That’s pretty much how we feel after slogging down the twenty-one lock Hatton Flight. They are heavy double wide locks, so the gates are hard to move and the paddles take a lot of winding with the windlass to get them up and down. The weather was generally good apart from two brief rain showers, lasting about one lock each. The wind made it hard to manage the boat. Though the locks are double wide, we were only opening the…
It’s becoming a tradition that we try to arrange our schedule to go and see my old friend Howard performing every summer in whatever touring outdoor show he is in. This year it is Gangsta Granny, the heartwarming tale of a boy who discovers his grandmother is an infamous jewel thief. Howard (in the silver vest above) plays the boy’s father… … and an obnoxious neighborhood watch busybody. You may notice something strange about some of these pictures. That’s right,…
Yesterday evening Paula wanted to go out for a walk, so we headed along the tow path to a bridge, and up onto the road. A few yards along the road there was a sign pointing into the soggy countryside saying Nature Trail so off we went in search of something natural. Paula spotted a pheasant. Not exactly natural, not in this country, but it will have to do. The common pheasant is has spread from its asian home across…
We trundled down six more locks this morning, pausing to fill the water tank and empty the toilet cassettes, and then said farewell to the Stratford Canal and joined the Grand Union. The Grand Union runs all the way from Birmingham to London, and was built as a faster way to move goods than the meandering Oxford Canal and unpredictable Thames. Most of it was built for double wide barges, so the bridges have plenty of room and the locks…
We are now starting to lose all that altitude we put on at the Tardebigge flight. There was a gap in the downpour today, so we took advantage of it to continue along the Stratford Canal until we start going downhill again. Although there is a lot of urban development around here, the canal remains for the most part a leafy sanctuary. After four locks we moored up for lunch. We checked the weather radar and forecast. There were still…
If this weather continues we will be taking on pairs of animals. It rained most of yesterday, while we were waiting for someone to repair the alternator, and it started out raining this morning. When the rain stopped we got the boat moving, but it started raining again. Happily I had full foul weather gear on, and even more happily there was a nice long tunnel to hide in. The Wast Hill Tunnel is just over one and a half…
It seems like there are a disproportionate number of Tudor buildings turned into fish and chip shops. There is another one in Alvechurch. There are several other black and whites in the town center. I liked the way the wall and window bulge out on this one… … and the incredible imagination that went into naming it. The people up the road have more imagination. It looks like a wall to me, not a shrubbery, but if you redefine moss…
Well, that was a hard day. We are now at the top of the Tardebigge (pron: TAD-dee-big) locks having spent most of a rainy day slogging up and up and up. There are thirty locks in the flight, making it the longest in the country. It was raining heavily this morning, and when it lightened up to the soul-destroying drizzle that has done so much to shape the British character, we set out. We were the first boat going up…
We had a short journey of just six locks planned for today, which was just as well. By the fourth lock it started to drizzle, and by the sixth lock is was raining quite hard. We holed up for the rest of the day. Paula baked banana bread and scalloped potatoes to keep the boat warm, and we both worked on our French. Duo the Duolingo owl is very happy with us today. We are now at the bottom of…
First the bad news. It’s the same size on the inside. But the good news is, it is part of the National Telephone Kiosk Collection so it’s being preserved until they can get it a proper time vortex. They have classic red phone boxes galore. The one on the right also sells stamps and accepts letters. They have phone boxes from the Automobile Association and the Royal Automobile Club. They have vintage wooden phone boxes. The have the phone booth’s…