Welford Junction to the Wharf at Welford.

Hello Friends.

I had another early wake up call this morning, Marmite was laying on my feet at 6am. I think she was trying to tell me she had no food in her dish, either that or she just wanted some where warm to sleep, because it was chilly in the cabin this morning, because the fire was on its way out. Whilst Keith got up to visit the smallest room, I raked out the fire and tried to breath some life into it, which was successful. As I was up, I put the kettle on for a warming cuppa, which we drank in bed, whilst we listened to the silence outside, before setttling back down beneath the duvet for another few minutes which turned into an hour. When I woke up for the second time, it was raining outside, which had been forecast and was welcome. The ice was still on the canal when I took Paddy out for his walk, despite the brief spell of rain. As Paddy and I walked along the towpath, I picked up sticks for the back stove fire. Paddy got rather excited when a young Heron flew up the canal. His excitement was echoed by me, because we do not see Heron's up here and this was the first one we have seen on the Leicester Line in three years. It was a youngster and is probably trying to find itself a territory. It is certainly welcome to stay up here with us.
When we left the mooring the ice was still about 1" thick from the moorings to the junction, but once into the Welford arm it thinned to about 1/4" and helpfully someone had travelled between the 2 winding points so had cleared most of the ice, which helped with the winding, which we had thought we wouldn't be able to do if it was icy. We are ready for our coal delivery in the morning from Hills the Coal Merchants, bright and early no doubt, but we will have to be up earlier, to move the boat over to the delivery point and to get the hold ready. I already have orders for coal in the morning, so once the delivery of 4.5 tonne has been stowed away in the hold, we will then deliver coal to our customers, one of which is new to us. All new customers are very welcome, especially in the Welford Arm.
As we came down the Welford Arm and approached the lock, who should we see but Jackie and Ray off of NB Roehaise, with Tess their dog. They very kindly opened the lock gates for me so I offered to make them a cuppa for their trouble. They had walked down the arm to check on the availability of a mooring on the towpath, they did not have to worry because there was plenty of room. Once we had moored up, I made us all a cuppa of tea and coffee. We then got down to some nattering about all things boating.
We are now settled in for the evening and have just enjoyed the last of the Sausage Casserole and Rubarb Crumble. I am looking forward to an early night, because of the early morning tomorrow, so I will bid you a good night now.

Chat soon xx