Shiralee Cruise 2011 #1

Monday 4th April 2011 and it’s my 69th birthday.

With a little luck and a very light tail wind, we’ll be on our way this morning, just as soon as we have topped up with diesel and paid our extra mooring fees. We should have left on Friday, the last day of March but, with the strong winds, we decided to stay until the weather improved. At the moment it’s cool and calm out there, with a clear blue sky, so I’m hopeful. But, even if a wind does whip up, we’re going, even if that means mooring up at Willington, just for a day or two.

Tuesday 5th April

We finally left Mercia Marina yesterday at 09.30, having first topped up with diesel and paid our dues at the office.

Had I known it was going to turn into a really cold and windy day, I might just have decided to stay another day or two. As it is, we made the seven mile journey to Branston in just 3 hours. This is not a bad result considering the strong headwind and the two locks.

The real beauty of cruising at this time of year is the shortage of other boaters also travelling. We travelled for about 1½ hours before passing another moving boat. We were even more fortunate in that the rain kept off until we had finally moored up.

We had also intended to pay a visit to the local watering hole but, alas, this is one of those pubs that do not do food on Mondays. It being my birthday this was a small disappointment, which we will make up for today. We first intend to walk into the village – now that I have more or less full mobility, such a walk should not be a problem – and do a wee bit of shopping and, at the same time, size up the alternative hostelry, after which we will decide which to use.

Yesterday evening we decided to run the TV for a few hours, just to see what effect it would have on our new batteries. Before going to bed we checked the existing voltage, which then stood at 12.4. Considering the four hours of usage, this is a good sign that we made the right decision in having them changed. The next test will be to see if the heater will run and, if that comes on OK I’ll be a happy man.

Tomorrow promises to be a brighter day, according to the weather man, so we will stay her overnight and travel on in the morning.

Thursday 7th April and the weather is fine and dry with not a hint of a breeze. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Yesterday we took a walk into Alrewas for a little shopping and to remind ourselves of what the village was like. The first good sign was the William the IV pub, which we have used before and is very much deserving of a repeat call. The second good point was the butcher’s shop, which turned out to be far better than we remembered. The range of goods in his cold cabinet has to be seen to be believed. Not just joints and chops etcetera, but prepared bar-b-q and other meats, a veritable wonderland, we settled for some really tasty looking meatballs.

In this neck of the woods they are changing over to Digital TV and, as expected, we had some difficulty receiving the ITV channels and, since we really wanted to see the 2nd part of the Midsomer Murders, were pretty disappointed, especially since it was one we had missed on first showing. Yes, of course it was a repeat!! With the exception of the new series, and the new Barnaby, aren’t they all?

So, that almost put paid to watching any television at all, but not quite. We found a particularly interesting programme on BBC 4 about the Boat Museum at Ellesmere Port, which ran for an hour and gave some very interesting info about that and the other one in Gloucester.

Today we will be walking into Alrewas again, but this time for a liquid lunch at the William IV.

Friday 8th April and it turned out sunny again, but just a wee bit chilly. Once we got moving though, we soon warmed up and, after just an hour and a half, we arrived at Fradley Junction, which joins up with the Coventry Canal.

We are just staying for one night then moving on to Handsacre, which is about 3 ½ miles and four locks away and still on the T&M. There we will stay for the weekend where, I hope, we will find a decent pub for Sunday lunchtime.

Meanwhile, on our arrival here, once we had enjoyed a coffee, we wandered through the nearby Nature Reserve, stopped for an ice cream at the shop, had another coffee outside the café and bought some cheeses from the very nice Canadian couple on Cheeseboat II.

We knew of one boat such as this, but we haven’t spotted this one before. Apparently they became friends with the people on Cheeseboat #1 a few years ago and, having fell in love with the boating, allowed themselves to be talked into opening another Cheeseboat, hence #2.

After lunch of our new cheeses and some Ryvita, we got stuck in to cleaning some of the boat, Wifey on the paintwork and yours truly on the brasses, of which we have quite a few, mainly plaques that represent all the canals, locks and tunnels we’ve been along, up, down and through. We are now chilling out for the rest of the day.

Saturday 9th April

We do not cruise at weekends but, having spent Friday at Fradley and wishing to get to Handsacre for the weekend, we had no choice. However, in order to beat the rush with so many boats about, even this early in the year, we made our way over to the water point by 8 o/clock this morning and were away by 8.30. With only 3½ miles and four locks to go, on a gorgeous day, we were moored up by 11 o/clock and ready for a cuppa, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

As soon as that was done we locked up and dragged Rusty on a walk to the shops, of which there are not many, just a chippy by the nearest pub; which is on the opposite side of the canal by the bridge; and quite a walk further up the road, a mini-market and paper shop.

From the noise coming from the local pub, The Crown, it’s a pretty popular place, so we’ll probably call in there tomorrow. If it’s as nice a day as today has been, we’ll be very brave and sit outside.

Sadly we are unable to receive full TV programmes, yet again, with ITV, Ch4 and 5 all failing miserably in their efforts to reach us. No worries though, we have loads of reading material and I have yet to test out the programmes donated by cousin Ian, so I could give that a go.

Wednesday 13th April and, with it being as black as pitch out there at 05.30, I have no idea what the weather is like. However, I do know it isn’t raining and there is no wind to speak of. Those nasty weather people did tell us yesterday evening, to expect rain this morning but, our next port of call is Great Hayward junction and, according to Wifey, that’s only about 1½ hours away, so we should be OK to cruise.

From Great Haywood we’re hoping to take the bus into Stafford, something we’ve not managed to do before.

Yesterday I had hoped to paint our pole; that’s the length of round wood we use when we get stuck and can’t move; something that doesn’t happen very often I’m pleased to say. I gave it a good sandpapering while we were at Handsacre but, when I tried applying an undercoat yesterday, the wind was so strong that it was blowing the paint all over the place, including me. At Great Haywood we’ll be more sheltered and so, if the weather is kind I’ll be able to start on that little job. We’ve only had the pole since we bought the boat!!!

We moved up to Great Haywood this morning and arrived about 09.30 although, because we were so closed in with trees, we decided to move through the next lock to an area that is more open. Not that the move did us any good TV-wise because, when we switched on and carried out a search, we had no Digital signal at all. It didn’t matter which way we pointed the aerial, there was nothing at all. Even the Analogue was missing ITV and the other four channels were weak.

Now, never having come up against this problem before, but being well aware that the TV companies are working on the switchover up here, I’m wondering if that’s all it is. If so, then we should know by tomorrow. If not and we still don’t get a signal when we move off on Friday, I will suspect the aerial first, after which we’ll be considering a new TV.

We have a little electronic gadget that is supposed to indicate which direction to point the aerial for the strongest signal. When I attached this to the TV, in line with the aerial, all I had was a weak signal, i.e. just one LED glowing and that was in all directions. So, we either have no signal available or, more likely, the aerial is naff.

On that note, since we have a very strong Internet signal, I will post this, our first blog for this cruise.

We all hope you are all hale and hearty and in good spirits.

Bye for now.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.