Beating the rain

This weather doesn't help at all. We looked at the forecast and saw it was going to rain at midday, so we set off at 8.30am in the hope we would get a mooring at All Oaks..

It was very autumnal again today with the mist covered cobwebs in the grass..

It was very quiet with boats and cruising was easy. We passed under the busy M6 motorway and on towards Rose's narrowboat hire base.

Here there is a little swingbridge you have to operate, but it doesn't hold you up.

We turned up at All Oaks Wood and just as we arrived someone pulled away, perfect timing!

Tooty was off, just like he always does and we got ready for the forthcoming rain..
It rained at 12.00 just like they said and it was cold enough for us to put the heating on for an hour..
Al cooked a lovely Roast Gammon with all the trimmings which went down well with a glass of wine..

Ash in Ansty

The weather looked good till lunchtime so it was a chance to move on a bit..  We set off at 9.00am and moored just where Del had seen some more wood.. You just can't cruise past a fallen Ash tree..

After we had loaded the roof with some Autumn wood for those cold nights, we cruised nice and slowly looking for a mooring. We got to Ansty and managed to get on the visitors moorings..

It turned out to be a good decision as we were only moored up for half an hour before the heavens opened..
Del settled into watching the football and Al got on with some cooking.....we had a lovely lasagne with Blackberry crumble...

Fryday fun

With it raining when we surfaced, we thought it best not to move today.. It turned out to be one of those lazy days and Tooty seemed to agree.

Del went on the hunt for wood and found some by the lock, but on further observation found a 'fill your boots' spot which might have to happen tomorrow..

In the evening we walked along to The Greyhound which has a beer garden with a marquee, together with horse stables that have been transformed into an impressive bar, and is called THE WHIPITT INN.

It was Fryday night where you could order some fish and chips in the paper for £2.60 and they had some live music too..

It was a great concept, but it wasn't very busy for some reason, but we enjoyed it..

Beating the weather

We pulled the pins from Polesworth at 8.30am and made our way towards Atherstone. We stopped to drop off our rubbish at Bradley Green and then hit the locks... These are also single locks and they normally have a bit of a queue to get through them.. They start in blocks of two locks and there are eleven to do.

We had one boat in front of us and things we going well through the first two, then two boats set off in front of us so we had three in front of us through the next two locks. Then another boat set off after the next two locks and he was a single hander.. 

So it was a bit of a wait through the bottom half of the locks till we got to the last four where there were some very helpful volunteers who got the locks ready for us. Here we saw a foal which had just been born and was having trouble standing with its mother, a lovely sight to see..

We got to the top of Atherstone locks and the weather got a bit chiller and cloudy, as we headed for Hartshill.

You could tell the leaves were starting to fill the canal as the Axion Propeller had to be stopped a few times to let the leaves fall of it, Autumn is on us..

The canal winds it way through the trees and hillsides with some tricky little bridges to keep your concentration up, very nice cruising.
We then got to Nuneaton, and you never know is going to be like, but it was in fact a lot cleaner than it has been.. There has been a lot of housing development here and the gardens now go down to the canal, which has stopped people just chucking stuff in the cut as they have to now look at it..  We quite enjoyed it, though there was some remnants of an old rusty motorbike still sticking out of the water, so still work to be done here..
We passed the junction of the Ashby which now has a small section opened at the end towards Meacham. Problem for us is that it only has a 16 metre (50 foot) winding hole at the end, but we still love the Ashby and love seeing the progress they have made up there.

It was then on to Hawkesbury Junction past the old pumping station and then the sharp turn onto the Oxford Canal.

We did the small stop lock at Sutton stop and were lucky enough to see a mooring before the bend. Derwent6 fitted snuggly in and Tooty was off in a flash into the woods to suss things out for tonight.

We had sussed things out too, as we soon got a shower and got ready for a pint down The Greyhound, the local pub.

The food here is fantastic and we just managed to get in..  We only had a 100 metre walk back to Derwent6 where we crashed out.

Moving on (in the end)

We were up in the early mist again just in case the collection of this battery caught us out.. No Chance!

We phoned at 8.40am to be told by staff they weren't open till 9.00am (turn your bloody phones off then)
At nine they said they would get back to us, they didn't but the courier company did, saying they could pick it up in a couple of hours, and they would phone us ten minutes before arrival. Sounds professional that..  So breakfast was called for while we waited, and this was a time to try out our fresh Blackberry jam on a bit of toast, Mmmm it was lovely!
They did arrive, but late, in fact it was 12.45pm and they phoned when they were waiting for us at the pub, but they did phone!
At last we had got rid of the dud battery and could move on..
We set off at 1.00pm and we would just see how far we could go.. 

We passed Whittington and then got to Hopwas.

It was windy but the weather was being kind to us with the wind behind us.. We pulled up at Fazeley Junction for water and managed to get rid of our rubbish in town.. Al picked up some lemons and some fridge stuff. It took 3/4 of an hour to fill Derwent6 and we set off again as soon as we could..

Well maybe we shouldn't have done that, because we turned the corner to find a CaRT boat off its moorings and across the canal in front of us.. We moored up and managed to pull the barge back to it proper place and retie it up.

What goes around comes around, because when we got to Glascote locks a boat was just coming out so they were both in our favour..

We made our way through Tamworth and the sun was trying to peep at us, but when it went back in it left a very autumnal feel about the place..

As it got later through Alvecote and then Polesworth it was very pleasant cruising. The canal had that glass finish which Derwent6 was gliding through and the wind had dropped through the wooded sections..

We even had a audience, and one couldn't get in the front row.

 One of our favourite moorings was still available and we could tell it was getting late.

It was 7.00pm when we chained up and sorted out the satellite dish. Tooty was itching to get off and explore his new territory, he must have had all the mice at Lichfield.

We don't seem to mention him as much now because he has adapted to Derwent6 so well. He sleeps during the day and susses out his new mooring in the afternoon, and then waits for his fun night at dusk. He always comes back in at dawn with a MEOW! at the pothole bedroom window, he eats and he sleeps and does it all again the next day.. He loves it!
So we were settled for the night. Al had had some Jacket Potato's on the go for when we stopped and it had kept the boat nice and warm when we moored up, also they went down well with some ribeye steaks.. Mmmm
Its so nice not having to worry about the batteries now, and with the nights drawing in I'm sure they will get tested to the full..

Fit for a Queen at Buckingham Palace

Al was up early as she had first a cab to catch and then a train..
She got the train down to London and then the tube to Green Park and a nice walk to Buckingham Palace.

For Al's birthday back in May, Terry had brought her tickets to visit Buckingham Palace and they all met at the gates..

Al was taken round all the state rooms where the Queens honours and duties are carried out. No photos could be taken, but Al was blown away with it all. You were taken to different levels of the Palace and shown the gardens.

 

They also had tickets to go to the Muse where the carriages and cars are kept and where the non commutable workers at the Palace live, and of course the horses.

The visit ended with tea and cakes of course as they talked about their experiences.
They went and had a couple of drinks in a nice pub and in the late afternoon went for dinner in Prezzo's where Terry had organised vouchers for them all. Al got the train back from Euston and arrived back on Derwent6 at 10.20pm
Thanks Terry it was a fabulous day and will always be a memory!

Del on the other hand!
You would have though it would be simple to collect a faulty battery from a pub, but it has taken three days and it's still not collected.
Phone call after phone call, left on hold for 15 minutes and had to put the phone down. All we want to know is when are they collecting it..
The last conversation went "Oh we now have TNT doing the collection and they should be there between 3.00pm and 6.00pm" Guess what! they never turned up and when you phoned the office they were closed for the day, convenient! So a call first thing in the morning will have to be a 'bite my tongue' conversation, as we want, and need, to move..

Oiled up and in a Jam

It was up early this morning as the hire car had to be back by 10.00am and Al wanted to do some heavy food shopping as it was easier with wheels.
We then went out and did some blackberry picking and got a couple of bowl fulls.

Del then needed to change the oil on the gearbox and engine and on doing so noticed that we had a belt lose and we had lost some water.. This water leak has been an ongoing problem as it leaks sometimes and then won't leak for a month, so its very difficult to find..
After changing the oil and filters Del removed the generator belts to get to the engine starter battery alternator and managed to tighten the belts enough to stop them slipping.. The belts on Derwent6 have been a pain from day one. The water leak will have to be another day!

While all this was going on Al was making her jam. It smelt nice bubbling away on the stove and looked even nicer in the labelled jars..

It was football in the evening "come on England!"

An 80th Birthday Surprise

So the batteries seem sorted for now anyway, and we had a busy day ahead. It was Del's Mum's 80th Birthday today and a quick phone call was made to say have a nice time.. Del's sister Debbie had arranged a meal out for her in Kent, and she thought we wasn't going.. It was a quick change and then into the hire car we picked up yesterday and straight down the M6 motorway. It took us two and a half hours and we popped into Bernie and Sarah's to see them.. We changed again and then drove to the venue for the meal..

She was so surprised to see us it was lovely and a few tears were shed.

We had a lovely Sunday roast meal and also some Birthday cup cakes..

We left at 9.00pm and then drove back to Lichfield, good job we already made the bed.....