Newbold-on-Avon to Grimes Bridge No.26 near Stretton Stop.

Hi Folks.

Newbold-on-Avon to Grimes Bridge No.26, 5 miles in 2 hours 40 minutes.

Well 1 out of 3 is not bad. I am talking about last nights X-Factor. I predicted that Johnny might go and he has, but he went along with The Risk, now that was a shock because I thought they were great. Frankie should have gone, so who the hell is voting for this young man, who has a real attitude and drink problem?

On a better note, who watched the last episode of Downton Abbey for this series??? Wow what a fantastic program. I sat and watched last weeks episode during the afternoon, so I was up to date, then enjoyed the final episode last night, which was so very sad. The cliffhanger of Mr Bates being arrested is sure to make sure people will watch the next series. I felt so sorry for Anna. Matthew and Mary should be together and lets hope that happens. I do realise of course this is just a program, but it is a good one for a change. Thank goodness for some decent TV.

Ok so here we are another Monday and this one was damp and dreary. The cloud was so low it was producing drizzle, making things a little damp. We were up and ready to set off at 8.50am, the first thing was to take on some water just before Newbold Tunnel, so we pulled in Keith attached the hose and I opened the tank inlet. The hosepipe has sprung another leak, this one was 7 inches from the top of the hosepipe. This poor old hose is getting shorter and shorter. It took about 20 minutes to top up the tank, so whilst that happened, we got rid of rubbish and chatted to another boater, who was collecting water with a canister. Finally we met a fellow boater, who like us wants lots of rain. Normally they say "No we do not want rain whilst we are out enjoying our cruising time". Tank filled and hosepipe trimmed again, we set off through Newbold tunnel.

I do love the lights in this tunnel, just a shame they are not all working.

Despite the damp dreary weather, it was lovely to be moving again through quiet farmland, with woods to our right and to our left. Maybe on the return trip we will stop at All Oaks Wood, where I would love to take some photographs of some truly wonderful trees. Once again we passed by some BW Winter Moorings, which are once again empty. I wonder what the uptake is for Winter Moorings?

We cruised past Brinklow and soon arrived at Stretton Stop, where I stepped off of the boat to open the swing footbridge. We were then cruising through rolling fields shrouded in low cloud. It was then that Keith suggested we stop at Grimes Bridge Bridge No26 if we could get in. The bow went in ok, so we pulled in and moored up opposite Coombe Fields Farm. I found out an  interesting thing about the farm. Some of the buildings are Grade II listed and were designed by Lancelot (Capability) Brown. The buildings are considered to be extremely rare, having been built to store food and bedding for the animals in the Menagerie. If walls could talk huh??

Lunch was the remainder of the home made Chicken and Vegetable Soup, whilst this was warming through on the back cabin stove, I lit the saloon stove because it was rather chilly and with us both having showers later we wanted it nice and warm in the bathroom. Paddy is snoozing in his bed by the fire and Marmite is lounging in the back cabin on my fleece. The TV is on and we are watching "Above us the waves" which was made in 1955 and is black and white. It stars Sir John Mills. He and his rookie crew set out in midget submarines to try to sink the German battleship Tirpitz in this Second World War action adventure. Not sure what we will be doing for the rest of the day, but with the weather closing in, I suspect we will not be venturing far from the fires.

Chat soon xx