Shiralee Cruise 2011 #29

Sunday 18th September

About 3½ miles away from Market Bosworth, on the way back to the Coventry Canal, is Sutton Wharf, which has 48 hour moorings, a café and an Elsan disposal unit. The weather just now, at almost 7 am, is calm and sunny. Well, it will be when the sun comes up, so that is where we will head for after breakfast.

About 2½ miles further on is Stoke Golding, a small village that boasts three pubs. So, if we are unable to moor up at the café, we’ll move on to S.G. and enjoy our usual Sunday drink there.

Alternatively of course, we could simply stay here for another day and move on tomorrow, when there is much more likelihood of us finding moorings at Stoke Golding. Who knows? Baffled? Me too!

Saturday, apart from Wifey taking a walk into town and me having my monthly strip wash, nothing exciting occurred. However, we were set upon by some really heavy rain and hail stones later in the afternoon. Hopefully that’s all over now and we’ll be able to enjoy a much warmer day.

Monday 19th September

Yesterday we actually cruised through to Stoke Golding after stopping at off at Sutton Wharf, where we would have stayed overnight had there been any space. As it turned out though, the cruise to Stoke Golding was the right choice, since there was more than enough space to accommodate us.

On our last visit here 4 years ago the White Swan wasn’t open at lunchtime but, with it being a Sunday this time around, it was and so we spent a very pleasant hour there. Looking across at the table next to ours we were surprised to see the size of the meals they were enjoying. The price for their two-course Sunday lunch was just £5.95. Sadly I am currently unable to devour such a meal these days, more’s the pity. Indeed, we rarely eat more than a snack on Sundays now, simply because we don’t have the capacity for full blown roasts any more.

We took the bus into Nuneaton this morning and were surprised at the range of shops there. Unlike many other towns of similar size, not all of the supermarkets were out of town, the Asda store here is pretty big and we will try to pay it a visit within the next few days. Hopefully we’ll be moored at Lime Kilns soon and should be able to catch a bus into town again from there.

Tuesday 20th September

Judging by the weather we won’t be going very far. Although it isn’t raining yet, there is a pretty strong wind, which is not conducive to pleasant cruising. It may be just a case of Wifey trotting off for the paper and cruising to the next available mooring spot. We will see and you will be informed of our progress, or lack of.

Wednesday 21st September.

Yesterday, having spent two days at Stoke Golding, and despite the strong wind and threat of rain, we decided to make our way towards Lime Kilns. Sadly the threatened rain did more than threaten, so we pulled in and moored up at bridge 23, about a mile away and a total of 30 minutes cruising. With no prospect of the day brightening up, we decided to stay put for the day.

This morning is calm with a thick cloud cover, but there are signs that the clouds are now breaking up, so we should be on our way later.

Thursday 22nd September.

We took ourselves for a stroll to the nearest garage for the paper this morning but, sadly, no bus stops in sight, so no trip into Nuneaton today. Instead we’ll top up with water and make our way to Bulkington and the Corner House pub, which we called into on our way through. At the time we weren’t really up for a pub lunch, but this time we’ll give them a try. The moorings there are pretty sparse, with room for only three boats and it’s really a case of timing the arrival at such places. Get there too early, say, between 9 and 10 am, and those lazy holidaymakers will probably still be eating breakfast, any time after 10 and we might just be lucky.

17.00 same day.

We finally made it to Bulkington at about 10.45 this morning and found, much to our surprise and delight, that there was plenty of room to moor up. Just as well really, because the wind was building up and becoming decidedly chilly.

Soon after arriving here Wifey took a walk up to the main road to find the bust stop. We were so impressed with Nuneaton that we thought we might pay it another visit tomorrow. Fortunately the buses run about every half hour, so we’ll be able to go tomorrow morning.

Lunchtime was spent in The Corner House, where we enjoyed fish and chips; mine with mushy peas and Sheila’s with garden peas. For some odd reason she doesn’t particularly like the mushy ones, despite the fact that they were just made for fish and chips.

Now, although we took advantage of their ‘two for one’ offer; where you buy two meals and only pay for one of them; I’m pleased to say that the meals were not too big. So many pubs pile the plates up these days and, as I have mentioned before, neither of us has the capacity for big meals any more. This is probably because we have tended towards snacks on this trip, rather than full blown meals, such as Sunday roasts and big fry-ups, and our stomachs have shrunk. Even though the meal was of medium size, I still struggled with my second pint and have come to the conclusion that if I am to enjoy my two or three pints in future, I must refrain from food until I have put away at least one of them.

Friday 23rd September.

Well, after the gut-bashing yesterday; not just the fish and chips but the ‘eyes too big for the belly’ cheese sarni in the evening; my tummy is not happy this morning. Yesterday evening, after scoffing the aforementioned sarni, and already having taken a reading for blood glucose, which was quite high, unsurprisingly, I upped the insulin slightly and for my sins I suffered one of those rare hypos. This called for somewhat drastic action, which took the form of three Jelly Babies and a couple of Glucose Tablets.

What I hadn’t given much consideration to, was the fact that the bread used in the sarni was brown and, therefore, slow release as far as carbs go, so I really didn’t need to step up the insulin. We live and learn but, if we don’t learn, we die, which we all do eventually. Charming thought, eh?

Today. What to do! We are a little low on coal but, as the weather is still fairly mild, we can allow the fire to die down a little. This means we could still take the bus into Nuneaton as planned this morning and go on to the boatyard at Wood Bridge, which is the other side of Nuneaton on the Coventry Canal, tomorrow. We could even go on this afternoon if the weather is kind to us. The decision lies in the lap of the gods, or Wifey, whichever comes first.

We are now about three weeks away from Mercia and winter moorings and, since yesterday was the first day of winter, we will have spent three weeks cruising in icy, cold weather, wouldn’t we?

Oh, I forgot to mention, on our way here yesterday we passed our friends Dave and Jackie who were once moored at Pillings Lock. Lucky old them, they finally found moorings on the Ashby Canal, the area from which they originate, Good for them I say.

Saturday 24th September.
Hopefully we’ll be off to Wood Bridge Boatyard, which is about five miles away on the Coventry Canal. There are very good moorings there and we’ll be able to dispose of rubbish and such.

Monday 26th September.

Having spent Saturday night at Wood Bridge, we tootled along to the top of Atherstone locks on Sunday morning. Our original plan was to go down the first five locks, which would have brought us to the same stretch of moorings we had used in the past. However, after checking the First Mate book, we realised that the doctor’s surgery would be nearer from up top, and here we are.

We’ve heard reports from other boaters along the cut that, due to the persistently dry weather during the summer months, BW have applied restrictions to some locks around the system, with the Atherstone flight being one of them. Sheila was fortunate enough to find a BW man locking up the lock gates when she took Rusty out at 4 pm yesterday, and he confirmed closure of these locks between 08.30 and 16.00.

The problem with reduced water levels has been ongoing almost since we left Mercia in April, with some boaters having problems with grounding on some stretches of canals. Even the rivers Avon and Severn were noticeably low when we passed through them.

So, once we have seen the doctor for our prescriptions, and once we have picked up a few victuals from the local Co-op, we will probably take in all 11 locks in the flight and avoid any further hold-ups. This would take us about 4½ miles, to Polesworth. After that we’ll have another five miles and two locks to the end of the Coventry Canal and Fazely Junction.

Turning south onto the Birmingham and Fazely Canal would take us to Drayton Manor Theme Park and the lakes, which is where a couple of boaters Sheila spoke to yesterday, were heading. Alternatively, heading north-west on the same canal; although it has always been subsumed as the Coventry; would see us through to Fradley Junction and the Trent and Mersey.

The theme park is only about three miles out of our way and would take care of another couple of days and besides, we haven’t navigated that stretch of canal yet, so it would be new territory for us. Why not?

Tuesday 27th September.

After four weeks without having to pass through any locks, yesterday was lots of fun, but first we had to take a walk into Atherstone. Our initial intention was to pay a visit to the local surgery for a prescription but, with Atherstone being quite a big town, and remembering our experiences in Coventry, we opted for a visit to the Co-op only, after which we would set sail for some of those 11 locks.

This was not a sensible choice as it turned out, mainly because we had now given some of those late starters the opportunity to get ahead of us and, just as we were about to untie the boat, along came one heading for the first lock. After that it was really slow progress, even more so when we discovered that another boat was ahead of the first one, if you get my meaning.

Sheila would have gone through all 11 locks, what with it being such a beautiful, sunny day, but I wanted to moor up after the ninth one, which still left only about three miles to do in the morning, taking us to Polesworth. We could then enjoy the silence of open fields and the warmth of a late return of summer. That trip would have taken us a little over two hours had we been on our own, instead it took over three.

Now, if I’m remembering correctly, Internet access is not very strong at Polesworth. Having been reminded of the moorings by my good wife, we will be pretty low down compared to the rest of the village, so I’d best post this blog now. So saying, he plugs in his trusty dongle and waits for it to fire up. Although we are miles from any town here, the connection is very strong so, without more ado, here goes.

Cheers to all and have a good week.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.