Hedgerow Jottings: Where is Mawsynram ?

Wychnor River Mooring

Morning Jotters

Did you miss me last week? I’m sorry to say that my creative juices deserted me but I’m back this week, all juiced up and raring to flow (wink wink emoji).

Fradley Giraffe

It’s been hissing down since the early hours and Tricky likes to go out for a sniff at about 5am, which can be quite nice on a summers morning but aggravating when it’s shivery cold inside the boat and reminiscent of a wet day in Mawsynram (pronounced Cherrapunji) when you step out onto the tow-path. We lit the stove, made a brew and switched on the dongle to catch up with the Jubilee Concert that we missed on Saturday evening. In spite of all Carl’s aerial twiddling and retuning, our TV reception was very poor, it was pixelating and blocking so we settled down with a DVD box set of ‘Mum’ (Lesley Manville) and a bar of Marks and Spencer’s finest chocolate. I’d accidentally bought milk instead of plain, but we ate it anyway.

Stenson Lock

I digress as usual, back to this morning - there we were, sipping our tea, when I heard an ominous drip, drip, drip - one of the boat windows was leaking like a sieve. The water was running down the wall by my chair and the curtains and carpet were sopping wet. We mopped up, drank our tea and put a towel down to catch the drips and went back to bed for a couple of hours, to get over the damp start. It rained for most of the morning, the first proper rain we’ve had for a while and it is much needed to top up the waterways. Finally, the rain stopped and now the cabin is toasty and dry, the wet curtains are in a bucket ready for wash day tomorrow. Carl is outside now with the Creeping Crack repair solution, doing a temporary lash up to keep out the water until we get to the boatyard for a permanent fix. We did manage to watch the highlights of the Jubilee Concert eventually, we pulled the boat back a few feet and Hey Presto! We had a watchable TV signal.

Oxeye Daisy

It’s been a slow chug for us since we last spoke, up the Trent and Mersey Canal to Fradley then turning left at the White Swan onto the Coventry Canal. We do this journey often but it’s always different depending on the season. We never get tired of watching spring give way to summer along the canal. The creamy white elderflower has arrived and the dog rose and honeysuckle weave in and out of the lush greenness of the hedgerows. The verges are vivid with Foxgloves and Oxeye Daisy, clumps of Flag Iris line the canal in bursts of yellow, crowding out the native Sedge and Rushes. A flash of scintillating blue catches our eye and we spot a Kingfisher, darting along the dark water. Our old friend the Swallow, is once more skimming and swooping around us as we chug along reminding us that summer is just around the corner.

Waiting to go in at Wychnor

There’s nothing finer than a late evening cruise so when the motorbikes began roaring into Fradley on Wednesday evening, we decided to up sticks and move to a quieter spot. There had been a long procession of boats passing through Fradley all day but all was quiet as we came up through the Junction Lock and I swung the little footbridge out of the way so Carl could get on the water point and fill our tank. It was a warm evening and I made cheese on toast to eat as we chugged along. We didn’t go far and were soon tucked up by bridge 90 ready to hit the Co-op first thing on Thursday morning. It’s a bit of a walk from the canal and the sun was warm as we followed the footpath through the edge of the sprawling housing estate. We spotted a nice little cafe in the parade of shops and sat outside at a shady table and ordered brunch. It was very busy and we waited an age for the food to arrive but it was well worth it - pancakes with yoghurt and fruit for me and a small breakfast for Carl. Tricky was her usual morose self, ignoring everyone who stopped to say hello but she is as good as gold, sitting patiently in the pushchair for the walk home. I expect Tricky to become TikTok famous any day now, so many people look and smile when they see her riding along like the Queen of Sheba!

Flag Iris

We blew the swan horn as we got close to Bill and Ruth’s house later that day. They were engrossed in the TV coverage from Buckingham Palace and, not wanting to miss the fly past, they invited us in for refreshments and to watch the thrilling spectacle of the Lancaster flying up the Mall – it was especially thrilling when viewed on their cinema sized TV screen. We had a couple of hours non stop chattering before we reluctantly set off again to see if we could get fuelled up at the boatyard in Streethay. We had rung them the day before and were told they would be closed which was a bit disappointing as we are moving south where fuel gets more expensive. We were very pleased to find a fuel boat moored up along the way, and he was considerably cheaper than Streethay would have been. We pulled alongside and began filling up, and I noticed that his covers were down - they are usually rolled up so you can see what they’re selling – it wasn't a problem until he couldn’t get to the dial to see how much fuel we had taken. He popped up, looking worried, to say that he had accidentally reset the dial. Oh no! After a bit of deliberation (luckily Carl knew roughly how much fuel the tank would take) we agreed on £80. We set off again and found that Streethay was, after all, open, but they were 40p litre dearer so I suppose we’ll never know which was the best option. The chap from the fuel boat came peddling after us to say that he had managed to work it out and we’d had 78 litres so our guess was fairly accurate. I refuse to be cynical and think that he might have plucked that figure out of thin air, he seemed like such a nice chap.

Brunch in Fradley

I must close now and have a look at this keyboard. It was by my chair, ready for action today and I suspect that it got water in the works as every time I type an ‘I’ it inserts an = sign with it. Li=ke thi=s (It’s taken me a long time to write this epistle - so many words have an ‘i’ in!!!)

Take care everyone - be back next week with more Tales from The Towpath

Love from

The Chandlers Afloat

Ps. We saw the most delightful Post Box Topper in Branston, it did make me smile.