From Pub to Pub

Sunday 22nd April 2018
Cuttle Bridge Inn to The Dog & Doublet
3 miles, 8 locks, 1 tunnel

Firstly I am glad to say that I was not as bruised or sore this morning as I thought I would be.

A much more leisurely start was called for today and we did not move off until around 09:30.  Although it was only a short trip compared to yesterday I don't think either of us really enjoyed it.  The locks at Curdworth do have one thing going for them - a bridge at the bottom gates which makes getting to and fro so much easier.  The gates, however, are very heavy and sometimes very hard to move.

Someone has made an attempt to make the flight looked loved

and the views are pleasant enough

however the canal is very dirty, so not in the least attractive

and within a 100 yards of setting off it was down the weed hatch to retrieve a large Aldi bag - not recycled as the bag requests

There is also the constant traffic noise from the M6 to contend with.  I think it will be at least another 10 years, if ever, before we come this way again.

First stop was to go to the shop in Curdworth - thankfully they had the paper, but very little else.  It seemed to be the place to go if you wanted sweets, crisps and chocolate, but no chance of anything fresh.  We also stopped to get water which was not without its difficulties as the pound between locks 1 and 2 was very low and we could not get the stern near the bank as we kept going aground.  Still we managed, the job was done and we were on our way.  We did actually meet a boat coming up today, so a lot of the locks were set for us.

We moored before lunch with a view of the Dog and Doublet in the background

The weather was good enough to get the whirlygig out and nb Araf (we were moored in front of them at Stoke Pound last Saturday week) came and joined us mid afternoon.

Once moored we had had enough, so here we are for the night.  A few jobs have been done including splitting the newest bags of coal from 2 x 25 kg bags to 4 roughly 12.5 kg.  They are now safely stowed away in our bow locker meaning the bow well deck is now pretty clear.