The Sumpners Afloat

2nd to 8th Jun – back on the Cov

We had made a last minute decision to pop into King’s Orchard Marina on Sunday. They had space for us so we popped in, did the bedding and towels plus a load of clothes and got them all dried in their tumble driers. A great result!

Monday morning thus saw me taking us out of the Marina and along to a nice spot we had in in mind. We had an appointment to keep in Hopwas on Wednesday – approximately 3 hours away at out cruising speed. We had three days to get there so I needed to cruise for roughly an hour a day. Perfect.

We arrived at our chosen spot to find that no one else was there and quickly tied up in the best spot. There was a little train noise but nothing too bothersome and silent at night.

I awoke to heavy rain on Tuesday. Deep joy. But a quick check with the weather showed that it would all be over by 11ish, so I’d be OK to set off around then.

As it happened I set off a little earlier than 11 and had a blustery cruise, largely alone, down to the next spot I had in mind. We’ve cruised this stretch quite a few times in our 4 and half years aboard, so we have all the good spots memorised.

I listened to some Linda Thompson and June Tabor as I cruised along – very quietly, as I don’t wish to inflict my musical choice on anyone else, I always pause it when approaching a moored boat or passing another boat on the move. I think it’s good manners so to do.

The going was slow in places as it was a bit shallow, but as I neared the bit of bank I had in mind, I saw a different spot that I rather liked and made it mine. Great solar – a little rail noise and occasionally, when the wind was in the right direction, the steady “thock thock thock” of a single wind turbine. That would do nicely.

After lunch, we were visited by a swan family – so cute – especially the one riding on his mama’s back. Mama, Papa and six cygnets. The floating bird food I buy seems a little too big for the babies’ beaks so I fed them some wholemeal bread, torn up small, out of the duck hatch.

The train noise didn’t disturb our night’s sleep one bit and I awoke to a much better day. The swan family paid us another visit before I slipped our moorings on Wednesday – it looked like it would be a pleasant cruise down to Hopwas.

It was, as expected, a very pleasant cruise and the stretch through Hopwas Woods was particularly enchanting, with dappled sunlight and much birdsong. Very Zen. A kind of glad to be alive moment. I spotted the pillbox – a relic of a bygone age.

During the Second World War a large number (28,000!) of concrete pillboxes were built as part of the WW2 Defence of Britain initiative, designed to defend against an expected German invasion. Many can still be seen along the banks of the canals. They were generally built close to road and rail bridges, which would have formed important crossing points for enemy troops and vehicles.

On Old Nick – or indeed anywhere – seeing a pillbox must be confirmed by saying “Pillbox! I saw it first!”. But since I was solo and Paul was in a call, this pleasure was denied me – although I said it mentally.

I arrived at our planned stop with about an hour to spare and then went of to meet me old mucker Chris Fry. Paul joined us briefly for lunch and we spent the rest of the time chatting until it was time for him to go back to his home near Telford. It’s always a pleasure to see him and I’m so glad he made the effort to pop over and see us.

I had thought about moving on after our rendezvous but when I arrived back at the boat I had a bad attack of CBA! So we stayed put. Considering that the nearby bridge carries the A51 over the canal, it’s remarkably quiet there at night.

My indolence proved to be my downfall. It rained heavily overnight and for most of the day, so any notion of moving on Thursday was scuppered. We may have to tackle the Atherstone flight in the rain at the weekend, so I don’t want a double wetting in one week! I entertained myself by doing some Electrika admin. It’s only just over a month away now. Eeek!

By lunchtime, though, it had cleared up and I decided it was now or never, so we unhitched and away I went. It was breezy and warm when the sun shone but a tad too chilly when the sun hid her glory behind the clouds. I cruised for about an hour and found a reasonable spot to tie up for the night. It won’t make it into the top 10 favourite moorings, not by a long chalk. But it would suffice.Alexander Pope would have called that “damning with faint praise”. Thank you A Level Eng. Lit. – I actually remembered something! Although Pope was not to my taste at all!

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer.

Shortly after I had moored up, the heavens opened and I congratulated myself on my good timing. And then set about making a Carrot Cake. And that, my friends, was Thursday! But we did make a decision! As we started our return journey slightly earlier than planned, we are going to nip down the lock-free and recently dredged Ashby – see how the going is. It has a bit of a rep for being shallow so we’ll see.

Friday saw us making our way down to the foot of Atherstone Locks. It was a changeable day alternating between hot and cold with irritating regularity. There was the usual queue at the Glascote 2, but good use of water, as it was a succession of one up/one down.

Paul nipped off to grab a fresh baguette for lunch, at the handy Co-op at Bridge 73, while I pottered on. He was soon back and we continued our cruise.

We had a grocery delivery at Bradley Green Services later in the day and we also needed to do some domestics. You can accumulate a great deal of rubbish and – er – sewage between Great Haywood and Bradley Green – especially if you’re not hurrying! There is a sanitary point at Fradley Junction, but you need to do a long distance carry if you’re turning right as it’s below the first lock after the junction. Its 31 miles – and while on paper that’s only 2 or 3 day’s cruising, not everyone wants to go at that sort of pace. There used to be one at Fazeley, but that’s no longer accessible since the Marina was sold to Rothen Group – the CRT’s major sub-contractors. It’s lucky we have a spare base!

We arrived at Bradley Green (aka Grendon Wharf) at about 16:30 and did the much needed domestics and then pushed across to the opposite bank to await our groceries, We’d push back when they arrived.

They arrived bang on time and we quickly took delivery, before setting off to our planned night spot at the foot of the locks, where we passed a quiet night.

We awoke to louring skies but it wasn’t actually raining, so we decided we’d knock off a couple of locks and moor in the next pound – not something we’d usually do as there is always the risk of pounds draining overnight, but there were recognised moorings (in print!) in this longish pound, so we reckoned we would be OK.

As we we finishing the second lock of the two, the heavens opened and we all got a bit of a wetting, so that settled it – we would stay and not move at all that day.

Well of course the forecast rain barely materialised and the VERY BAD Yellow weather warning was quietly taken down and we spent the day kicking ourselves and saying “oh we should have moved on”. But we used the day productively, me sewing and Paul tinkering with Electrika stuff. You can see the fruits of my labours below. The fruits of Paul’s labours are slightly less tangible but nonetheless valuable.

The doll – which I’ve made just for fun – is from a set of tea towels from artist, Sarah Young. You just cut them out, sew them up and stuff them! I really enjoyed doing it. The dress is reversible, too, as you can see.

We decided we’d make an early start on Sunday morning, to beat some more bad weather, and others who might have the same idea, so that we would not be following someone all the way up the remaining 9 locks.

Sunday morning commenced at 07:00 sharp. We threw clothes on, unhitched and set off. As we approached the first lock, another boater (who was probably cussing the fact that we had beaten them to the lock!) told us that the pound between the next pair of locks (9 & 8) had been very low, when she’d walked her dogs.

She was correct – it was still very low – and Paul had to flush some water down while I was in the first lock, so that I would be able to get to the second lock. He came back to finish off the lock that I was in and I sallied forth. Only to grind to a halt! I was grounded on the cill and could not fully exit the lock. So back he went and flushed some more down and I was away and into the second lock with a certain sense of relief.

The remainder of the flight was fine and we could tell that we were the first boat through (dry lock walls are the clue!) and by the time we got to the last two locks, the CRT vollies were on duty (thank you, as always chaps!). They said “You’re the first!” – we said “We know!”. Smart Alecs!

So there it was! Only 10:00 and the last potential barrier between us and the Marina of Dreams had been conquered. OK – there are still another couple of potential pinch-points – the first the stop lock at Hawkesbury Junction and the second another landslide in Easenhall cutting, but lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, right? Right?

As we plan to be loitering a bit this week, for an appointment with our drug-dealer in Nuneaton (well a pharmacy actually, for our repeat prescriptions, but that sounded less dramatic!), we did domestics again, just to be on the safe side. Once done, we went on our merry way.

Our destination was the nice quiet spot near Mancetter, which we have used several times. We arrived and Paul moored us whilst I started brunch. A delicious Bacon and double Fried Egg sarnie. Just the job! No sooner had we wolfed it down and washed up, than who should come steaming round the corner but our friends Dave and Roma Jesse on NB Perseverance – fellow Ortomariners – also from Fareham! Of course we forgot to take pics! But I did take one of our brunch………

They quickly pulled over and we had a lovely catch up over coffee and carrot cake (not for us!). And while we were sitting there, Hargreaves ll – another Ortomarine vessel went past. That almost constitutes a rally! They left (although we could have chatted for hours!) – aiming for the Atherstone flight and points North – while we picked up on some more Electrika tasks. Another week over.

Next week we plan to start cruising the Ashby (after we have restocked with life- saving pharmaceuticals!)

PS – it probably goes without saying, but the rain that was supposed to be happening Sunday pm also failed to materialise!

Period	Miles	Locks
2nd – 8th Jun	20	13
Cumulative 2025	206	119