Shackerstone to Congerstone.

Hi Folks.

Shackerstone to Congerstone 1.44 miles travelled in 40 minutes.

A nice leisurely beginning to Monday, with there being no hurry to move off with only a short hop being undertaken. So Paddy had a nice run out across the field. He had his eye on a Pheasant, but the Pheasant was way to quick for him, so no free meal for us today.

With fires stoked, animals fed and of course ourselves all sorted we prepared the boat for the off. I asked Keith if I could move Hadar to Congerstone, so I cast off and we left our weekend mooring. I am still getting to grips with Hadar, as she is a force unto herself and nothing like our old boat. I set off with confidence passing moored boats, got to the aqueduct bend which is sharp and even though I could have possibly made it in one, but I took the prudent route and reversed slightly to give myself more turning room, because I did not want to cut the corner as it is very shallow there. Keith then left me to get on with it as he ducked into the engine room. I have always been pretty confident with bridge 'ole's and passing boats on the move or moored up, but today was the first time I was going to moor Hadar up, so with a little trepidation I got on with it and woooo hooo it went pretty well for my first attempt. Now I know there will be those who will be thinking "What is the problem with mooring a boat up"? Well there is no problem, but when you have never done it with a heavy old lump like Hadar it is a little daunting. I am thankful that Keith is an excellent teacher, he just lets me get on with it and only contributes if I ask him for advice or he can see I am getting things horribly wrong, which I have to say does not happen to often phew. So we moored up and NB Poacher came past, say good morning again, as we had passed them earlier. Out came the litter grabber, because I spotted a broom and mop no sooner we came in to moor, lying on the towpath in full view.

It turned out that there was a lot of rubbish between bridges 47 and 48 where we are moored. In the 190 yards (175 Metres)between the bridges I lost count of the dog poo bags we collected when I got to 50, yes I said 50 grrrrrrrrr, strange they were all black bags, so I wonder if they were from the same dog owner? We also collected a whole load of paper rubbish, an old mop bucket to go with the mop and broom and numerous bottles, there was also rubbish which had clearly come off a boats propeller, so why did that person not put that rubbish in a bin, why put it in the hedge?

Ok rant over, we are now enjoying heated up sausage rolls and home made cake, before we decided on what to do for the afternoon, so I may come back later and do an update.

Chat soon xx