3rd mooring lucky and all because of a cat!

Friday 18th

We had to overstay this 48 hour mooring by an extra day and all because of the mix up from #Son who made a right cock up of the dates for collecting Toffee. To cut a long story short, he was taking the family to the motor show on Friday which he thought was in Brum. A good job he checked the tickets because the show was actually in Farnborough! So with us near to Birmingham this would have been ideal to pick Toffee up on the way home from the Birmingham show. Yet another day was spent with Toffee and I had to rummage deep in her already packed bag to find dog food, treats, poo bags etc. The looked forward lie in on the Saturday went by the wayside too. Yet another early morning start for Ian. Oh, and we saw CRT taking a note of our number on the Friday afternoon so the question was did CRT clock us on Thursday also or just on the Friday? Hopefully CRT bods have weekends off so we won't get an overstay notice slapped on FS!

Leaving this morning. As you can see, only one other boat on a popular mooring. Very strange for a Saturday night

Saturday 19th

Finally on Saturday afternoon the family arrived and if ever there was a dog utterly beside herself with glee to see them, it was Toffee. The grand kids took her for a run and I couldn't believe it when Toffee was brought back wet! 28 days we have had her and not once had she gone into the canal. 5 minutes with the grand kids and in she goes! A horrible smell of wet dog now permeated through the boat and with her towel packed, we had to use our own towels to dry her off. I was not best pleased!

We managed to get her dry enough to take to the pub for a meal. Thankfully a table was found away from anyone else because a slight wet dog smell was still evident. The meal was really good. Another pub I would recommend. By 4 pm dog and family had left and then came the big FS clean up. I remember our two labs moulting but Toffee was something else and after her dunking, the hair lay everywhere in tufts. A slight breeze went through the boat causing the hair to tumble weed into inaccessible places. Next time the fridge or washing machine has to be moved, no doubt a big wad of the stuff will be present. Twice the hoover was emptied and even today (Sunday) hair was still flying about.

Sunday 20th

How lovely to be able to sleep in until 7.45 am and how lovely I get to give the tea making duties back to Ian. We had a leisurely breakfast and got going at 9 30 am. Now baring in mind a boat had come up the locks not 20 minutes before we set off, I was surprised when Ian cranked open the paddles to refill the chamber. Judging by the vegetation growth on the side of the walls, leakage was the main culprit as to why the lock had emptied and would continue to do so. Those plants could not grow underwater.

Last lock on the Curdworth flight was very near to the Kingsbury Water Park. Had Toffee still been with us, we would have overnighted here. The lock surrounds had been well looked after, I'm assuming those in the house opposite keep it tidy.

We passed the known and probably well photographed Drayton Manor Bridge. The theme park and zoo was not far from here, a usual stopping place for hirers with children. 

Just before Fazeley Junction we stopped for a Tesco Express shop. It had also been decided this would be a good place to stay. So shopping had been done, TV on, saw that England had lost to Spain (not surprised) and settled down to do some blogging. But the internet was terrible! Took minutes for anything to load so we decided to do the turn at the junction and head up the Coventry canal.

1st mooring

 

A space was found not far from the junction, we pulled in, secured FS, checked TV and internet...all good...but then came a knock on the boat. It was a chap from the boat in front asking if we had dogs (It was the 'And Dogs' on the side that made him knock) 

2nd Mooring. The boat in front with the pram top had the cat.

Turns out he had a cat and was afraid our dogs would chase it. Well at first we were reassuring and told him not to be concerned as the dogs had long gone to that great park in the sky. I also mention I didn't want the cat jumping on the boat. Told him of the terrible scratches left (and still seen) by another feline many years ago. Click HERE  He laughed and said the cat liked going on other people's boats and he couldn't stop it. Hmm, I was slightly put off by his casual remark. I hinted that if the cat did go on our boat I would make sure it wouldn't do it again. Banging two pans together would probably give it a fright and if it happened to leap off water side so be it. He again laughed at this. "My cat will go where it likes" said he. I asked if he could keep the cat inside for tonight. And still laughing he said "I can't do that, she won't like it". Well I had had enough, Ian was trying to be diplomatic,  I couldn't stand it and walked away. We both made the unanimous decision to move, didn't want any more to do with the guy. Engine started, tiller on and a mooring was found further along by the aqueduct. I wondered what he would have asked us to do if I said yes we had a dog. Probably keep it on a lead. To me that would have been very one sided. His cat could do as it like but the dog had to be restraint!

3rd mooring

And wildlife