Atherstone to Braunston
Saturday 19th
October
So, what do you think of that
photo? To look at it you wouldn’t think the Avon was in flood, but it was, but
only in a small way. Unfortunately, just a short way further on from there, is
a bridge which, even under normal conditions can be a tricky one to pass under,
or so we are told. So, after spending three days at Luddington, we thought it
best to return to Stratford, rather than risk being stuck on the Avon for too
long.
The pastel painting will
probably take me a couple of weeks to complete and, when finished it will
replace the one on our wall.
From Atherstone yesterday we
climbed the five locks and cruised to Springwood Haven Marina, where we bought
a bottle of gas, then moved along about 200 yards and moored up. Apart from
distant trains, this is another of our favourite mooring spots for the peace
and quiet. It seems other folks find it so also, because we had three
neighbours at close of play.
Today, assuming Rebecca at
the BBC is correct, the weather will stay dry enough for us to travel the seven
miles to Hawkesbury Junction, where we’ll spend the weekend.
Later:
Sadly the seven mile trip to
Hawkesbury Junction was not an altogether dry one. In fact we took a bit of a
soaking, if truth be told. Under normal – lucky – circumstances, we leave our
moorings in dry weather and arrive at our destination, also in dry weather and,
after a short amount of time, down comes the rain. This morning however, no
sooner had we set off than it started to drizzle. The, after another half an
hour or so, down came the rain and up went the brolly.
Two hours after leaving
Springwood Haven, and looking like a couple of drowned rats, we arrived at
Hawkesbury Junction, with the rain behind us by about half an hour. The sun
even came out for a while but, at 5pm we now have very dark clouds and thunder,
so I dare say the heavens will open up any minute now.
Tomorrow lunchtime we will
spend in The Greyhound.
Monday 21st
October
Sunday conformed to our usual
activity, am reading the paper, lunchtime The Greyhound, pm loafing about.
Considering that all of our days are Sundays, I suppose we should do the same
every day but, with beer at more than £3 per pint, perhaps not such a good
idea.
There was one article in
yesterday’s paper that grabbed my attention though. Everybody knows Cilla
Black, that Scouse singer from the 60s. Incidentally, did you know that the
word scouse comes from a dish enjoyed by Dutch sailors? Lobskouse, I believe it
was called. There, you learn something new every day, don’t you?
Anyway, Cilla. She had a song
called Liverpool Lullaby, which starts off as follows:
‘Oh you are a mucky kid,
dirty as a dustbin lid,
When he hears the things that
you did, you’ll ger a belt from yer Da’
All in a Liverpool accent, of
course.
This was a song of its time
and was meant to convey the hardships of the Liverpool poor. No hope, husband
in a dead end job. You get the picture!
So, why change the words now?
Because, that’s what our Cilla intends to do, saying, “It’s not suitable for
this day and age. Well, it was never intended for this day and age; it was
intended for the 60s or, perhaps, even earlier. I don’t know just when it was
actually written.
The point is, why, oh why;
must these people ruin a song, just because it doesn’t please the PC brigade? At
her age I would have thought Cilla would have had more sense. But that’s just
my opinion.
Today, if the weather sets
fair, we’ll be trotting off to somewhere out in the boonies. I have no idea exactly
where, that’s Wifey’s domain. I don’t even know where we are some days!
Tuesday 22nd
October
Well, we didn’t manage to get
away yesterday and the weather looks set to keep us here today as well. We’ll
just have to wait and see.
As a consequence of the
nasties yesterday, we couldn’t do much of anything. To be honest, it was no fun
to even take the dog out, that’s how bad the weather was. Heavy rain for most
of the day.
Now, that pastel of Shiralee,
well, I’ve practically finished it and am awaiting advice from my expert in New
Zealand. Like most beginners in any form of art, I’m my own worst critic, but I
can’t always see what’s wrong and, thanks to Emma, who finds stuff that needs
improving; albeit from a photo sent over the Internet; I can usually finish a
painting off to my own satisfaction. Only then will I sign it.
This one, when it’s finished
and signed, will replace the abomination that currently sits on our wall.
C’mon weather, let’s get out
of here today!!
Wednesday 23rd
October
Rather than wait until we get
to Newbold to do our shopping, we took the bus into Nuneaton yesterday morning.
For the rest of the day we watched the bad weather come and go. Unfortunately
it didn’t go often enough, or for long enough, for us to move along. So, another
day spent at Hawkesbury Junction.
Today; according to the rule
of Wifey; we’re moving along to bridge 26 on the North Oxford, and that’s that.
I suppose this means digging out my waterproof trousers and keeping the brolly
handy.
Including today, we now have
nine days in which to travel 30 miles and about 15 locks, to Crick marina.
I’m still awaiting a reply
from Emma regarding improvements to my pastel painting. But, since I only
emailed her yesterday and, knowing she’s a busy lady at times, I have no doubt
she’ll reply soon enough.
Thursday 24th
October
Yesterday, come hell or high
water, we were determined to move along to bridge 26 on the North Oxford canal.
Once again we were lucky and only had to suffer a couple of short, light
showers along the way. The weather stayed pretty much the same throughout the
rest of the day and, come nightfall we had clear skies, which remain with us
this morning. Hopefully it will stay that way whilst we wend our merry way to
Newbold, where, if the forecasters are right, we’ll probably spend a couple of
days. Either today or, if we don’t feel like it, we’ll take the bus into Rugby.
The Shiralee pastel is done
and, with the full approval of my mentor in New Zealand, I will now sign it and
offer it up for your perusal and criticism. Meanwhile, I’m staring on another
one, this time of Tattenhall Lock on the Trent and Mersey canal.
Friday 25th
October
We are now at Newbold after a
most enjoyable cruise from bridge 26 yesterday. We took the bus into Rugby
yesterday morning and today, if this pesky rain stops, we’ll make our way
towards Braunston. Whether we’ll make it all the way is somewhat debatable.
What’s troubling us; and has
been for some time now; is the state of our batteries. We’re still experiencing
low power first thing in the mornings. So much so that even the radio stops
working. With some decent weather I would have made an effort to sort it out,
but I’m reluctant to mess with electrics in bad weather and, since we are only
a short distance from Crick, we’ll hang on until we see Andy. Although we are
supposed to be taking up our moorings from 1st November, we’ll get
there earlier if we can and plug into the mains.
Even as I type this, the rain
is bucketing down and Rusty hasn’t been out yet. She must be crossing all four
legs right now.
Saturday 26th
October
Once again we were lucky with
the weather yesterday and spent a very pleasant three hours, wending our way to
bridge 78. Later in the day though, the wind really strengthened and, but the
rain didn’t appear until later in the evening. The forecast is for heavy rain
and high winds today, which may be a problem for our intended trip to
Braunston. Sunday is supposed to be even worse, so we’re on the horns of a
dilemma. We’ll see.
The clocks go back tonight
and we can enjoy an extra hour in bed tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, I’ve mounted and
framed the finished ‘Shiralee’ pastel and, once I’ve taken a photo of it in
daylight, I’ll post it in this blog. But, before I do that, a little
explanation about the photo which, I think was taken during our first year of
cruising. That would be 2007.
That’s the year we also
became stuck in Kegworth Lock for 10 days. Anyway, we were three miles along
the River Avon, out of Stratford, when the river went into a light flood. By
this time we had arrived at the moorings at Luddington and, having been advised
of a low bridge further upstream; which can be a tight squeeze in abnormal
conditions; we decided to stay put. As you can see from the photo, the weather
was perfect and we took quite a few photos during our three days there.
We also witnessed the
misfortunes of a bunch of holiday boaters who, by dint of colliding with the
lock wall, almost put their boat over the adjacent weir. Fortunately the river
wasn’t in full spate and the boat came to rest on top of the rocks and the hire
company towed them off with two Land Rovers.
Eventually, rather than risk
being caught out by further flooding, we returned to Stratford and saved the
Avon for another year.
So, here’s the finished
painting. I do hope you like it.
Sunday 27th
October
Yesterday, full of trepidation
at the expected rain and high winds, we made our way to Braunston. Much to our
surprise, nothing bad materialised and we did the four miles in less than two
hours. What’s more, we found a mooring spot without a problem.
We’ll stay here today and
visit the local watering hole at lunchtime.
That storm, that’s supposed
to be making its way across the Atlantic, is supposed to hit us later today, or
tomorrow morning and, since we’re on 48 hour moorings, that’s just when we’re
supposed to leave here. If we do so we’ll only be going through a few locks,
then mooring up just before Braunston tunnel, which we’ll pass through early
Tuesday morning.
With a bit of luck we’ll be at
our moorings in Crick marina by next weekend. Funnily enough we met a lady
yesterday who moors in the same section as we’ll be doing, so we already know
somebody there. We didn’t get her name yet, but she works in the local
chandlery, here at Braunston, so I daresay we’ll be seeing more of her and her
husband.
This will be my penultimate
blog for this year. So I'll wish you a good week and post this blog.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
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