Onward

The towpath in Hopwas is well used by the local populace and we had to clear it of some doggy doo yesterday to avoid the risk of treading it into the boat. But it's good to see the waterway giving pleasure to others beside us boaters. It was a quiet night and an early start this morning. I don't turn on the 3 phone to provide internet access in these circumstances, so that we're not tempted to loaf too long abed.

Instead, I put Radio 4 on, even though that meant listening to that strange programme Something Understood which today, however, was about humour so had a few entertaining clips at least. It was followed by that excellent presenter Cas Graham interviewing a tweeting shepherd in Cumbria, would you believe.

Off we went just after seven, chugging through the village and on to Fazeley. There was a boat on the service wharf when we got there, but they were happy for us to breast up alongside them to get rid of our rubbish and recycling. They followed us to the foot of Glascote and on through Amington, Alvecote and Polesworth. We crossed with one boat in the locks and had to idle past many others on the towpath after Alvecote, all spread out as they were.

No reason why they shouldn't be, of course, but a shame as the water is quite deep along there and it is otherwise a chance to wind the engine up a bit. This stretch is always a bit of a problem for me with earworms, as I suspect I've mentioned before. First there's Nellie on the offside in Amington, so that my mind is full of Nellie the Elephant for a bit, with its association for me of CPR training as it's one of the tunes that gives you the right rhythm for chest compressions.

That's then replaced by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap when we pass Will Power in Polesworth.

After lunch, I lifted the engine boards to check the state of water and oil in the engine (both fine) and to measure the individual voltages of the batteries in the domestic bank. It's not really practical to do this thoroughly on the towpath as you should really disconnect the lot for half an hour, but I isolated each in turn and found that they all had the same voltage, making it very unlikely that any of them have a seriously failing cell.

Maintenance duty done, I've been loafing for the rest of the afternoon with a clear conscience. Tomorrow, up Atherstone, stopping half way up to do some fresh food shopping at Aldi, then on towards Hartshill. It looks as if the brief spell of fine weather isn't going to last, sadly, with a return of rain and wind later in the week, but we can always hope that that will have changed by the time we get there...

Another productive day

Sheila went into the village at nine this morning and was able to get her haircut straight away. It's a tricky business finding a hairdresser when cruising, especially for the women. Us men can either get a standard cut from a barber or do what we do and use a set of clippers on board. But ladies hairdressers need training to deliver the best outcome for a particular customer, and if you are moving around that's not possible.

Still, this style isn't a million miles from what she wanted, so a result.

Meantime, I had pottered about on board doing chores like tidying the recycling away and refilling the hand wash dispenser in the bathroom. The weather forecast suggested rain in the middle of the day, so almost as soon as Sheila was back we set out again.

This time we investigated the Co-op further up the road in the High Street before going back to get a supply of meat from the butcher. We won't bother with the Co-op again; less choice than most and not even in the same bunch as most of the Midlands, instead it's a specifically Tamworth society, so my divi card wasn't any use.

The butcher, on the other hand, was as good as ever. It's not quite at the standard of Coates in Alrewas, but does a decent range of stuff and they are always friendly.

Back at the boat we had coffee and took it easy until lunch, enjoying the sun when it was there and retreating below when it clouded over.

After lunch we opened out the cratch cover and cleaned the bird poo off it, mementoes of our stay under the trees at Sutton Road Bridge. Whilst it was drying off in the now strong sun, we did the year's first clothing swap since the may is out (that is, the hawthorn is in blossom).

Thermal underwear and heavy jumpers were stowed and polo shirts and shorts unpacked.

Once that was done, we rolled the offside cratch cover, doing it neatly with the outside surface outwards. The near side one, having been in the shade, was thrown over to get the sun and rolled after we'd had a cup of tea.

We also did some cleaning of the roof and solar panel, removing yet more guano.

According to CRT, they had to cancel the two hour stoppage at Atherstone, but the top lock was closed for a while to remove an obstruction. So lock 10 will still be slow tomorrow; an early start is indicated, methinks.

Objectives achieved

I had a bit of a restless night last night and Sheila, who had slept well, woke just after six. So we made an early start and were on our way by 7.15. First stop was the water point at Peel's Wharf, where the tank was filled to the brim and the rubbish disposed of. Sheila made a start on cleaning bird poo off the solar panel and the rest of the roof whilst I bustled about looking busy.

Next was the trip down the Birmingham and Fazeley to Fazeley Mill. That involves two bits of manoeuvring, firstly round the awkward junction and then the reverse into the marina so that the pump out is on the right side. We got there before they were open, but Jackie turned up a bit before nine and we were soon offloading the contents of the toilet tank.

We also bought 13kg of propane and 55 litres of diesel. Now in boater's heaven (two full tanks and one empty one) we pulled out again. The turn out is a lot easier than the entry, but the turn at the junction is no better going back onto the Coventry. By the time we left there were another two boats waiting for service, so it really does pay to get up in the mornings :))

There followed an uneventful run to Polesworth. A boat was just descending Glascote bottom, so both locks were with us. As we left the top lock another boat arrived. The lady lock wheeler announced that Atherstone Lock 10 was to be stopped for two days from tomorrow, causing a bit of consternation on our part. However, a quick check of the CRT site confirmed my understanding; it's to close for two hours, not two days...

For a sad reason, we're not under any time pressure anyway. John and Nev have had another family emergency (they are not having a good year), so have had to cancel our rendezvous at Norton. We've decided to stay here at Polesworth for two nights, which will allow the Atherstone stoppage to sort itself and us to get some more boat cleaning done.

A Sorcerous afternoon

As expected, it's been very windy today and we've sat tight here at Polesworth. We managed a walk this morning to get some bits from the village; one of the reasons for stopping here was the availability of supplies.

Seyella came through just after lunch; it takes more than a bit of wind to stop Geoff. It's now started raining, we hope that things will be calmer tomorrow.

Frustratingly, the solar panel would still have topped up the batteries; with my using the iPad to do most IT stuff, I hardly need to turn the inverter on at all these days, but we still needed to run the engine to get enough hot water for a shower since we don't have the Hurricane.

We took the opportunity to watch the Sorceror DVD; very good though neither D'Oyly Carte nor Opera Australia. It's one of the very early G&S and interesting to compare with the later more developed works such as The Mikado or Yeoman of the Guard.

A trivia question: what links John Wellington Wells, Don Giovanni and the early Dr Faust?

Meet the Bloggers

We did some solid boating today, setting off in good time to go round to the Peel's Wharf services for water and rubbish disposal. Regular readers will know that I nipped round to the Tesco Express for you know what.

There followed a pleasant run up the Glascote Two and through Amington and Alvecote to tie on the first Polesworth visitor moorings. We've not stopped here since the Peeping Tom incident, I think; Sheila will make sure to put the bung in the Houdini hatch before she showers.

After lunch, we took a walk into the village; there's a good greengrocer here where we stocked up on bananas, pears and spuds. We were just back at the boat when Maffi and Molly on Milly M appeared through the bridge hole. So that's Yarwood yesterday and Maffi today. Seyella is somewhere up ahead; this week is becoming a case of "Meet the Bloggers".

Talking of near miss film titles, in one of my steering reveries it occurred to me that WRG could produce some promotional films, based maybe on recent Coen Brothers work. There could be "There Will Be Mud", "No Waterway for Old Men" and "Oh Digger, Where Art Thou?".

Then there's the raunchier stuff: "Debbie Does Dudley" and one about a French student on a WRG camp, "Emmanuelle's Big Lock".

Just a thought...

Pleasant day, strange boat name

It's been much cooler today, but we're promised a resumption of summer tomorrow. Sheila steered down the last two locks and along the windy (both senses) pound to Polesworth, where we stopped to get you know what, and then on to Alvecote. No problem getting a mooring on the towpath here. Just as we were relaxing before lunch, who should turn up but Stephen and Jayne on Dolce Far Niente.

We went on board for a natter and a small(ish) libation. Good catching up all round before we separated to get our lunches. They've pressed on towards Atherstone as they're heading for London.

It's been a bit of a day for odd boat names. As we came through Polesworth where Will Power used to moor, thus giving me an earworm for the Gary Puckett and the Union Gap number ("Lady Will Power, it's now or, never to give your love to me…") who should come the other way, right by that mooring, but Young Girl ("Young Girl, get out my mind, my love for you is way out of line, better run girl, you're much too young girl…")

All ruddy day.

/floor

Before that, we'd crossed with Sally Slap Cabbage would you believe. I'd never heard this term before, but Googling revealed that it's gone from a Lincs dialect term for an untidy woman, through being a story book character intended to empower small girls in a Developmental Psych study of gender stereotyping in pre-schoolers to an Urban Slang word for "A female who is clinically retarded in every sense of the word. Has to wear a helmet anywhere she goes."

Isn't language a strange thing?

Tonight, food in the Sammy Barlow, yesss...

Down Atherstone in the rain

First of, thanks to all those who commented yesterday; it's when I really feel I'm communicating with people when I get responses like that.

We both had a bit of a broken night last night after the dramas of the day, but still managed to get up at six and start boating again. I'm sure that I've said it before, that although one of the biggest pleasures of our lifestyle is being able to loaf along at our own pace, at times it's very satisfying to get stuck into a passage with a bit of a schedule.

Not that we overdo it even then; we still tend to stop quite early in the day, but starting early lets us fit in a six hour cruise even so.

We had planned to go on to Alvecote and eat in the Samuel Barlow, but for one thing by the time we got to Polesworth it was truly disgusting meteorologically, and for another, the SB doesn't open on a Monday (except Bank Holidays).

We'd had a good run down Atherstone, although most of the locks were agin us. Even at half seven, there were some boats coming up, including some of those leaving the Russell Newbery Register gathering at Alvecote last weekend.

After a stop below lock five for shopping, we carried on down and watered at the service point at the bottom; that's a very good tap, so we soon had the tank full to the brim. It should last us to Mercia now.

Having made our decision to stop, we found a space on the towpath before the official visitor moorings, where it's much more peaceful. There are a lot of other boats here; they seem to be a mix of leisure boats and the usual suspects, the itinerant village of bridge hoppers who drift about from here to Fradley and back.

I've spoken to the always helpful Justin at Aqua, and we're booked into the dry dock at Mercia to change the prop on the 28th of June. We're going to take the advice of Mr Millin (which I know would be seconded by Peter Mason at Braidbar) and change the prop, subsequently sending the old one off for repair and re-profiling, so that we can keep it for a spare.

and so to Polesworth

We've not stopped at Polesworth for quite a while. In fact, I couldn't remember just how long ago it was, so I've just looked it up; it was seven years ago on 11 May 2005, when we had an incident with a peeping tom.

Today, we hope for a much more pleasant experience. Having set off early yet again, we watered at Peel's Wharf, and then Sheila steered us through the endless procession of suburbia that is Amington. They've installed a bit of 48 hour mooring towards the Alvecote end of Amington, I think because there are a few shops nearby, but it seems unlikely that many folk will avail themselves of them.

On the way, she did spot one event that put today's problem with bird poo on the roof after mooring under the trees into context. There was a GRP cruiser with a sliding hatch over the bow doors, this hatch being a shade open, for ventilation, no doubt. Sitting on the roof was a duck, who thoughtfully positioned her posterior over the narrow gap and dropped in a little present...

It drizzled all the time we were moving; Sheila is really not having much luck with her days for steering at the moment. The moorings on the Alvecote side of Polesworth were all full, so we've come through to the ones at the other end of the village. Access is easy from either set, so it doesn't make much odds. It just means that we've passed the moored boat Will Power, setting off my earworm for the Gary Puckett and the Union Gap track for a bit.

Drat, there it goes again…Lady Will Power/ it's now or/ never/To give your love to me…

/omg

Shut up, shut up, shut up.

Ah, that's better, where was I?

Oh yes, we got to the moorings in very good time, around half ten, and pottered about; I wrestled with the bow saw, fitting a new blade we bought yesterday (it's a stroppy sort of bow saw, clings on to its old blade like fury).

A bit after lunch, shortly after Dolce Far Niente had sauntered by, John and Nev turned up on Waimaru, going in the opposite direction. This is a planned rendezvous, as they've a problem with some bottles of wine that need drinking, so we're going to feed them in exchange.

Like I said, should be a much more pleasant experience than last time.

/bye

A Peeping Tom at Polesworth

Friday 11 May

After a very wet night I made a quick and early trip to Sainsbury's and we boated round to the Fazeley water point by the BW office. There were distinct sounds of movement, so there is someone still alive in there - they are just not very good at answering emails (I still haven't had a substantive response to my complaint in March).

We started the washing machine, as usual, with the aim of finishing the heat cycle by the time we'd filled the tank, but the water pressure was too good, and we had to set off with the machine switched off. While it's heating the water, we need the engine to be doing 1000 rpm or better, and tick over, necessary for passing moored boats and the like, is only 850. By 9.30 we were on our way, going straight on at the junction to head for the Glascote 2. This is the first time we've been on this route since the autumn, so it's good to have the change of scene.

By 11.50 we were at Polesworth, which is a nice village with good moorings - we've stayed there lots of times without trouble (cue for later excitement)

After lunch we cleaned the port side of the boat, and I tightened the screws that hold the galley prism together, which seems to have cured the leak. I took some recycling to the bins in the car park and we settled down for a quiet evening.

Just as we were going to bed, in fact I was cleaning my teeth and Sheila was about to put her nightie on, she looked up to see a face peering at her through the Houdini hatch over the bed. She shouted and banged the hatch, and the face disappeared. I shot through to the bow door, but by the time I'd got it open, and it being dark, there was nothing to see, just the sound of running footsteps disappearing into the night.

In these circs, the most troublesome thing is how long it takes to calm down again. Sheila was, of course, both shocked and angry, whilst I was just furious. Sheila managed to get to sleep remarkably quickly, but it was gone 2 in the morning before I dropped off. My mind was full of revenge fantasies - it's a good job I didn't have a chance to catch him.

Saturday 12 May

We woke in rather a bleary state. There isn't a police presence in Polesworth, but we thought we should still report our peeping tom, since although there's no chance of catching him, it's good for the police and BW to have an idea of whether there's a problem in a particular place.

Accordingly, we used a useful bit of Graham Keens' website that lists all the non-emergency numbers of the police forces. Sheila gritted her teeth to ring up, and was glad she did. She had a very helpful conversation with a copper who said he'd pass it on to their intelligence section to collate with other, similar reports. We noticed that the Info board by the moorings had had the words "Watch out for thieves" added, so perhaps care needs to be taken when mooring in Polesworth at the moment.

After all this and a quick trip into the village for supplies, we boated to the foot of Atherstone Locks. We had planned to go up two locks to a quiet bit of mooring between 10 and 9, but since it was getting windy, we decided to stop on the moorings just below the bottom lock.

After lunch, I did an oil and filter change, while Sheila spent some time on the web, researching possibilities for this tax year's ISA investment. I also logged our incident on the NABO site, from where it will be passed to BW.

I made a beef tikka masala for dinner, and we had an early night.