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| Black clouds but the sun was out when we got home from the pub last night |
On Tuesday Buddy and I
cycled back to where we were moored last week at Bascote. It was a pleasant day so an ideal opportunity
to see if any Small Blues were around in the railway cutting. As it was we didn’t find any but we now know
that some have been recorded at other sites in Warwickshire so we’ll keep
looking.
Ironically and
surprisingly I saw my first Green Hairstreak of the year. It was ironic as it was in the hedge right
next to where we were moored a week ago.
Surprising because towpaths are not their normal habitat; this one was
flying along as if it was on a mission. They normally like flitting around a favourite
bush not straying far. Needless to say I
didn’t get a photograph.
It was good to cycle a
good few miles and not get a puncture!
Our mooring ,this week, at
Radford, is right next to the entrance to the Offchurch Greenway. This is part of the abandoned Leamington Spa
to Rugby railway line and does look rather promising.
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| The path on the right leads back down to the canal |
It’s a really nice walk
even if we don’t see any particularly interesting butterflies. About a mile along, the line goes under a
bridge which still has smoke deflectors fitted.
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| Overbridge still with smoke deflectors fitted and a dog sheltering from the rain |
The deflectors were put
under bridges to stop the acidic smoke eating into the stone work. There is also a school of thought that they were installed to stop smoke getting into the eyes of walkers or horses passing over the
bridge. I don’t really think we thought
like that in the mid 1800s if you consider the conditions people worked in.
On Tuesday we were
reminded we live on ‘canal time’ as we heard our new boat is now delayed until
the end of August. As frustrating as it
is, it’s not really that far away and the delay will soon be forgotten. We have yet to meet any boaters whose new
boat was delivered to the original schedule.
It seemed to pour all day
on Wednesday so Buddy and I got extremely wet on our morning walk. By the time my clothes had dried out later in
the afternoon, the sun appeared so we ventured out for another walk. Needless to say, after a mile or so the black
clouds reappeared and we got soaked again.
On Monday evenings we go
to bridge lessons at Stratford-upon-Avon bridge club. Next week is the end of term and the new term
doesn’t start until October. We want to
keep practising over the break so have agreed to meet up with two of the ladies
who live in Stratford every Monday evening for some friendly games. What I mean is, they live in Stratford all
the time, we will meet up every Monday evening.
So as it was still raining I spent the rest of Wednesday afternoon
preparing hands so we can hit the ground running as they say.
In the evening we walked
to meet Karen from work and popped down to the Stag at Offchurch for a mid-week pint.
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| The Stag at Offchurch - quite a pretty village with a busy pub |
When we got home the sun
was out but the black clouds were rolling in again – it made for the pleasant
picture at the top.
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