Miserable Anglers

We pulled pins at Welford on Sunday and with the temperature at 3 degrees c and the sun shinning it was perfect winter cruising weather. We decided to cruise until we had had enough.

 

 

 

                                                          The only lock of the day was the Welford lock which only drops you down 3 feet and 6 inches.

It wasn't long before we came across this fishing match. Yet again most of them were so miserable. Carolyn said hello to every angler we passed and a lot of them just a gave a grunt. One or two did say hello .  I have heard it said that they are so miserable because they all have ugly moaning wives at home so they have to go fishing in the freezing cold to get away from them…Of course i don't believe that !……….Come on all you Anglers, I slow down to tick over and keep to the centre of the canal , a simple thanks or Hello would be nice !!

                           Plenty of spaces in the marina we passed . I did offer to pull in for a few days of mains electric and water ,but Carolyn declined the offer.

                                                                                               Crack hill on the outskirts of Crick.

We cruised on through Crick and through Crick tunnel which was very wet and cold and on towards Watford locks. After 6 hours of cruising we were too late to drop down the locks as the locks are closed at 14.30. We moored for the night about half a mile before the locks . It was a good mooring with Armco and a good towpath . The only downside was the drone from the M1 motorway which was just a couple of hundred yards away. Still it was only for one night.

On Monday morning we pulled pins at 09.15 and headed straight to Watford locks. As we approached the volunteer lockie set the top lock for us so we went straight into the lock. The lockie said “have you been here before”. “Yes” we replied and that was the last we saw of him. As you can tell from the expression on Carolyn's face she was not very happy with him.

We then cruised down to Norton junction and reversed back on to the moorings by the water point and headed straight to the New Inn for a pub lunch.

On Tuesday we pulled pins at about 10.00 and headed down to Braunston . At Norton junction we met up with Pete and Dawn off of nb White Atlas who we first met at Foxton and arranged to travel to Braunston and share the locks on the way down. Above is Pete at the helm as Dawn and Carolyn work the locks.

 

On our way to Braunston we struck gold…... Well boaters gold. Look at all that wood on the roof of Inca. A couple of hours with the chainsaw and axe and we will have a few weeks worth of free heat….I love it !

                                                                                                        Inca on our mooring at Braunston.

After mooring we had a walk down to Midland Chandlers and soon spent over a hundred quid. We have had trouble with our terrestrial TV for some time and Pete suggested getting a new aerial from Midland. He said the one he had worked very well and at only 16 quid it was worth the money. It is only a small aerial but after fitting it the difference in the signal is considerable better..thanks Pete.

With the weather not good for tomorrow (Wednesday) we will stay at Braunston and then move out into the country on Thursday. Jules and her coal boat should be through tomorrow so we will fill up with diesel and buy a few bags of coal.

                                                                         Happy Days