Yet another rapid post

Dear Bella will be alone for a little while. We're off to foreign climes for a bit and she'll have the company of Bluebell in Blue Haven. We have still not updated the detailed journeys to now for a variety of reasons, not least of which, time!!

We'll be back to normal soon.

Another rapid update

We're in Blue Haven now, having come down the Coventry Canal, stopped at Hartshill then spent a few days in Newbold on Avon while Elizabeth did a day in London and Pete spent a day assessing grants on Bella. We pulled in just after 11 in the morning then spent the next 30 minutes trying to moor up. The basin is more silted up than ever, not dredged in our absence and we are resting on mud and only able to tie up within 1/2 a metre from the side. Oh for the open water!!! But we're here to leave Bella in a safe place whilst we whizz off to New York.

Before we go, we will fill in all the details of the past, what, month???

On the Coventry Canal

Well, we went from the Trent to the Trent and Mersey and turned left onto the Coventry Canal and moored at Hopwas to the west of Tamworth. We set out from there this morning and made it through 16.5 miles and 13 locks including the Atherstone flight. We WILL post pics and more detail of the journeys which have been wonderful, but there has been no time!

So many apologies oh Blog readers!

Oh, dear blog readers, we do apologise.  We have been trying to work part time in this last two years, but recent demand has meant that we are either working or cruising to a new place.  In the working phase, the last thing we want to do is open a computer for pleasure!  And in the cruising phase, neither one of us wants to sit inside at a computer when the scenery we float by is so lovely.  We have, of course, taken pictures which we will upload. 

But the quick summary is that we moved from Sawley Marina on the river Trent to the Trent and Mersey canal via Derwent Lock over a week ago now.  We moored up in Shardlow, then moved on to a wonderful country spot just opposite the end of a fabulous lawn.  We could even put the chairs on the towpath and have dinner on deck.  From there we moved to Stenson Marine in the south east of Derby for both of us to be able to take the train into Birmingham and leave Josie in safe peace.  We set out from there late Wednesday afternoon and travelled a huge TWO miles to Willington where Pete walked back to Stenson to get Reg.  The next day we set out to Barton Turn Marina and moored up in visitor moorings, with Elizabeth taking busses into Burton on Trent then Willington to collect Reg once more.  She is now in Cheltenham on a working weekend, Pete is moored up doing grant assessments and they have both decided that the end of September will be a weekend.  Who knows, we may just want to turn the computer on for the fun of it!!

The interesting thing about this set of months out is that we have taken advantage of visitor moorings at marinas.  We have not noticed so much opportunity before, and we enjoy being able to do the laundry without having to turn on Loud Levi.  In both Sawley and Stenson marinas, we had canal side moorings which allowed us to have electricity and water on tap, but also enjoy the open canal. Barton marina (http://www.bartonmarina.co.uk/p0_0_0.htm), where we are now, is a boat park, but it is a lovely one.  The buildings are a bit Disney, but there are real materials and lovely hints to previous wharf buildings.  And it is deliciously quiet, close to water meadows and wildfowl.  So we've enjoyed the open cruising whilst also enjoying what we have only had in Blue Haven - water and electricity.  In Nell's Bridge Acre on the Oxford Canal near Aynho, we had electrics, but there was no access to water.  We feel we have the best of both worlds right now.

Now on the Trent

We are moored up in Sawley Marina, on the river side enjoying the waters of the Trent. We are also hugely enjoying the visitor moorings with electricity and water all in!!! Wonderful. Laundry without Levi on deck awaits.

We set out from Barrow upon Soar just before 9am having had a few great days of work making us feel as if we earned this glorious day on the canal and river. The weather was sunny and dry, sort of warm and not too windy. Wonderful, really. We were delighted that the first lock was set and open, so sailed straight though. We enjoyed the travelling through Loughborough, one of the best kept canals in an urban area we have ever experienced. Lovely brownfield sites have been transformed into housing and light industry keeping many of the original wharf buildings. We circled Loughborough to the east then north, coming to a T junction to turn right (north) onto the Loughborough Navigation.

We stopped at Bishop's Meadow lock to use the BW services (v slow water!!) and then made our way north to meet the Trent. Along the way, we saw housing we have never seen, shown in a few photos. Clearly, the River Soar floods. Extensively. We saw holiday cottages and homes on stilts, something Elizabeth recalls from the southeast coast of the USA. We also saw moorings where there were huge poles. If you enlarge the photograph of Pete lockside at a rather large lock, you can see the poles along the far bank. These are either poles on which the boat's mooring ropes travel up with the river level, or they are poles on which the whole pontoon along which the boats are moored rises with the water levels.

We stopped for diesel along the way at Kegworth Marina and were told that the water has made its way to nearly the bottom of the hanging sign. The building in the background is on stilts.

From the Loughborough Navigation, we then joined the Soar again and made our way past Kegworth and on to the Trent. One photo is of the large weir separating the navigable section from the non-navigable. And one photo is of Bella on her largest river EVER!!

She rather likes it.

Barrow upon Soar is still lovely

We're still here and its still lovely.  The river mooring is gentle in a different way than the canal, mostly with the clear water.  As we have posted in the past, canal water is largely still water held between locks and only refreshed by rain.  River water flows from source to sea, refreshed by rain and cleaned by its movement.  That means that when we look in the water in this mooring, we see reeds, fishes and depths.  The plant detritus flows by.  When we look in the canal water, we see mostly brown opaque water, fishes only just beneath the surface and the detritus seems to hang about.  With the flowing water comes a freshness of air and a sense of being connected to further climes.  We love the canal for so many reasons, but it is a refreshing change to have river for a while.  The downsides of course are the potential for flooding, the difficulty in finding mooring places and the unknown water bed.  But it's nice for a while!  We anticipate being here another day or so, then traveling on to catch the Trent.

Barrow upon Soar for September 4

We set out from Birstal just after lunch after trying again to work with bad communications. We then tried to moor first at Cassington, then at Silby, then at Mountsorrel. River moorings are hard to come by. But we finally found a lovely spot just up from the BW services point at Barrow upon Soar on Friday the 4th. Pete took three trains to get to Rugby on Saturday the 5th and we are now reconnected with Reg. A trip into Rugby on the Monday meant that Pete got his replacement SIM. And we're on mega FAT band connectivity. Things are already feeling better!