Brinklow

We stayed on our mooring today and after conducting some maintenance and cleaning we walked into Brinklow. This is a small village about a mile walk from the canal the main focal point being the church.

There is a small deli a post office and three pubs so this could be a good winter mooring spot for the future. On entry to the village is the village sign and a new war memorial which is due to be unveiled later this month.

On return to the boat it was lunchtime and then later I went foraging for towpath apples and blackberries. These were made into a crumble which will tonight's pudding.

Tomorrow we head for Braunston which is about 15 miles and 3 locks away so we hope to be underway by 7 or 7.30 at the latest.

All Oak Wood

Only a short cruise today for a couple of hours. We arrived at a good rural mooring spot,next to All Oak Wood,near the village of Brinklow at 12.30 pm. After a light lunch we took Oscar for a walk to explore the surroundings. On return to the boat,some more boats had arrived and the mooring was beginning to look full. Still it is a very pleasant area and we intend to stay put tomorrow. The boat is performing well,but we have suffered the inevitable first scratches to the hull blacking now.

Just a couple of pictures of our mooring at All Oak Wood. Tomorrow we will take a walk into Brinklow for a look.

Totals 4 Miles

Ansty

Today we set off at a more leisurely 10 am. We past through Nuneaton without stopping and continued on towards Marston Junction. This is the junction of the Coventry canal and the Ashby canal. We were planning on an excursion up the Ashby before continuing our journey south. This week however there is a festival on this canal so it will likely be busy. We will visit it probably early next year.

                   Ashby canal which is rural to the left and the Coventry canal straight on.

We continued on the Coventry canal now heading towards Hawksbury Junction. This is where the Coventry canal meets the Oxford Canal which we will join. There is a lock at this junction where the rise in level is only a matter of a few inches. The junction was fairly busy with three other boats going our way and two opposing. There is also a nice pub overlooking the junction so plenty of opportunity for onlookers to witness any poor boatmanship.

                    The approach to Hawksbury Junction left turn towards Oxford Canal

                            Waiting our turn to pass through the stop lock.

We had considered stopping near here but the moorings were quite full so we carried on to the next village Ansty. On route we paralleled the M6 and passed under the M69. Old transport versus modern I know which I prefer. On arrival at Ansty sufficiently far away from the motorway we found a mooring and settled in for the afternoon. This evening we went up to the village and visited the Rose and Crown P.H. for a belated birthday meal. It was very busy and we were lucky to get a table but now we have the number we can book next time.

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow but possibly a shortish cruise to a nice rural spot and a bit of fishing.

Oscar seems to be learning the ropes well and is now quite happy laying down on the rear deck by the steerer.

Totals 11 Miles 1 Lock

Hartshill

Today as planned we set off at 7am for the water point. At 8 we had filled the tank and approached the first of the eleven Atherstone locks. The locks appeared all set in our favour and everything was fine. Then it started to rain and it continued to rain all the way to Atherstone top lock. Oh well at least we can say that we are not just fair weather boaters.

                                       Just one of the Atherstone flight of locks

                              Oscar popped out to see what was occurring 

On arrival at Atherstone we moored on the visitor moorings so we could walk into town for some provisions. We found a large co-op which was good enough for what we needed then returned to the boat. The VM's were quite busy and we did not intend staying in Atherstone so as we departed another boat was ready to slot into the gap we left.

We continued on passing the old British Waterways yard at Hartshill and were thinking of stopping near to the Anchor P.H. by bridge 29. There were a long line of boats moored here so on we went and found a nice rural mooring just past Springhaven marina.

                             Our overnight mooring just beyond bridge 27

Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow yet maybe head towards Hawksbury Junction (Junction of the Coventry canal that we are on and the Oxford Canal which we are going to join) or stay here for an extra day. Either way hopefully we will see the promised sunshine tomorrow.

Totals 6 Miles 11 Locks

Grendon

Today I turned 51 and have decided I definitely don't miss work. This is our second day near Grendon and what a difference a day makes. Yesterday afternoon was grey and chilly and we even lit the stove just to try it out. Today I am writing this in glorious sunshine with clear blue sky and the forecast is this is set to last for a week or so. 

This morning the smartguage which measures the remaining power in the batteries showed that we had used 30% and that we now needed to run the engine to recharge them. We ran the engine for two hours which got the batteries back to 90%. I will keep them between these two levels and then each week give them a long charge back upto 100% which will hopefully keep them in good shape.

Our dog Oscar has not realised yet that it is not necessary to get up at 6.30 am each morning so tomorrow we will get up with him and after a quick breakfast move forward to the water point to refill the tank.

It is then only a few hundred yards or so to the first lock of the Atherstone flight which consists of eleven locks in total. This will probably take us an hour and a half or so all being well. Our next mooring point is planned to be the far side of Atherstone and hopefully near a pub.

Anyway back to today. After maintenance duties were completed we walked the towpath back to Polesworth and had a brief drink in the Royal Oak. This round trip was nearly five miles and was probably the first time I have walked that far in one go since my days in the scouts. It was however very enjoyable. On return to Achernar an afternoon of snoozing in the sunshine was the order of the day as well as eating some of my chocolate birthday cake.

Anyway some more photos where we are but this time in the sunshine

                     Oscar standing or should I say sitting guard over Achernar

                                   Grendon church across the fields from our mooring

                                Oscar enjoying the freedom of the towpath

That's all for now.

The Big Day

Well the big day arrived this morning. We both retired a couple of weeks ago and since then have been  busy adding the final touches and making a few essential purchases. Our first problem was reversing across Glascote Basin in the wind in order to have a pump out before departing. This manoeuvre was conducted at lunchtime which I am sure gave the workers much amusement whilst eating their sandwiches. Having skilfully conducted this move ( ha ha ) we decided that rather than go back on our pontoon and depart tomorrow as planned we would go today. First hazard was the new Hudson boat Brigand moored right by the bridge 'ole.

We eased past Brigand and out onto the cut for the first time ( in our own boat ). Turning left we headed off towards our intended overnight mooring near the village of Grendon. This was about a two hour cruise and we only met three oncoming boats.

We arrived without incident and are now safely moored. The satellite dish was aligned in no time and we are now settled for a day or two. It will be interesting to see how we manage the electric now we are on battery power only.

The above is the view from our rear deck looking back the way we came. Time to sign off now as I can smell pizza in the oven.

Totals 6 Miles

First night

This will be a brief post as using my ipad tethered to my 3 phone so signal not brilliant. After some brief  demonstrations of equipment installed on Achernar we were formally handed control of the boat on Friday afternoon. There then followed lots of loading the boat with stuff from the car and plenty of unwrapping and packing away to be done. Shortly before 5pm we were aboard Achernar for her first voyage under our control. This amounted to a distance of about 25 yards from one side of Glascote basin to the other. This will be our home now till the middle of August when we set sail for pastures new. So far only one drama when the dog Oscar fell in jumping from the boat to the jetty. He managed to cling on with front paws so only his back legs and bottom got a soaking. First night in the new bed and slept like a log so all is well there. That's it for now as off to get pizza for tea. Definitely don't want to spoil our new cooker by using it.