The most notable thing - the weather which has been dry, bright, warm and sunny for days. A true Indian Summer.
Saturday 26th September
To Long Itchington
2.5 miles, 10 locks
Today saw our first flight of broad locks since 'going solo'. It was always our intention to wait for company - so much easier with two boats in the lock. When we arrived there was someone waiting for us. I have to confess to my heart sinking when I found it was a single hander as I thought we were in for even more work than if we had been alone. However, my fears were groundless - Tony on Lydia May 3 is very experienced and super efficient. So much so, I ended up doing a lot less work than usual! Thanks Tony for all the useful lessons you taught us.
At each lock I went ahead to get the next one ready and luck was really on our side as most were full, so my job was easy. Tony meanwhile showed Chris how to pull the boat out of the lock
Go back up the steps hanging onto the rope to close the gate and then continue forward.
We guessed James and Doug from nb Chance were somewhere nearby and sure enough we passed at one of the locks. A very brief encounter, but time enough to say hello whilst Doug wound a paddle for us.
The four boats passed each other
A wave from James at the helm and they were gone! Another fleeting bloggers moment!
In no time at all we were approaching Long Itchington a place famed for the number of pubs. Two are either side of the canal - a couple of people had said to head for this one - The Two Boats.
The advice was also to move on past bridge 26 to moor - a much more peaceful location than near the pub where there was a convention of boats with Gardner and Russell Newbury engines plus a cider festival. A lovely spot, but a communications desert - no internet or phone.
There were a few boats behind us
but this was our nearest neighbour ahead
Once moored we headed back to the pub to have lunch - just a baguette each with a bowl of chips to share. They were so big and tasty we really did not need the chips. We were still full at dinner time, so just had a light snack rather than a full meal.
Sunday 27th September 2015
Long Itchington
We had decided to stay put, so planned on having a Sunday roast at The Two Boats. We asked on Saturday if we could book a table, but they don't take bookings. The advice was to come around midday to ensure we got a table due to the cider festival and boat convention. That was too early for us to have our main meal for the day, also we really wanted to make the most of the good weather to get some washing and other domestic chores done, so we decided we would leave eating until the evening. Big mistake! After a very productive day we ambled back to the pub around 18:30 to find that neither of the canal side pubs serve food on a Sunday evening! Back to the boat for a quick meal of bacon and eggs with some roasted baby tomatoes and mushrooms! Not quite the Sunday roast we were expecting, but very tasty all the same. We have been out since mid June and have only had one Sunday roast and that was absolutely dire! Not much time left to amend the situation. There was also one other near disaster (well for me at least) today - I dropped my Kindle Paperwhite into a bucket of warm water laced with Flash ready for me to clean the floor! I retrieved it swiftly and placed it in the sun on the back deck in the hopes it would dry and not leave me 'bookless'. I know a lot of people hate electronic readers and whilst I do miss the feel of a 'real book', I would be hard pushed to manage without my Kindle now. I need to read before I sleep and am rarely ready to turn the light out before Chris, so the ability to be able to read without a light on is such a bonus for us both. We left well alone for several hours before trying to turn it on. Would it work? It did, albeit rather reluctantly. To start with it was slow to turn the page and the internal light flickered a bit, but now 3 days later it still seems to be working. I am sure some damage has been done, but I am just hoping it keeps going until we get home in a couple of weeks. Just to be on the safe side I picked up a paperback copy of the book I am reading when we stocked up in Tesco's in Leamington Spa/Warwick (the towns are so concurrent, I am not sure which town the store is in!).
Monday 28th June
To Radford Road Bridge 35, just East of Leamington Spa
5.25 miles, 10 locks
Another day of locks, but unlike the Stockton flight we did with Tony, these were mostly well spaced. The first four are together - a staircase of two locks and then two singles, but the rest are just far enough apart that you need to get back on board to transit from one to the next.
We did the first four on our own - at one of the locks is this sign:
The final three locks were done with nb Avalon who were returning to their mooring in the marina below the last lock. Parts of our route today were quite narrow and reedy - something we have not seen for quite a while.
Mark, from Callisto, advised us to moor before Radford Road Bridge, No 35 rather than go into Leamington Spa. A wise decision as it was wonderful open country and very peaceful. We did walk along to B37 to the local shop there - not the best part of Leamington Spa, but the shop did cover our basic needs.
A sign of yet another good day tomorrow.
Tuesday 29th September 2015
To The Saltisford Arm, Warwick
4.75 miles, 2 locks
Monty and I, as we often do, set off ahead of Chris and we passed this trade boat selling all sorts of stuff for boaters from plants, to duck food to Ecover products and many other things too numerous to mention. Had I had any money I would have had bought some duck food which floats whereas the seed we have had all sinks! Anyway it was not to be.
I was rather taken with his Herb Hospital!
Today should have been easy with only two locks and a few miles to do, but what should have taken about 2 hours took nearly 3. Just a lot of moored boats including this 'selection' of boats in the centre of Leamington Spa.
We have no idea how long they have been there, but they did not look as though they were in a hurry to move on.
We reckon it must have been hard work getting these pins into the rather solid looking ground.
There are a couple of boatyards between bridges 48 and 49 where at one point there is a set of three boats breasted up. We pulled over to let the boat coming towards us come through.
It was all rather tight, not helped by the water being rather shallow. We reckon any passing wide beam boats would find passing very tricky indeed.
Just as we approached the two locks of the day we passed Mark on Callisto heading back towards Stockton. He works long days - he had passed us at 06:30!
We shared the locks with a hire boat - lovely people enjoying their luck in choosing this week for their holiday. The locks are called Cape Locks and the pub at the top (we were going up for the first time for ages) is call the Cape of Good Hope.
With this sign! We did not stop as we were heading for the Saltisford Arm for a couple of days before tackling the Hatton Flight.
So here we are moored in this oasis of calm - so very different from when we were last here in 1998!
A slow start today - the washing machine is whirling round and we will head off after an early lunch to explore the Arm and Warwick.
The news from our summer travelling companions is, however, not so good. nb Cleddau is stranded at Weedon Bec with alternator problems. It has been removed, sent to Daventry for testing and the results are dire - it is damaged beyond repair. Thankfully they managed to get to Weedon Wharf with an electric power hook up. Decisions and discussions about what to do next are ongoing.
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