Saturday 24 March
Started the day by carefully packing a load of carrier bags into one bag to take to Sainsbury's where they have a recycling bin for them (but not, that we can see, any other recycling facilities). Then got all togged up to cope with the still bitter East wind, and set off to buy my paper. Got about two thirds of the way there before realising I'd left the carrier bags on the bow of the boat..
Had to queue for quite some time at the paper and fags kiosk to buy my Independent - it's Saturday, so lots of people were making an inefficient donation to charity by buying lottery tickets. Back to the boat to find that Sheila had done all the getting ready to leave jobs like rolling the cratch cover. I know the original working boats travelled with the cratch in place, but modern vinyl cratch covers don't cope with being run into a tree the way the old wood and canvas constructions did, and boat handling is just so much easier if you can get on and off the bow without fighting your way out of the cratch.
Went round to the water point at Fazeley following Hyperion, Braidbar number 67. Thought at first she was going to stop at the services point outside Peel's Wharf, but she went on, and we did so instead. Connected the hose up and started a wash load. We often start a wash load whilst watering - it means that the first fill is replaced straight away, and the engine can be left running at the 1100 rpm it needs to be doing to cope with the heating phase of the cycle.
When the tank was full, we set off again, turning right at the junction to head for the foot of Curdworth Locks by Kingsbury Water Park. As we approached Fazeley Mill Marina, here came Hyperion back again - she must have winded in the marina entrance. As they passed, her steerer asked about mooring at Peel's Wharf, and I explained that it was a service point.
Duly arrived at the foot of Curdworth, winded and moored on the towpath a bit below the locks. We were the only one there at the time, but in the course of the day four other boats turned up - it must be a popular weekend jaunt, and suggests that the Dog and Doublet, the pub above the bottom lock, is worth investigating.
We then had a really good session of bird-watching. It should be explained that we are not twitchers, but what Simon Barnes calls bad bird-watchers, ie we don't take it seriously enough to keep records or travel hundreds of miles to see some rarity, but we do it just for the pleasure of the thing, as opportunity offers.
There are several excellent hides at Kingsbury, overlooking the flooded gravel pits, and in a bonanza session we recorded wigeon, tufted duck, teal, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, shelduck, Canada goose, greylag goose, cormorant, common tern, grebe, coot, moorhen and snipe. I was particularly pleased with the snipe - Sheila spotted them first, but I was the one to identify them, and even managed to get a half decent shot of them with the new camera, despite their brilliant camouflage against the browned reeds behind them.
We then retired to the boat for a well earned cuppa, and to upload the photos to the laptop.
Sunday 25 March
The hour went on over night, so it felt like a lie in even though we probably got up slightly earlier than usual. The forecast had been promising an improvement for a couple of days, and it did indeed seem perhaps a little milder, but the wind was still in the east, and heavy coats were still de rigeur. We were the first away from the mooring, and had an uneventful run back to Fazeley, Sheila on the helm and me pottering below.
Stopped on the shopping mooring again, and did yet another trip to Sainsbury's, remembering the carrier bags this time. By the time we'd done that it was lunchtime according to the new tariff, so we ate. Just as we were thinking of setting off, we heard a parp parp from an approaching boat. It proved not to be Mr Toad, but Mr Andrew Dyke at the helm of Lord Toulouse. He was on his way to the Cutweb rally at the Blue Lias pub by the Stockton flight on the Grand Union. We hadn't seen Andrew for over a year, so there was much shouting of greetings and exchange of good wishes before he revved up his mighty Hudson and shot off again.
Setting off ourselves, the weather did indeed slowly improve, until by the time we reached Whittington, where we had decided to stop for the night, it was seriously Spring like.
The moorings at the Fradley end of the village were deserted, and we spent the afternoon basking in the sensation of Spring having made a start at last. Tomorrow, we'll go on to Alrewas, finally finishing the trip that started at Poynton 15 days ago.
4 comments:
Bruce
I happened to stumble across your very interesting blog this afternoon and have spent an hour or so reading your posts. May I say that I truly enjoyed the read, as it brought back memories of our last journey on nb Tastoma from the Titford Pumphouse on the BCN to Sawley marina just a couple of weeks ago.
If you care to have a read of my ramblings (www.tastoma.co.uk) you will see how not everything went to plan, although I must admit, we did make it to the Bog and Doublet – well worth the ‘investigation’.
Best wishes
Mark
Hi
Thanks for your kind words - it makes all the difference to know there are people out there reading my ramblings!
Liked your account of your trip,and I hope the new job goes well.
I'll do a proper post later today - I'm waiting for a response from BW before doing it.
All the best
Bruce
Bruce,
I hadn't realised you were another bird-watcher. Just catching up on the recent bit of the blog and noticed the comment. We were out on Sometimes last week and mored on Tixal Wide for a night - I nipped outside for a smoke after dinner and was rather suprised to hear a Nightjar, spent a good hour on a chilly evening but finally was rewarded by a brief sighting against the moonlit sky. The calls indicated there was a female around so it's worth checking out if you're in the area.
BTW One of the best blogs I've read for quite some time.
Will
Thanks, Will
I've never managed to identify a nightjar, so you are definitely one up on me! Cheers
Bruce
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