PREPARATIONS AND WE’RE OFF.

Well I have finished work for another year. It was sad to say goodbye to all of my friends at UTL, but I will be back before they know it.

Before leaving for our cruise there are always jobs to be done. Maintenance for the Captain, and usually shopping and cooking for me.

This year was no exception. The Captain did an excellent job of cleaning out the engine bay and giving it a coat of paint. He has fitted a solar dump too, don’t worry its not as bad as it sounds. It should enable us to use any extra solar power to heat the water in our emersion tank. We just have to see if it actually works. I have great faith in him but my fingers crossed just in case.

I have made sure we have plenty of food, but more importantly a good stock of beer and wine.

We could not leave the day after I finished work, which was Good Friday, as I had a hospital appointment on the following Tuesday. Nothing got done on Good Friday either as we bunked off and went to celebrate my sons birthday at the New Inn at Shardlow. A lovely canal side pub that does great food, (we went by car not boat).

https://thenewinnshardlowpub.co.uk/

We didn’t actually leave until the following Friday, as a plan was hatched with our good friends Col and Mags for them to join us as far as Atherstone, and as they still work it had to be the weekend.

This meant we didn’t have to rush, and we took the opportunity to nip into Coventry and say our goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Hop, Vyk and Greg at the Hops d’Amour.

https://www.facebook.com/hopsdamourcoventry

We also got a ride in Keith’s new toy, a 1930 white Rolls Royce.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Swan Lane and we were off. The weather gods were kind to us, the sun shone and the wind was warm.

I spent the first part of the journey cooking, as once again I had promised to produce one of my tapas feasts.

But once done I was able to enjoy the passing scenery and the bird song.

We moored in the middle of nowhere for the night, enjoyed good food and a couple of drinks with our friends. Next day we pushed on to Atherstone.

The weather was a little cooler but still fine and dry.

As we approached the visitors mooring I spied and old friend on the towpath, Eric off NB Cherrie. I shouted across and he waved and said see you in the Angel.

The Angel is our favourite pub in Atherstone, great real ales for the Captain, and Krombacher lager for me. Col and Mags were happy bunnies too. Eric did come in but didn't see us.

https://www.facebook.com/theangelinnrealalehouseatherstone/

After a couple of pints a delicious curry at the Raj Mahal finished the day off nicely.

Back to the boat and an early night for Col and Mags, as they had an early start in the morning to do the 6 hours cruise back to Trinity Marina, whilst we were heading down the 11 Atherstone locks.

A tap at the window as we watched TV took us by surprise, and apprehensively I got up see who it was. It was Eric and his dog. We chatted for a while, catching up on the gossip before he headed home. It was great to see him again.

Col and Mags did get off early next day but the Captain got up to say bye, before back to bed for our usual cup of tea and a biscuit. We eventually surface about 10am and set off for the locks. There were volunteer lock keepers on the first 3 which was helpful, but then we were on our own for the next 8. I soon got back into the swing of it and it took us a respectable 2½ hours. Good going.

It was a day for bird spotting, the main event being the number of Kestrels there were about, and I even thought I spotted a Red kite soaring above us, but I didn’t get a good look at its tail (buzzards have a round tail whilst Red Kites have forked tails).

The cutest thing we saw was at a lock, a tiny wood mouse, which showed no fear as it made its way round the Captains foot and down to the water for a drink before hopping off through the grass like a miniature kangaroo.

We moored up at the bottom of the locks, it was so peaceful with only bird song to be heard. Across the water was a field of yellow rapeseed which sparkled in the sun. As night dropped there was no traffic noise or people disturbing the peace.

A late start next day, we did the 8miles and 2 locks in about 4 hours to Fazeley. Slightly cooler again but when the sun came out it was lovely.

And Fazeley can mean only one thing, a fish and chip supper from Fazeley Fish Bar for the Captain, and a kebab for me.

https://www.facebook.com/Fazeleyfishbarfazeley

We had a couple of pints in the Three Tuns first. This canal side pub has been hit and miss in the past, there were a selection of real ales on the pumps but non suited the Captain, but he did spy a can of Northern Star porter by Northern Monk brewery, which he found very much to his taste.

https://northernmonk.com/beer/

Next day on to Fradley Junction were we joined the Trent and Mersey canal. After mooring up we had to go and try the Dirty Duck or to give it its proper title The Swan, it claims to be the most photographed pub on the canals. Again it can be hit and miss with its range of real ales, but the Captain was a happy bunny when he spotted a mild on the bar (didn’t remember to gets the name). They were serving food which looked very tasty and good value for money.

https://www.swaninnfradley.co.uk/

That’s all for now folks.

SO WHERE NEXT?

Again I must start this blog by apologising for not posting during our stay at Swan Lane Wharf. There is not much to describe when we are not cruising the cut. We have spent the winter trying many new cuisines on our Friday night date night. Mexican, Caribbean, Lebanese and Vietnamese to name just a few. The Captain has tried many a new stout at the Hops d'Amour.

There had been much discussion about our route this year, but I insisted that we needed to do the Kennet and Avon canal, and visit Bath and Bristol. For some strange reason the Captain isn't at all enamoured with this part of the system.

So we will be setting off and heading for Nottingham first to visit family. We will go up the Trent and Mersey, through Burton on Trent and Willington, and return via the River Soar calling in at Leicester and Market Harborough. Then in early June we will be leaving the boat back at Swan Lane to go to the city of Zadar in Croatia for a week.

We will then start our journey south down the Oxford canal, joining the River Thames at Oxford, before joining the Kennet and Avon canal. On returning to the River Thames we will hopefully visit Godalming on the River Wey, to see Mike and Sandy Debens who we met a couple of years ago in Newark and their boat Syd. 

Then into London, before returning up the Grand Union Canal back to Coventry.

Well that's the plan for now, but as you know things can change, so watch this space.

So to the last blog of 2021 enjoy.

FINAL TRIP OF THE YEAR, PROBABLY.

As I said in the last blog, we got back to the wharf on the Sunday. The first couple of days were spent cleaning the car and catching up on some chores a round the boat. Wednesday was Auntie Rita’s funeral up in Bolton so we set off in plenty of time. This turned out to be a great idea, as the M6 was closed at the junction we needed to get off at, so we ended up taking a detour round the problem but we still arrived in plenty of time. The funeral was lovely, and it was nice to catch up with the Captains sisters and cousins.

As a treat on our way back we stopped off at the Walsgrave for a meal. It was very nice and a good end to a hard day.

Then it was back to normal for me, I contacted Tom at GI, the agency I have worked for over the last 4/5yrs. He was happy to hear from me but not so good for me, he said the paperwork I usually fill in in the office was to be done online, and I needed to send my documents by email.

Well he sent me the files to be filled in, but even the Captain couldn’t work out how to do it (he is much more IT savvy than me). So I phoned Tom and to my relief he said everything could be done in the office on the day I started, which would be the following Monday.

We were really looking forward to our weekend with Col and Mags and set off Friday morning to do the 12 miles to Trinity marina. It took us just over 4 hours. On our way up the Ashby canal we spotted NB Orkney again and had a chat with Lesley and Nigel, we did the same on the way back to. Hope to see them in Coventry at some point, as they intended to stay in the area over the winter.

When we got to the marina we found a serious lack of moorings. The ones on the offside belong to the marina, and there are no guest moorings to be had. The towpath side is over grown and shallow, apart from one short piece of Arnco, but a very inconsiderate boater had plonked his boat right in the centre of this making it very difficult for anyone else to moor. But we did, by turning round first we managed to get our back end on the Arnco, but the front ended up against the uneven canal side, which made it difficult for the Captain to step on to the front of the boat to get the bow rope, and pin the front in the soft ground on the edge of the canal. But he managed it.

As planned we met Col in the Marina Brewers Fayre, Mags was still working, so we had a couple of pints and when she joined us we had a very enjoyable meal. The staff were excellent and the food tasty. We then decided to try the Wharf pub just across the road, as soon as we saw it we knew we had been in before a few of years ago, and it hadn’t changed at all. The same golden retriever dog was wandering around, and a selection of books were still on the shelf. These books are free to be taken, and on our last visit I did indeed take one.

Next night I did one of my tapas feasts, it was enjoyed by all. It was a lovely finish to our 2021 cruise and next day we headed home to Swan Lane for the winter. We will be meeting up with Col and Mags again soon.

Back at Swan Lane and we have met some of our new moorers, Mickey of NB Water Rail is lovely as is Rob off NB Pegaus. We haven’t met Fliss and Neville yet, but are looking forward to doing so. Big Chris the boat painter came and went, and was replaced by little Chris the boat painter. We have caught up with Alan, Arun, PJ, Mark and Stuart. The Captain has seen Steve, but I have yet to have the pleasure. And he is back doing bits round the wharf for Keith, it will keep him out of mischief during the winter. I am planning to do a boaters get together and quiz after a Christmas, so hopefully everyone will support this and it will strengthen the community spirit of the wharf.

I am back at work, and very happy to be there, everyone was pleased to see me and I was soon snapped up by Jo, the outbound manager and returned to her department.

The only downside is getting up at 4.30am, it is certainly a shock to the system.

We have called in at the Brickies and resumed our friendship with Theresa and her staff. And we have a new favourite pub in Coventry, the Hops d’Amour, a great micropub with an excellent selection of beers and friendly staff

https://www.facebook.com/hopsdamourcoventry