Thu 13th July Atherstone Locks to Mancetter
Stephen Carter came past on the towpath, in
his CRT volunteer uniform. He was the first of five we saw heading for one of
the bottom locks with a plan to paint it.
As we set off, we saw that one of the boats
beyond the bridge was also setting off. Then yet another cast off between us,
so we had three in a convoy, and a lock queue as a result. The one in front of
us was Poppy Rose – a pleasant couple.
At lock 7 we met Sally Naylor who was helping
another boat down. Eric was not involved as he had an eye test. After Lock 6 we
moored up to go shopping. In hindsight we could have gone a bit further to save
a walk. We went to Aldi, and also the large Co-op. James nipped to the High
Street to post a card for Jasmin’s birthday. In the Co-op we discovered there
was a café, and they were offering a cooked breakfast, so we indulged. The
service was friendly, and the meal was well presented.
Back at the boat, we departed once more, and
found several boats coming down the locks. One of them was Graham Pope, who has
bought an ex-hireboat. We didn’t have to set any locks, and at the top lock
there were two more volunteers. We decided not to use the water point, as there
was already another boat there. Hartshill will do.
We tried to moor before Bridge 36, where there
is a view up the hill to some woods. Sadly, it was too shallow, so we moved on
past the Alpaca place and the new Mancetter Marina, and we found a place to
moor just after.
Hazel put out some more washing.
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A rural scene from our mooring at Atherstone Locks |
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Starting up Atherstone Locks |
Merevale Hall overlooks the locks from the hill top
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Meeting Sally Naylor |
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Lock 5 |
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Meeting Graham Pope |
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Atherstone Top Lock |
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Leo II |
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Moored at Mancetter |
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Meadow Brown |
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Skipper |
9 locks, 3 miles. Dep 0820, arr 0955 Lock 6/5.
Dep 1205, arr 1345 Mancetter.
Fri 14th July
Mancetter
Heavy rain was forecast all day, and we sat it out, catching up on paperwork, and watching tennis. No boating today.
Sat 15th July
Mancetter to Bedworth
With high winds and heavy rain forecast for
later, we departed at dawn. Tickover and hush past moored boats. At Hartshill
we filled the water tank, before creeping past Firoza without waking
Derek and Judy.
The canal follows a contour with great views in
places, before an area of quarries and old mines. Nuneaton follows, where they
have an amazing number of allotments, and then there is a massive warehouse on
the site of the old Griff colliery. Soon after that we had something serious on
the prop, stopping it completely. With our momentum, and the use of our bow
thruster, we managed to get into the side, where there was piling to hook onto.
In the end there was only a bit of cloth. The other thing must have dropped
off. A heavy rain shower arrived, so we stayed put until it had passed.
We arrived in Bedworth as planned, mooring just
before Bulkington Bridge, and looking out at intermittent heavy rain and high
winds.
There wasn’t much of a TV signal, so we watched
the Wimbledon final online. A good wet day occupation. Djokovic lost to
Alcaraz.
We saw BCF boat Go with the Flow go
past, but they didn’t pause.
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The water point at Hartshill |
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Creeping past Firoza |
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The quarry area |
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Marston Junction where the Ashby starts |
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Cloth on the prop |
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Comma |
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Gatekeeper |
0 locks, 7 miles. Dep 0545, arr 0830 Bridge 16.
Dep 0900, arr 0935 Bridge 14.
Sun 16th July
Bedworth to Hawkesbury Junction
As we were leaving the boat to go to church, Cranley
came round the corner, so we had a quick chat with Mick and Suzanne.
We caught a number 56 bus which took us into
Bedworth, with a bus stop right outside our destination: Life Church. We had a
warm welcome, and were shown into the café for a coffee. A lady called Peggy
joined us and introduced herself. She asked if we had reserved our seats for
the service. We hadn’t, so she took us into the auditorium, which was buzzing
with people. The worship was excellent, with keyboard, guitar, bass and drums,
a lady lead singer plus three backing vocalists. We knew very few of the songs,
and some were brilliant, and are now in the pipeline for us to lead back in
Aylesbury. The talk was about decision making, and how and why we make our
plans. We were privileged to pray for Peggy, and she kindly gave us a lift back
to the bridge.
We departed promptly to make the two mile
journey to Hawkesbury Junction, where we turned and reversed up the Coventry
Arm to a visitor mooring just before the first bridge. We got caught in a rain
shower as we were mooring up. We had a Zoom chat with Jack and Sandra in
Aylesbury.
We went for a Sunday roast in the Greyhound. Thankfully,
they serve until 7pm.
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Suzanne on Cranley |
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Mick |
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Our chosen venue for church this morning |
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Before the service |
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The worship band |
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Peggy with Hazel |
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Will we get under with the hood up? |
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Our mooring on the Coventry arm. |
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The bins were full |
0 locks, 2 miles. Dep `1320, arr 1405.
Next: We start our journey down the North
Oxford Canal.
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