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Looking up part of the
Lapworth flight – all calm after the night’s storm
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We knew it was going to
get really windy in the early hours of Thursday, but we hadn’t realised just
how windy. It was one of the windiest
times we have had on the boat – it’s amazing how it can make a heavy steel hulk
move so much. Unlike other strong storms
it didn’t last long, and no damage was done; in fact, there were very few trees
down in this area according to Tim, a local CRT chap, who I talked to in the morning . The cover over our bikes
had half blown off but everything else was intact.
It was still cold during
the day and I went litter picking up the Lapworth flight. As I said the other day, this is one of the
most litter-free areas we know, but I still managed to get a black bin bag full.
There wasn’t much ice on
the flight because the recent rainfall has meant there is quite a flow of water
which keeps the pounds from freezing.
I spent a lot of the
afternoon gathering more information regarding getting ready to take the boat
over to France in a year’s time. For a
place that we tend to consider lax regarding regulations it’s surprising how
more stringent they are about having the necessary qualifications to use their
waterways. I suppose more of them are
still commercial waterways so it does make sense.
After work, Karen picked
up Polly (my youngest) from Leamington station.
Polly had come up for a sleep over and join us on our weekly trip up to
Yorkshire.
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Polly taking advantage of the
following day off work – prosecco in a large white wine glass
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We set off early on Friday
and had a really good run up the M6. First
we went to the nursing home to show Polly the room that is being prepared for
Dad and found out that it will be ready for him next Friday. After doing a few jobs for my mum we all went
to see Dad, who was a lot more lucid and was now moving an arm, so it was good
to see him improving.
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Dad and Polly having a
joke
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It was another hassle-free
journey back home and we dropped Polly back off at Leam station for her train
back to Reading.
We had a quiet Saturday on
the boat as it was sleeting all day and didn’t fancy going for any long walks. I spent a bit of time working out where we
will be cruising over the next few months and realised that we wouldn’t get to
Liverpool for the dates we had booked in the basin. Well, we could make it, but it would mean we
would be on a mission and wouldn’t be able to stop off anywhere for too long.
I have now booked to go
into Liverpool docks for a week in June thus giving us plenty of time for a
leisurely cruise up to Chester first before heading onto pastures new.
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Our cruising route over The Pennines to Leeds over the next few
months
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The next thing is to work
out where we will have the modifications done to the boat before we can go to
France. Whilst we are having those done
we may as well get it blacked too. As we
are spending September and October holidaying in France and Italy this year that would be
an ideal time to get the boat sorted out.
I need to get it booked in soon as boatyards get booked up months and
even years in advance.
We’ve woken up to heavy
snow this morning, but the forecast is for it to turn milder over the next few
days, so the ice will start melting and I’ll probably move on down to Hatton
station during the week ready to go down the Hatton flight in a couple of
weeks. We need to get down the Hatton
flight by the first weekend in February as the locks are being closed for six
weeks for maintenance. We will then be in Warwick so that Karen
can spend her last few weeks of work closer to the office.
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| Snow just starting to settle this morning - hopefully won't last too long - the water is frozen over but covered in rainwater so it's deceptive |
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