What weekends are for

We had a super weekend afloat. Good weather and good company always help things along and we had lots of both.

Saturday saw us back in Ravenshaw Wood, only five minutes out of the marina. Very peaceful and relaxing and definitely one of our favourite spots to moor. Later in the afternoon nb Elizabeth moored behind us. What an interesting boat and lovely owners. Full of history as originally an FMC butty and has had various engines since, including paraffin powered. We chatted with Jim and his wife Annie whilst Jasper had a great run with their dog Tilly. Unfortunately I've had to 'borrow' a photo as I inexplicably forgot to take my own picture of Elizabeth !!

nb Elizabeth

During the evening we arranged to meet friends at Fradley on Sunday. Kev and Sally are old school friends of John and their Sunday usually consists of a good walk, so when they were offered the chance of a days boating, they jumped at the chance. 

Sunday morning was lovely. Elizabeth had beaten us to the off at about 7am. We were already awake (Jasper had seen to that at about 5.15am...bless him !!) and we eventually sauntered down to Fradley where we had breakfast before Kev and Sally descended on us. We had a lovely run down to Huddlesford. Kev was very reluctant to take the helm. He doesn't even drive a car, and never has, which, in this day and age is very unusual so the prospect of a narrowboat was a bit daunting.

Our new crew members

We had a fabulous Sunday dinner at The Plough. Very reasonably priced and an extremely tasty lamb shank followed by homemade bread and butter pudding certainly did the trick. The sun stayed with us on the return journey, as did Kev and Sally who didn't hesitate when we offered to take them all the way back to the marina and then drop them off for their car later.

Fradley was busy with gongoozlers as usual, but not that many boats. We briefly met Sarah on nb Chertsey as we exited Middle Lock. Chertsey looked great and they are on their way to Langley Mill.

nb Chertsey

Kev did his fair share of locking with a huge grin and all too soon we were back at Kings Bromley at the end of a lovely day. We will do it all again sometime soon.

Louise & Kev...The Green Team

All good things come to an end.

We had a lovely last few days aboard as the weather improved, especially over the weekend. We made the short trip up to Branston on Friday having said goodbye to Luke and Annabelle and picking up a few bits from Midland Chandlers. We passed Nb Royden at the aqueduct over the River Dove She is owned by Guy, a good friend of Johns, as they coached Derbyshire County rugby together a few years ago. We gave Guy plenty of water as his boat is much deeper draughted at almost 3 feet and said a quick hello as we passed. We moored by the water park, before we were joined by a couple more friends, Karl and Gemma, who live nearby and their two young boys who were excited to be aboard. We had a lovely night and a good meal at The Bridge Inn, although sore heads were felt the following morning !!

Pre dinner beers on board.

A delayed start to Saturday as our toilet decided it didn't want to work !! We have a Vacuflush system which unfortunately is now discontinued. It is a fabulous system, but we have always had it in the back of our minds that it may one day decide to give up the ghost and we would have to find an alternative. Having checked it wasn't blocked and fiddling about for a couple of hours we decided the sun was too good to miss and headed off, trying to forget about the sanitary situation. We had a really enjoyable run up to Fradley which happened to be unusually quiet. Three volunteer lockies on duty and apparently we were the first boat to go up beyond Fradley Junction all afternoon and it was now gone 3pm !! Plenty of folks sitting about outside The Swan enjoying a beer or two - amazing what power the sun has.

The lovely setting at Tattenhill Lock

We had intended to head back to the marina at Kings Bromley, but the lure of one of our favourite spots at Ravenshaw Wood was too good to miss in the sun. We moored up and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the location with only two or three boats heading towards Fradley passing us. I was in the Scouts and Louise was in the Guides, so despite our lack of a working toilet, shall we just say, we managed!!

We woke to the sound of woodpeckers hammering at trees and had a good lie in on Sunday morning  before we reluctantly made the short trip back to Kings Bromley. What a shame the weather came a week late, but we still enjoyed the trip.

In the car on the way home we had a phone call from one of the couples who have a share in one of our old shared boats, Marbury. Peter and Sue were aboard and had passed a 'Blue Moon' moored on their way to Fradley earlier in the morning...."would it have been you" they asked. Of course, it was, and we were sorry to have missed them, but made up for it by meeting up with them on Monday night at The Waterfront at Barton Marina for a nice meal and catch up.

The toilet situation has improved after a phone call to Lee Sanitation who were very helpful and it would appear to be a sticking vacuum switch that has caused the problem - what a big relief.

Not wanting to wish my life away, but two years today I shall be retired. Now that really is a lovely thought.

Trip total 93.5 Miles  64 Locks

It's green for go.

At last we are out and about in 2013. The winter break has finally come to an end...at least time wise. The weather looks to be set reasonably fair for the next week or so, and with the snow finally disappearing, we are looking forward to our first trip of the year.

  

In view of the recent weather, we have no schedule for this trip. We didn't know whether the rivers would be at an acceptable level, so had a couple of ideas in mind. On the way down to the boat this morning, we called at Alrewas to check on the water level and were pleased to see the boards well in the green...decision made. We would head towards home (Derby) and see where we end up. 

River level at Alrewas

We left the marina around midday and headed for Fradley. It was pretty quiet for a Bank Holiday. The Swan was a tempting proposition for a brief stop, but we continued through the locks towards Alrewas. The clouds appeared this afternoon and the temperature dropped in the cold wind with the odd brief snow shower and so we decided that Alrewas was far enough for one day.

A pleasant walk in the village with the dogs and a lovely homemade curry for tea with the stove roaring and a bottle of wine. 

How we have missed the boating way of life.

Back home and back to reality.

We made the trip from Grendon to Huddlesford on Friday, again in glorious weather. There were plenty of hands to make light work of Glascote locks and we really took our time along the Coventry, basically running at tickover most of the way. Even so, we arrived at Huddlesford by mid afternoon and found a mooring near to The Plough where we decided to spend our last evening. As we have mentioned before, it is a very welcoming and dog friendly pub, and we had another really good meal.

We were in no rush to get away on Saturday morning. As we were preparing to go, we got chatting to the people on the boat moored behind us. They now lived in Bristol, but it transpired that they used to literally live around the corner from us and they have some very close friends who live almost opposite us - what a small world it can be at times.

Chaos at Fradley Junction

We were quite lucky with our timing as we arrived at Fradley. Just one boat ahead of us to go up the locks, but by the time we entered the lock, there were six behind us and the queue above Shade House Lock to come down was even longer. Wood End Lock was also very busy going towards Fradley, but having gone straight through, we decided to enjoy the rest of the day and moored up in Ravenshaw Wood for a few hours before finally having to face the facts and return to the marina.

Chilling out in Ravenshaw Wood

We have enjoyed a lovely trip with the weather improving as we went on. We have totally chilled out in some peaceful surroundings, and have only watched the TV once in a fortnight. Putting my watch back on felt strange too (I never wear it on the boat).

Canalplan reckons the trip to be - Total distance is 224 miles, 3¾ furlongs and 86 locks.

Oh well it's back to reality on Monday for us both. I wish this retirement lark would hurry up !!!

Off to a good start

A cracking start to the trip today. We left Kings Bromley with clouds overhead, but the sun soon shone through as we approached Wood End lock and onto Fradley. No queues at the locks today and we were soon turning onto the Coventry.

We arranged to meet our friends, and previous owners of Blue Moon, David & Sarah, at Hopwas for lunch. We had a steady run down in the sunshine and moored in behind them. We had a lovely lunch at the Tame Otter and caught up on tales of their last three months cruising since we last saw them. They've clearly enjoyed the whole experience, if not the weather. It was great to meet up again and we may get chance again on this trip.

After lunch we said our goodbyes and continued on towards Fazeley and then up Glascote locks. Some light rain, but not the predicted heavy thunderstorms we were promised. Alvecote was packed with countless working boats attending a rally over the bank holiday weekend. What a great sight to see so many together.

Working boats at Alvecote

Unfortunately no mooring spaces, so we went a little further and moored at Pooley Nature Reserve which is reclaimed mining land. We climbed the spoil heaps this evening and got some lovely views for miles around - we reckoned we could almost see home !!

Tonight we have had a call from our eldest son who is at Leeds Festival and we were able to listen to one of our favourite childhood bands 'The Cure' who were playing there. The sound quality down a mobile phone in amongst 80,000 people was not good, but it was the thought that counts.

The Golden Spot

It is said that you always remember where you were at significant events in history...the shooting of JFK, the death of Princess Diana etc. Well what about three Olympic gold medals in the space of 45 minutes at a home Olympics. The spot where we were moored on the Coventry Canal on Saturday night is our 'Golden Spot' - just beyond Hademore Farm Bridge.

We had decided to spend the weekend aboard with our good friends Steve & Madeleine. The forecast of 'torrential downpours' was not good, but we were determined to make the most of it. We left Kings Bromley just after midday on Saturday in bright sunshine and made our way down towards Fradley. Approaching Woodend Lock, we came across Louise's 'boss' and his partner who were spending their first weekend aboard their new boat 'Fly'. We had a chat with them as we descended the lock and then got through Fradley quite easily, turning right onto the Coventry.

We had a pleasant run down to Huddlesford with Steve taking the helm for a while before mooring up outside The Plough where we stopped for a pint (or two) and a meal. The food was good and reasonably priced, plus it is dog friendly too. We watched the Olympics, seeing the womens cycling team pursuit take gold in a new world record. As we ate, the heavens opened, so we were glad of our surroundings. 

We then moved down to our 'Golden Spot' surprised to see only a couple of other boats on a normally very popular mooring location. The atmosphere inside the Olympic Stadium was electric. It was pointless looking for a friend of ours who had been lucky enough to get a ticket - how lucky was she !!!

We had a great night shouting home Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah (what a race that was). At least we weren't moored too close to anyone else as we were a bit loud !!!

After one of Louises special breakfasts, Sunday saw us travel down towards Fazeley, before winding and heading back towards Fradley. The sunshine defied the forecast of heavy showers until we approached Fradley when we endured 20 minutes of torrential rain, just as we were working through the locks. By the time we cleared Fradley, the sunshine was out again for the run back to Kings Bromley. A great weekend with great company.

An early start back to base

Our final day of this trip started early... very early in fact. At 12.35 AM, we were woken by nb Emu (an old working boat in South Midlands livery) firing up its engine and leaving Polesworth. It had moored up at about 9.30pm, double breasted behind us and the crew scurried off to the pub, but it was a total surprise to be woken at this unearthly hour. I love the sound of traditional engines... I really do, but maybe not on this occasion. It had to pass a line of about 8 boats and then we heard it chugging off into the darkness (it didn't have a tunnel light) for some time.

We left our moorings ourselves at a pretty unsociable time (7.20am) and began the journey back to Kings Bromley. Soon after leaving I was lucky enough to see a kingfisher perched on a branch just above the water with its breakfast secured in its beak. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera to hand, but a lovely sight to start the day.

We passed nb Emu moored outside the Samuel Barlow pub at Alvecote. I was tempted to give it a blast of the horn as we passed, but there were plenty of other moored boats in the vicinity, so we passed quietly on tickover... much to Louises disgust.

We got straight through Glascote locks and then moored just beyond Fazeley and enjoyed a good cooked breakfast. Lots of boats moving in both directions and many with their flags proudly blowing in the wind.

We had a really nice run up towards Fradley and Jasper seems to have really taken to this boating lark and has become quite content to sit and watch the world go by from inside the lifebuoy on the roof, much to the amusement of walkers and boaters alike. Not bad for a 4 month old dog !!

Fradley was its normal busy self for a bank holiday, but we got through without too much of a hold up and also noted that the swallow chicks in the nest at Wood End Lock had fledged whilst we'd been out on our travels. We finally got back to base late afternoon. We have had a lovely break, the highlight undoubtedly being the Coldplay concert, but the boating has been terrific too...  and only 25 days until we're off again.

Happy Birthday Mum.

Today saw us have a nice leisurely cruise from Kings Bromley to Huddlesford Junction and return. The occasion was an excuse to get out the marina really, but it coincided with Johns Mums birthday this week and she's always up for a trip out. She used to holiday with us on the boats, but due to poor health, limits her time now to days out, so what better 'present' to celebrate her 88th birthday.

'The birthday girl'

We left Kings Bromley at about 10am and tootled down towards Fradley. The rhododendrons are beginning to bloom, but the hot spell this coming week (fingers crossed) should mean they are soon spectacular. 

A short queue at Wood End lock (as always) and then down into Fradley and through the swingbridge. We noticed that the volunteer lock-keepers were again on duty at Junction Lock. Not sure yet whether I'm for the idea or not, but I do find it hard to knock folks with such enthusiasm, although we didn't require their services today.

At this point Louise realised she had omitted to bring a crucial ingredient for lunch....... bread !! Off she went to the shop at Fradley Junction telling herself to stay calm in the event that they didn't stock a loaf, but as luck would have it there were two left and so she relieved them of one and they relieved her of £1.50 for the privilege.

Once we had the full requirements for lunch, we cruised down as far as Huddlesford Junction and winded before mooring up for lunch near to the proposed new Pridewater Marina just beyond Streethay. We had passed a couple of months ago and were expecting to note some progress, but there appears to be none at all. Having checked the internet tonight I see that the opening has been delayed until May 2013 due to issues regarding connection of services....Hmmmm I wonder !! It was also nice to see The Plough has reopened and it was quite busy. Just hope that the prices are more sensible than in previous times.

It's been a long day zzzzzzzz 

Nest in the brickwork

After lunch, John walked Jasper back towards Fradley. He is now 14 weeks old and quite happy to walk alongside us off the lead and enjoyed the sounds and smells of the towpath, before spending the rest of the journey fast asleep. 

There were plenty of gongoozlers at Fradley, not that Joyce noticed as she was fast asleep, much to the amusement of those on the towpath.

As we got up to Wood End Lock, our marina 'neighbour' appeared on his bike  and was rewarded with a cold beer for locking us through. 

On entering the lock we noticed a nest in the brickwork of the bridge which was full of baby chicks. We presume swallows, but no adults about to raise the awareness of passers by. We just hope that they survive their precarious position

You can just about see the chicks

Next weekend sees us off out for 9-10 days, heading for Coventry initially as we have tickets to see 'Coldplay' in concert, and then off up the Ashby for the Diamond Jubilee weekend. Let's hope the weather improves as predicted.

Total 12.5 miles  6 locks