Friday, 21st October
It was a wet night and a wet start to the day, but the weather improved enormously as the day progressed. We travelled as far as Market Bosworth, where we moored up for the night. We walked in to town, quite a step, and shopped, and tried to find somewhere near the canal for friends to park tomorrow. They're coming for a cruise with us, and fortunately have two cars, so they can leave one at either end and we won't have to turn round and do a return trip. There wasn't anywhere they could park, and I asked a man in his front garden if he knew of anywhere. He very generously offered his drive! Wasn't that kind?

Saturday, 22nd October
Angela, Alan and Rory duly arrived, parked one car at Stoke Golding and the other at Market Bosworth and we set off. We were lucky with the weather again, and all enjoyed the day. When we arrived at Stoke Golding, Alan produced a tin of maggots and proceeded to fish, the first fisherman on our boat! I told him our boat was a maggot free boat, but he took no notice! Angela and Alan decided to fetch the other car, when Angela realised she'd locked the keys in the car which was left at Market Bosworth! This didn't go down awfully well, but eventually they 'phoned for Angela's sister who arrived with her husband and we all decided to go up to The Dog and Hedgehog. When we had ordered our meals, Alan and his brother-in-law went to fetch the other car, and all was well! We stayed on the same mooring on Sunday night, as we need to call in at Hinckley tomorrow and don't like the mooring there very much.

Monday, 24th October
It rained all through the night and was still raining in the morning. We set off late morning when the rain had abated, but there was quite a strong wind today. We stopped at Bridge 17, so that Trev could go up to the Post Office at Hinckley. The reason for this visit was that we posted a letter there ten days ago, and it still hasn't arrived. But the person at the Post office wasn't much help. So we don't know what's happened to the letter. How can the Post Office just lose a letter? It seems a fairly basic process to me to deliver a letter. Interestingly, it was a large A4 envelope, and the only other one we've ever lost was a large one too. Do they put them on one side, as they're inconvenient to deliver?

We had some lunch and then moved on, mooring eventually at Bridge 2 near Marston Junction, where the Ashby Canal joins the Coventry Canal. We were lucky in our choice of cruising times today, the rain came down again just as we were mooring up.

Tuesday, 25th--Monday, 31st October
We set off around 11.00, when the rain had stopped. It rained intermittently, and was quite windy, but it wasn't cold. We went along to Hawkesbury Junction, and turned left on to the Oxford Canal. It's a complete 360 degree turn here. We went through the stop lock--only 6" difference in the levels--and along the canal as far as Anstey.

Now we have to be patient! We shall be here for six nights as we have things to do which require a car. Trev's friend Alan lent us his car, as he was going to Wales with his family, and didn't need it. Trev went to play golf, friends came to see us, we went out for meals, and took other friends for a cruise, as well as getting some business sorted out, so the time passed.

Monday, 31st October
At last we were free to set off again. It's a great feeling when we untie and set off, free as birds. First we had to go back to Hawkesbury Junction to turn round, as we'd ended up facing the wrong way when we took friends for a cruise! That was three miles each way, plus the stop lock. So it took about two hours to get back to Anstey where we'd started from!

We continued on to Rugby where we filled up with diesel at Yates's boatyard, and bought some coal. We talked to Mr. Yates about the fuel situation. At the moment boaters are allowed to use red diesel, which is tax free, and costs around 50p a litre. (When we started boating in March 2003, the least we paid was 23p per litre! And we never paid more than 30p. It's slowly crept up in price.) But in March 2006 the concession for cheap diesel ends and Mr. Yates said he had done an exercise with the rep from Texaco to see what diesel will cost when the tax is applied. When diesel was 83p at the pumps, they reckoned it would cost boaters 130p per litre. This is because boatyards buy in such small quantities they can't get the discount that garages do. Phew, that's going to make our boating a pretty expensive business.

There was some good news this week though. BW had proposed to increase the licence to Continuous Cruisers such as ourselves, that is boaters who don't have a mooring, by a factor of 2.47. This would have put our annual waterways licence up by GBP1000. Fortunately they have changed their mind,and we will still pay the normal licence. May be they felt that there would have been a revolution if the licence AND the fuel had gone up at the same time.

We've only been boating for less than three years, but even in that short time we've noticed a difference in the attitude of BW towards boaters. BW seems to have become a fund raising company, at the expense of its customers. People we talk to who've been on the waterways for a lot longer than us say that boating has changed out of all recognition. It certainly seems to be becoming a rich man's hobby. Owning a boat for fun to use a the weekend and for a few weeks in the summer is not a cheap option any more. By the time one has bought a boat, say GBP40,000, licenced it for about GBP600, moored it for about GBP2000 per annum one has spent a considerable amount of money. And that's before one starts on the day to day running expenses.

However, I digress! We shopped at Tesco, and then went on again, and it was getting dark. The clocks went back on Sunday, and for the last half hour or so of the cruise it was dark. We had set ourselves the target of mooring up at the bottom of Hillmorton Locks. We weren't keen to moor up in Rugby and wanted to be well away from housing. But it was certainly the darkest bit of cruising we've done. I was steering and I didn't enjoy it at all. The trees and banks and canal were all the same colour and it was very difficult to define where the water stopped and the land began. It was a relief to tie up.

Tuesday, 1st November
Another glorious day of weather. We've had a couple recently. We filled up with water at the bottom of Hillmorton Locks and then went through the three locks. Now it was plain sailing all the way to Braunston, our goal for tonight. We want the boatfitter to sort out a leak. At the moment it's just a drip, but a drip can soon become a puddle!It's always good to come into Braunston, and it's fitting that this time we've arrived at the end of our year;s cruising. It feels like our spiritual home and I feel safe when we get here.




COMING IN TO BRAUNSTON

Well, this is the last web page for a few weeks. In a couple of days, the boat is going in to a marina and we're off to sunnier climes, Cyprus actually! Thank you to everyone who reads the website and for the emails. And thanks too to all the new friends we've met this year who've made it another wonderful year for us. And thank you too to all of our "old" friends who've been to see us, and given us hospitality and friendship.

When we get back from holiday, I'm going to look after a friend when he comes out of hospital after a hip replacement op. We hope to be on the move again in the middle of December. We shall be on our way to the Llangollen Canal for the rest of the winter. So do come back then and see how we're getting on.

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