Hillmorton to Fradley Junction

Hi folks, it is now a quarter past four on Saturday 25th April and, since posting the last blog, I have been struggling with Outlook and Outlook Express.

Once again I gave 3G a call in order to discover whether there had been any changes to how they receive and send on messages from their USB Modems. Lo and behold, I have now been informed, that all settings for O and OE had, just recently, been changed.

Anyway, like a good little customer, I proceeded to change the settings in OE, but to no avail. I was just about to give them another bell, when I suddenly decided to change the settings in Outlook. Lo and behold, this time it worked and sent a test message for me. For the life of me I do not understand why Outlook Express won’t work but Outlook will. The only difference between them is that Outlook comes with the rather expensive, MS Office, whereas Outlook is included with Internet Explorer, which, as everybody knows, is a freebee with almost any computer you can shake a stick at.

So, all is now well. I really don’t give a monkey’s which of the two I use, just so long as it works.

Sunday 26th April 2009

Are we really still in April? It seems like months since we left Bulbourne, yet it’s only three weeks! We seem to have covered so much distance since leaving but, on looking back on our log, it’s only 58 miles. S’amazing!
Anyway, as it started out a really sunny day we decide to move on and save ourselves a couple of miles tomorrow. As I write this we have covered just two miles and travelled through Hillmorton Locks, of which there are three. In fact there are six, but they are doubled up which is pretty unique. The only other place that we’ve come across with a similar arrangement, is on the Trent and Mersey. It’s very useful when the canal is busy, such as at holiday times, because it alleviates the need to queue at locks.

So, we’re now at Bridge 66 and the plan is to make for Rugby tomorrow so that Wifey can do some much needed shopping, then we’ll be off to Brinklow.

Monday 27th April 2009

So much for Brinklow and shopping today, it is, as the weather forecasters predicted yesterday, persisting. So, unless it stops chucking it down in apparent preparation for the next flood, we’re staying put.

So, here we are, still at bridge 66 and, quite likely, we’ll remain here for the rest of the day, which means I can carry on with my recipe book.

Later folks.

Tuesday 28th April 2009

Once again we’ve been lucky with the weather. It started out dry, though a little chilly, and continued dry through our stopover at Rugby for shopping and throughout the six miles to Brinkley, which is where we are now. We’ve stopped here before and it really is as peaceful as you could wish for. Tomorrow, with luck, we’ll make Hawkesbury Junction with the Coventry Canal, where I’m hoping to catch up on my Sunday lunchtime drink.

Wednesday 29th April 2009

Once again we’ve surfaced to a bright and sunny day, and so we’re off to Hawkesbury Junction, which joins the North Oxford Canal to the Coventry Canal. It’s only seven miles away and, apart from the shallow lock at the junction, there are no locks to worry about. With luck we’ll be there by 11 am and, around about midday or so, we’ll pop off to the Greyhound pub for a snifter or three.

We never, ever cruise twice in one day. Today, having enjoyed the hospitality of said Greyhound, and whilst musing over my second pint of Guinness, I suddenly suggested we might get moving again.

Now, bear in mind we’d already travelled seven miles, my suggestion was another seven to Springwood Marina. There was some method in my madness because, as we both knew, rain was forecast for Thursday and we rather hoped to make Polesworth before the weekend. There was also the fact that we were fast approaching the time when we’d need a pump out.

So, having finished up our drinks and snacks, we strolled nonchalantly back to Shiralee and got under way. The trip took us just over 2 ½ hours and, by the time we’d pumped out, topped up the diesel tank, loaded up with coal and a new gas bottle we were moored up by about 4.30 or so. Just in time too, because the wind had started gusting quite strongly by then.

Come the morning of Thursday 30th April and, despite dire warnings of rain and, since the cloud cover was quite light and high up, we untied and ventured forth for another day of high drama. (Steady now David, calm down!!)

So, after another four miles and five locks, here we are at Atherstone. I, for one, have not forgotten the last time we passed through this town. As I recall, I was quite able to walk the whole length of the High Street with Sheila and do a bit of shopping. I distinctly remember calling in to a local bakery and buying some pork pies, which is a luxury I’m never without.

Just for a change, I thought, I’ll buy some freshly made bakery pies. What a disaster! And what a load of rubbish. I don’t believe I’ve ever tasted worse. If you’ve ever made your own pork pies, as I have on more than one occasion, you will know that finely minced sausage meat is NOT what goes into a decent pork pie. Yeuk!! Needless to say they were thrown out with the bath water.

Tomorrow seems set fair for brighter weather, so we’ll be heading off to Polesworth as intended. Oh, by the bye, I did manage to accompany Wifey into Atherstone for the shopping, but my legs knew about it by the time we got back. But, I really can’t be sitting on the boat all day every day, I really must get some exercise, Mustn’t I?

All for now.

Friday 1st May 2009

Today we’re at Polesworth, which is where we intended to stay for the weekend. However, two things are preventing us from doing so. One is the fact that, try as I might, I can’t receive much by way of TV programmes. The other is, that having tried to accompany Wifey to the shops, only to discover it was too far, I simply won’t be able to go for my usual Sunday drink. Now, I really don’t mind missing the drink, but I’m hanged if I’ll sit here, for the best part of three days, and stare at the walls of the boat. So tomorrow, even though it’s a Saturday when we normally would not cruise, we’ll be going on to Hopwas, where I know there are two pubs within walking distance. That’s walking distance for me, that is.

Still, today has not been wasted. I’ve been down the engine bay and checked and topped up the batteries and, whilst doing so, discovered something I’d not noticed before. I mean to say, we’ve had the boat for 2 ½ years and I’ve lost count of the times I’ve topped up the batteries. How I missed the 7th filler cap on the starter battery I shall never know. Everybody knows that a car battery - which is all these are but bigger - has six charge plates in them. Nobody ever told me that this one had seven. It looks no bigger than all the other batteries, but it certainly has seven filler caps.

Of course this begs the question, how did I miss it each time I checked? The answer is simple, I was only looking for six, so I only found six. So there. No harm done, the engine always starts first time, and the extra cell I found certainly wasn’t empty.

Sunday 3rd May 2009

Came down from Polesworth to Hopwas yesterday in the vain hope that we’d receive better TV reception. Alas, the only two channels we can watch that don’t jump about and go scratchy on sound, are BBC2 and Channel 5. So, we’re still no better off than we were really. No problem though, at least they have a couple of decent pubs here, and they are both big, with big gardens and are placed each side of the canal.

Last time we came through here they had a small shop that did some groceries, but that has shut down. There is, apparently, a Mace store somewhere nearby, but the local map is not too clear about its location. Anyway, we’re here now, and here we’ll stay until Monday morning, when we’ll go on to Fradley Junction, which joins the Coventry Canal to the Trent and Mersey.

Monday 4th May 2009

Hello from Huddlesford. We had intended to leave Hopwas about 8 am but, as is quite normal for a Bank Holiday, it was raining, so we stayed put until 9 o/clock by which time the rain was quite light. We hadn’t really decided how far to go, but were hoping to get to Fradley Junction, which joins the Coventry to the Trent and Mersey. In the event and because it was pretty chilly out on deck, we pulled in at Huddlesford where it just so happens, there’s a decent country pub called The Plough. Unfortunately for me the pain killers I’m taking for my knees are upsetting my tummy. Aaah! So, I probably won’t bother today and will leave it until we get to Fradley.

Just recently, while the weather has been quite mild, we have allowed the fire to go out so that we could give the chimney a sweep. By the time we arrived at Huddlesford the rain had stopped, thus presenting us with the opportunity to get that little chore out of the way. The soot inside the stack was reducing the diameter by about an inch, so it was well past its sell by date.

Up until now I’ve omitted to pass on details of the places we pass through and stop at. You have my abject apologies for this oversight, which I shall do my best to correct from the next blog. Truth to tell, anyone who has read the blogs from ’07 and ’08 will already be familiar with all the places we’ve been through so far this year, so you’ve not really missed out on much.

Tuesday 5th May 2009

Hi from Fradley Junction, which joins the Coventry Canal to the Trent and Mersey.

We arrived here this morning at about 10 am after stopping off at the village of Fradley for a bit of shopping. When I say “we”, I really mean Wifey because there’s no way I could walk into the village these days. So, for future reference, I mean Sheila when I say shopping. Thank goodness we don’t both have dodgy knees else we’d starve.

Yesterday at Huddlesford I tried to get online but, despite the wretched Modem being connected, I still couldn’t do so. However, as luck would have it, we’re OK here at Fradley. So, just as soon as I finish this, I’ll post it.

Actually there’s not much to add, except to say that I finally caught up with my Sunday drink. The local here is The Swan, affectionately known as The Mucky Duck by the locals and all boaters, including us now. I have to say I rather enjoyed my couple of pints of Guinness and, at just £2.80 a go, I save 40p on prices at Bulbourne and Harlow. We also had a meal, mine being half a roast chicken and Sheila’s being the Steak and Ale Pie. We’re now set for the night and will poodle off to Rugely, on the Trent and Mersey tomorrow.

Until next time when, as promised, I’ll try to include some small items of interest about the places we’re passing through or stopping at.

Cheers for now from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.