Boating in the rain

Tuesday 15 May

By 8 o'clock we were on the water point, which proved to have very good pressure indeed, such that, despite having a pretty empty tank, by 8.30 we were on our way again in the rain. As usual for this stretch, we planned to make a good day of it, going right through Nuneaton and round Hawkesbury Junction to the mooring near Brinklow called All Oaks Wood.

Nuneaton isn't the most exciting of canal venues, and not somewhere we'd personally stop overnight, but it does have this amazing great hole in the ground, a quarry, still in use as far as I can see, whose bottom you just can't see from the deck or even the roof of the boat.

Just after we'd passed The Hargreaves, the disabled trip boat, loading by Bridge 19, Sanity suddenly heeled over to one side and slowed dramatically. I dropped the engine revs to tickover, and we slid slowly on, suddenly coming right again. Either it was a very large trolley reef, or something else is lurking in the cut there. Perhaps the next BCN clean up should be in Nuneaton.

After passing Marston Junction (turn left for the Ashby), we got to Hawkesbury (Sutton's Stop) at about midday. Though I say it myself, Sanity's passage through the 180 degree turn went particularly well - I didn't have to use reverse at all, judging it just right for once, so that she swung round in an elegant curve avoiding all the sides and edges. It is nice to get it right for once.

After eating lunch on the move, we arrived at All Oaks Wood in a mixture of sunshine and showers - we really seem to be having April's weather in May, having had June's weather in April. Checking the Environment Agency website revealed that they are now taking bookings for the Salter's Lode to Denver Sluice passage we'll need to make in July, on our way to work at the IWA National, and then again in reverse afterwards.

I promptly tried to call the number, and after 30 minutes of repeated redialling and engaged tones, got through. A very helpful woman dealt with our booking most efficiently - we're going onto the Great Ouse on 14 July, and coming back on the 1 September. Recent info from IWA suggests that about 230 boats at least will be doing this. According to the chart on the website, there are an average of 5 slots each day for the five weeks preceding and five weeks following the National. 5 x 7 x 5 = 175 by my calculation. Some boats are planning to avoid the passage by crossing the Wash from Boston to King's Lynn, but the current story is that dredging attempts to improve the situation at Denver have led to a big bar at King's Lynn, making passage there very doubtful.

Go figure as they say. EA may have improved the situation enough to create more slots, but if you are planning to go to the National from the main system this year, I'd call 01733 464071 as soon as possible. The website info about it is here.

We took a walk to Brinklow in the afternoon, and I bought a paper. When we got back, the moorings were filling up, and we had a nice chat to Keith and Roberta from Ashling. In particular, Roberta took a great interest in Sheila's cabin crochet.

The night was mostly quiet, except for a pair of woofing dogs on the boat behind.

Wednesday 16 May

With only a short run to Newbold to do, we had a relaxed start to the day's cruising, seeing lots of pied and grey wagtails on the way. We got to Newbold just after 10. I was pleased to see that the remarkable coloured lights in Newbold Tunnel are being maintained - I'm not sure what the point of them is, but all too often, councils put this sort of thing in to brighten up the canalscape, but don't then have the will or the budget to maintain them.

As we moored, the boat following turned out to be Dalliance, another Braidbar we last saw at Bugsworth Basin at the SOW protest in November. Once again, it started to rain as we tied up, and continued thus for the rest of the day, off and mostly on.

I had another session on the net, exploring the possibility of the T-mobile internet deal using a USB modem. If it works for a Mac, it will be even better value than the Orange GPRS deal I'm using at the moment, as it's G3/HSDPA (ie very fast) for only GBP29 per month. By the end of the afternoon, the omens were looking good enough to suggest that a trip by bus into Rugby tomorrow might be worthwhile.

The only other thing of note in a quiet afternoon and evening was the sound of enthusiastic construction from one of the gardens by the moorings. Is someone building a boat down there?