Busy with boats on the Coventry canal

It was raining when I awoke this morning but it soon passed. I started off from Fradley but made slow progress due to the number of moored boats and also the amount of boats travelling north, almost all of which I met at a bridge or in a narrow place. Having spent the year on a number of barely used canals it seems strange to now find myself in the opposite situation. What really strikes me is that I have travelled this section of canal in 2008, 2010, 2012 and again now and it is much busier this year. It makes me wonder what it might be like in a couple more years.

I walked into Tamworth for a look around. It has a very nice park bordered by the rivers Tame and Anker as well as the castle gardens.

It's true that things do happen in threes

Firstly there was the rope round the prop, then one of my solar lights went overboard and now one of my fender brackets has snapped. Three things over three consecutive days! However they are only minor niggles. I had another good cruising day and I'm now moored opposite a pig farm which has lots of cute piglets. Even better there is no significant piggy smell. Lots more boats moored here than when I last stopped here.

What a lovely late summer day

I had a really nice quiet mooring at Gailey last night and I seem to have found another nice quiet mooring tonight.

I did ten locks today getting help on about half of them. Only one strange happening today which makes me despair of the male gender. There is a stretch of road which runs alongside the canal and in one passing car I spied a guy aged maybe twenties or thirties who pointed his hand at me in a gun shape, like young children do. Why would you do that? Oh well.

Much better signal today

What a beautiful day we had today. I hope it lasts. I cruised down to Autherley junction onto the Staffs and Worcs canal.

There are a couple of very narrow cuttings and I had to sit tight in a passing place so an oncoming boat could get through. Shortly after that Olivia's engine cut out and I had to bow haul her to a wider part of the canal to moor up. I quickly assessed that the most likely cause was a fouled prop so I dived down the weedhatch to find that I'd picked up some rope. It was so tightly wound that it took an hour to cut it free. Thank goodness for the knife I bought for this eventuality for £2.99 from Wilkos. The rest of my day went well, the only other excitement being when I met a working boat in a bridge 'ole, calling for a quick reverse manoeuvre.

The road home

The water road, that is. I've been on board since Tuesday but very poor signal in this area. The same was true last time I passed this way five years ago. Had some rain Tuesday and Thursday but good cruising for most of the time. Also found good moorings each evening (although I got the last space last night). A beautiful kingfisher stayed in view for a while yesterday. Flying along ahead of me and then waiting while I caught up. It was in an area with lots of moored boats which I thought was unusual. I haven't met any characters yet this week but I was a bit fed up last night. I saw that the local pub was advertising free wifi so off I went to update the blog. Firstly, they were out of draught cider and they didn't have decaf coffee. I settled for a bottled cider. I ordered veggie sausage and mash and that was what I got. Was it wrong of me to expect that it might come with a vegetable of some description? To top it all I couldn't get a connection to their wifi. Very frustrating. I've booked my Safety Examination for mid October so I have a new target to meet. Bye for now. I'll be back when I next get a signal.

Still at Audlem

I cruised for four hours today and yet I am still in Audlem. How did that happen? Well that's how long it takes a single hander to get through the locks ;-). Here is a picture taken from my boat at 6.30am just after the first boat had left. I love the eerie mist:

No news today other than the fact that I still don't have a signal on my so called smart phone which gives me a good excuse to go to the pub to use their free wifi. I'll be going home midweek so this might be the last post for a while.

Busy at Nantwich

I moored at Barbridge after the towpath telegraph mentioned a beer festival at Nantwich. Mind you Barbridge was busy enough. The clincher was that I could get the bus to Chester from close by. Saturday came and the predicted rain held off. I spent the day in Chester walking the city walls and looking in all the unique shops. There was one shop that was an outlet for artists and makers. It's an Aladdin's cave and definitely worth a browse.

Today I cruised down to Nantwich and it really was jammed with boats. I didn't need to stop so continued on to Audlem. A highlight of today was the little water vole swimming across the canal. It was so sweet. The Mill at Audlem sells all sorts of sewing paraphernalia and it was fun to look around. They also have lots of canal related books. Several nice little shops here: a deli, butchers, gift shops, etc. Also a Co-op for the necessities. We didn't get much rain today either. Hurrah. Mind you it is getting colder at night now.