew they were around here somewhere.

They joined us for lunch, tea and bacon butties well received while we put the world to rights.

NB Milly M

 

Atherstone has been Maffi’d!

Tomorrow, although still breezy, looks to be the best day for the rest of the week, so we’ll be heading down the locks in the morning. Not too early, I’m going to have a look around the town first.

Hi Sue, you two may have done the same trip last week, but we had a chance to look at the scenery!

Hi Lesley. Coming down the locks tomorrow, but probably taking it slowly for the rest of the week ‘cos it’s going to be wet. Hope we do catch up, though.

Locks 0, miles 2¼

We have a plan…

We’ve had several ideas about where to cruise this spring, way back it was possibly the Gloucester and Sharpness, culminating in a trip down the Severn from Sharpness to Bristol. But this one died in infancy…
Then we were going to head down to Cropredy, to meet up with Ann and Chas when they had a bit of time on Moore2Life. What with one thing and another they aren’t able to boat this early, so that idea was shelved.
Finally we intended to be at Braunston for the grand bottom-wetting of George and Carol’s new boat WB Still Rockin’, before heading north to Manchester for my first run of the season in May. That would have been fine if the build was on schedule…. but it’s not likely to launch now till sometime in May, and we’ve got to be “oop north”.
So, what to do? This morning we had a chat, and we’ve decided to go for the easy option, a steady and gentle trip back up the Coventry, then the Trent and Mersey north and west, finally using the Bridgewater to take us into Manchester. With 9 weeks to go it would be “steady and gentle”, so we’re going to include a side-trip up the Caldon and back, and maybe a bit of time on the Weaver on  the way.
After Manchester it’s likely we’ll be going up the Rochdale 9, then leaving the city via the Ashton and Peak Forest Canals. So that’s from now till June taken care of…

After a splendid day yesterday we set off this morning at around 11:00 (start how you mean to go on, I always say), travelling the 2½ miles to Marston Junction.

Away from Burton Hastings
It was not as pleasant as yesterday, but pretty good nonetheless.

Just before the junction we had our last encounter with the denizens of the Ashby as a water vole crossed the canal in front of us.

A swirl of water and he was gone into his bank-side hole.

Junction Bridge, oddly Number 15a of the Coventry Canal.
Maybe it’s because the now removed stop-lock was administered by the Coventry Canal Co., so technically the bridge crosses CCC water.

Out onto the Coventry, heading north to Nuneaton.

Colliery and quarry spoil heaps dot the landscape
Not a lot to say about passing through Nuneaton, allotments on one side, and a good towpath to encourage the dog walkers on the other.

Some of the allotment sheds look a bit third world…

We left the town, travelling along the winding section below Judkins Quarry on the left and open fields stretching down to the West Coast Main Line on the right.

Springwood Haven looks a pleasant spot to keep your boat

Passing redundant loading wharfs, demolished bridges and ducking under overhead conveyors, we left the remnants of the quarrying industry behind and arrived at Hartshill, mooring just before the maintenance yard.

A pretty long day for us, 3¼ hours cruising.

Tomorrow will be a short one, just to the top of Atherstone Locks, girding our loins to drop down all 11 in one go.

Oh, and I see the "silly season" has started early this year... No-one hurt, this time. Just spoiled holidays.
And Maffi's dug up a cracking story...

Locks 0, miles 8½

Best day of the year so far.

Wind easing, sun shining down out of a cloudless sky, what a great day. We didn’t cruise; I took advantage of the fine weather to scrub and re-proof the cratch cover, removing a couple of years of accumulated grime has made it look much better.

A handy sunny hawthorn hedge for drying…
The faded panel in the middle is original, over 7 years old now. But I had the sides replaced a couple of years ago.

While it was drying I watched the opening race of the Formula 1 season at Melbourne. I think the new rules making the cars hybrid are going to backfire; over 25% of the cars failed to finish due to mechanical or electrical failure. The F1 environment is maybe too harsh for the delicate and temperamental electronics needed to manage the two power systems.
The spectre of fuel shortage didn’t arise, though, with safety car deployment allowing drivers to save a drop.
From a spectator point of view it could now become boring, with a hectic start and finish, but a boring M25 middle section as drivers conserve fuel for a last push.
I may be wrong…. Time will tell.

Oh and here’s one for Val. She told me I’d not put a picture up of the finished galley bulkhead. Here you go, chuck.

Maybe moving tomorrow. 

Back in the country after three nights in town.

We moved into Hinckley on Wednesday morning. We’d booked a 2-night berth in Trinity Marina so we could hire a car and take a run up to Yorkshire.

Trinity Marina

We hadn’t had any mail for a month or so, so there was that to collect. The mail could have been sent down as we normally do, but a new pair of running shoes was waiting for me too.

New and old

It was getting quite urgent, the old ones are getting holey and a part of one sole has come adrift. At least I got my money’s worth….

I get through a pair of these a year, so shop about to get a good deal. These were 28% off. They got a work out this morning during a steady 6 mile run. I could do with getting them a bit scuffed and dirty, though. I feel a bit like Twinkletoes at the moment…

We came out of Trinity yesterday lunchtime, but didn’t go far, just around the corner to the moorings next to Nutts Lane Bridge.

This morning we were on the move again, but again just a short day to get us out into the countryside for the rest of the weekend.

Leaving Hinckley

After 2 days of misty, cool starts and fine sunny afternoons, the pattern reversed itself today, starting bright and sunny but hazing up after lunch. We had a brisk westerly to deal with as well.

Looking across the fields towards Bedworth

Water Voles are a protected species, and there’s a sizeable population here on the Ashby. But one individual isn’t helping the cause any, heading across the canal at us and only turning around when he’d collided with our waterline!

Back to the bank, sore nose maybe…

The Darwin Principal in action, methinks.

Sorry about the poor quality of the pictures, I was so surprised it took me a moment to grab the camera.

The willows are greening up nicely now…

We pulled over near Burton Hastings, about 2½ miles from the junction with the Coventry Canal.

Burton Hastings on the hill
The village isn’t much more than a church and a scattering of farms.

Mags got hold of the camera when we moored up…

Yours truly striking a pose

We’re staying here tomorrow, then heading onto the Coventry on Monday. Not sure whether we’re heading north or south though at the moment.

I watched the F1 qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix this afternoon. There seems to be some doubt as to whether all the cars will have enough fuel to complete the distance tomorrow, with a 100kg load limit imposed under the new regulations. And this idea of harvesting power for a boost from an electric motor isn’t new; I ordered several fork lift trucks with the same function 12 years ago. They were all electric, mind you.
When you took your foot off the accelerator the motor turned into a generator, putting power back into the battery. It was a bit odd at first, because the truck slows without you touching the brake pedal. I think the F1 drivers are having the same trouble….
The way we’re going they’ll be racing milk floats in a few years time.
The race tomorrow should be interesting.

Locks 0, miles 2½