Saturday 18^th April 2020

We thoroughly cleaned and polished the boat through after which, we had a quiet afternoon. The weather was not great, cold and damp, raining and generally overcast and miserable. However, we can’t really complain, there has been little rain lately.

Post-Corona, we will no doubt be restricted in cruising options due to water shortages.

With the year the country as a whole is having, we have revised our cruising plan for this year. If there is any anyway. The boat is booked for a repaint early next year at Streethay Wharf on the Coventry Canal not far from Lichfield and Fradley Junction. With this in mind, we had intended to head for London via Birmingham but, at the rate we like to travel, this would not now be feasible and so we have decided to wait for the lifting of Corona lock-down before we decide on a new schedule.

We do not get a feel for this mooring. Moorings down the Middlewich Branch are much better. The Calveley straight is about ½ mile long, leading to the Bunbury Staircase Locks. The railway is on one side of the canal beyond a field and on the other side of us is the Calveley Dredging Disposal Site, a large hollow pit where dredging debris is dumped. At one time it would have been a clay pit where clay would have been extracted for use on the canal as “Puddling Clay”. This was the method, still used today although using a different method, to seal the canal bed. The clay was spread along the bed of the canal and “Puddlers”, in their bare feet would trample over the layer to bed it in. Whenever a canal breaches, or dries out for any reason, the fear is that the clay will also dry out, crack and not reseal.

Tomorrow is Brenda’s 60^th Birthday. There was allsorts planned, but of course, it has all been ruined by Corona Virus. Any family event is being ruined by this virus lock-down and, while it has to be borne, it is not any easier.

There was a meal planned at a fancy restaurant tonight, where it had been arranged that both boys would attend, their respective partners being unable to. It would have been many years since we had all been together and would have made a special evening. Then on Monday, we were due to fly to India for a holiday incorporating a trip on the Shimla Railway.

However, it is not to be.

Instead we had a cook in.

When in the house, we used to have cook-ins and always enjoyed them. We would dress up and visit Booth’s supermarket, a fishmongers and butcher and buy lots of food for a number of small courses and nice wine. We would shower and dress up and, throughout the evening, get steadily more tipsy, dancing to music and enjoying the food. The evenings were always great fun.   

Tonight, we had four courses:

                       First Course -  King Pranws in Garlic and Chives with Field Mushrooms

                                                Second Course – Langoustines au Natural

                                             Third Course - Scallops on a bed of Samphire

                              Fourth Course – Monkfish with New Potatoes and Fresh Salad

After the meal, we launched a night light candle onto the canal and watched it going floating off. Just for fun, no moored boats ahead of us, and it disappeared into the distance.