Whittington to Atherstone
Thursday 4th July
Yesterday morning we set off for Ventura Park, a huge
shopping area in Tamworth. The main aim of this stopover was to buy a few more
pastel pencils at Hobbycraft and also to buy a new coffee pot at Sainsbury’s,
along with a small amount of shopping.
Two out of three of those aims were achieved and I’m sure
you can guess the one that wasn’t. Yep, my pastel pencils! In the Faber and
Cassell’s range they were sold singly, but all they had in the Derwent range
were in boxes of 12, 24 or 36. So, after walking around Sainsbury’s and then
trudging for what seemed like miles to Hobbycraft, all I came away from there
with was a pad of lightweight watercolour paper.
I had hoped to find a decent sized storage box as well, but
even that was a no-no. Plastic rubbish, or 30 quids worth of wood, which
contained even more art material that I didn’t need. Ye gods, just about the
biggest supplier of artists’ material and equipment, and all I could find was a
pad of paper.
So, after about 2 hours of foot slogging, back to the boat
and onward to Fazeley Junction, which joins the Coventry canal with the
Birmingham and Fazeley canal. Actually, the original B&F started way back
along the Coventry, at the first bridge with a name rather than a number, but
the sign by the main road that runs alongside Ventura Park does say Coventry
Canal, and that bridge does have a name. All very confusing!!
Anyway, here we are at Fazeley and, after settling in and
making sure the TV signal was O.K., we switched on and watched the tennis.
However, Aunty Beeb then decided to mess us about. Initially the Djokovich
match was on BBC2, then it switched to one of the points on the Red Button,
then it went on to BBC1, where it finally stayed until the end. But, why the
heck can’t they see that such an important match should be left alone? You can
bet your life they didn’t mess with the Murray match. Goodness knows what
they’ll mess with this afternoon with the ladies’ semi-finals!!
This morning we’ll be taking the bus into Tamworth, but I’m
hanged if I can remember why. I suppose Wifey will know!
Tomorrow could be interesting though because, having passed
this way on more than one occasion, and having avoided going up the Birmingham
and Fazeley branch, we might just do that tomorrow morning. However, we have no
plans for going all the way to Brummy land, we’ll only take in about three
miles or so, then we’ll turn around and continue down the Coventry. Apparently,
there are some lakes and water parks along the F&B and it would be a shame
to miss them.
Friday 5th July
Yesterday, after our trip into Tamworth, we, just like any
sane person in the World, watched the ladies semi-finals at Wimbledon. I’m
pleased to report that there was very little screaming and shouting at either
of these matches.
Today, when we reach our moorings along the B&F, I have
no doubt we’ll watch the men’s semi-finals too. I’m sure there’ll be a few
grunts and groans emanating from the gentlemen involved, but nothing that will
mar our enjoyment.
If our Mr Murray can defeat the 6ft 8inch player today, I
have no doubt he’ll be facing Djokavich in the final, but that’s a big if.
Tomorrow morning we’ll make our way to Polesworth, mooring
up where we did a couple of years ago when, in very hot conditions and with my
dodgy knees still mending, we had to walk to the Doctor’s, only to be told to
come back the following morning. Instead of obeying such a ridiculous order, we
waited for a more amenable surgery further along the canal. I really wasn’t
that desperate for the medication, I’m pleased to say.
The pub we used at Polesworth, on an earlier occasion, is
not mentioned in the Nicholson’s Guide, but I actually sat in there whilst
Wifey had her Barnet cut, after which she joined me for a swift half.
Saturday 6th July
Well, we decide to turn right at the junction and head
towards Birmingham. This stretch of the Brimingham and Fazeley canal is
virtually straight up to the first lock and the winding hole. Both sides are
wide open fields, some of which looks flooded. About half a mile before and up
to the lock, the whole of the left hand side fields are being worked on and is
blocked off to the public. We assume this is to add pathways around the site
for visitors to wander around the lakes.
Anyway, we turned around at the lock and returned the way we
came, mooring up by Fisher’s Mill Bridge, after which we took a short walk
along the footpath to the lake. This one is still open to the public and has
small islands dotted around it for birds to nest. There were quite a few Black
Headed Gulls squawking at each other and making a heck of a din. It seem that
this area too is being worked on and will be interesting to see when next we
come this way.
Yesterday afternoon and evening we spent watching the men’s
semi-finals at Wimbledon. I take back what I said about the men grunting and
groaning, Janovicz certainly did his fair share against Murray. But then he did
have a lot to prove, being a fairly new addition of players from Poland and standing
5ft 8 ins in his size 11 shoes. Murray will now meet Djokovic in the final on
Sunday.
Today we’re off to Polesworth, back on the Coventry canal
and will spend the afternoon and evening watching the lady’s finals.
It looks like being another scorcher and, if we can find
moorings under trees, I’ll be most grateful for that. It would be nice to find
a bit of shelter from the sun as the inside of the boat is almost like a sauna,
but without the steam.
Sunday 7th July
The eight mile trip to Polesworth took us almost 3 hours
and, just as we were approaching the moorings, we heard some really loud music,
which seemed to be coming from the pub in the high street. However, as we
walked into town a short while later, we noticed that the roads were blocked
off from traffic, which could mean only one thing, Carnival day!
Had the day been somewhat cooler I suppose we would have
returned later to enjoy the festivities but, with the afternoon temperatures in
the scorching zone, we sat and watched the tennis instead. There’s one thing
about having a solar panel and the addition of this Alternator to Battery
Charger, we don’t have to worry about voltage levels, especially on a sunny day
like yesterday. Indeed, it’s doubtful that we’ll even need to run the engine
this morning, once the sun comes up.
Actually, with the temperature set to soar even higher
today, I’m not too sure if it will be wise to walk to the pub this afternoon.
The alternative would be to give the pub a miss and move on to somewhere
shadier, perhaps under some trees. We knew that these moorings would be fairly
sheltered, but we still get the sun directly overhead for the best part of the
day. A nice, big overhanging tree would be ideal today.
Wherever we are today we’ll be watching Murray take on
Djokovic this afternoon.
Later yesterday a middle aged couple arrived and moored
their boat behind us. After a while the husband strode off into town and the
wife came out and after swapping stories about our travels, she said that she
hoped we didn’t mind, but that she would have to run her engine later. I must
confess to being somewhat surprised at this, but she said she always liked to
ask before doing so.
Anyway, after assuring her that she really didn’t need to do
so, she then explained that they had problems charging their batteries
sufficiently to stay charged. It seems that the people who built the boat had
fitted batteries, that were both physically and ampere-hours wise far too big
for the alternator. As a consequence of which they were suffering from the same
problems that we used to have, prior to fitting the Alternator to Battery
Charger. So, after giving her the details of our new system, we settled down to
more chatting, and quite entertaining it was too.
This same lady also told us thate they moor their boat at
Otherton, which is near Penkridge on the Staffs and Worc canal. Anyway, whilst
they don’t live aboard, she did say how cheap the place was and, after
describing the marina, we now know why. It appears that, as we noticed when we
passed the place some time ago, the pontoons in the marina are very old and
rickety and, not only that, the road leading to it is full of potholes. This
sounds all too familiar because, as you family members may remember we had the
same problem at Keckys’s Farm in Sawbridgeworth. Unfortunately it’s still too
far away from Harlow and would still take about 2½ hours by car, so it’s a
no-no.
Monday 8th July
Before watching Murray give Djokovic a mauling, albeit a
difficult one, we spent an hour in the Spread Eagle pub. The state of the place
was a far cry from our visit two years ago, but then the landlord was spending
his last day there prior to new owners taking over. He still had a few regulars
in but you could see the place desperately needed an infusion of new blood, not
to mention a bunch of decorators. Hopefully things will have improved by the
time we pass this way again.
The weekend has been rather warm and we’ve tried to find
sheltered moorings, but even the ones we’re at in Polesworth do no benefit from
tree shades until late afternoon. Still, we’re off to Atherstone this morning
and can only hope to find shadier moorings there. We’ll probably only stay for
one night there and will pay a visit to their big Co-op store.
Question? When is a Co-op store not a Co-op store? Well, in
the case of the store in Whittington, it’s when they sell Co-op goods but don’t
accept Co-op membership cards. How odd!! We’ve never come across one of those
before.
Tuesday 9th July
Yesterday dawned bright and warm again but, not wishing to
spend another day under that blistering sun, we planned to pass through just a
couple of the locks leading to Atherstone, stay the night and then go on to
town for shopping. Well, ‘the best laid plans….etc, etc. We ended up going
through all six locks and still found ourselves without much shelter from the
sun.
Having arrived at our destination a day early, we decided to
settle down for the rest of the day and do the shopping this morning. Later in
the morning Sheila toddled off to find a hairdresser’s but, as is quite common
with those establishments, those that she found were all closed, what with it
being a Monday and all. Well, the poor dears do work most Saturdays, don’t
they?
This morning, after shopping at the big Co-op in town, we
have another five locks to go through and we’ll moor up somewhere short of
Nuneaton.
Until later then, have a good week.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
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