A night out in Brinklow.

Yesterday the Problem was still there, so I went to the office to arrange for it fixing. I was promised that somebody would come and take a look at it. At the end of the day we were still waiting. Through the day our fridge/freezer was kept going by the solar panels. In the evening though this stopped. So in the interest of saving power we walked into Brinklow for a drink at the Raven Inn. On our return our lights were very dim and the water pump struggled to work, so we went to bed.

This morning another trip to the office and finally Simon came made some checks then replaced the Alternator and belts. Now we are on our way back to Hawksbury Junction, tonight we are moored at Ansty. Tomorrow we get ready for the arrival of Stephen and the three boys. Picture tonight is the mooring at Strreton

Charging Problems.

Left Atherstone Sunday morning, Moored at bridge 29 near the Anchor Inn(didn't go in) at lunch time. In the afternoon we went through Nuneaton, then moored at bridge 17 for the night. On Monday Pamela phoned to say her day surgery had been cancelled and they would come and see us for the day instead of Tuesday. we headed down to Hawksbury Junction to meet them. Had a nice day as we celebrated Archies second birthday.

This morning when I started the engine the warning light came on telling me the domestic batteries were not charging. After trying every thing I could, like tightening the belts it still wasn't charging, so I phoned the breakdown assistence. To cut a long story short We took the boat down to Rose Narrowboats at Stretton on the Foss. ofcourse while travelling down there it Fixed its self. Tonight we are moored near the boat yard,tomorrow if it is still alwright we will go back to Hawksbury Junction where we are meeting Stephen and his boys on Friday.

Eleven lock climb.

We left Fazeley on yesterday evening after watering up and getting rid of our rubbish. We didn't go far just through Tamworth with it's two locks, finally mooring just before Alvecote Marina. This morning we left planning to stop at Polesworth. From the start doublefracture felt sluggish,the engine seemed to be racing but we were getting nowhere. At Polesworth I decided to look in the weed hatch and there it was a large piece of plastic sacking wrapped round the prop shaft.

After removing that we made better progress, the challenge today was the flight of eleven locks at Atherstone. By the time we had done the first four it was time for lunch. after lunch we did the remaining seven locks in good time. At the top we moored for the night and walked into Atherstone (about a 10min walk) and did some shopping. Pictures are of the Flight.

Back with the trains.

Since leaving Willington we have been away from the railways until last night when we moored at Huddlesford Junction. At the junction the main line crosses the canal next to the moorings, then stays close till Hopwas when it swings away again.

After leaving Morrisons mooring we called in at Barton for our prescriptions(we had a bag full to last us for the next three month) and returned our library books. Thanks to Mick from Barton Marina for taking Marlene to the doctors so she was not late for her appointment. Spent Monday night in Alrewas which was quite busy. On Tuesday we went up to Fradley, moored at bridge 90 and went into Lichfield.

Yesterday as I said we moored at Huddlesford Junction and had a night out at the Plough. This morning we headed for Fazeley Junction. It took us two and a half hours to travel the five mile, due to the number of moored boats we passed. Arriving at Fazeley for lunch time, just ahead of a thunder storm.

We looked back at some notes we made five year ago when we brought Doublefracture down from Northwich, we arrived at Fazeley on the 22nd July, however that time we had traveled from Kings Bromley Wharf. We must be slowing down.

We are back afloat.

Hi There, back from our trip up north, Lots of trains and buses. It was nice to see everybody before we head south. Still having to take things a little slowly after the op, still quite sore.

We Collected the boat last night and spent the night at Willington, then this morning we traveled up to Shobnal Marina where we pumped out and bought gas and an anchor. We had to have the anchor for when we get on the Thames.

Only one lock on this stretch and had some help, also had some help swapping the gas bottles over, much too heavy for me to lift. Moored tonight at a mooring just before Branston Lock, If you cut through the industrial estate you come to a large Morrisons supermarket, we needed this as the cupboard was very bare.

Tomorrow we move to Barton so that on Monday we can collect three months prescriptions for the time we are away from the area.

Visiting, Then cruising south.

First I must thank Jan for her lovely comments. Problems like hospital visits are easily overcome don't let them put you off. If we can help with anything, please, just ask.

My sister Jennifer arrived on Monday with her daughter Mali, we had a nice day with food, wine and a walk round Mercia Marina and surrounding area. In the evening Marlene and I moved Doublefracture
to bridge 20, can't over stay on the moorings. Bridge 20 was rebuild winter before last after a tractor demolished one side of the bridge.

On Tuesday morning I was sat reading in the cratch when a large bird flew into the tree at the other side of the canal looking through my scope I was delighted to see it was a buzzard, then later I discovered a second one on a lower branch.

Moving again we moored just outside Mercia Marina on Tuesday night, then on Wednesday morning we took the bus into Burton, then on to Barton so we could change our library books, returning in mid-afternoon. Today is a quiet day getting ready to leave the boat at Mercia Marina so we can take the train to Grantham to visit Pamela, Then on Monday take the train to Yorkshire to visit my Mother and our son Richard and family After that we are heading south to the Kennet and Avon. While there we will spend some time with Stephen and our three grandsons. See you then, when the real summer cruise starts.

The pictures are bridge 20 before the repair and Mercia Marina.

Views of Kedleston Hall

Marking Time.

Spent this week at Willington just resting. We have seen Graham & Jennifer from Best of Mates, these are people we first met five year ago. There have been some lovely sunsets while we have been here. The trains are still as noisy as ever and at our first mooring very close.

Yesterday we went to Kedleston Hall, another National Trust property just outside Derby. In the hand book it says to go on a Saturday because the bus goes into the hall coach park (in the week you have to walk about a mile from the nearest bus stop) what it didn't say was there was only one bus each way. When we arrived in Derby we had an hour to wait for the bus, this we spent looking around the market.
The bus left at 1-o-clock and arrived at the hall half an hour later.

On arrival we ate our picnic lunch then went round the hall. This Neo-classical mansion stands in some lovely park land. The Curzon family have lived here since the 12th century and still live at the hall. The hall was used for the film The Duchess.
The entrance hall has some impressive marble pillars.

Today we walked down to Mercia Marina for their open day. There were lots of stalls and attractions. We had a look round a waterside lodge, very nice. Tomorrow my sister Jennifer is coming to see us.

Just a note our son Stephen is riding the Tour de France course three days in front of the race, his exploits can be followed on www.sowhere2next.wordpress.com and you can donate to his charity (The Royal British Legion0 at www.justgiving.com/stephenmasters0