Six for Gold and we need water!

 We have been static for two weeks in our spot and to be honest we have loved it.. 

The sunrise was just poking out over the trees as we set off with the bow sticking high out of the canal. The first thing we noticed was how silted the canal is, as the stern dug into the leaves and mud making steering tricky. But after you get over it you get that tingling feeling of how good it is to be cruising again. The trees are so naked at the moment but it looks so different, like you're on a new canal.

We made our way back towards Rugby and things were so quiet, as you expect during a lockdown.

We soon arrived at the tunnel and still hadn't met anything.

Newbold was empty of boats, and we soon got to Brownsover and the water tap, which was a bit of a relief as we were on our last dregs of water.

So much so that Al couldn't even do any washing on the way. We filled and also emptied our waste tank and Al put on her protective mask to go on a shopping top up. It is now one person at a time and it was a good time to go as she walked right in with no queues and sanitized.  Most of the people were staff doing either click and collect or home deliveries. When she came out there were eight cars waiting for the click and collect.. Del on the other hand had done what he needed to do and even got rid of the rubbish and had started the second washing pile, and had time for a shower. He met Al walking back with all the goodies to see us through the next couple of weeks, and we still hadn't seen a moving boat. We had three loads of washing to do so now we had water the washing machine was going like billyo! Using the w/machine while cruising takes 10% out of the batteries as it does its cycle on a 40 degree wash. So as the engine is running, it is charging as we go, so it tops our batteries back up.. You can also pour a hot kettle of water into the machine before you start it to reduce the heating time. 

We carried on towards the bottom of Hillmorton where we turned where we always do.

One wash to do and it was all going to plan as the buzzer (saying the washing had finished) came on just as we got back to the water point we had left an hour ago.

It was a quick top up so we were full again.

We then headed back to the tunnel and our lockdown mooring..

Things we going great as the forecast said rain for 4.00pm and we met our first boat.. Like I said it was very shallow and passing could be difficult so we stopped to avoid any wash.. As the boat passed it lost all its steering in the silt and power was not the solution as they ploughed into the trees behind us.

We then went round the corner and another boat was across the cut off of its moorings and Al had to push it back towards the bank as its owner tried to get it back without a centre rope, it never gets boring cruising..

Luckily our mooring was still free, lets be honest we only passed one other boat all day so we wasn't surprised.

Tooty was though, he thought he would be in new territory and we were back in the same place. Us, we were very snug knowing today had been busy but satisfying..

Al had cooked a lovely chicken dinner on the stove and it was just the warming treat needed for such a successful day..  Maybe it was the six magpies we saw in the tree yesterday.