A HAPPY WAGGY ENDING

 

Our first week out has been pretty uneventful, well that is if you don’t count my black eye and sprained wrist. But I will come to that later, and a lost dog

After a night in the middle of nowhere we set off for Hilmorton locks.

The sky was blue and the sun was shining, but the wind was chilly and gusting, this was to become a problem over the next couple of days.

We hit our first tunnel of the year at Newbold, only a short straight tunnel at 250yrds, the Captain doesn’t like tunnels (that’s putting it mildly) but this one was easy. Then through Rugby. The mooring were busy, so it was lucky we didn’t need to stop for shopping, there is a Tesco by the canal

Hilmorton are a set of 3 side by side locks, this means there are 3 sets of locks in the flight, with 2 single locks side by side. It is said to be the busiest locks on the system, but today it seemed quiet. I asked the resident lock keeper how many boats they had helped, and the number I thought was quite high at 22, but he said on a busy day it can be over 50, now that’s a lot.

https://www.hillmortonlocks.co.uk/

A second night was spent in the MONW

The wind caused serious problems next day, we set off hoping to get to Braunston, and go up 2 of the 6 double locks to moor near the Admiral Nelson, a pub we have passed many times but never been in. but it was not to be, the gusts of wind got stronger and stronger, and the Captain was having problems when passing other boats, both moored and moving. He decided to call it quits about a mile and a half from Braunston.

We decided to go to the pub, not the Admiral Nelson but the Boat House (it was closer), a large Marston’s pub on the side of the canal and a 25 minute walk down the towpath. Now you would have thought that being so close to a major canal junction and attraction (the locks), the towpaths would be good, but uh boy they weren’t. At one point where it seriously narrowed I thought about turning back, but the pull of a pint was to much and we soldiered on. Its was nice when we got there, and to sit outside overlooking the canal with a couple of pints of Madri. Unfortunately there was nothing dark on for the Captain. We only had 2 before heading back to the boat, and this is were disaster struck. As I have already said the towpath was bad, and I was concentrating on all the trip hazards ahead of me when I failed to see the nearest one, and this was my downfall, or should that be fall down. And I went down like a bag of spuds, what made it worse, I couldn’t fall on a grassy bit, oh no, I had to pick a bit of gravel. I landed on my right hand, arm and cheek. My glasses fell of and I was completely winded. The captain following my instructions grabbed my handbag. (I was afraid of it going in the water). After a moment just catching my breath I managed to get up, and luckily found I had not broken anything, including my glasses. My cheek felt sore, but that was about it until the next morning, when I realised that my fall had given me a black eye, and a lovely yellow bruise on my cheek.

Looks worse in real life

Oh well never mind.

But it did not stop our cruise, and off we went next day up the 6 locks at Braunston. These are double locks, but it was quiet and no one joined us, but we did meet a few boats coming down. Just past the locks is Braunston tunnel, not one of the Captains favourites at all, its 2 way working, and 2042yrds long and with more than a few kinks along the way. But fate was with us and we met no one coming towards us, so an uneventful passage.

Our aim for the day was Norton Junction, were we turned left towards Leicester, moored up and headed to the pub. The New Inn at Long Buckby, another favourite pub of ours. But no darks on for the Captain once again, so he had to make do with Fosters.

We had arranged to meet the Captains sister Ann, and hubby Chris there the next day for a meal. We had a lovely time, the company and the food were great

https://www.newinnbuckbywharf.co.uk/

Saturday and more locks, this time the Watford flight, a set of 7 locks, the middle 3 being a staircase. You have to book in with the lock keeper, so this is what I did and then stopped to help the boat coming down. Its always nice to help.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watford_Locks

Our moorings for the night were at Crick, but there was another tunnel to traverse before we got there. Slightly shorter than Braunston at 1528yrds, but still daunting and our luck didn’t hold out as we met another boat coming towards, us but we passed each other with ease and we were soon moored at Crick, and off to the pub of course. This time the Wheatsheaf, no darks on again, but the Captain was happy with a pint (or 3) of Cruzcampo. There is a Coop across the road from the pub, so I picked a few bits up, as shops are sadly lacking on this stretch of canal.

Crick tunnel

Our plan was to go down the Welford Arm in time for the Captains birthday, and we made it with a day to spare.

https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/canals-and-rivers/welford-arm-leicester-line

We moored up outside the pub The Wharf Inn, and were soon joined by Anne and John on NB Kallisto. We got chatting and introduced to their deaf dog Meg. But when they went to find their 2^nd dog Flora there was no sign of her. She had jumped ship somewhere between Foxton Locks and Welford. At first they thought it might have been at the one and only lock on the arm, so they walked back to see if they could find her. In the mean time the Captain and I looked round the immediate area and spoke to people. I went in the pub and asked in there but no one had seen Flora. When Anne and John returned they joined us for a pint, there was still no sign of Flora, and this is where the power of Facebook comes into play. I posted it on a couple of the boating sites I am on, another gentleman posted on a local boaters page, and a lovely lady posted on the Welford page. The response was almost instant, a boater moored near Foxton had posted about a dog running free on the towpath near the locks, and people pointed me towards the post. We were able to confirm it was Flora. Anne and John took a taxi back to Foxton Locks, and Todd the boater who had originally seen Flora, turned out to look for her as well. It was a happy waggy ending when Ann and John returned with Flora, none the worse for her adventures.

Flora

So a bit of excitement to end our first weeks cruising.

44miles 17 locks, 3820yrds in tunnels and 2 canals

ITS THAT TIME AGAIN.

Balloons in Marrakesh

Well folks as the title says ‘its that time again’ and we have set off on our summer adventures.

But first I must backtrack to where I left you in August 2025.

We had reached the top of Atherstone locks and were in touching distance of our home in Swan Lane. But first we had a very important favour to do for our good friend Keith and Andrew, they were taking steam boat Hasty to be blacked at Alvecote marina, which was at the bottom of the locks we had just come up.

They sounded their horn as they passed us by, and we headed down to the top lock to meet them windlasses in hand and raring to go.

Our celebration at meeting up with our old friend was short lived, as they told us absolutely terrible news. Canal and River Trust had given all the boats at Swan Lane wharf 6 months notice to quit, as they wanted to sell the wharf to a developer. We had a lease that had years to run, but apparently this wasn’t worth the paper it was written on. As you can imagine we were gobsmacked, my opinion of CRT, which was already poor, hit rock bottom on this news.

However much to our surprise Keith had an ace up his sleeve. It would appear that when we renewed the lease a clause had been added, which some how had passed CRT by, which allowed the person running the wharf first refusal to buy it at going rate. As Keith runs Swan Lane he was that person, and he and Andrew had decided to sell their house and buy the wharf, we were saved, hopefully. At this time CRT had not agreed to the sale, but was considering it, and eventually they agreed. So Keith is now in the process of buying the wharf, and as anyone who has ever bought a house knows, never mind a business, it can be a long drawn out business.

But Swan Lane Wharf is saved. YIPPEE

It was a long day getting Hasty down the locks, but it made the pint at the end of the day even sweeter, and we headed to the Market Tavern and the Angel Ale House, our 2 favourite haunts in Atherstone.

We took a couple of days to get back to Swan Lane, and I vetoed the idea of going up the Ashby, as I find it rather boring with no locks for me to do.

On our return we found we had new moorers, Kata and Daniel a lovely Hungarian couple, Pete Jones, a rather absent minded gentleman who had bought Stuart’s boat Throstle, and Jimmy with Yeti the golden Labrador.

We caught up with our friends Col and Mags, they were in full wedding mode (well Mags was) with their wedding being only a few weeks away.

Of course I had to organise a get together to get to know everyone, and we headed round to the Brickies for a few pints, before going back to the meeting room for food, and more beer of course. A great night was had by all.

Friends old and new

The wedding went without a hitch and everyone had an amazing day.

The happy couple and their best man

I started back at work almost straight away, a shock to the system that’s for sure, and our life on the wharf settled into our normal winter routine. Meaning there was not a lot for me to write about.

Christmas came and went, we had our usual Wharf Christmas meal which was well attended, and between Christmas and New year another wharf social when Kata cooked a lovely Hungarian goulash, and some amazing cakes.

Wharf Christmas Party

As it was a long wet winter, the Captain and I decided to book a holiday to Marrakesh, which happened to coincide with my birthday. Marrakesh is manic, but we loved it, and the weather was great. For my birthday the Captain booked us a hot air balloon ride to see the sunrise over the Atlas mountains. Wow what an experience, as we and 50 other balloons took off just as the sun was rising.

Balloons as far as the eye can see

Now it was getting time to plan our summer cruise, we decided to do the north east this year, starting on the Oxford canal before joining the Leicester line of the Grand Union, then on to the River Soar and then the Trent. We will get to Boston this year, and hope to call in at Doncaster and Sheffield before our trying to get to Ripon on the River Ouse. We have to be in Langley Mill for the 7^th Sept, as we are coming out of the water to be blacked and have a few jobs done on the rudder and skeg. So an interesting cruise planned, and fingers crossed there will be no problems with water or infrastructure this year.

We did do a shake down cruise at Easter just up to Hawkesbury, with Kata and Daniel and Col and Mags, who drove to the Greyhound, and we all had a meal, next day we headed down to Coventry basin for the night. The boat ran perfectly.

Coventry Basin

So back to the present day and we have set off, as usual our first port of call was Hawkesbury, and of course a pint or 2 in the Greyhound. Today the weather has been very kind to us, even if the wind is still a little chilly, it was nice when the sun was out, and we travel about 9 miles. Only 1 lock today, the little stop lock at Hawkesbury, but of course I ended up helping a couple of boats before we came through. We have moored in the middle of nowhere for the night, but the canal has been busy with plenty of boats passing us in both directions.

So now we are all up to date, and I will be posting a blog every week of our journey (or should that read floating pub crawl).

So I hope you enjoy reading about our adventures.