Fradley pictures

The ducks wait by the door of the shop on the wharf to be fed by the lady who runs the shop

Fradley junction which is a classic remote canal site with very poor road connection

The BW depot with latest service van of 1935

100 up on Day 10

Today 8 miles and 3 locks
Total to Day 10 - 100 miles and 20 locks
Good cappuccinos to date now 2 (latest one being the cafe at Fradley junction.)

We are now on the Trent & Mersey canal just south of Rugeley near Armitage although we can see the huge cooling towers of Rugeley power station.

The day started sunny but soon the clouds came rolling in, just before Fradley junction at bridge 89 the top hat on the chimney decided to head butt the bridge and then dived into the canal( so far since we have had the boat 3 top hats have gone this way). As we arrived at Fradley to stop for water the clouds opened and I got soaked through. Within 20 minutes the sun was out again!

We lunched in the cafe at the BW depot which is a very typical old wharf. I took some photos but there is a blogger problem so will have to upload them later.

We left Fradley at 13.30 and cruised towards Rugeley, just as we were nearing a lock I was hit by a huge gust and then spent the next 15 minutes getting off the bank and the last 75 yards to the lock landing area. A day of many different things but great.

Retirement takes its toll

Its happening -most bizarre incident or is it my southern accent. We had walked into Atherstone to do some shopping and find a coffee shop. We did it all but no increase in my good cappuccino count. We found the only cafe in town and noticed that they did marmite to go on toast. We order our coffee - 1 mug of cappuccino and 1 cup of black cofee and 2 pieces of toast one with marmalade.

Well one mug and one cup of cappuccino arrived with 2 pieces of toast one with marmite! I am sure I ordered black coffee and marmalade- Anne reckons its how I said it!

The locks have arrived

Our mooring tonight is by bridge 50 north of Atherstone.

Today 4miles and 11 locks , total to date 80 miles and 15 locks


The photo below shows a larger version of Black Bess's colours! we saw it in Barry Hawkins yard which is located at the old Baddesley colliery wharf.

The photo on the right shows the old toll house at the British Waterways yard at Hartshill north of Nuneaton which we passed through yesterday. It is leased from BW by a banjo playing folk singer who pays a low rent but has to keep the inside of the grade 2 listed building in good order. The boats used to pass underneath the building to be measured for toll fees but has now been bricked in and forms a cellar for the house.

Tomorrow we head for Fazeley and Fradley junctions on our way to Great Haywood where we will join the Trent and Mersey canal which will take us to Stoke on Trent and the Caldon Canal.

Still connected on the Ashby

Well when we stopped tonight at bridge 8 Burton Hastings I still had a 3g connection. The photo is our mooring for tonight in bright evening sunshine its now raining.

Travel day 6 - 12 miles no locks, cumulative is 66 miles and 4 locks

Good cappuccinos to date 1

The calm before the storm as once we head for Great Haywood the locks come thick and fast, Anne cann't wait!

A few more pictures

Canal boating can be dangerous saw this on the Oxford canal the other day

Anne is very proud of her "snow through a porthole" picture

Coming off the Ashby Canal

The above picture is of Hawkesbury junction or Sutton Stop named after one of the lock keepers which we went through last Friday.Its where the Oxford meets the Coventry canal( the one on the left) The tall chimney is the old pumping house that pumped water into the canal from a deep well.

Sunday morning 07.30 in the middle of nowhere on the Ashby Canal the fields and trees were all covered in snow but by midday it had all gone. The Ashby runs between Rugby and Leicester and is very remote ie no Orange 3g signals at all. I am posting this just outside Hinckley beside a huge new Triumph motorcycle warehouse.

We are aiming to leave the Ashby tomorrow and head up towards Fradley and Great Haywood junctions where we can get onto the Trent and Mersey Canal.