Wednesday 5th December 2018



Harvey allowed us a lay in and we didn’t stir until 8:20. I had wanted to be well on the move by this time. I walked to find the DIY stores along a very muddy towpath. The internet showed a Wickes and a Homebase on a retail park beside the canal. There were actually three parks and both stores were located on the third one, furthest from the boat.

I bought the bits we were after although couldn’t get all, returned to the boat and, after a quick breakfast, we moved on.

Again, uneventfully going over old ground, but we did noticeably, see a lot of wildlife. A kingfisher, the first for a long time, a few jays and many rabbits.

We passed quite a few boats that we have been regularly seeing over the past few weeks, all no doubt restricted by winter stoppages and so covering the same ground. The swing bridge at Stretton Stop is a pain when approached from east to west. There is no channel to hold the boat in while the bridge is swung and many moored boats from the hire fleet. The only way is to clamber over the hire boats to reach the bank and then walk down to open the bridge.

The day was mild but very damp. Come midday it was persistently drizzling which eventually turned to rain. Although this stopped the day was so wet is didn’t really matter. It was a miserable afternoon.

We arrived and moored at Hawkesbury Junction again and put the plaque on the side door.

A new smoke detector was fitted above the dinette, new hinges fitted to the rear steps and then we went to the Greyhound for a well-earned pint. I had so been looking forward to another pint of their mild.

18 miles left to Market Bosworth but tomorrow we go onto new ground up the Coventry Canal and onto the Ashby.



Weather: mild but damp. Drizzle then rain. A miserable afternoon.



Day Total: 0 locks; 13 miles; 1 Tunnel; 1 Swing Bridge; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 4.0 

Overall Total: 322 locks; 601 miles; 26 tunnels; 5 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 370.2

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Thursday 22 nd November 2018 We were awake during the night and watched a lovely, bright, full moon in a clear sky with a thick ground mist. When we woke this morning the world was white after a hard frost. Apparently it got down to -4 ˚ overnight. The stove has remained light since its first lighting on 19 th October. This morning was no exception and the boat was cold but not overly so, the stove having been damped down overnight. However, we did turn the heating on for ½ hour to warm the boat up while the stove was heating up. We haven’t had the heating on for some time but the times we have, has been when the boat has become cold. We still haven’t yet mastered the regulating of the heating. If it is left on too long, the boat becomes oppressively hot and remains so for a long time.   We went for a walk to the nearest village, Stockton. The walk was along a main road to begin with and was not pleasant with all the traffic and narrow verges to walk on. We w...
Read more
Image
Sunday 14 th July 2019 We went for a walk around Avoncliffe before a slow cruise covering the 1 ½ miles back into Bradford and were, yet again, lucky enough to find a place on the 48 hour moorings. Avoncliffe is a tiny, delightful place and a very popular stop for walkers and cyclists. Around the Cross Guns pub are a few cottages, all staggered towards the river bank and dominated by the Aqueduct. However, looking at signs from the past, it had once been a thriving small-scale industrial centre with water mills and factory mills concerned with the cloth industry. The up-market Avoncliffe Villa apartments bely their past as, first the Bradford Workhouse, then a convalescence hospital for injured First World War troops and later a hotel. Right our Bradford moorings, down a small embankment, is Barton Farm. The farm buildings are all Medieval and consist of a Manor House, a Granary, one of the best examples of a Tithe Barn and several other buildings. Today, the Tithe Barn ...
Read more
Image
Monday 30 th July 2018 We ambled about in the morning. Brenda did some housework and I walked up into Winsford for some shopping. The day was not good, a lot of cloud and threatening rain. Matt brought Manny and Eva out to us at 3pm. Just as they turned up the heavens opened with heavy rain. It was great to see them both, they are here for a week, so hopefully we won’t get sick of them and make them swim home. Once Matt had gone we waited a short while for the rain to stop and then set off. We passed under the two bridges that make up the roundabout at the bottom end of Winsford which we have travelled over countless times by car. As soon as you pass under the first bridge you are off Canal and River Trust waters. We winded at the entrance to the marina being careful not to venture too far into the flash because of the danger of shifting, shallow sandbanks and then started to retrace our route. This now put us right at the start of the Weaver Navigation and by th...
Read more