Tuesday, 1 March 2016

Huddlesford (punctures on the towpath)



As Karen didn’t have to be at work until 9.00 on her first day she left the boat at 7.30 on Monday morning.  Immediately after she left Buddy and I started partying, well, drinking coffee and making lists.

Once we were out and about we went for a walk to the nearest boatyard to replace one of our gas bottles.  Our B&Q sack barrow is ideal for this task as it has large pneumatic tyres.

Contractors have recently been along here trimming the hedges and hadn’t cleaned up very well.  By the time we had got to the yard the trolley had a puncture and was completely flat.  Fortunately the yard lent me a wheelbarrow so I ended up in the ridiculous situation of using a barrow to carry another barrow as well as a gas bottle.  It also meant we had to walk the empty barrow back to the yard again afterwards.

I repaired the puncture and then found the bike also had a puncture so had to repair that as well.  Later in the afternoon we went for a longer walk to the next village, Whittington, and beyond.   It was a still day again but my attempt at getting the swans reflected didn't work as well as I had hoped.

We found an old milestone but couldn’t understand what the numbers were referring to.  When we got back to the boat I looked it up on Historic England and found this entry which didn’t really add anything other than it was late 18th century.  

Milestone. Late C18. Square section stone with rounded top, set at angle to canal at back of towing path. Left face inscribed "2 1/2" right face "3"..

During the day I received emails about some of the winter lock closure programs that have completed ahead of schedule.  Tomorrow I will have a look at whether we can move closer to Warwick sooner than we thought.

Karen got back about 7 and the journey each way had only taken just over an hour so not too bad.  She had enjoyed her day even though she is in a completely new industry to her so has to get to grips with that as well as the way any new company works.

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