Out with Grandma - Thursday 25th April 2019

Before Bridge 54 to Whitwick, Bridge 56
1.5 miles, 0 locks

So what to do on a wet afternoon on a narrow boat?  Yesterday afternoon Evelyn and I went to the galley where she made a Mars Bar cake and a very good job she made of it too.  We have just sampled some with an afternoon cuppa and it is as good as it looks.

However we paid a high price for a rural mooring yesterday as during thunderstorms and torrential rain it meant we had a very mucky boat this morning.  She needed cleaning before, but now it is an imperative at our first opportunity.

Today is Monty's 7th birthday - apparently that means he is officially a veteran - I don't think anyone has told him that.  His best present - a friend to play with

His worst - yet more thunder which he hates.  Chris tried to walk him in between showers, but got the timing wrong.  As soon as the thunder started Monty turned tail and ran all the way back to the boat.

The weather was so horrid yesterday that I did not venture out until this morning when I discovered a huge fishing lake behind the hedge

Our neighbours seem to have been a very modern three parent family, or is one of them a maiden aunt?

After a very short journey we moored near to Whitwick Manor

Now I am going to hand over to Evelyn to tell you all about our day out together.

After we moored up, Grandma and I set off.  We walked to Wightwick Manor because it wasn't that far from the boat.  When we got there, the Manor looked amazing, I was blown away.  Before we went inside the Manor, Grandma and I sat down in the cafe and had a hot chocolate and shared an oat and coconut biscuit.   

The first room we visited was the drawing room.  We found out that the lady of the house had a secret door that lead to her boudoir, so she could escape unnoticed if someone called she did not want to see.  Lady Mander liked cats - any seat in the house with cat cushions on them you are allowed to sit on.

The second room we visited was the library.  It was very posh.  it still had a serving hatch because that used to be the dining room before the extension was built.

There was lots of stained glass window that were very old.

This is the great parlour.  It has a lot of chairs and ornaments.

This is the kitchen.  It has a lot of metal utensils that must have had to be polished quite regularly.

This is the children's day nursery where they ate, played and sang with nanny.

There are a lot of toys in the day nursery.

This is the night nursery where the children slept.  It consisted of a cot a crib and a child's bed.

This is where nanny slept.

This may look like a clown ornament but it actually a bell.

 Lurking inside one of the cupboards in the kitchen were all these little bottles. 

In one of the rooms you could dress up and I did as a maid.

In the kitchen, you could grind up real herbs and spices and the aroma was magnificent.

The Mander's ( the people who owned the house) owned a family business making varnish and paint products.Your order number at the cafe looks like a paint brush. 

After lunch we went outside to enjoy the gardens and parkland.

Because of Grandma's bad knee we got to travel in style from the ticket office to the hall and back again.

This is for my auntie as it was her favorite book when she was very small.

This is where we are eating tonight.

Sky looks grey, oh wait its started to rain again.

I saw this boat and thought the name was funny 'Normal Bob'!

I really enjoyed my day out with my Grandma as I don't see her that often and rarely without my brother and sister.

Almost Perfect Timing - Wednesday 24th April 2019

Greensforge Lock to Before Bridge 54
5.5 Miles, 12 locks

Today's author is our granddaughter Evelyn aged 10.

This is the first lock that we did.  It was quite easy but I have to say some of them, wow, they were difficult.

 As we were heading to the next lock,grandma and I spotted a fake fisherman made out of old plant pots.  We both thought it was amazing and really inventive.

                             
This is the Botterham staircase lock. Staircase locks are very special locks because you save half a lock full of water over two locks for each boat that goes through.

As we were coming up hill people were queuing to come down. First of all, there were two boats                                         

then it changed to three       

and as I was getting on the boat another appeared from around the corner. 

 We were nearly finishing the locking for today but then we reached Bratch locks which is another set of locks. Luckily,this time we had the Canal and River Trust lock keepers to help us.

 The locks were really hard so they did it for us.

 
There were instructions for how to do it yourself.  The CRT volunteers start work in April and
finish in October but the locks are open all year round. It is important to do things in the right order.

                                                 
 This is a picture of the lock.

                                 
The lock keepers help paint the locks and keep the grass etc tidy.

   
This is the lock keepers office. Looks very posh.  Also, the kind , lovely man guided me and told me      how to work the locks.Very kind man.

     
Grandpa was talking to a man who was painting the locks. (He, the  lockeeper, came from Bromsgrove originally!)

             
  They also sell things (such as Rosie and Jim, boating plaques and little boating ornaments).

   There are also little cottages and lovely houses near the canal.

Like I said earlier some locks were very hard and wore you out  - and I mean WORE YOU OUT!

This is an old bridge that we found. It must have been from the Victorian age when narrow boats were pulled by horses. So the horse would be on the tow path walking along and as it was walking it pulled the narrow boat and the rope it was pulling the boat with slid through the hole no problem.

     
  This is a circular by-wash that carries the waste water away so it can be used again.

    I steered the boat around the corner. It was lots of fun but tricky.

    At the last lock, Monty decided he was going to sit this one out.

 Today's blog is called almost perfect timing because it just started to rain as we were mooring.

Jennie here now - I think Evelyn has done an excellent job.  The rain turned into a very heavy thunder storm, so yes our timing was perfect.  We also timed it right as far as the locks went - the three at Bratch were ready for us and at all bar one of the rest we met a boat coming out, so a very good day.  Just one boat passed us at the height of the storm - sadly the crew did look rather like drowned rats.