Wednesday 20^th February 2019

We had run out of bread and were getting low on milk, and it was over a mile to the nearest shop. So we had pineapple for breakfast and then, later, Brenda made scones that we had with cheese and strawberry jam.

I washed and polished the starboard side of the boat. It was probably October that this was last done. It was well overdue and the boat was looking poor for it. It is bloody hard work but rewarding, when you look back at it. The very next lot of people that passed on the towpath, commented on how nice she looked. Mind, I have always said the boat is not going to age well and there are a lot of, at the moment, very small rust marks and blisters in the paintwork which is very disappointing.

The hull side was also washed and the few places where the paint had been rubbed away and had started to rust, were sanded down and primed prior to painting.

We started the engine and did two washes. However, now that Kevin has set up the battery monitor properly, we can see that we don’t particularly need to be stationery and have the engine running at a constant speed to do a wash. On tick-over revs, she charges the batteries nicely.

Once the washing was finished, we moved off. There was another large quarry alongside the canal with another, smaller, spoil heap than Mount Judd. There are many quarries, used and disused, in this area, many bounding the canal. There are numerous disused railway lines and bridges that cross the canal that would have connected with the quarries, and numerous old wharves where stone would have been loaded onto canal barges.

Less than a mile after setting out we came to Hartshill with its BW workshops. A very interesting place for anybody that has any kind of interest in the canals. There is an open dry-dock with a house sitting above it, numerous workshops, one with a clock tower, a covered dry-dock, managers house and numerous other buildings. Many of the buildings also had curious curving roof lines.

We moored up before the yard and walked around it before moving onto the water point in the yard itself.

Once watered up, we moved off with the wind steadily increasing. At one point we almost got blown sideways onto a moored boat and there were numerous times were we were moving sideways down the canal. You just have to keep the power on at these times even when passing moored boats. Bridge Street is a horrible boat to handle in the wind.

We passed bridge 36 at Mancetter, moored up, hung the washing out, no mean task in the wind and walked the ½ mile into the village to the convenience store.

Mancetter was set up as a Roman fortification, the A5 Watling Street, originally a Roman road passes the village. Although there are no Roman remains, numerous artefacts have been found in the past.

Today, Mancetter is a past pit village, like so many in this area. Although largely run down and passed over, there are indications of newbuilding in the village which combine to give it a facelift.

There are however, quite a few interesting buildings in the old part of the village. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is an impressive building dating from the 13^th century, although locked up, and the churchyard contains many slate, Georgian gravestones, always well preserved.

Mancetter Manor House           

                          

                                                                St. Peters Church

                                                                      Almshouses

Gramer’s Cottages

The Manor House dates from 1330 and its numerous outbuildings have been converted into separate housing. In 1555 one Robert Glover, a victim of the reign of Mary Tudor, was arrested and, along with a cap-maker from Coventry, was burnt at the stake.

There is a row of Almhouses next to the church, dating from 1728 and a row of Victorian, Gothic terraced houses, Gramer Cottages, across the road.

The last battle between Queen Boadicea, the indigenous Britons and the Romans was supposedly fought near here.   

In the evening, we at last, put up some of our knick-knacks on the shelf of the world, it was lovely to see them coming out. A little bit of homeliness we have missed.

The battery monitor was reset also, following Kevin’s instructions. All the electrics were isolated so,     in theory, there was neither charging or discharge from the batteries. Charging current showed at 0.18A, so this reset to zero.

Weather: spitting first thing, then became a nice day but turned windy in the afternoon with rain after dark.  

Day Total: 0 locks; 1½ miles; 0 Tunnels; 0 Swing Bridges; 0 Boat Lift; engine running hours 2.0                                                                                                                      

Overall Total: 331 locks; 733 miles; 32 tunnels; 7 Swing Bridges; 2 Boat Lifts; engine running hours 461.1