Monday 1st April Day 254
Cruising day today as we need to get some mileage under our belts but unfortunately I have a crap sleep so end up having a lay in – the change of clocks always seem to effect me. Why can they not just leave them alone! Anyway, it’s up and about 10.30ish and then we decide to put a wash on, fill up with water as we are two seconds away from the water point. Chris has his usual towpath chat with a couple who have just bought their boat and the lay in must have done me good because whilst we are waiting for the washing machine and water to fill up, I dust everywhere, clean the shower room, scrub the floors and hoover everywhere so the The Plot is looking nice and tidy. Then we untie the ropes and it’s off we go.
The weather has been changeable again as we set off and there are spots of rain but eventually it turns into a beautiful spring day with blue skies and enormous fluffy clouds with the odd hint of threatening dark clouds in the distance just so we don’t get too happy about the weather but it really is a glorious day.
We pull in at the marina just on the off chance they are open to fill up with diesel and check about the winter mooring we have enquired about but it is bank holiday so no joy as they are closed and off we go again. We are trying to loosely secure a winter mooring, ideally near somewhere where we can work over winter for a few months as I think the London trip will probably strip us of the rest of our money. If you remember last year we were lucky to get a winter mooring.
We find a nice mooring back at Hinckley in the same spot we moored on the way up and then get the bikes out to cycle to B&M and Tesco to get food shopping, kindle and some logs; which get attached to the back of my electric bike. About 2 mins from the boat one of the threatening clouds decides to unleash some drops of rain but it misses out on completely drenching us but it was a near miss!
Time to make tea and then settle down to watch Dune as we have treated ourselves to a visit to the cinema ((wait… I thought you had to get to London!)) we do, but the cinema tickets are on offer and it’s one of those films that will be good at the cinema. Day done until tomorrow.
Cruising miles : 5 Countdown to London …. 14/198 0/174
Tuesday 2nd April Day 255
What a lovely day we had today. I was working on the boat for an hour whilst Chris was prepping the other side of the roof ready to paint and also did lots of chatting to a couple. He moved our boat back a little bit so they could moor their boat near us and they had cruised a lot of the network so it’s great to get info from them re all the plans we have.
Then it was a walk into Hinckley as we have a rare treat of going to the cinema – I really wanted to see Dune 2 on the big screen and it was suitably epic! Then it worked out my cousins weren’t far away, so we met up with them for a coffee and catch up and then it was a visit to Aldi for nappies ((erm, please don’t tell me this is your way of breaking the news. I know it was 1st April in this world yesterday)) no, calm down – they are for the engine bay but it does amuse me when Chris talks about which type of nappies he’s getting. For those who don’t know we decided from literally day one of meeting that we didn’t want children, so a discussion about nappies has never been one we thought we would have.
By the time we got back to the boat it was 6pm ((dirty stop outs and so much for cruising!)) I know, but tomorrow we are intending to crank it and get maybe as far as the top of the Atherstone locks! We will see. Day done.
Wednesday 3rd April Day 256
We are up early and cranking it by 8am and it’s our longest cruise to date. It is a very changeable day but generally drizzly. I make the massive mistake of deciding I’m going to start my exercise plan of walking some of the tow paths but honestly with all the rain lately, they are just a mud bath. On a number of occasions I nearly sank up to the top of my wellies and had to hold onto the hedgerow just to stop myself sinking or falling in the canal – it’s certainly an invigorating walk! ((If only you’d fallen in – that would have made for good YouTube content. I think you need to start giving people what they want!))
Once i’m back on the boat we have a quick stop for lunch and enjoy some very tasty egg butties – made with salad cream rather than mayo ((Thanks for clearing that up!)) and then its cranking it again until we get to Springwood Marina where we fill with diesel and Chris buys the oil and filter he needs to service the boat. Now we are getting plenty of miles on the clock it’s important to keep on top of everything.
We return to our previous mooring at Atherstone top lock and its day done after a walk into Atherstone to get essential supplies.
Miles: 13 ((thirteen!!!! Wow – that’s your longest cruise yet!)) I know!
London bound… 27/198 cruising miles 0/174 Locks
Thursday 4th April Day 257
An epic day today! We set off at 9am and within moments we are at the top of Atherstone lock number one where we spot lockies at the first lock. We tie up as we need to empty the toilets which involves carrying the cassette over the lock gate as well as the rubbish. Then we have a bit of a towpath natter whilst we wait for our turn as another boater is coming up.
We then crack on and before I’ve even had chance to make another coffee ((WHAT!)) we have done five locks and are moored up between locks 5 and 6 and it’s a wander into Atherstone for essentials ((Not sure jigsaws, wine and beer are essentials)) well they are to us and it’s a good job we did. We have lunch and then decide to crank it, only for it to start raining as soon as we set off and it was a mixture of rain and sunshine as we tackled the next 6 locks in the Atherstone flights. Some of the gates were much harder than I remember on the way up.
I was chatting to a lockie and he said that people wedge the gates and ram the gates to let more water into the locks or to empty! I cannot believe that – apparently, it’s traditional! But its something we will never do – can you imagine if everyone did it the locks – they would be ruined in a day. We also get thanked a few times for cruising slowly past other boats.
Once the locks are done we did think about mooring up but decide to crank it as the showers have left us and the sunshine and blue skies are back and we decide to keep going. Chris bought a DAB radio from the charity shop so with a glass of wine ((Oh I see!)) It wasn’t planned – but note this date down – it’s the first time this year it has been warm enough to stand on the stern, cruising along and enjoying music and a drink without freezing! A blissful, but challenging day and I’m shattered when we finally moor up at Alvecote where we moored on the way to the Ashby and met Country House Gent. I discover that I have an unbelievable good signal ((Oh JOY. I’m sure everyone is very happy you have a signal so you can post pictures of you drinking on the back of the boat on a Thursday afternoon!)) hey, I am writing this at 5.30pm after we have moored and have dinner and with this excellent signal I think I will be cracking on with uploading/downloading vlogs tonight.
As i have a good signal and have a meeting tomorrow I think we might stay here in the morning whilst I have my meeting and get book fest work done as Chris wants to do an oil and filter change now we are cruising more.
Right, I’m off to crack on. Oh one last thing as we moored up, we spotted a huge fox trotting across the field. Sadly, I didn’t get it one camera ((didn’t happen then!)) but it was magnificent. First one i’ve seen this year. Phew. Day done! Until tomorrow. x
Cruising : 6 miles / 11 locks
London bound: cruising miles: 33/198 Locks: 11/174
Friday 5th April Day 258
A bit of dodgy weather starts the day so I decided to crack on with some work and then after lunch it was time to cruise. ((Peachy has totally forgot now what happened as in real life it’s the 9th April and she cannot remember that far back!)) It’s not my fault. I’ve been editing the vlogs and I get confused which timeline I’m on!
Okay, let me consult my spreadsheet – as we leave our lovely mooring at Alvecote we cruise only a couple of miles which takes us through Glascote locks. We stop along the route at the boat services and do the usual water fill up, elsan and bins. It’s always such a nice feeling to have everything topped up and emptied.
We soon arrive at Fazeley junction which proves very tricky to wind ((turn it)) the boat off the Coventry canal and onto the Birmingham and Fazeley as the strong winds forecast tomorrow as making their presence known today. We moor up soon after right next to a huge old mill which has been converted into flats and will hopefully protect us a little bit from the forecasted 45-50mph winds.
It feels good to be on a new canal and feels like our trip to London is starting properly. Day done. Until tomorrow. x
Cruising : 3 miles / 2 locks
London bound: cruising miles: 36/198 Locks: 13/174
Saturday 6th April Day 259
The promised high winds arrive and we brave a little walk up the towpath which are a little muddy and wet but not as bad as the Ashby or Coventry canal by any stretch. We walk to the marina which isn’t far away to check out the facilities so we know we can access them easily when we hopefully leave on Monday morning. It looks like we might well need to moor up somewhere on Tuesday as the weather is going to have another tantrum.
It’s a faffy day on the boat and I get busy at the dinette with another little walk into Fazeley which is a really lovely little area which has every single takeaway you could wish for ((Including the fish and chips you had yesterday)) Oh yeah, I forgot out those – chipshop Friday! They have a tesco express which is handy.
Nothing else to report today. Chris finds his polishing stuff so buffs up the side of the boat we have been painting and it looks so much better. It’s removed the marks which had been created by rust running down from the chimney. We just need to do the other side the next time we are moored somewhere. Day done. Until tomorrow. x
Sunday 7th April Day 260
Day 260! Wow where has time gone! Today we decide to catch the bus into Birmingham. In the UK most bus services are £2 per journey per person which is really good value, especially as we are nearly a 45 min bus journey away from Birmingham. We want to have look around the canal areas which we have done before but also look at some mooring for when we come back this way once we have tackled London depending on timelines and if we end up mooring in London over winter – who knows! We are thinking it’s likely we will have to find work over winter; either more freelance work for me or Chris and I both work to get enough money to see us through cruising again from March – November. All depends if we end up building up the YouTube channel enough to earn some money and book sales ((Better start booking yourself in for some shifts!))
Anyway, we have a great day wandering around Birmingham and the canals before heading home just as the rain starts ((So jammy!)) I then settle at the dinette for a couple of hours work as we are planning to be up early and cruising tomorrow and try to get through another flight of locks. Day done. Until tomorrow. x
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C.L. Peache 