How can the weather go from being rubbish to perfect in a blink of an eye? I can’t answer that one, but it wont stop the big grin on our faces to be cruising in the sunshine.
Although we’ve still had a few misty frosty mornings.
We made it up to Fradley Junction at the beginning of the week
and turned left onto the Trent and Mersey Canal. Time to flex those lock muscles that have been atrophying for the past 4 months.
Not sure if we’ll make it all the way to Preston Brook, but we are heading towards Northwich so maybe we’ll sneak in a trip to lovely Lymm whilst we are up there .
We can’t go too far each day because Eric has to saddle up to fetch the car. Then find somewhere safe to leave it, where it doesn’t cause any inconvenience to the locals.
Stocked up with groceries at Rugeley in time for a day two relaxing at Great Haywood, taking in a wander around the estate at Shrugborough Hall. The daffs are at their finest.
Although wa are watching our steps around the imfamous two bodied swan gracing the River Trent
Workman Gardens in Evesham is a super place to moor,
The End of the Wall at Workman Gardens
lots to see and nice and close to walk over the bridge into town. I didnt expect to see a whale in Evesham, but there it was in the gardens, albeit a scaled down sculpture.
Crossing over the river into the town, we found ourselves in the Abbey gardens. The Norman Abbey was built in the early 700s, it was huge, almost a town in its own rights, not only a place of worship but providing employment, health care and education and a reason for Evesham to thrive. Shamefully, it was razed to the ground during the 16th century dissolution of the monasteries, but the newly built clock tower was saved.
There’s some fascinating history in Evesham, most famously the Battle of Evesham where Simon De Montfort was fighting for democracy, in the belief that the common people would be less resistant to paying taxes if they had representatives negotiating on their behalf, as opposed to the king, (Bad King John at the time) just helped himself.
Lots of interesting little places to explore in Evesham
We’d been leap frogging down the River Avon with some lovely narrowboats all chug chugging their way to the river festival and a Russell Newby convention (big traditional thud thud engines, that are beautifully maintained and usually housed in an engine room for ventilation, ) despite Eric having a beer belly, he doesn’t smoke a pipe, have a beard or keep his brass polished so we moored at the opposite end of the gardens so as not to draw too much attention. But it looked like we were going to be in for a lively weekend
looking downstream, Firecrest is moored just where the River disappears from view
As more and more boats appeared, signs went up on the towpath saying “closed from 9am Saturday morning” We were a bit confused by this, what was closed? There was reserved mooring notices at one end for the RN boats, but nothing to indicate if it was the towpath, park or the mooring that was closed. And none of the organisers seemed to be able to give us an answer. Feeling a bit disgruntled we untied the ropes and cruised on, luckily only as far as the pontoon 200m away. And we soon realised why as the cruisers emerged from their marinas to join the party. We were treated to an array of boats in all shapes and sizes
Little and large
But the best one had to be the Dutton amphibious car enjoying a trip out.
Despite big expectations that the River Festival would be fun to watch, it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib, all the action took place on the short frontage of the gardens so we hardly saw any of it. At least the steam boats were all fired up when they returned home late afternoon
I stayed up way beyond my bedtime to watch the fireworks only to realise too late that the trees were in the way and I should have been on the other side of the river.
Still, we’d had a nice few days in Evesham and been visited by friends who live locally. Look out Pershore, we’re coming your way.
Heading south on the Grand Union Canal, below Whilton Marina
We had almost reached our summer destination; East Anglia, albeit a good 2 months later than we’d planned, so what would it matter if we dawdled in Weedon Bec for a week. Theres a lot of opportunity for creativity here, and I had friends close by, so with us bagging a mooring in full sun, ie good solar power, and no need to run the generator..
A misty morning but by 10am the sun was cracking the flags
…Eric took the opportunity to return home, to do some essential house maintenance, leaving me to play. There is a brilliant quilting shop in Weedon called the Bramble Patch. It stocks even more fabric than I have in my stash back home. Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee, I bought myself a little pattern, some coordinated fabric to make a summer sunhat. This sewing machine rarely gets used on the boat, and even though it’s the tiniest of models I was debating whether or not it earnt its storage space. Its won a reprieve for now.
Weedon also has a creative hub housed in the Depot. The Depot was built during the Napoleonic war by George III to house the English ordinance, (gunpowder) in a more central location away from the south coast, in case Napoleon invaded.
Looking towards the clock tower at the Depot
Nowadays the historic warehouses, which have seen a variety of military use right up until the 1980s are home to antique warehouses, offices, classic car showrooms and bike showrooms, book stores and cafes.
We might live life in the slow lane, but I’ll always hanker after a sports car,
But my favourite is the Riverknits studio. Home to Becky and Marcus, who have created an artisan yarn brand, which they dye themselves. They regularly hold open days and knit and natters, and the week I was there there they hosted a mini yarn festival with a host of other independant yarnies. I met up with friends and we were in our element.
And yes I bought wool and a book.
Weedon Bec is a great place for a boats to stop. It’s simple and non fussy, but there’s 2 good convenience stores, a revolution outdoor laundrette, a variety of eateries, but sadly no dedicated boating facilities such and water, bins or fuel. But there’s plenty of mooring, and the neighbours are cute
Even Louie the sidecar dog in my header photo has his own website http://louiethesidecardog.com/
Speed boating, or Endurance boating, ….Well it felt like it for us. We rarely cruise for over 3 hours a day, but with so many delays both Eric and I were keen to push on. 5 or 6 hours cruising on a few days.
Approaching Aston Lock, below Stone
Back in mid December, a few days before the breach at Scholar’s Green halted our journey south, we treated ourselves to a Gold Licence intending to spend the season cruising the East Anglia waterways. 10 weeks later we finally broke free and sailed through to Kidsgrove.
Almost at Kidsgrove, still on the Macc
10 and half weeks later I got the phone call to return home, but now 4 weeks later we’re finally on the move again. We dutifully checked our route maps and CanalPlanAC says 115 miles, 69 locks, 57 hours.. Kidsgrove to Northampton. But no, there’s been a major landslide at Brinklow and our direct route is blocked until mid June. We’ll have to travel via Birmingham, 125 miles and 128 locks and 68 hours. That’s almost twice as many locks to do. (James if you’re reading this, be warned we’re coming via Hatton.) But we all love locking, especially when the sun’s shining, and we’ve already done 23.
Approaching one of our 128, somewhere below Stoke
We got very lucky with the Easter Bank Holiday weather, and we had some perfect cruising weather from Stoke. Even the occassional heavy showers ended with a rainbow
No one offered to swim across to find the pot of gold
We were surprised at how quiet the canal was, despite it being the start of the hire season and a 4 day weekend,
Dead quiet, This person obviously spent too long on their mobile
Perhaps the wild swan at Weston had seen everyone off. We’ve cruised this way a couple of times and for the past few years, this territorial swan has chased us off his patch, pecking at the boat. This time we were brave enough to moor overnight in Weston and saw him attack several trespassers.
Pick on someone your own size, mate
The much nicer Swan at Fradley was doing a roaring trade and has provided a photo fit for next years self print calender
Leaving the Trent and Mersey at Fradley junction, and joining the Coventry canal
What Eric hauled up from the prop wasn’t quite so pretty,
It could have been worse, only a rope fender this time
And talking of pretty
We had a rained off day, so we caught the bus into Lichfield to have a wander around. The weather didn’t make for good photos, but we did both enjoy our mooch. It’s quite a historic place, in the 7th century, Chad established his Bishopric, and it became the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia. Unfortunately the famous 3 spired cathedral was wearing scaffolding so not looking its best.
Lichfield cathedral
One of Lichfields other claims to fame is that it is the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, who complied the first English Dictionary
But whilst I might enjoy words, not a lot beats sunrise on your own boat.
