Day 18. Onwards to Hillmorton.

Hello family, friends and followers.

After heavy overnight rain, we had the joy of mist upon the cut this morning.

It always brings me joy and a smile, when I see mist on the cut. There is nothing more stunning at this time of the year.
We set off at 8.20am and stopped at Hawkesbury Junction at 8.40am to fill the water tank. Oh my goodness me the tap was so very slow. Neither of the taps have locks on and one of the handles was broken, so I reported them both. We did not fill the tank because we had been there over three quarters of an hour and life is way to short to wait any longer for water, so we headed off to make the turn.

Past the old engine house.

The turn at Hawkesbury Junction and The Greyhound Pub, which is a boaters pub from a bygone era. The lock was busy, so we had to wait for the boat to exit, so we could enter, but as it is only a few inches in drop, it did not hold us up any.

Onward to Rose Narrowboats, where I stepped off to open the swing footbridge. Sean a friend of ours kindly shut it for us. We had a quick natter to Charlie and Matthew, before carrying on.

We approached Newbold Tunnel, with a Rose Dayboat in front of us. They did not seem to realise it is two way traffic through the tunnel, so they had us for company as we both entered and exited the tunnel.
We stopped of briefly in Rugby, so I could go and pick up some shopping from Tesco. I left Keith with the boat, because he is having issues with his back again. But hopefully his medication will do the trick as always. Shopping done, we moved off and I stowed away the shopping which on the go.

We have finished up mooring below Hillmorton Locks for the night. After an interesting day boating wise, we can relax and Keith can rest his back. My mozzie bites seem to be settling down thankfully. I just have to remember not to scratch my feet :-).

Pop back soon xx

Day 17: All going on.

Hiya family, friends and followers.

I know, it is day 17 and the last time I posted was day 9, but we have been full-on with everything at Alvecote and The Big Weekend. Keith thoroughly enjoyed helping move boats here and there and I got on with crocheting, cleaning a cooking.

The weather over the weekend, was hot, hot, hot, as you will probably know if you were here in the UK. We had the most amazing weekend, with like minded folk and the general public who came to enjoy the atmosphere. There was plenty of boats to see, 84 historic boats, plus trading boats. There was food, beer and music over the whole weekend, with a bit of fun dotted along the way.

Each day there was a boat parade, which was judged and awards handed out on the Bank Holiday Monday.
I have never drunk so much in my life and I am not talking all beer. With the heat being so intense, we all had to keep our hydration up. I did of course drink the beer at The Samuel Barlow, which was fantastic as was the food which we had over the three days. I did not cook one meal over the weekend, we decided we would eat out and the guys and girls did everyone proud with the meals and their hard work.

Monday I got to indulge my love of all thing Peaky Blinders, when some of the boaters donned their costumes and took over the micorphone at The Samuel Barlow.

I was asked to do the photo shoot and had a fantastic time.

The boat used in the series is owned by our boat builder and can be seen in the series. It was such a treat to be involved and a real laugh, although you should never mess with the Peaky Blinders.

Yesterday we said "Cheerio" to Alvecote and The Samuel Barlow and everyone we saw over the past few days and headed to Atherstone, where we stopped half way up the flight. In the first two hours we only did 2 locks. I and Daisy off of Trout, worked four boats in front of us up the locks first. By the time we got to the half way point we were ready to stop. Keith and I walked into Atherstone for a nosey around and a bit of retail therapy. I slept like a log after the heat of the day and the work, but oh boy my feet itched when I woke. It seems that the mozzies at Alvecote liked my feet. Others were getting eaten alive and I thought I had got away with it, but no they got my feet, because I was wearing sandals.

We left Atherstone early to beat the line of boats to the first lock and within the hour we had done the final five locks.

After overnight rain, it was most definitely cooler, which was very welcome. We stopped at Nuneaton and walked into the town for the first time. It is a lovely town and has a huge market. We enjoyed a nice lunch in the George Elliot Hotel. Two meals with the £ sign on were two for £8. We also had a Lime and Soda with ice each, which was lovely and cooling.

We are now moored just north of Hawkesbury junction. 10.6 miles 5 locks.

Pop back soon xx

Day 9. Still catching up.

Hello family, friends and followers.

It is getting busy here at Alvecote, with boaters turning up for the coming Bank Holiday Weekend rally. I have spent a lot of the past couple of days catching-up with friends I have not seen for ages and I mean ages. I have also been given wool for my Collie blankets and given wool that I cannot use to other boaters, who will make good use of it. It is all about sharing in the boating community.
I am going to be a little boring, because there is very little news. It will all kick off on Friday and over the weekend, so I will not bore you with my cleaning and boat sorting out. After all there is only so much brass cleaning anyone can cope with and so I will skip that for now and move on to today.

This morning I finished blanket number 15 for the Collie's at the Border Collie Trust. I have already started number 16. After lunch, we headed over to The Samuel Barlow, to help with the boat moving. I say we, in fact Keith did the helping and I did the chatting and drinking of beer, which was great fun. It was so pleasant to sit in the bar with like minded people and enjoy a chat over a pint. It was also wonderful to catch up with a couple of friends I have not seen for two years. The joy of a boaters life, is you do not see someone for a long time, but when you get together it is as though you have never been a part. With the boat moving done, we both enjoyed another pint and loads more chatting and laughter. I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to this weekend and the weather is supposed to be good, but shhh do not tell the weather that.

Pop back soon xx

Day 6: Catching up.

Hello family, friends and followers.

What a difference a day makes. After the wet and windy weather of yesterday, today was sunny and calm.
After the busy day yesterday, I decided that I needed my bed at 9.30pm last night. Every bit of me was aching and I was so tired, that my head hit the pillow and I was out like a light. I did wake to the sound of music and shouting men, because there was a party going on upstairs in the Samuel Barlow, but having told myself to go back to sleep, I did just that until 7am. I lazily stayed cocooned beneath the duvet, with the knowledge that I did not have to hurry out of bed. The only thing calling was the toilet, so having put a foot out beneath the duvet, I got up andmade us our first cuppa of the day.
We finally got up at 8.30am, which is quite something for us. With so little on my to do list. I opened up the boat and stepped out into some wonderful morning sunshine. Also up and about was Leon on Narrowboat Old Bovine. We had not seen Leon for years and so as boaters do we stood on the towpath, having a good old catch-up. He is staying for the rally, so we will definitely be spending more time nattering.

Whilst nattering, I noticed that Swallows were swooping in and out of a nest built under the eves of The Samuel Barlow. They were using a friends swan nect to perch on from time to time. They are such happy, chatty little birds and I look forward to watching them further.

After lunch, I took myself off to the Priory for a nosey around. it was where Benedictine Monks once lived.

On the site is also a Dovecote, which was built around the same time as the Priory. Sadly the door has been broken off and people have been lighting fires in this truly wonderful building. I will be contacting someone to do with looking after the site to see if something can be done.
Once back home. I made a start on cleaning the back cabin brasses. The outside ones can wait a few more days, just in case it rains again and ruins all my hard work.

Pop back soon xx

Day 5: Hartshill to Alvecote.

Hello family, friends and followers.

Wooo hooo I have a hot spot. Nooo not that sort of spot. I have some free Wifi, so you may actually hear from me for a few days. We cannot sort our hub out until we get home, so I will be relying on hotspots and free wifi.

We left Hartshill this morning at 8.05am and it was dry but very overcast.

We past the old BW yard. The clock never reads the correct time. I am not even sure if it still works.
The rain then decided it was time to start spit spotting. It was not hard to begin with and we are hardened boaters, so a drop of rain was not going to stop us.

We arrived at the top of the Atherstone locks just after 9am and waited for a boat to come out of the top lock, before it was time to descend the locks.

All the locks but one were with us.

We left the bottom lock and headed for the sanitary station, where we topped up with water, emptied the cassette and got rid of rubbish.

After an eventful mornings cruise, we arrived at the Samuel Barlow at 1pm. We locked the boat up and went cross for lunch and a pint.
Back home and it is now raining heavily, so maybe this is the weather the forecasters have been warning us about. Anyway we are fine and snug, so let it do its worse.

Pop back soon xxx

Day 4. Bridge 79 to Hartshill.

Hello family, friends and followers.

After a good nights sleep, we were awake at 6am, so sat in bed drinking tea, whilst listening to BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. The sun was shining through the porthole, which meant we were in for a good start to our days cruising.

We left the over night mooring at 7.30am and headed for Hillmorton Locks.

We were joined by Narrowboat Myrtle, so I helped set their lock, whilst working our lock. That is the joy of having two locks side by side. 

We were down the locks in no time and on our way.

It was lovely to meet Maurice one of the volunteer lock keepers, who I see on Twitter. Tomorrow they will all be on duty for the Macmillan Cancer Charity Coffee Morning, where the volunteers all bring cakes along to sell and make money for a wonderful charity. Last year they raised over £500. 

This time of the year is known as the silly season by many boaters and it is easy to see why. We met no end of boats and overtook a couple of boats as well. Unfortunately some boaters, do not seem to know which side of the canal they are supposed to be on, when taking a bend and others seem to think they are still on the motorway. But we just carried on regardless.

At 1.50pm, we took the turn at Hawkesbury junction and glided onto the Coventry Canal. 

Our cruising day ended at Hartshill at 4.30pm having done 26.5 miles, 4 locks, 1 tunnel in 8hrs 50mins. My legs ache and I know I will sleep well tonight. We will be off down the Atherstone flight tomorrow.

Pop back soon xx

Day 3. Soggy start.

Hello family, friends and followers.

As suggested by the weather people, it was a soggy old start to Wednesday morning, but this did not deter Keith from catching the bus into Daventry. He was hoping that the staff in the EE store could sort out why my laptop will not connect to the hub, which we had repaired back at the beginning of July. Whilst he battled the weather, I stayed on board and got a few jobs done and some cleaning. The joys of cleaning the oven could wait no longer. I also got on with cooking lunch, ready for when Keith would get home.
The rain at times was coming down in such a deluge, I had visions of Keith coming home a drowned rat, but in fact he was not to bad. The issue of the hub and my laptop was not solved. We need to ring a 0800 number and speak to their customer services centre, who should be able to help, so we have decided to leave it until we return to our home mooring. So you will need to bare with me for a few weeks. I may or may not post.
After lunch the rain was beginning to diminish and at 2.00pm we decided we would make a move. We untied and set off towards Braunston Marina, where we winded.

Whilst Keith winded the boat, I was dumping a bag of rubbish in the bins by the toll house.

Once winded, we headed off into the dull, overcast yonder with a few boats on the move. 

We decided to stop at Bridge 79, Onley Wood Bridge, where there is a nice single mooring. it will do us for the night. We will see what tomorrow brings, in the way of weather and how far we decide to travel.

Pop back soon xx

Out and about. Day 2.

Hi Folks.

You will have to bare with me. I am having to use Keith's laptop, because mine will not connect to the EE hub we have. We sent the hub away to be repaired and now for whatever reason it will only allow Keith to connect to it. It does not even allow our phones to use it. So I am going to be a little late posting.

This is Day 2 of our Summer/Autumn cruise. We left Saltisford yesterday morning and stopped at Long Itchington overnight. As we were there we called into the Two Boats for a pint and some pork scratchings. It would have been rude not to have done so.
This morning we left Long Itch and are now at Braunston, where we may stay for tomorrow, because the weather is supposed to be foul. Not only that Keith his hoping to go into the EE store in Daventry, to see if they can figure out why I am not able to see the hub. Well I see it, but it will not allow me to connect to it grrrrrrr.
I will keep you posted and hopefully if it is fixed, I will post pictures.

Pop back soon xx

On your marks.

Hello family, friends and followers.

We are on our marks, for our Autumn cruising, which will begin very soon. But in the meantime, I have been getting lots of things sorted out. In my last post, I cemented the new smoke box into place.

After a couple of days of drying out, I painted the new smoke box, flue and stove, with stive blacking. I sorted the plates out and rehung the curtains. I had been waiting for some curtain hooks to arrive, but when they did not show, I found some at our local hardware store, which work just fine. Sods law a couple of days later, the ones I ordered online arrived, so I have spares, should any break.

The Copper kettle got a clean as did the lamp and the top of the stove was laid.

I love it when the back cabin so all dressed. It feels so much like home. I even went out and bought some wool in different Greens to make a new blanket for the side bed. The idea for the pattern, came from the blankets I make for the Collies, who I am still making blankets for.
We have loaded the boat with coal for the cold weather when it arrives and done and oil change on the generator and engine. I still have the water tank to fill and a laundry wash to do, but we are so close to being ready for the off again.
We have five events, which we are booked into, so it will not be a busy time, but an enjoyable time.
I will catch up with you all, when we leave our mooring.

Pop back soon xx

New Smoke Box.

Hello family friends and followers.

This past few days, we have been blessed with cooler temperatures and copious amounts of rain, which are causing issues in Derbyshire, particularly around Whaley Bridge, where we have friends. Fingers are so tightly crossed that the dam does not burst and everyone stays safe.

For me it has been a few days of getting the boat ready to go out again. You may remember me posting about our smoke box breaking. Today we received our new smoke box.

Having searched the internet for a new box, we found someone on Ebay selling a smke box for a Nipper stove, which was also suitble for Midland Chandlers Classic stove, so we contacted him with our measurements and he actually the right smoke box for our stove. Not only that he also does his own casts, so he is someone to keep on our friends list. If anyone is in need of a smoke box for the MD classic, let me know. We did a bit of fettling to make sure it was a perfect fit.

I then got on with the job of cementing it all together. Once the cement is dry I will then give the stove, smoke box and flue a repaint. Our old smoke box has gone off to see if it can be repaired and it will be a spare if it comes back fixed.
We are preparing to go back out, so this morning we received engine oil, for an oil change before we leave. I will be checking the gearbox oil, to see if that needs topping up. We are in the process of making sure we have any medication we need onboard and I am stocking up up bits and bobs. I am a woman who likes to be prepared for almost everything.

Pop back soon xxx