THE BIG SUMMER CRUISE!

Monday, June 9th

At last, after two months of waiting,
getting jobs finished on the boat, short trips, holidaying
(including a rail trip to Scotland and a walking holiday in Derbyshire),
we're off.
Today we started The Really Big Adventure.
We set off at 14.00 hours--only to stop after about five minutes
when we met a friend on the towpath!
I had never met this person before.
He is someone I have often talked to on the internet,
on an accommodation providers' forum.
His name is John Erskine, and he used to have a guest house in Portsmouth,
but sold up last year.
He was coming to the end of a five week canal cruise,
and knew that we were moored at Braunston,
so he had come to look for us.
He recognised us from the name of our boat.
It was a very lucky coincidence that we met at all, a couple of minutes
either way and we would have missed each other.
So we moored up just five minutes after we had started out
and had a chinwag and a cuppa.
John's wife Paddy was with him and we enjoyed their company.
Here's a photo to prove it!




We eventually carried on and went down the Grand Union towards Warwick.
We did eleven locks, and I'm proud to say that I steered through seven of them!
Well, it seemed an easier option than having
to do all the opening and closing of the locks.
We moored up for the night at The Blue Lias pub.

Tuesday, 10th June
We continued along the Grand Union, towards Warwick.
As we neared Warwick, the heavens opened, the rain came down in stair rods!
Trev was steering and I passed him a waterproof and an umbrella,
whilst prudently remaining inside!
Here he is--"Singing in the Rain"!




In the end, we sheltered under a bridge until it abated.
After restocking at Tesco's (canalside, as they say) we went on up the two locks at The Cape and moored for the night.

Wednesday, 11th June
We woke up at 10.30 (a.m. of course!).
We had thought we would stay at The Cape for another night,
but suddenly got the urge to move on and tackle the Hatton Flight.
This is a flight of twenty-one locks just outside Warwick,
on the Grand Union on the way up to Birmingham.
Friends of ours, Jan & Don, who also have a narrowboat
but don't live aboard
but live in Kenilworth, had said to us that when we went up the Hatton Flight
we must ring them and they would come and help.
So, I gave Jan a ring, but sadly she was having to wait in for a workman to arrive .

So we set off.
The locks were against us, which means they were all full,
and, as we were going up hill, we had to empty them first, steer in,
close the gates behind us, and then refill the lock.
This took quite a while at each lock, and we began to wonder
if we'd be through before dark.

We got as far as lock six when a most welcome sight appeared--
Jan and Don had arrived!!!!
The workman had been and gone and Jan had rung Don
who had come home from work early especially to help.
What friends!
I wouldn't say we sped up the flight,
but it certainly moved things on quite considerably.
It took us about 3.5 hours altogether.
We all needed much liquid refreshment to recover....
We moored at the top of The Hatton Flight for the night.

Thursday, 12th June
Another leisurely start. We walked down to the new cafe
BW has opened by the top lock,
and had hot chocolate.
It has been newly refurbished, and is a pleasant place to visit.
Afterwards we walked to The Hatton Craft Centre,
and bought some fresh veg and meat.
Then we set off and passed through Shrewley Tunnel, 450 yds. long, and moored on the embankment above the Cock Horse pub.
It was a beautiful spot and the weather was glorious.

Friday, 13th June
We went on to Kingswood Junction, at Lapworth, where the Grand Union meets the Stratford Canal,
and turned left on to the Stratford.
This is a very pretty canal, pure Shakespeare country!
It's quite narrow and is heavily locked.
We moored up by The Fleur de Lys pub, and had a good meal there.

Saturday, 14th June
As were cruising along, we met some neighbours from when we lived in Warwick.
They were as surprised to see us as we were to see them!
So, of course, we had to moor up and get the coffee on!
An hour or later we got going again.
A grass snake swam along the side of the canal.
I steered through the locks and Trev did the locks.
....Until lock 36, where the boat became well and truly wedged.
We realised that it was because the lock gate wouldn't open fully.
So Trev backed the boat up in the lock and I opened the gate as forcefully as I could
and the boat just squeezed through.
There was no obvious reason why the gate wouldn't open properly.
May be there was something stuck below the water.
After we got going again, I sat at the front of the boat, Trev steered
and we passed through the most idyllic countryside.
This was why we had chosen narowboating as a way of life.
I couldn't have wished for anything more.
Our boat engine is very quiet, it's in a cocoon,
and there is a hospital silencer on the exhaust,
and, from the front, the engine cannot be heard.
In fact, we have had people ask if it's an electric boat,
as we go by!
There's a compliment to our boatfitter.

We moored up at Wootton Wawen for the night.


ON THE STRATFORD CANAL

Sunday, 15th June
Another cloudless day. Such perfect weather.
We moved on down to Wilmcote, and moored up.
We had several sets of friends coming to visit us,
and we had a good meal at The Mason's Arms in the village.
One set of friends brought our post.
Fortunately, the amount of post is beginning to diminish,
as we notify various firms, etc., that we no longer wish to be on their mailing list.
Another useful tip, which seems to be working, is to return junk mail unopened
with "Gone away. Return to sender" written on it.

I shall update this about once a week,
so the next edition should appear around June 23rd. Watch this space

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