Another lovely day - sunshine all the way. A bit windy in places but more of that later.
Yesterday, John was remarkably considerate at the locks, waiting with me to pull the boat in and staying until it was reasonable that he went to see what was happening at the locks and I thought how lovely it was that at last he'd taken on board my comments. Nah.... Back to usual today.
Dashing up to 'help' even when there were clearly enough people up there and leaving me with a perfunctuary 'You OK here?' as he disappears into the distance. Oh well - it was nice while it lasted!
There is a definate hint of end of summer about, despite the temperature hitting 28 degrees.
...and the brambles are full of delicious blackberries - not that we can reach them as the best ones are always on the opposite side to the tow-path. I did however manage to grab a few from a hedge as I walked Paddy this afternoon, Mmmm love blackberries, especially when still warm from the sun.
We are also being covered in seeds of various types as we cruise along. In the wind today all the dry seeds were flying around and most of them seemed to land on the roof of the boat or on us! It was quite disconcerting at times - I need to give Paddy a good brush to get his coat clear.
We came up through the river section today...
Here's the sign telling you to avoid the weir.....
... and here's some of the weir you have to avoid. Not difficult one would think? Maybe some people think it's a good idea to go that way? Somehow I think not.
this is a small section of Alrewas - I'm always going on about how lovely it is so here's some proof for those who haven't been there. John and I always look at the lovely properties with their private moorings and think what we'd do if the lottery came up. It's one of the few places that would induce me back to bricks and mortar I think.
This is the exact spot that I fell in at Fradley - just past the white bollard! The lifebelt is probably the one that pulled me out! It feels good to have got past there without mishap, I've put some of the wobblies behind me now! Mind you the first lock on the Fradley 5 was horrible this time - the wind (said there's more about it) just took the side of the boat and I had problems getting her away from the side and then getting her into the lock. Thank heavens for bow thrusters I say! Luckily there weren't any people watching at that one. The one after the cafe - Junction Lock - was alive with gongoozlers and somehow I managed to get the boat positioned perfectly and one of the chaps watching told me it was 'terrific'. John had to spoil it afterwards when I told him by adding ' for a little lady'. Grrr sometimes I could swing at that man.
We got around the junction easily and are now moored on the Coventry Canal near the Plough just past Streethay Wharf. We have checked the maps and decided which way we are going to head through Birmingham and John has carefully marked the book so that in the heat of the moment we will know which way to go! We will have 13 locks to do tomorrow before we hit the outskirts of the Birmingham Navigations. I'm quite excited actually. The cruising guide and the maps look interesting but somewhat short of moorings. I'm hoping that once we get there it will become obvious!!!!!
We have seen a lot of boats from the marina today but expect that they will become fewer as we head further away.
One bit of excitement this evening - a police helicopter was circling the field opposite us for nearly half an hour and got lower and lower. I was imagining escaped convicts, etc and wanted to lock all the doors and windows, but then it went away and John said it was probably just someone trespassing on the railway. This seemed so likely and boring that I gave up.
Once again a good signal! Looking forward to a new section of canal tomorrow when we get to Fazeley Junction and turn right!
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