What I haven't mentioned much so far is our troubled nights. The dogs settle for a while in the saloon but then have tendency about 2 in the morning to start padding about. Their claws on the wooden floor make a click clicking noise that somehow you don't notice through the day and then they start scratching at the doors. We have tried various things to get them to go through the night, including letting them sleep on the bed BUT the bed is too high for them to jump on and off of so they end up waking us up to help them up or down. I know, we should be more determined with them. However, I have come up with a plan which builds them a step up to the bed. It works! We wake up at 6, Ian has a cup of tea - he makes me one but I don't stay awake long enough to drink it. He captures these shots of our backyard this morning ……...
……. and he goes back
to sleep. We wake up at 9am.
So, today we have no locks, no miles, no travelling time - a very restful day rounded off by roast beef, roast potatoes, parsnips etc. Ian watched the Test, I played around with my computer project, we read, we listened to music, we enjoyed the scenery. Ian went blackberrying - again - and made another blackberry and apple pie. Yum. With views like this, a great day.
Read back through this log and realised that I have forgotten to mention the wildlife. We have, of course, seen loads of ducks, moorhens, coots and swans. Nearly all the swans had cygnets, but almost grown with their grey feathers stating to turn white. We met one pair which had 3 cygnets and we also met, separately, two cygnets which appeared to have left home and were fending for themselves.
One day, I can't remember which, we saw a grebe. There have been quite a few herons, three or four kingfishers - their colours are just splendid - and, of course, a parrot. Believe it or not we passed a woman fishing on the banks of the Avon and she had her parrot with her, sitting in its cage beside her.
On the animal front, we have seen plenty of sheep and cattle, including a herd of highland cattle. Ponies and horses in fair numbers. We saw some bats swooping out from a bridge one evening. As we were going into the Wast Hill Tunnel we saw a mink. Why is it I never have the camera ready at times like those?
0 miles, 0 locks, 0 hrs (128.25 miles, 167 locks, 75 hrs 55 min)
Friday 9 September
We
pulled the pins at around 9.15 and shortly had to negotiate the Shrewley
Tunnel. This is only 433 yards long - our kind of tunnel where you can
see the exit from the entrance.
We fill up on water at the top of the Hatton Flight (as I plan to set the washing machine going as we go down the locks) and spend some time chatting to a guy who is out for some practice walks before he attempts Offa's Dyke. Unfortunately, no boats come up the flight and none come along wanting to go down, so we enter the flight on our own. We make steady progress down, but it does seem an awful long way as all the locks are against us.
At about 2pm we moor up for some lunch and all we have seen is a pair of boats coming up plus a boat which was moored in a pound pointing the right way but they set off down when we were about two locks away so we lost all the locks which had been set by the boats coming up.
After lunch, we set off at about 2.45pm and again make steady progress down only to find ourselves being 'caught' by a pair of boats coming down behind us. It is amazing how much difference it makes timewise when you have two crews. Their 'advance guard' was helpful to us though, helping me with the gates and paddles.
Get to the Cape of Good Hope and take on more water now the washing machine has finished and then it is two more locks before the run into Warwick. We share these with a 'Kate Boat' making its way back to the hire base. We carry on through Warwick and Leamington Spa - it was noticeable that despite the urban setting the canal was a lot cleaner than when we were on the outskirts of Birmingham and in Warwick in particular there was very little, if any, graffiti on the bridges.
As
we cruise along it is clear that autumn is coming with some of the leaves
turning already, when we came through here 12 days ago it was summer,
now the feel is definitely autumnal.
We moor up at 6.45 at 
Radford
Semele - past Bridge 35 but before the winding hole. There is very little
road noise and seems a popular choice tonight with about 7 boats moored
- but well spaced so you don't feel crowded. Ian goes blackberrying before
we settle for the evening. We have to change the gas bottle - it has lasted
nearly 9 months.
10 miles, 23 locks, 7 hrs 45 mins (138.25 miles, 190 locks, 83 hrs 40 min)
Saturday 10 September
There was, apparently, a terrific thunderstorm during the night - I didn't notice. We were not quick to get going this morning, it's not far to home and we reckoned we would get there by mid afternoon despite there still being quite a few locks to do. Ian was tinkering at the stern when a boat went slowly past and asked if we were going to be setting off shortly, because if so they would wait for us at the locks. Help with the locks was particularly welcoming after yesterday's solitary descent of Hatton Flight and I suspect that there was an added attraction for Ian in that the helmsman was listening to the Test on a radio. So off we set at about 10.15 and with the crew of Elapsed Time we made steady progress up the locks. Interesting talking to the owner of the boat - Roger - a retired airline pilot who had fitted out his 70 foot boat himself. He and his wife, Vanessa, had been out for 3 weeks with three different sets of friends. A clever way of getting people to and from the boat had been devised, courtesy of the various car insurance companies. Friends No 1 took their car to Elapsed Time's home marina and then set off on the boat. Friends No 2 find out where they are due to replace Friends No 1. Friends No 2 take their car to the home marina, change into Friends No 1 car and drive up to meet the boat. Friends No 1 then have their own car and can go straight home. Friends No 3 then take their car to the home marina, pick up Friends No 2 car and go to meet the boat. Clever - and obviously co-operative insurance companies. Discussions between the locks varied from the best way not to lose fenders, how boring the Severn had been, boat layouts, etc. Also how the mathematics of a share with Canal Time didn't seem to work out - friends of theirs had a share and the maintenance charge for a 1 week share had recently been put up to £750 - didn't make sense to me - you could hire a boat for a week for that sort of money in October or May.
Despite the interesting conversations, we had to call a halt to the locking at about 1pm as just before the staircase duo at Bascote the rain became absolutely torrential so we all agreed to pull over in the pound - not the thing to do but we reckoned no one else would be travelling in this weather.
Things calmed down about by 2.30pm so we set off again into the bottom lock of the staircase. As I was filling the top lock, I noticed a boat approaching to come down. 'Anyone up for a 3 boat shuffle?' I asked. All crews were happy to give it a go, so Per Angusta and Elapsed Time went into the empty bottom lock. The other boat - Bumble, I think - went into the full top lock, luckily it was only a short boat. We empty the top lock, which fills the bottom lock. All three boats are now on the same level. Open the lock gates, Per Angusta moves into the upper lock, Bumble moves into the bottom lock going diagonally across to take the space Per Angusta was in. Elapsed Time then moves into the space in the top lock originally occupied by Bumble. Close the lock gates - empty the bottom lock and Bumble is on her way. At the same time, fill the top lock and Per Angusta and Elapsed Time are on their way. A first for all three boats - successfully completed but without a camera in sight due to the rain.
We decide that once we are clear of the locks we will call it a day - Ian has twisted his knee somehow, the rain is coming down again. Roger had told us that the old railway at Long Itchington was now a pathway and that there was a newly refurbished pub on the green in the village which was worth a visit. We moor near the old railway and decide that if the rain stops (and Ian's knee is OK) we will walk into the village for a meal.
The
rain stops long enough for me to get this photo of our backyard but otherwise
is unremitting so we settle for pork with apple and onions on board.
This is really the first day that we have had rain - the only other time was in the first week when we had already decided to moor up for the afternoon. Given the weather forecasts before we came away, we have been incredibly lucky and have had fantastic weather - if a little too hot at times.
4 miles, 9 locks, 4 hrs (142.25 miles, 199 locks, 87 hrs 40 min)
Sunday 11 September
Happy Birthday, Dad.
The weather was still damp and we set off at 8.40 in the hope of getting home before the rain started again. Made steady progress up the locks accompanied by a guy who was singlehanding his boat down to London. We got back to the Marina at about 11.30am, filled up with diesel, got a new gas bottle and packed up. Bit of a damp squib ending after such glorious weather the rest of the time - we had thought that we would have more rain over the fortnight so consider ourselves to be very lucky.
This is the longest we have stayed on Per Angusta (and the furthest we have travelled) and she has lived up to our expectations - we have had a great time and have been very comfortable. I would say our biggest problem at the moment is how to get the dogs to sleep through the night in one place.
Hope it won't be too long before we get back to the boat again, meanwhile it's back to work tomorrow - oh joy!
4
miles, 10 locks, 2 hrs 50 mins (146.25 miles, 209 locks, 90 hrs 30 min)