Can you hear the hum, Fernando?

Monday 15th August to Sunday 21st August 2011

12 Miles, 1 Lock, 1 Tunnel, 1 Swing Bridge– for this week


Totals: 700 Miles, 592 Locks, 22 Tunnels, 18 Lift Bridges, 12 Swing Bridges

The newest crew member has had a very good week continuing to learn about boating life and sleeping in a bit past 4 am when he came to check if I was awake – I pretended to be sound asleep – I am sure he wanted to go out for a pee – have to hold on for a bit longer

We had moored almost at Hawkesbury Junction – well only 500 metres away.

Over and back many times across the lock gates at Sutton Stop Lock – a old dab hand at this he has become.

So an easy walking area with a nice towpath – not muddy or really that dirty – plenty of boats moored along the line – as is always the case.


we didn't actually cruise past this but did walk past it a few times -
bridge decoration on the way into Coventry

Banjo’s attitude this week during the regular 3 times a day walks was to poke his nose into everyone’s cratch if it was open and, if he could get away with it, walking onto the back deck to see what was happening.

The ducks have not caused any concern – he walks along and really without deviating from the towpath, they seem to want to go onto the water.

The first encounter with a swan went well – well it went well for the swan who reacted, as could have been predicted, when a dog gets too close; raised itself to full height with loud hissing and didn’t back off an inch when the dog was barking – the dog however wimped out of it.

The Greyhound has become a firm favourite with him especially around lunchtime – seems something finds its way from the plate directly to him and usually other dogs around to get to know.

not only police travel in pairs -
 how many does it take to cut the towpath grass

why does it seem to cost double to cut the grass

The moorings are pretty good here really, the only thing that could be said against them was the constant humming from the M6 motorway which is only about a kilometre away.

Inside with all of the doors and windows closed, it can still be heard quite clearly through the mushroom vents and is a constant in the background when outside; further down the towpath and near to the crossover point it can be quite noisy, so not sure how the natives feel about it.

Moved just a few miles on Friday down onto the North Oxford – still the continuing hum of the M6 in the distance; he alternated equally between the roof, the back deck and the seat.



that pesky M6 - funny that it was noisy only on one side
- after we passed underneath the noise disappeared
- must be uni-directional mufflers on the trucks

Don't get me wrong, the hum is not causing any problems to me, it is just that I wonder about the people who live around and near the motorways and the fact that there is enough traffic in the early morning to be causing the hum that it does.

A pleasant morning cruising down to Rugby, where we caught up with Geoff and Jackie from nb Benson, whom we had met at Hawkesbury Junction – we chatted again for quite a while and Geoff took no pity on the woman from nb Suant when she was enquiring about some porthole covers – stirred her unmercifully – she took it all very well.

Sunday – a day of rest – that would be nice – but I did manage to find out how to carefully remove the windows from the boat – Steve on nb Vivien Anne was doing two of his – removing any underlying rust, painting and resealing, so very much an instructive day – now all I need to do is be confident enough to put the theory into practice.

Banjo is finding his place when moving; has found his place when moored; and will find his place pretty quick again at 4 in the morning.