Opened the curtains this morning to a canal carpeted with leaves. Knew what our first job of the day would be then! No doubt the roof of FS would be covered but no, apart from the odd few, we got away lightly.
The journey to Hopwas was slow due to forever going into reverse to clear the prop of those darned leaves. I suppose no sympathy should be forthcoming as I can almost hear you all say "If you must travel this time of year then what do you expect!" It's still a pain though!
Arrived at Glascote locks to find them both empty. Determined to do these two I grabbed the windlass before Ian did and manage to operate both the locks. Normally I can jump across the bottom gates but didn't dare try just in case I went all of a spin again. So it did take a bit longer having to walk the length of the lock each time but better to be safe than sorry I always say.
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| Ian on the helm |
By the time we reached Fazeley junction both of us were feeling chilled and when the rain started as we joined the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, got moored up pretty quick. Lunch was had and once the weather improved we continued to Hopwas. Nearly at our destination and we were unlucky as the rain came again. I'm sure sleet was in the mix with it being so cold. As soon as we had secured FS it was kettle on for a hot cup of coffee, park ourselves in front of the fire and begin to thaw.
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| Fazeley Junction. Here we joined the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal |
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| Left towards Birmingham |
I must say we are very impressed with the Anthracite smokeless coal bought the other day. A very big bonus is the lack of tar being produced. In fact, since burning it several days ago, not once has Ian had to clean the glass. Even putting coal on first thing in the morning and hardly a puff of smoke from the chimney. Much nicer when travelling now as we no longer cough and splutter waiting for the smoke to die down.
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| Anthracite Small Nuts. |
We should reach Fradley tomorrow. Turning right we will be on the homeward journey. This is the part I hate, knowing in a few days we will be back on the Erewash. Not that I hate the canal mind, far from it. But the fact that, once we reach Langley Mill, we won't be on the move again for a few months.
On the journey,
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| Dark skies looming and a brief glimpse of a rainbow |
And seen on route,
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pied) |
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| Low light, high ISO = lots of noise. Hence the grainy effect. |
5 comments:
Don't know if it is a peculiarity of our prop, but we only have to put the engine into neutral and the leaves just drop off - it's much less hassle than going into reverse.
Good tip about that coal - how does the price compare with Excel?
happy cruiding
Debby
Hi Debbie, Thanks for the tip. Will try that tomorrow. The coal price was £10.70 for 25kg but I have no idea how much Excel is so I can't compare. Best get the large nuts though as we found the small ones do seem to get stuck when we go to riddle the ashes. Xx
Hi Debbie and Irene
From Nb Dusty the other week we paid £12.50 for 25kg bag of Excel. We've not tried anthracite, but might give it a go when we see it. Hoping our stocks of Excel last us a couple of weeks more as Dusty isn't doing her rounds due to stoppages and there are only a few places that sell coal within reach of us at the moment.
Enjoy your last few days cruising x
Thanks Pip and Mick. Is there any chance of getting a delivery from one of the coal merchants? We have done that before when we were stuck at Alrewas when we were iced in. Hope you get sorted. Xxx
Irene. We have stocks for a couple of weeks still,so unless it gets really cold we'll be fine.Should be able to stock up at Aynho in about ten days. x
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