That was a turn up for the books!

 Jan 4th

Gosh, it was freezing this morning. Getting out of a warm bed, our first thoughts, had the stove gone out. Our temperature gauge showed minus 6.8 outside and only 11 degrees inside!

 

 But the fire was still in, only embers left, which was quickly fed by a couple of logs. Because it was so cold, we stayed in bed until well after 9 am. Once the inside had warmed up, time to get up.

With such a low temperature outside, the ice was even thicker. My thoughts of walking to the lock seemed pointless, nothing was going to move today...or so we thought! Image our surprise when bangs, crashes and FS suddenly freed from the ice and starting to move. Rushed to see what it was and to our amazement and delight, Jules Fuel boat appeared. Out of all the boats that could have come past, this working boat, being as heavy as she was, was the ideal icebreaker.

 

Kas on the back. 

What a great opportunity to follow in her wake, so quickly putting on coats, hat, scarves etc, we walked to the lock to ask how far she was going. With the reply of Hopwas if possible sounded like music to our ears, but first she had to service some boats on the Birmingham and Fazeley canal, winding at the marina, and then continuing along the Coventry. This was just what we wanted to here. We would be through the stoppage at Sutton Road Bridge (although notification had been sent to say it was being postponed from the 9th January and would now start on the 19th Jan) and well on our way back to Langley Mill. Vaccinations for our South Africa trip were booked for the 14th Jan at Eastwood and, having already changed the appointment once, really wanted to keep that date. Anyway, we borrowed a windlass from Kas (self-employed but working for Jules) and helped get her down both locks. Ice behind the gates were a bit of a problem, a hefty bash from the windlass broke it up nicely.

 

 Returning her windlass and wishing her a Happy New Year, it was our turn to follow. First a shop at the Co-op for essentials, milk, eggs etc so it was gone midday before we set off.

 The ice might have been broken, but that didn't stop it from accumulating behind the lock gates. Ian made several attempts at opening and closing the gate before resorting to finding a big stick and bashing the thick slivers into smaller pieces. That did the trick.

 

Below were cruisers, Kas had broken the ice but even so, our going past still shoved those ice shards toward the hull. 

 

 Just before Fazeley Junction we were told by a fellow boater that plenty of spaces to be had, so instead of stopping on the visitor moorings before the bridge, went through and turned right. Almost immediately, we came to a stop. The only clear channel was where Kas had turned left but was still under the bridge on the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal.

 

We stopped briefly at the water point, walked ahead to see where we could moor and were greeted by wall-to-wall boats! Exactly where had that boater seen free moorings? With the ice too thick for FS to travel through, especially as another cruiser was moored by the pub, we took the last bollard at the water point and moored on a bend! Not ideal but will have to do for now.