As far as Buddy and I were
concerned our activities on Monday and Tuesday were quite similar. A cycle ride to Wootton Wawen in the morning
followed by lunch and then a walk to Wilmcote in the afternoon. The weather was different though; on Monday I
wish I’d worn gloves on the morning cycle ride and on Tuesday I wish I’d not
taken a coat. The sun came out at
lunchtime on both days and was warm enough to sit outside to eat but, sadly, no
butterflies.
The days did differ
dramatically later in the afternoons. At
about 4 o’clock on Tuesday a girl walked past the boat with her dog and stopped
for a quick chat and then said she was in a hurry to get home before the rain
started. I thought she was probably using
it as an excuse to get away as no rain was forecast then I saw the heavy black
skies starting to roll in. For one of
the first times this year I had the washing hanging out and I just managed to
get it in in time.
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Hail on Tuesday afternoon
even though no rain was forecast
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View from the back deck only
an hour before
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Earlier in the day I met
an old guy on a bike who had his binoculars trained to a tree. I knew the tree and that he was probably
looking at a Greater Spotted Woodpecker that always seems to be drumming
there. We struck up conversation and I
found that he lives near my parents in Yorkshire and has done all his
life. He and his wife love Warwickshire
and have a park home near here that they try and visit for a week every month
of the year.
During the day I came
across a couple of flowers that I hadn’t seen yet this year.
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Cowslip
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Germander Speedwell
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The Speedwell is reputed
to give travellers luck on their journeys hence its name. It does tend to be found at the edges of paths
and byways and is pretty widespread across the country.
Regular readers will know
that we were stuck at Lapworth for just over seven weeks waiting for a lock to
be repaired. The works were finished
early and so we have started making our way slowly to Stratford.
There are still some locks closed for
winter maintenance further on at a place called Wilmcote which is three miles outside
of Stratford. The works are due to be
completed by the end of the month but we will stay here for our full two weeks as
we like it so much. We will probably then
move on to Wilmcote for another couple of weeks before going down the final 15
locks into Stratford basin sometime towards the end of April.
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Buddy sunning himself
whilst I ate my lunch on Tuesday
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Because of the lock
closures very few boats are coming along this stretch. I have only seen two since we have been here
and both of those have since turned round and headed back up towards Lapworth.
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Our mooring at the end of
the Edstone aqueduct – looks grey but the sun was breaking through hence the
washing hanging out
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