April 2017 – Page 2 – Narrowboat Adagio

Summer Cruise#1 Day 8

0930 start – Ansty thru Nuneaton and on to moor near Springwood Haven marina.

We pass Gordon on Cut Loose, back from the Ashby and on his way back to Yelvertoft.

The long straight, approaching Hawkesbury junction

If you know the area then you’ll recognise this – it’s the beginning of the super grid and pylon city!

After a complete balls up of turning at the junction, which I normally do in one smooth action, I bashed the nose and the stern this time, Muppet! No, photos thankfully. We move on to Nuneaton:

We have never stopped here before but fancied a pie & a pint. I notice a small sign showing that this project was part financed by the EU – you can kiss this goodbye Brexiteers!

We found the Three Horseshoes, 300 yds west of bridge 20. An Everards pub but nicely run and with 6 beers on plus some home cooking, brilliant! Steve had 2 pints of Plum Mild (3.8% from Stefford) and Viv had a nice Ruby ale.

Less than an hour on and we get out into lovely countryside and approach Springwood Haven Marina. A nice spot to walk the dog and chat to the Onboard Energy guy about new batteries, solar power and the vagaries of the Victron invertor/charger! They also do ice creams too!

And here’s Adagio and that over-used star filter !

Captain’s Log 1719 11/04/2017: 11 miles +1 lock+ 4.3 engine hours

Summer Cruise#1 – Day 6?

Getting a bit behind here, what with staying put from Friday thru to Monday morning but it was soooo nice to not to move when it was soooo hot. And being a weekend a lot of the world chugged by but not us, neither Hodma’dod nor Twelve and a bit moved at all. Anyway, Monday came and we all moved off. We met up at the Rugby visitor moorings (not very welcoming – toilet block all boarded up and only just room to fit in for water), where the crew of all boats tramped off to Tesco’s et al,

Not as well taken as David’s from Hodma’dod but here’s my bridge 69 pic!

More of bridge 69 – seen better days . . .

All stop at the Rugby visitor mooring for water and vittles . . . (i.e. more gin!)

The lovely avenue of trees at All Oaks Wood – a great place to stop but we didn’t and couldn’t as it was stuffed full of “permies”, so we chugged on.

I actually like this straight bit – under the M6 and then along by the railway line plus you get some odd flora – here there be Butter Burrs!

Is he enjoying this? Well, vest, shirt and two tops on! Def. a change in the weather.

Our destination – Ansty. Here’s a view from the pub garden – we did’t, nay couldn’t go in as they don’t allow dogs in. It is a rather foodie place and doubtless fantastic but not for us.

Hmm, Steven tries out the star filter on the camera. It will take a lot to enhance Ansty in our opinion. Somewhat highly coloured by our non beer experience.

With the engine running we can use many electrical appliances (up to 3.5 kW!) and one of our favourites is the Slow Cooker – here is the Morphy Richards one, note how the heater/controller fits neatly inside – handy to pack on a boat.

And here it is unpacked. The pan is removable – handy for using on the hob to brown meat and get things boiling and also for washing too.

. . . producing a beef curry (cooked for 6 hours!). No need to brown the meat or do any frying – all the meat, onions, potatoes and sauce goes in at the start – bring to the boil and set for 6 to 8 hours.

Captain’s Log 1700 10/04/2017: 11 miles + 4.5 engine hours

Summer Cruise#1 Day 4 – HOT!

Our quieter mooring but in the sunshine – we were right to stop over as there’s been a constant stream of boats all day.

A stroll up to the pub – some 20 mins away. A pub we have been past many times as it’s next door to the vets! And despite it’s rather plain appearance, is very well appointed inside with a good range of beers and a restaurant. The garden was amazing too – lots of room, dogs welcome.

Plenty of tables and the menu looked really good – they even do breakfasts!

Aah! Ickle ducklings, oh, count them again, only seven now 🙁

Meanwhile back in the boat – 28 degrees in the cratch and over 25 inside! Phew! Hotter tomorrow.

Summer Cruise#1 Day 4

So nice to hear birdsong, albeit a blackbird at 0428 this morning and then skylarks! It’s Saturday and probably a busy boating day with hirers setting off. It’s also set for a cloudless, warm day, so we’re staying put, soaking up them rays, well the PV cells are. We may skedaddle off to Hillmorton later for a stroll.

Meanwhile, we made a list of the boats on the move yesterday, which was a quiet day really:

Clent, Cape Warbler, Eliza, Horus, Dragonfly, The Andrew, Phyllis May II, Penarrow, Olivia, Apprentice, The Bowman, Brendon, Pandeford, Vanyar, Solitude, Barleyadola and our friends on Hodma’dod.

Not staying put . .

Very typical of us – not staying put . . . well, the forecast today was a bit cloudy and then the weekend was set to be “Scorchio” so we planned to move on to the visitor mooring below Hillmorton locks. Tie up & set the solar panels for a 2 day rest. So another 6 miles and 3 hours later, we end up being the closest spot to our marina! But a nice spot anyway:

Magnificent display of blossom this year

The Onley marina (Dunchurch Pools) looks a long way from it’s opening date of next month but a lot of work going on.

Fellow Yelvertites, Sarah & David are escaping too!

Viv drives through the unusually quiet and deserted duplicated, Hillmorton locks

Another tiring day of 6 miles, 3 locks and 3 hours chugging.

Well, TV’s out – no signal. Odd isn’t it – on the outskirts of Rugby and next to what was the world’s biggest radio station and nada, oh well, I might just align the satellite dish tomorrow, or not . . . meanwhile we have full 4G data signal so let’s surf for some stuff . . . like this video, not new but fun . .

Summer Cruise#1 Day 2

It’s all torment for me – when’s dinner?

Despite the forecast – brilliant sunshine and the may blossom is brilliant – chugging down the wide canal and in to the dreaded Braunston tunnel. Unusually, we meet not a soul inside.

Little companion greets us as we tie up near Braunston locks

We met Paul on Rhiannon and agreed to share locks. Nice chap, on his way to Rugby to meet family.

Skipper Steve sinking slowly in Braunston lock

Skipper Paul leaps into action. Rare to get pictures of yourself when you’re doing all the filming. His family are hiring a boat for 3 days from Rugby – so I guess we’ll see them all in convoy soon. Have fun.

And even more wildlife in the boat getting her reward – the last hot-cross bun. Looks like El Toro is watching with envy?? She did do well – all those locks! Marvellous for her age. 😉

The Huawei gadget we use to keep connected with the web. Hard to make phone calls but 4G all the way with this.

After a brief stop over in Braunston – more meat from the fab butchers then we chug on just a bit further to a quieter spot by bridge 87. Forecast looks set to be brilliant – even 19 on Sunday! Might just stay here . . .

Captain’s Log 1600 06/04/2017: 6 miles + 6 locks + 3.5 engine hours

Summer Cruise #1

Got a bit stir crazy and needed to spread our wings – doing what we bought the boat for – escaping out onto the canals! Boat is stocked, dog food has arrived. Why put it off any longer – let’s go! Our Summer Cruise#1 is to do the Leicester Ring, clockwise with a big spur off to the Trent: Nottingham, Lincoln & Boston. Contains a wee bit of tidal Trent (i.e. nothing between the boat and the North Sea but that is 50 miles away) but only for 5 hours. Here’s a map – X is where we started . . .