Marston Jabbett to Alvecote Marina 14.8 miles, 11 locks, 7.40 hours.
A lovely start to the day, with the sun shining and warmth in the air. The wind was still hustling up a strong breeze, in the unprotected areas. We left our mooring at 8am and headed for Marston Junction of the Ashby and Coventry Canal.
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Whilst leaving Nuneaton we spotted this boat moored up advertising tarot readings for £5.
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The journey to Atherstone was pretty uneventful, we had a boat in front of us, but he was much quicker than we were. We got to enjoy beautiful scenery and much nicer day weather wise. There were plenty of boats moving in the opposite direction, Rose hire boats, Canal Time, hire boats and a few private boats. We arrived at the Atherstone flight to find we were not the only ones going down. The boat in front of us had moored up for water. We were soon to find out that we were 4th in line for the flight. As we arrived at bridge 41, a Canal Time hirer made it known that they were 3rd in line for the lock, which was a little late as we had already gone under the bridge. They were tied up, showing no sign that they were in a queue. So because the wind was blowing Hadar on, we had no choice but to moor up on the lock moorings.
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Anyway we did the flight of locks, with boats coming up to aid our passage, and we left the hire boats to do their locks. Whilst getting near the bottom of the lock flight we met up with Tony the lock keeper, and wished him a good day.
We cruised through Polesworth and past Pooley Country Park, where I experienced the apple throwing incident. Thankfully there was no one there this time, it was all shit up. The police never did come and see us at Shackerstone. Obviously it was not important enough.
We arrived at Alvecote passing the Remains of the Alvecote Benedictine Priory, which can be seen through the trees. We moored up opposite Alvecote Marina for the day at 3.40pm. The wind has become quite strong and gusty now, so it is a good time to call it a day.
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Alvecote to Great Haywood. 26.1 miles, 6 locks in 10 hrs 35 minutes.
After a night of wind and rain, not to mention the alarm going off at the Samuel Barlow at 2.45am, we were woken up by our own alarm clock at 5am, for our early morning call. When I looked out, it was pitch black, and nothing was stirring except us LOL. Paddy had a walk in the dark, and as I am not a lover of walking in the dark it was a quick stroll. Keith readied Hadar for the off at 5.55am and we headed off as dawn began to wake up. We enjoyed a wonderful early morning stint, watching Mother Nature wake up with the first bird song of the day. We then caught up with the gentleman from Tuesday, who was having engine problems, but was not prepared to let us pass. Thankfully this was not the case today, after a short distance he did allow us to pass him on a bend, but was clearly not happy at having to allow us by, because as we passed his boat and were stern to stern, he turned his back on us. Now normally I would thank the person for allowing us to pass, but as he deliberately turned his back on us, so he would not have to acknowledge us, I kept my thanks to myself. People who know me know I am normally a very polite person, but he bought out the worst in me. It costs nothing to be polite, my Nan used to tell me, when I was a child. I suppose I should have shouted thank you to him anyway, but why waste my breath. We followed N.B Pike as that, as we arrived at Fradley Junction we followed N.B Pike through the swing bridge. They turned right and we were turning left. So we waved them goodbye.
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So we had reached Great Haywood and a mooring for the night. It had been a long day, but a good one for many reasons. But the main reason is that Keith and I are celebrating our 4th Wedding Anniversary today. He has managed to put up with me for four years married ha ha ha. We are very lucky as we have a very good relationship. Keith is not just my husband; he is also my soul mate, friend and lover. Here is to the next 4 years.
Friday 12th September.
Great Haywood to Stone.
Our alarm clock kicked into life at 5am, and we were up eating breakfast and enjoying a cup of tea, whilst outside it was pitch black. Before we set off Paddy needed his walk, so having put his lead on we stepped off of the boat into the darkness. The only sounds I could hear were a pair of owls hooting to each other, and then the Shugbrough cockerel crowed into life, joining in with the owls conversation. Having slipped our mooring at 5.50am, I walked to Haywood Lock to get it ready for Hadar to glide into the lock chamber. So we were on our way back to Stone on what was a drizzly beginning to our journey, but things did improve. Through out the trip we saw boats moving from around 8am. having not been in the area since February, we noticed a few changes, such as Colwich and Sanford Lock Cottages were now empty, which is a real shame. It also appeared that the Aston Marina has got the go ahead, after previous planning permission had been denied. According to the banners in the field the marina whould be ready Autumn 2009. One of the cottages by Aston Lock is now up for sale. After a pretty uneventful journey we arrived in Stone, to see the new towpath and moorings below Star Lock. We moored up and went and did a food shop. Our fridge was really empty and we had to result to eating our emergency tinned food supply of Spam ha ha ha. So with the food shop done, we had an early lunch before heading up the locks to Roger Fullers Boatyard, where we are having a few jobs done to Hadar. These are things we have though of since being onboard her, such as an inspection hatch in the holds timber flooring. As we arrived at the boatyard, we were given a very warm welcome by Roger, Tina and Nigel from N.B Ensebee. It felt like coming home. We moored in the basin, and then got chatting to everyone, went through our mail, which included my new boatwomans bonnet, which was made by a friend. It is absolutely gorgeous, I will post a picture over the weekend. I also recieved my cabin lace for my curtains from Lockside Antiques. Evelyn very kindly put my cabin lace in the post. Now I just need to find some curtain material.
Lockside Antiques, specialises in lace old and new, Measham wear, Antique Ribbon Plates, Brass and much more.
So the day has been a good one, next week we will begin the jobs which need to be tackled before we head off winter cruising.
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