Blog

Sept 16th

Posted by clivenmel on September 16, 2008 at 2:40 PM

Its been a strange day.........................!

We left our overnight moorings and headed for Harecastle Tunnel which was about half an hour's cruise. There was one boat ahead of us and one behind. We arrived at the tunnel's entrance just as the boat in front was going through. We had to stop and the Tunnel Keeper came and asked us some questions: how many souls on board, did we have any pets and would we please sound the horn...............this he said was just to let ... Read Full Post »

Sept 15th

Posted by clivenmel on September 16, 2008 at 2:37 PM

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Sept 14th

Posted by clivenmel on September 14, 2008 at 3:31 PM

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. For us it certainly started out that way with a gentle cruise from our moorings down at Sandon Lock up to the old market town of Stone with it's many canalside properties both old and new. Stone evidently used to be the HQ for the Trent & Mersey Canal Company back in the day, shipping all the usuals like coal and iron and also beer from the local Joules Brewery whose facade is still here but nothing else. Evidently the Europeans and the Americans loved... Read Full Post »

Sept 13th

Posted by clivenmel on September 13, 2008 at 1:43 PM

The alarm went off at 7.00 this morning as we needed to be up and off to Great Haywood Marina to get our oil change done. Whilst we were having breakfast we saw three hot air balloons drifting along and guess what - IT WASN'T RAINING!!!

We set off and the sky got bluer and bluer and the sun was actually getting quite hot - yippee, summer's here at last!

We finally arrived at Great Haywood Marina and filled up with diesel, water and also bought a spare gas c... Read Full Post »

Sept 12th

Posted by clivenmel on September 12, 2008 at 1:18 PM

We left Hopwas this morning around 9.45am after a lovely surprise - Gareth phoned us on a videocall to Clive's phone with Indeia, our three year old granddaughter who is just back from a holiday in the States - we haven't seen her for three weeks! It was lovely to see her and talk to her on the phone. We really must get set up with a webcam - that will be even better!

The morning was dull but at least it wasn't raining. We headed off towards Fradley Junction, which is wh... Read Full Post »

Sept 11th

Posted by clivenmel on September 11, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Yippee we have a cratch cover! Yes Bas (Sunday best name Sebastian) from AJ Canopies arrived this morning and fitted our cratch cover - its lovely. (You can check out the photos in our gallery). He was a very nice young man and did a great job - he only needed two cups of tea to sustain him during the fitting!

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Sept 10th

Posted by clivenmel on September 11, 2008 at 4:26 AM

Apologies for the delay on the blog, we were very late mooring last night as we had to stop off in Tamworth - we have a slight plumbing problem, but we won't go there!

Anyway, when we finally moored I didn't feel like cooking and as there was a really nice pub very close by, we just went out for dinner! We are moored in a little village with the enchanting name of Hopwas! It is just North of Tamworth, though you wouldn't know it, it is very rural here - lovely. We had a ... Read Full Post »

Sept 9th

Posted by clivenmel on September 9, 2008 at 2:24 PM

I think it's Tuesday; it's terrible but I'm loosing track of days. When you're travelling fairly constantly, you tend not to worry about time so much and as I didn't pack a diary, I really don't know where we are half the time.

However, I digress.

Today we finally left Hartshill and wound our way gently westwards through beautiful open country heading towards Atherstone. We had a real treat on the way when a Kingfisher darted out from overhanging trees and took off u... Read Full Post »