We pulled pins from All Oaks at 08.30 and soon passed this CRT guy doing some towpath upgrades just before Newbold tunnel. It looks like they are trying to put some sort of drainage system in. Great for walkers and cycists I suppose, but what about cutting back vegitation, lock repairs and general maintenance of the system ?.
It was then in to Newbold tunnel which should be lit up by ten groups of red,blue and green lights .British Waterways and the borough council funded the £195,000 scheme back in 2005. The tunnel, a quarter of a mile long, is more than 180-years-old. When we came through here a few years only half the lights were working, but you could imagine how good it would look if they were all working.
These are the lights today and now there are NONE working . A big fat zero !!!. After spending £195,000 of council and BW money surely there’s someone that can change a few light bulbs.
Reaching Brownsover and after mooring we were soon joined by friends Gary and Della from Nb Muleless. Needless to say it wasn’t long before we were off down the Steam Turbine for a bite to eat and a couple of drinks.
After a good couple of days catching up with each other it was soon time to go our separate ways. We said our goodbyes on the water point which they beat us too.So good to meet up again ,and roll on Braunston at the end of the year.
Cruising on towards Hillmorton and it seems that Clifton cruisers are having a shift around at their site. Just wish we could have stayed around to see how this lift went.
Passing a field at the bottom of Hillmorton and it had five trenches dug like the one above. With a new town being built here I was wondering if it’s some sort of archaeological dig.
Reaching the bottom lock of the Hillmorton flight of three locks and we had a Volunteer Lockie to set the lock for us and lock us up.
Approaching the second lock and we came across this pair of hire boats racing out of the locks. Seeing me they put on their brakes (went in to reverse gear) to avoid a collision. In the end I ended up passing them on the wrong side.
After coming out of the top lock we came across this hire boat across the canal. It seems that he had somehow lost his stern mooring rope at the bottom of the lock and his crew had gone back with boat poles and were trying to recover it from the bottom of the pound. Luckily they eventually found the rope,not in the canal but down their weed hatch and around the propeller .You just have to laugh , luckily they found it funny as well. It’s all a part of boating.
We picked up a mooring just after Moor lane bridge where I will spend the next few days while Carolyn hops on a train and heads back down to Devon for our Granddaughter Curly’s birthday.
Happy Days
t was very nice to see Carolyn xxxx
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