A longish day

With the long run from All Oaks to Springwood Haven to do, we had our early morning tea at six and were on our way by seven. The weather is now all that could be wished, warm, sunny and calm. The first thing chill soon burnt off and Sheila, who was steering, gradually shed layers of garments until she was in her polo shirt sleeves.

I took over for the last of the Oxford and first of the Coventry Canals so that I had the 180º turn through Sutton's Stop to do, Sheila having managed it last time. I hit it just a shade too quickly and had to go astern to avoid scraping the bow on the wall opposite, but otherwise all was well.

After steering us past the excitements of Charity Dock and Marston Junction with the Ashby I relinquished command to Sheila once more. This proved to be good timing from my point of view as we came up behind a tall thin gent single handing a very small boat at a very leisurely pace. It took us around 45 minutes to do the final mile to Boot Wharf, mostly in tickover. If we hadn't been planning to stop there, we'd have persuaded him to let us by.

As it was, it turned out that he too was in need of fuel, so we waited on the towpath side until he'd been seen to. After that, things got going again. We got a discount on the fuel for taking over 100 litres and had the usual high standard of pump out.

When we were on our way once more I went below to make some sandwiches, eating them on the bow as the last of Nuneaton slid by. Once fed, I took the helm again to let Sheila get hers, arriving at Springwood as she was scoffing a banana.

We've tied on the towpath opposite the marina and have been sitting out watching a fairly steady procession of boats go by. We're looking forward to seeing Chris and Anne tonight and to a much easier day tomorrow, down Atherstone probably to spend the night just above the last two locks.