Alderman’s Green to Grimes Bridge No.26

Hi Folks.

Alderman's Green to Grimes Bridge No. 26 5 miles travelled in 1 hour 50 minutes.

A very chilly beginning to my day as I stepped off of the boat with Paddy. There was a heavy frost on the ground and a thin layer of ice on the canal, but it was bright and sunny and the wind which was very strong yesterday had died down.

9.10am we were ready for the off, so I cast off the bow rope making sure to be careful on the slippery front deck. At this time of the year, the sun is especially low, so as we are heading south the sun was in our eyes making us both squint.

I do love this time of year for cruising, not only is it very quiet, you also get amazing views, because there are no leaves on the trees and bushes.

I have often posted photographs of picture graffiti, some of which is art. Today I photographed this piece of graffiti because I thought it so apt.

 

Before arriving at Ansty where I wanted to top up with water, I saw this rather beautiful pony.

She was in her full winter coat, so ready for whatever the weather may throw at her.

At Ansty we tried to pull in for water, but we couldn’t get in close enough to get a hose onto the bow, and I was not about to make a leap of faith in slippery conditions, so we will have to top up at Newbold when we get there. As we left the water point we had a geese flowing us.

I was thinking Christmas Dinner mmmmm. Not sure how I would get one in our back cabin stove though.

We arrived at Grimes Bridge No.26 and moored up in a good deep mooring for us, its out in the countryside, so nice and quiet we hope for the weekend. All moored up it was time to close the boat up against the cold. I stoked up the back cabin stove and got on with chopping up the vegetables for our Oxtail Stew. Whilst the vegetables were in the pan with the onions, garlic and gravy, I stripped down the Oxtail bones, the meat will be added later with mushrooms. With the stew now in the stove, it was time to turn my attention to getting a bag of coal out of the hold, Keith came and gave me a hand. I then got on with toasting crumpets for lunch, which we had with mince pies and a coffee. The time is now 1.10pm and we have "Carry On Constable" on Film4. The rest of my day will be spent doing odd jobs, cooking and cleaning, so nothing to exciting.

Chat soon xx