Summer 2015: Crick 10

Saturday 10^th October to Friday 23^rd October

 Sunday 11^th October

 Well, we’re now at Hawkesbury Junction, the weather is fine and all’s well with the world; except for those war-torn place of course.

 Unfortunately there’s very little worth watching on TV, except perhaps for Pointless Celebrities, so we usually content ourselves with Radio 2 and noses in books.

 Today we’ll spend an hour at The Greyhound at lunchtime and set off tomorrow for bridge 26 on the North Oxford canal.

 Monday 12^th October

 I do believe the summer is no longer with us; this morning has started out quite chilly.

 Yesterday I suggested to Wifey that we might take the bus to Tesco to get some bread as we’re running a bit low and the local shop doesn’t sell decent bread. However, I think it would make more sense to be on our way, because the sooner we get back to Crick, the sooner we can have our heating sorted out.

 Tuesday 13^th October

 After walking to the shop for paper and milk, topping up with water and disposing of our rubbish, we passed through the lock and entered the North Oxford canal. From there it was about two hours and six miles to our next mooring spot at bridge 23.

 Today we’ll make our way to Newbold, which is another five miles away and, when we get there it will be straight to the Co-op for the Mail and some bread, a commodity we are fast running out of.

 The good weather still seems to be holding up, although there’s certainly a nip in the air first thing in the morning.

 Tomorrow morning we’ll catch the bus into Rugby and, after a wee bit of shopping, indulge in a coffee and scone at our favourite café.

 Thursday 15^th October

 We took the bus into Rugby yesterday morning and shopped at Asda but, after walking through the shopping centre and looking at printers, we decided against calling in for a coffee and, instead, caught the bus back.

 After running the engine and having our usual coffee and biscuits, we decided to take Alex for a walk around Newbold Quarry Park. This took us about an hour or so and, much to our dismay, we discovered that we had forgotten to turn the engine off before we left. This has never been done before in the nine years we’ve been on the cut.

 Today we’ll toddle off to Hilmorton and may or may not go up the three locks there. We don’t want to be in Braunston until Saturday, so we may moor up at the bottom of the locks and go up them on Friday morning.

 Monday 19^th October

 We went through the locks and moored up at the top, spending all day Thursday and Friday there.

 On Saturday morning we set off for Braunston nice and early, arriving there at about 10.30 am. After walking up the hill to the shop for the Mail and other bits and pieces, we settled in for the weekend.

 On Sunday we had intended to walk up the hill to The Plough pub but, since we didn’t know if they allowed dogs in there, we walked along the towpath to the Lord Nelson instead, and sat outside watching the boats go through the nearby lock.

 This morning, after once again walking up that pesky hill to the village for the paper, we too will venture through the six Braunston locks. Whether we’ll also venture through the tunnel is another gether altomatter! We might just stay at the top of the locks and go through the tunnel tomorrow morning.

 Tuesday 20^th October

 After passing through Braunston tunnel and cruising for about 1 ½ hours, we arrived at Welton Hythe marina, which is on the Leicester Arm of the GUC. We are now just five miles and seven locks from Crick and should be there for Thursday morning. We’ll stay here tonight and go through Watford locks tomorrow morning and then, since Wifey wants to delay going into Crick marina, if only for one more day, we’ll find somewhere to moor up a short distance from the top of the locks.

 This evening; and for the first time since we left Crick on 31^st of July; we’ll dine out at The New Inn, which is about half a mile or so from these moorings.

 Wednesday 21^st October

 ….and a most enjoyable meal it was. I would rather we had moored somewhat closer to the pub, which would have negated the necessity of stumbling along in the dark for 20 minutes, but it was still well worth the effort. In case you’re interested, Wifey enjoyed fish and chips, with a glass of red, whilst I had half a roast chicken with chips and peas, with a pint of Guinness; what else.

 Unfortunately the weather man was correct in his forecast of rain today, so we might be staying here for another day. However, should the rain stop sometime today, we’ll move on and up the Watford Locks; all ten of them!

 Thursday 22^nd October

 Yesterday was pretty naff weather wise, so we stayed put opposite Welton Hythe marina. Spending a whole day in one spot due to bad weather can be pretty boring, but we managed.

 This morning has dawned dry and calm, so we should get to and up the locks at Watford. We’ll moor up about a mile short of Crick tunnel and go through that and into our moorings on Friday morning.

 Friday 23^rd October

 This is the final day of our cruise for 2015 and we’ll be back at Crick sometime this morning.

 Where we would normally cover over 400 miles during the summer months, we’ve only just completed 200, because we left Crick much later in the year due to getting the stern deck repainted before leaving.

Still, it’s been a pleasant few months and the weather has been kind to us for the most part.

 So, since I’ll be starting a new winter blog tomorrow morning, I’ll post this and wish you all a great weekend.

 All the best to you all from Dave, Sheila and Alex.

Summer 2015: Crick 9

Friday 25^th September to Saturday 10^th October

 Saturday 26^th September

 Yesterday was just gorgeous in terms of weather and so we took a gentle stroll up to the town of Market Bosworth. All we really needed was bread, milk and the paper and, whilst I took it easy on a bench by the memorial, with Alex by my side, Wifey visited several shops. These included the newsagent, Co-op and butcher. How she managed to fill two bags full of shopping is a complete mystery to me, but she did!!

 The weekend looks set for some more fine weather and we’ll be off to Shackerstone this morning, but only after we’ve climbed that pesky hill again.

 Sunday 27^th September

 Yesterday I was furious, today I’m just angry. Why might that be? Well, I heard that news item regarding the hospital in Margate who, when admitting an RAF sergeant to casualty, moved him to another area ‘just in case his uniform offended other patients’.

 Can you believe that? I suppose in this god-forsaken day and age it’s just what you would expect from certain sections of society. But, and here’s the rub, why didn’t the person concerned WAIT until somebody complained and then, moved THEM to a different area, so that they couldn’t be offended by an Englishman doing his duty. There’s only one word for people like that and it begins with a capital ‘B’. Nuff said?

 We’re now at Shackerstone and, although the mornings have been on the chilly side, the past couple of days have been glorious. However, because of those chilly mornings, we’ve had to keep the fire alight and have used rather more coal than we expected to. So, this morning I looked up the name of the coal barge ‘Victoria’, which is used by Royalty Fuels, to see where it’s at. Sadly the last reported sighting was in Broad Street Basin, Birmingham, where it was being topped up with coal. So, we won’t be seeing him anytime soon.

 The above info means we’ll have to turn around tomorrow and make our way back to the farm shop at bridge 23, because they not only sell meat and other produce, they also sell coal. We would have bought some earlier, when we stopped there on the way up here, but they were waiting for a delivery. The lady running the shop did tell us that, if it was urgent her husband would go and get some for us, but we were OK at the time.

 Our heater? Well, we haven’t had that serviced yet, so we’re relying on the fire. I have still to repair our fan, which will spread the warmth about a bit and I suppose I’d better do so today some time.

 Tuesday 29^th September

 Yesterday morning we made our way to the end of the navigable Ashby canal, to Snarestone and, much to our surprise there were no other boats moored there. Of course, that situation changed later in the day but, unlike most years when we’ve moored here, when we would sometimes have a problem, we were free to choose where we moored up. With the weather promising to hold good for the rest of the week, we’ll probably stay here today as well.

 The Ashby canal is in the process of being extended and should finish up at the town of the same name in due course. However, since we were last here the powers that be have extended the canal by almost a mile and there are now only eight miles to go. However, before the full extension id completed, the stretch between here and Measham will be completed, which is part of a five year plan. Things are looking up in this neck of the woods.

 Wednesday 30^th September

 Yesterday lunchtime we walked along the towpath from the limit of current navigation, back to The Globe Inn and stopped in for a drink and snack. Now, compare this: in the club at Crick we usually have a pint of Guinness, a J20, a packet of crisps and a packet of mini cheddars; which costs us less than £5.50p.

 At some places along the canals we expect to pay more than that in just about any pub we stop at. After all, pubs do not run as a non-profit making organisation. We understand that. However, at The Globe Inn at Snarestone we consider £7.95p for those same products to be something of a rip-off. Goodness knows how much the Guinness cost, but it had to be very close to £4.00 per pint. I only had the one, of course. I didn’t want the shock of seeing the price.

 Thursday 1^st October

 After disposing of rubbish and topping up with water yesterday morning, we left Snarestone at 08.30 and made our way to Shackerstone, arriving at 10.00 and slotting into the spot we left on Monday.

 Later in the day Wifey managed to get some more painting done.

 This morning we’ll head on back to Market Bosworth and take that long slog up the hill again. We’ll probably stay until Saturday morning, after first taking that long slog again for the Saturday Mail.

 Saturday 3^rd October

 Thursday and Friday mornings we slogged up the hill to Market Bosworth, where we bought a trolley full of shopping on Thursday and just a few bits and bobs on Friday.

 Also on both those days, since the weather was still being kind to us, we managed to get some more painting done.

 This morning we’ll slog up that hill again, this time just for the Mail, after which we’ll make our way to Stoke Golding and stay for the weekend. This means another slog up hill, although not the mile of it at Bosworth. Thank goodness for that.

 Yesterday evening I had a nice long chat with my sister Carole and she seemed chipper enough, I'm happy to note.

 Hopefully we’ll get some more painting done this weekend, assuming the weather stays dry, of course.

 Tuesday 6^th October

 We spent the weekend at Stoke Golding and a pleasant hour in the pub garden at the George and Dragon. This pub belongs to a small, independent brewery and, as a consequence, offers its own brand of stout, which is somewhat sharper than Guinness. I had a couple of pints of San Miguel lager instead.

 On Monday morning we were treated to quite a bit of rain and although it did ease up later in the day, we decided to stay put. With a bit of luck it will stay dry enough for us to head off to the farm shop at bridge 23, which is only about a mile from here. After a wee bit of shopping there; to include a piece of lamb; we’ll probably go on to Hinkley Wharf and, either today or tomorrow, take the bus into Nuneaton, where I’m hoping to buy a new printer. Our one refuses to scan and, when printing a photo in black and white; which I need to do for my cartoon portraits; it smears the ink and leaves the result all green looking. 

 Wednesday 7^th October

 Well, we didn’t go on to Hinkley Wharf, but I’m one very happy chappy as result of our decision to stay at bridge 23. After first walking up to the shop at Stoke Golding; and that’s another steepish hill; we didn’t leave there until about 8.45 and arrived at bridge 23 about half an hour later. Unfortunately the farm shop wasn’t yet open, so we moored up and had a cuppa and wandered over there at about 10 am.

 Whilst enjoying my cuppa and a read of the paper, I happened to look out of the window and spotted a whole load of unpicked blackberries, which Wifey immediately went out to pick. Then, when we finally walked down to the farm shop she bought some eating apples, amongst other things.

 Now, instead of tea and cake at 8.30 this evening, it will be another bowl of apple and blackberry crumble, with crumble, of course. After that bowlful we’ll have enough left over for a repeat on Thursday evening. Yummee!!

 This morning we’ll poodle along to Hinkley Wharf, only a couple of miles away, and will probably take the bus to Nuneaton tomorrow morning.

 Thursday 8^th October

 Since it was only two miles away from Hinkley Wharf, we waited until almost 9 am before leaving the Farm Shop moorings. We arrived at the wharf just after 10 am and found two boats moored there, leaving enough room for us to moor up too. So, that’s alright then!

 In fact, soon after we arrived the boat behind us left, so we pulled Shiralee back so as to be a bit further from the bridge and the traffic noise. At the moment though, there isn’t any traffic crossing the bridge, because it’s been closed off due to roadworks.

 Now, a couple of days ago; well, the weekend actually; we found a Staples leaflet in the Sunday Supplement and amongst the articles for sale was an HP Officejet 7500A Printer, which does A3 and A4 printing. Having checked at the Argos site and found that they don’t stock it, I’m doubtful that we’ll find one in Nuneaton today, but we’ll look around anyway.

 This printer would be very useful, not just for my Cartoon Portraits, but for other projects, such as pastel or watercolour arty things. Our Epson doesn’t work on our current Wi Fi unit – when it did on the old one – and it has now stopped scanning, so we really do need a new one, and the HP would be ideal. If I can’t find one in Nuneaton I’ll order one online when we get back to Crick.

 Saturday 10^th October

 As I suspected, there was no sign of that printer in Nuneaton, not even at Curry’s/PCWorld, so I guess I’ll just have to wait until we get back to Crick.

 Yesterday morning, after stopping at Lime Kilns for water, we made our way to bridge 3, our usual last stop before the Coventry canal. The day was absolutely gorgeous and I suppose we could have done some more preparation work on the damaged paint, but we decided instead to chill out for the day.

 Today we’ll mosey along to the end of the Ashby and turn left to Hawkesbury Junction, where we’ll stay for the weekend and a couple of drinks at The Greyhound on Sunday.

 Take care folks and have a great weekend.

 Dave, Sheila and Alex.