Long day

Pulled the pins at 9.30 and set off in quite a strong breeze. Negotiated Lapworth junction and we were on our way up the Lapworth flight and every single one of those locks was against us. Thank goodness they were all near enough together for me to be able to get Paul in one lock and then go and empty the next one and this routine worked really well. Felt strange to be in Narrow locks again took us 3 hours to do the 19 locks. We are now moored up by bridge 19 and the The Blue Bell Cider house, that's handy as I am a cider drinker, know where I will be tomorrow evening. Also passed a sign for a bakery at bridge 20 so in the morning I will walk back to the bakery for some proper bread and maybe a nice cake. All in all we were on the go for 5.7 hours which is a mega long day for us, to say I am cream crackered would be an under statement and I got Paul working too today, he had to get off the boat at every lock to shut one of the gates behind him. Team work for once. Stopped for diesel at Swallow Cruisers 63p a litre declared 30/70 this time split is going up now we are cruising more.

The mooring here is only 48 hours but we hope we can stretch it for a bit longer, Grand Prix this weekend. There is a line of permit holders opposite us and Paul was given some advice re the run up to Birmingham in as much as once we have gone through the next junction don't stop until we get in to the centre. So that will be another long day but no locks thank heaven.

Had a phone call from our friends Pete and Carol on nb Halcyon Days they are heading for the Llangollen via Rugley so will be approaching it from the opposite direction to us, hopefully we will meet up with them somewhere in the middle haven't seen them since last September.

Had a surprise email today from the people who sold us our old digi box (the one that we threw away) to say that they had had reports that the Thomson box was faulty and all prerecordings would be lost,(tell us about it) there then followed a long list of instructions to reboot the box. We sent them a very nice email back telling them what they could do with their box if they could find it in the land fill site it is now in.

What does Crystal's face tell you:

MUM I WANT OFF THIS BOAT NOW.

Not far today.

Exit to the Shrewley tunnel in distance.

Left last nights mooring around 10 following a couple of old BW work boats. We took it nice and leisurely bit breezy but not too bad. Through the Shrewley tunnel which is just about the right length for me (short) Paul got to use his new head light and quite impressive it was too. In fact a boat approaching the tunnel pulled over and waited for us to come through must have thought with a light that size we must have been a big boat. Dogs objected to getting wet as this tunnel has a lot of seeping water, more like a continuous shower really . Passed a couple of fisherman, so as usual Paul reduced the revs so he could have a quick chat but he never got the chance as a boat coming in the opposite direction couldn't be bothered to slow down and the fisherman had to hang onto their keep nets to prevent them from banging on the canal bank. Made it to bridge 63 Tom of the Woods and are moored on the 24 hour moorings below the bridge, will stay here tonight then on to Lapworth locks in the morning where I will have to contend with another 19 at least they are narrow locks so hopefully the gates and paddles will be a bit easier. We want to hover around so we get into Birmingham Monday or Tuesday, must admit we are getting a bit twitchy about this journey, we have heard so many tales about getting into and out of the centre of Birmingham that we are wondering if we need to wear hard hats to fend off the bricks etc that are thrown. I wish we hadn't been told anything at least we would be able to enjoy the journey without looking up at every bridge wondering if we are going to be a target.

Had a quick sandwich then it was off to the pub to check out the evening menu. Very welcoming place with a nice menu. Tonight however is Tapas evening oh great! we thought, we had 7 years of that but it is all you can eat for £10 and there is plenty of variety so I'm sure we can manage to get our monies worth. While there we caught up with the two fishermen who had had a good mornings fishing despite the speeding boater. Paul had to tell them about his successful Saturdays fishing in the arm (slap my wrist that I hadn't mentioned this before) he had caught 6 carp largest being about 10lb and 2 nice bream (his words not mine how can fish be nice). The two guys then went on to say how many fish there are here so since returning from the pub Paul has been sat on the back of the boat hoping for one of these fish to take his bait, no luck yet. At least I have been able to listen to my Take That CD in peace while writing this. Will report on the Tapas tomorrow if I have the strength to write.

Thank goodness that's over.

We left the arm at 10 this morning knowing that we would probably be on our own. As we pulled the pins the hireboat with 8 Royal Navy personnel on it decided to get pumped out so it was a bit of a squeeze to get back onto the canal. We got to the first lock and no boat coming down and the lock set against us so it would appear that I was going to have a long day ahead of me. Lock was about half empty when the Royal Navy appeared, result or what. With there being 8 of them on the boat it was a doddle. 4 got off the boat to do the paddles and gates so I was able to walk on and set the next lock. After 3 locks we caught up with a boat going up on its own nb Prince Albert so I helped them for a bit until we met 2 boats coming down. It was nice to chat to the young navy people 4 lads and 4 girls ranging in ages from 18 to 30. The trip for them was a team building week, their length of service was between 6months and 13 years they were all writers dealing with pay and admin. We certainly had some laughs on the way up the flight, especially as the higher we went the more windy it became and the crew of Andrew were struggling a bit. Give them their due they managed getting into the locks very well although I shut my eyes everytime the youngest member, a very slightly built young lady leapt from the boat to the steps in the lock and then pulled the boat over to make room for Paul. I had visions of her missing her footing and ending up in the water. When we got to the BW yard I thought we were at the end so when I saw there was 4 more locks to do I wasn't best pleased. We had caught up again with nb Prince Albert so all in all it took us 3 hours to do the flight. The navy were heading for Stratford so we parted company and left them motoring on, we pulled over at the first opportunity and are now moored up just after bridge 55. It is blowing a gale but my intrepid angler is dangling his rod. Will continue our journey tomorrow all being well. I am absolutely shattered, goodness only knows what state I would have been in if we hadn't shared the locks, hopefully I've lost half a stone I can do with it.

Tight wads or what!

Here are the resident geese which patrol the grounds of the arm.


This morning Paul popped to the shop here to get some coal as it was reasonably priced at £6.90 per 20kg so we now have enough coal to last a while. Just watch the weather change now. While he was there he got chatting to Ian (not Paul) who explained the running of the arm as it is a registered charity and relies on donations and the moorers. We had decided to make a donation as we have enjoyed our stay here. Paul wrote a cheque for £20 Ian said "TWENTY QUID" Paul thought that the amount wasn't enough but when Ian showed him the donation receipt book there were amounts of 41p up to the princely sum of £4. Surely people can afford a bit more than 41p for a free nights stay. I bet there are some who after their first free night just go off early so they don't have to give anything. So come on you boaters if you spend a night here give at least a few quid to the trust for the pleasure of being here.


Paul showed Richard on nb Digitalis how to refill his stern gland greaser he also checked out the stern gland and explained to Richard how it worked and how to ease up the packing gland. That's his good deed for the day.

We have done our TWR and I have been to Sainsbury's for milk and bread so we are all set for the off tomorrow. I also bought a nice piece of steak for dinner tonight mmmmm cant wait, also have a fresh pineapple and double cream. Don't think any of this is very healthy but I need to keep my strength up for those locks in the morning.

Easy day

Not a lot happening today a nice easy day. I have cleaned my brasses even took the brass vents off the doors welding a screw driver all on my own with no help or comments from Paul. These vents were pretty disgusting so I had to use a fine wire wool on them but I am pleased to say they have cleaned up nicely. When I put them back on the doors I made sure that all the screw slots were facing the same way as I didn't want any wise cracks from himself. Bell on the front is shiny too won't pass comment on what Paul has been doing but suffice to say it had to do with the TV and MOTOGP. I think its GP next week hopefully not an early starter.
Paul here on the site has told us it is going to rain tomorrow and Tuesday, so it looks like I am going to get wet doing the Hatton locks at least I will stay cool.

Light fitted.

Well here it is the nice reclaimed brass light, it was fitted this afternoon after we came back from Lemington Spa.

We had set off this morning heading for The Shires retail park via Lemington Spa. We needed to go to a Curry's to try and get an attachment for the hoover. Needless to say the bus we caught didn't go there, we should have walked into Warwick to the bus depot and caught a bus from there. Of course I had a tutting in my ear because himself knew we were going the wrong way he didn't actually say "I told you so" but it was written all over his face. Any way what did it matter it hadn't cost us anything. When we got into Lemington a lot of the town was closed off as the Royal Warwickshire Regiment were marching through the town., was nice to see so many people out in support of our troops.

After asking a local we got on the right bus and got to the retail park. Quick pop into Focus for a couple of bolts to fix the light and a new waste trap for the sink. Found Curry's and as usual no attachment and not a lot of help from the staff either never mind though. Waited half an hour for a bus to take us back to Warwick (bus we should have caught on the way out). It was market day in town Paul made a bee line for the mankiest stall there you know the one that sells all the old tools and stuff that you would chuck in a skip. Paul loves these places and as usual ended up buying what to me was a load of rubbish, an old light fitment which had so many dents in it, but according to Paul it had just the right bracket on it to enable him to fit the light to the front of the boat.






And as you can see the old boy has made a good job but I have told him he is responsible for cleaning the damn thing. I have enough brass to clean on the inside.
Tomorrow we are going to have an easy day I am going to clean my brass and if its fine we are going to walk the dogs to the racecourse to give them a good run. There have been a few boats come and go today get busy here but at least its money for a good cause and the people are so helpful you know you will be welcome anytime.

The castle

Have spent a really lovely time at the castle this morning, Paul condescended to come with me as I said I would pay. On route to the castle we called in at the antique/collectible shop and bought headlight, managed to knock them down a bit, and a nice pair of green DM's. I wanted to do this after the castle but Paul insisted we do it before so we then had to lug full rucksack round with us. Still Paul was doing the carrying so I didn't care I was in charge of the camera!!

I was impressed with the castle and Paul did find somethings that interested him like the armour and the wooden panelling, the mill was okay too. I just loved it all. We watched a Bird of Prey display as well, although it was warm there weren't too many people about, so that made it quite pleasant as you could spend time looking and reading about the exhibits. On our way out I insisted we walk up the tower as I wanted to see the view from the top, there was an awful lot of grunting and groaning behind me while we were walking up the narrow steps (Paul was behind) all I could hear was "whose stupid idea was this" still when we got to the top the view was worth it. Now the last time I went to the docs she said the best thing to keep my blood pressure down was plenty of exercise, do you think struggling up 550 steps to the top of a tower constitutes plenty of exercise? Going down was easy, now I know why they had a notice at the entrance to the tower saying if you suffered from a weak heart don't attempt the climb. Was so funny to see the people emerging from the steps at the top most of whom were very red in the face and extremely out of breath made me feel a bit better to think I wasn't the only one who wasn't as fit as they thought they were.

View from the top of the tower

Paul admiring the carvings and the armour.

Eagle Owl

Once out of the castle we found a little cafe and had a coke and a bacon roll just to round the morning off and while sitting in the sun minding our own business a woman in a 106 swerved to miss a taxi that had cut her up smashed into a Jeep pushing it to within a couple of inches of a shop front both vehicles had extensive damage but luckily the woman was unhurt. The taxi was nowhere to be seen now is that a surprise.

It goes without saying that as soon as we got back to the boat the headlight was dismantled, cleaned and put back together and any minute now will be fitted to the front of the boat, to say that Paul is pleased as punch with this purchase is an understatement. I like my DM's too, and the camera behaved itself only had a couple of dodgy pictures, that's because it was me showing it a bit of respect not shouting at it saying what a load of c**p it was.