Friday 24th
February 2017 to Tuesday 28th February 2017
After riding out Storm Doris, Friday started with sunshine and a chill in
the air and we could see a lot of the after effects of the storm – plenty of
branches (of all shapes and sizes), along with a solid layer of leaves and
other rubbish, but no physical damage to us which was the main thing.
We had a much more physical barrier to take care of on Friday – the
Hatton flight – Diane, after the trial of locks into Leamington Spa was eagerly
looking forward to the flight with the determination of a line-backer.
About half-way up the flight the sharing of the locks disappeared after
which she handled the boat with ultimate care and skill.
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| It might be a bit chilly but the sun was out |
We passed by nb Lillyanne between lock 33 and 34 – Mick was single
handing through the locks and doing a mighty fine job; Pip with her wonky
broken ankle was resting and making the tea.
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| Yep, still have them to do |
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| Tiny bundles towards the right of the picture - first lambs of the season |
The top of the flight was reached in a shade over 3¼ hours – not bad
on our own – we managed to chat along with a couple of couples from Wales for
the last two locks; Diane gave a lift to a guy and his daughters through a lock
so that they had the experience – they were on holiday from Newcastle and the
wife/mother was in hospital with appendicitis (or rather recovering from the
op) so it was something that they could talk about.
After watering up, elsaning (is that even a word – well emptying the cassette)
and then mooring up, we headed for the café to satisfy Diane’s need for a bacon
sarny. Can highly recommend the café – it all seemed very good.
After all of that we headed off for a few more miles and through Shrewley
Tunnel and finally moored up at Rowington, overlooking the hills and enjoying
the views.
We had passed here a number of times and it always seemed a lovely place
to moor up – so we finally did and it was.
All through the journey we found so much rubbish from the storm; a couple
of times we needed to clear the prop of twigs and other stuff (no plastic
bags); emptying the “cow-catcher” at the front of more branches.
After a lovely quiet night when we couldn’t hear anything of the M40
motorway, we debated which way we would go when we got to Kingswood Junction –
continue north through Knowle or turn left and do the Lapworth Locks.
On purely the basis of miles and locks, and Diane wanting to try a bakery
along the way, we turned left and straight to the locks.
Again we shared the early locks and after a couple of hours the boat was
eased out of the last of the 19 locks; the weather was overcast but without
anything more than a few drops of rain.
At the second last lock a passing cyclist stopped to tell us about the
damage that the storm has left along the canal and that there were some trees
down; passing through Hockley Heath a boater repeated it but more specifically
that it was around the yacht club – turning around meant 19 locks down back to
where we had started – we decided to press on and see.
So, onward to Bridge 20 and Wedges bakery – for lunch. We were decidedly
unimpressed with the level of service we received – simply amounted to
non-existant; the food however was very good. Somehow or other they do not do
any hot sandwiches after 2pm even though they are open until 5pm – not even
paninis – not so much what they said just the dismissive unhelpful attitude
that is at odds with customer service.
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| The food tasted lovely - the service was crap |
Diane had checked the signals when we got back to the boat – TV was very
good and the internet was acceptable for me to work – plus the weather was
setting in again and so we decided to stop there for the night, but not before
a bit of discovering about the area (Waring's Green).
We walked a bit further on and found a lovely pub called The Blue Bell
Cider House, into which we found ourselves entering; the rugby was on, it was
cosy, it was completely inviting, so we sampled the delights of the pub.
They also do Sunday roasts and we booked for the following day.
The lovely thing about boating is that finding mooring spots along the
way that are quiet and relatively secluded mean that a good night’s sleep is
always going to happen and this was a lovely place for just that.
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| Not only the canal was blocked but arboreal obstacles on the towpath |
Come Sunday morning and being a bit over a mile away from the yacht club,
we decided to take a bit of a walk to confirm about any tree(s) that might be
down.
Just before bridge 15 we found the offending tree – right across the
canal – absolutely no chance to get around it – nothing to be done except make
sure that CaRT knew about it, which we did.
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| The offending tree - not going to be going too far with this in the way |
Looks like we would not be going too far for a little while, so the next
best thing is find out what was around.
What did we find?
A lovely clubhouse at the yacht club where we had a morning tea – appears
that they have food as well, so we may just try that.
Our Sunday roast was exceptional – it was about lineball with the best we
have had whilst we have been here – so much (a medium meal) that Diane could
not finish it and all good.
On Monday we continued our exploring and found a Co-op (always good for
milk supplies); a couple of pubs, one of which we will go back to for a meal; a
petrol station (in case we need an alternative diesel supply) and easy access
to Warings Green Wharf
We will be here for a few days until the canal is cleared but we now can
see that we are all set for a bit of a stay here, but mostly we moved along to
the yacht club and moored up opposite in a light and clear area with all
signals being very good.
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| If only - when that bag of tomatoes is not handy. |
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| One of the feeder reservoirs - not a good day for sailing out there |
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| This is not a picture with Diane showing the size of the fish that got away - this is a two-way road. |
Oh and also we are about a mile away from a rail station with a 30 minute
trip into Birmingham
I think we are set.
It does seem that out of all sorts of adversity there are always
positives to be found and I think that we have found a little gem of a spot
that we would not otherwise have discovered.
Tuesday and still no movement on the tree and no response from CaRT as to a timeframe - would just be nice to have some idea - as nice a place as it is we would not like to be stationary for the next three weeks.
Anyway we went a-walking today, deciding to have lunch out at the Hungry Horse pub, forgoing the chance of the Pie-Night at the yacht club.
There is a menu for the over 60's and Diane fancied a couple of courses from it, but as she is still a long way from that point it was my responsibility as the qualifying person to go and order from, as she put it, "the Old Gits Menu".
Afterwards it was back to the boat; the weather had started to get much colder and there had been some snow whilst we were eating; fortunately the precipitation had eased off a lot for the walk back.
Not long after getting back inside the warm boat we could hear another boat moving - Moving?? - alas it was just a boat reversing back from whence we wanted to go, but by this stage some of the rain had appeared again.
Finally they moored in front of us, and Diane found out later that it was NB Rune whom we had last seen at the bottom of the Hatton flight.
Tomorrow we are at least hoping for some answer on the tree and for the weather to improve just a bit - maybe drier!
12 Miles, 40 Locks, 1 Tunnel, 2
Lift Bridges
YTD: 82 miles (132
km),73 Locks, 3 Tunnels, 2 Lift Bridges, 2 Swing Bridges
Total: 4714 Miles (7586 km),
3224 Locks, 127 Tunnels, 68 Lift Bridges , 174 Swing Bridges
