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| Bosworth |
It is today, Sunday, and we all know what that means. Yes, it's Jottings time. Slight change of direction though as it is I, Cap'n Carl, "doing the honours" as they say in all good Toy shops up and down the land. Linda has told me not to rant and grumble for this week's action packed literary oddity, so you, dear readers, can relax. So let's do this.
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| Pooley Hall, Polesworth |
After rushing slowly along the Fazeley canal in an attempt to stay ahead of the bitingly cold weather, we found ourselves back on the Coventry canal, heading towards Tamworth. By Monday afternoon we had arrived at the two Tamworth locks. Instead of the plethora of rubbish that normally greets us at these twin bastions of centuries-old engineering, we were greeted by a vista of clear water, uncontaminated by the expected swathe of carrier bags, clothes, string, bottles, McDonalds wrappers and Special Brew cans that usually lie in wait for our propeller. To add to our feeling of wonderment, the sun began shining and the day became almost warm. It felt almost unicorny. Linda expertly manned the locks and we passed through without incident. It was then just a short cruise to our overnight mooring, a mile or so out of town. The award for best part of the day must go to the raft of tiny ducklings we saw as we left Tamworth behind; the first this year.
The next flight of eleven locks is at Atherstone. We negotiated the first two on Tuesday, and the rest the following day. Now, we were running low on supplies. The list was quite long and included, but was not limited to, bread, milk and groceries. This was to going be a rucksack and two Co op "bags for life" trip. It was a bit of a trek to the shops from our boat and we were(actually only I was) famished, so we decided to pop into our favourite cafe, The Larder. To our dismay, it had changed hands and the quirky memorabilia had gone together with the war-time menu of Spammy Eggs and Camp Coffee. Oh well, we (me) were hungry, so in we went. Sadly, we were sitting next to the "eat with your fingers, slurp your coffee, burp to excess, tell your little boy in fluent Neanderthal that he can't have salt as its bad for him while he eats his burger and chips swimming in tomato sauce" family. This didn't help the ambience. Which reminds me. Is it just me, or do baked beans stay hotter than garden peas? Say you have fish, chips and garden peas (I don't like mushy peas so can't compare them). The peas are always cold before you finish them. Baked beans, on the other hand, can still almost burn your tongue long after there is nothing else left on your plate. Just wondered.
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| Sunny view |
After a good night's rest we set sail south east, hoping for fair winds and an easy voyage passing through the popular Port of Hartshill, across the bay of Nuneaton and on to our destination, the fabled Ashby canal. Do you remember a few paragraphs back I mentioned the expected rubbish at Tamworth locks? Yes? Good. Well, it turns out that someone must have cleared it all from Tamworth and dropped it all just south of bridge 16 (which is the other side of Nuneaton). Worried that I might foul the prop while going through it, I put the engine into neutral and drifted through a seemingly endless mat of garbage. It was like a canalised version of the Sargasso Sea, except it seemed to consist of the contents of countless wheelie bins and/or skips. Someone must have dropped it all into the water. Why are some people so thick? Anyway, it seems we are stuck with sharing the world with cretins for the foreseeable future. Enough said, rant over.
Not long after this we arrived at the canal junction, that meeting of two great waterways, and bearing hard left we made our way without further incident onto the Ashby canal. A short cruise for around twenty minutes and we were able to moor for the night. On securing the bow line I checked to see what detritus we had picked up from the "Sargasso Sea". Yes, there were about two acres of mullock with planning permission for three detached luxury homes, a bypass and a Governmental promise that it would be on the bus route. Oh, well, another little job for the boat hook.
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| Hartshill |
The days have generally been very cold this week, with hard frosts early morning. Although the sun has shone most days, there has been a constant cold breeze, which has often freshened into a raw wind. Real gloves-and-coat weather. So it was with some surprise and not a little amusement that we saw several youths clad in just tee shirts and shorts in Hinckley town centre on Friday. With their blue arms and legs they did a valiant act of trying not to look cold, but I don't think they fooled anyone
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| Cold evening |
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Bosworth field, the site of the famous battle where King Richard III was killed is a very short walk from Sutton Wharf, where the two of us moored yesterday. Well worth a visit. Sadly, the powers that be have been considering allowing a vast driverless car test facility to be built on sections of the historic killing fields. The plans were approved by the local council on 25th Sept 2018. Why am I not surprised.
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| Part of the Bosworth Battlefield Memorial |
The Ashby is a lovely canal, very rural and lock free, but in some places it is very shallow. We've grounded the boat (ok, I've grounded the boat) three times today, twice because I misjudged a tight bend, and once when we passed a boat coming the other way and got too close to the offside bank. No harm done though. And it's all part of boating. (Interjection from First Mate - It wasn't you who threw your hat on the deck and swore like a trooper then?)
And that's it for this week. Reading the above nonsense could be a good cure for insomnia, but then so could lots of sleep I suppose.
Love from
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