9th To 15th June – back up the Ashby and along to the North Oxford
Did I mention that I need a haircut?
We stayed where we were on Monday because donkey. Plus it was hot. Most of the windows came out and we ran the fan all day and managed to stay cool that way
Tuesday was turn around day so I set off late morning for the winding hole. Just as I was leaving, Donkey let out a loud volley of hee-haws, which Paul said was him saying goodbye.
Just before we got to the winding hole, we had to stop and do a bit of gardening. A tree had part fallen and was blocking the bridge hole somewhat. Out came the trusty loppers and there was soon a good pile of snipped branches on the bank. And in the midst of all of that, Ted fell in – goodness knows how! We encouraged him to the bank and he got out virtually unaided. Silly boy. I bet it cooled him off though!
It must have been our (although not Ted’s!) lucky day, because normally another boat would have turned up – just to add a little spice to the mix. Luckily that didn’t happen and I was soon merrily on my way again. The winding hole shown in the book didn’t look long enough to turn, so I gave it the swerve and pressed on to the next one, which we remembered was pretty big – opposite the entrance to Bosworth Marina. We met our friends Peta and Steve Reading at Bosworth and have fond memories of it. It’s a nice Marina.
Once turned, I made my way back to our sheep/cow/donkey mooring – only to find that someone had nabbed our space in our absence – which I’d feared might happen. Quelle horreur! Not the end of the world – there were a few other spots we felt might be OK.
As you know, closures have been on my mind – although, I’m a little less worried,now that we have Brinklow in our sights. But CRT have made the very sensible decision to introduce night time closures at some locks, due to the lack of water. The theory is that if they are closed at 4 pm every night, it will allow the water levels to recover. I think this is a great idea – better that than full closure – although it may well be a precursor to that, if we don’t get any rain. I wonder how the remainder of the summer will pan out. This is how the notices are worded:
“Following the driest spring in a century, water levels in some of our reservoirs have dropped. To help conserve the remaining water, from Tuesday 1 July, we will be reducing the opening times for nn Flight from 8am, to close at 4pm with last boat in at 3pm.
The aim of this evening restriction is to reduce water demand and allow water levels to recover, which will mean that there will be more water available for daytime journeys.
We hope this coordinated action will allow for your continued enjoyment of our waterways throughout the summer and that providing this advance warning will allow you to make suitable plans.
Thank you for your understanding. You can read about other ways you can help preserve water supplies on our website here. An update will be provided by Friday 1 August or sooner if the situation changes. “
So – a prudent move by CRT – although doubtless there will be more than a few moans and groans and cries for reductions in oar licences – like it’s CRT’s faut that we’ve had no rain.
After a sticky night, we were rudely awakened by a beeping nose, which had to be investigated. It was the battery for the generator telling us it was low in charge. This had never happened before. Paul decided he would investigate further in the morning and we all went back to sleep.
By the time I got up, Paul had found the issue – he had inadvertently switched off the generator battery charger whilst furkling in the tech cupboard (as is his wont). He flicked it back on, reset the genny and problem solved.My hero!
I set off as usual, bound for Sutton Cheney wharf for the night – hopefully. We were timing our arrival to coincide with anyone on the VMs from last night, leaving for the day. It was a hot cruise with relentless sun – so hot that I resorted to using the fan out on deck to keep me cool. I was jolly glad when it was over, and we were lucky enough to find a spot right where we wanted. We shall definitely do an early morning cruise tomorrow, which we actually love! That great feeling of “no kids on the street today”. IYKYK.
As I was cruising along,solo, I had mused on how quickly this year seems to be flying by. There are scenes of haymaking in the fields as I pass, the barley looks well on the way to being ripe and it’s very nearly the midsummer solstice. It needs to slow down!
It became steadily hotter and – unlike sane boaters – we electric boats prefer to be in full sun to catch every last vestige of the sun’s energy. Mad! But our yield for Wednesday was 10.5 KWh – not record breaking, but pretty good!
It was a really beautiful morning on Thursday. The alarm went off at 06:30 and we had watered, put a wash on and seen to the toilet by 07:00. Once again we were aiming for the Stoke Golding VMs, so not too far and we were certainly early enough for us to get there and have Paul at his desk before 08:30. Which we were – although just as we were mooring we picked up something round the screw. This made mooring a bit trickier and Paul had to do one of his mahoosive leaps to get ashore. It had sounded pretty awful, but was actually just a plastic carrier bag – the bane of boaters’ lives!
The mooring we found was not ideal anyway – it was on a bend, so we were touching the bank at the stern and bow, but nowhere else. The hope was that one of the other boats would move off, time would tell!
Well – someone did move and we moved to grab the spot and it was lovely – with its own bench and everything. And views over wheat fields. very nice. And we had the Stoke Golding Armada – mainly ducks and a couple of swans to entertain us – all very well-fed too, by the size of their crops! But they do squabble and and sometimes fight quite viciously.
It was very, very hot, but we managed to stay reasonable cool. And I persuaded Paul to join me in an ice cold Capri while he was finishing off work for the week! He didn’t take much persuading to be fair! It was a relief, though, when the sting went out of the sun. We sat on the bench (our bench!) to watch the day fade and it was lovely and cool.Two loads of washing dry before 11 am though!
We finally changed down to our 1 tog duvet. It’s just the job for hot nights and good to be able to pull something over you in the early hours, when it gets chilly. Such a great invention.
Up early again on Friday to beat the sun. and it was just lovely again. We didn’t meet anyone for the first hour or more – apart from a chap with a lovely Springer Spaniel, who kept launching himself (the dog – not the man!) into the canal – it was a joy to see him having so much fun. Our two could not believe their eyes – they’re not water dogs!
We arrived at Trinity just as they opened and went back to the berth we had been on last week. Yay for Explore 100! Cleaning, a beepy, showers and a grocery delivery ensued. Oh – did I mention a takeaway?
Nights are much cooler with the 1-tog quilt and we had a comfortable, if short night before setting off at 06:45. We planned to slip away silently, undetected, but Ted had other ideas and we made a little more noise than we had planned. We were stricken with guilt and are so sorry. We hope we did not wake our neighbours and if we did we hope they went straight back to sleep. Embarrassed face.
Once again it was a joy to be cruising in the freshly brewed hours of the morning, a mug of coffee and a digestive in hand. and it was definitely worth it to beat the heat, that’s for sure. We saw Walkabout – one of our showboats for Electrika – although we did not realise at the time. It was one of those fleeting, passing boats kind of a conversation – they actually asked us if we were going to Electrika, which made me chuckle. (I was indoors).
It got hotter and hotter – indeed 26C by 09:00 was predicted – and more stifling and we began to wonder if it was time to pull over. A nice bit of bank with a large gap between two moored boats made up our minds. A nice rural spot, not far from the end of the Ashby – a little train noise, perhaps – but otherwise perfect to sit out the heat. And only 10 am! We were later joined by a couple of other boats.
We took every window out, stuck the fan on and pottered the day away, trying to stay cool. There may have been a short beepy – just to make up for being up so early – I’ll leave you to decide!
We set off on Sunday after a very pleasant breakfast and were soon at the junction with the Coventry canal. It was a nice cruise through to Hawkesbury. Lots of folk out walking their dogs and all happy to pass the time of day. I dropped Paul off in the gauging narrows and he nipped across to set the stop lock, while I made the 180 degree turn onto the North Oxford. #nobowthruster!
It was very blustery indeed by then and we made the decision to pull over – boating in high winds can be a bit dodgy. And anyway – we were through the penultimate hurdle! Only a landslide at Easenhall can stop us now! And I hope i don’t live to regret that remark!
We ended the week with a visit to the Greyhound. Paul was thirsty after his efforts cleaning the well deck and stern, so that we looked a bit more ship shape. He fenced a pint and a game of crib. It was still warm (but breezy) so we sat outside and had a very nice time.
The plan for next week is for me to quietly cruise my way back to the Marina of Dreams in a series of short hops. It looks a bit cooler next week, so hopefully no need for early morning heroics! There will probably be a short pause until we head back out after Electrika and our trip home for our little one’s 2nd birthday. This means we’ve been at Brinklow 2 years already.
I just had to add this Monday morning postscript. The grass cutting contractors came along with a strimmer this morning and strimmed along by where we were moored, meaning the well deck that Paul so lovingly cleaned yesterday afternoon is now full of grass cuttings! Just so irritating. Gah!
| Period | Miles | Locks |
| 16th to 23rd Jun | 19 | 1 |
| Cumulative 2025 | 245 | 120 |