It’s days like this that make you realise why you spend time on the cut. Mind you, it was blooming cold last night and we awoke to a heavy frost with everything coated in white. The sun was shining in a clear blue sky and slowly burning off the mist off the water. Magical.
After passing under the critically dangerous Bridge 80 - still unrepaired after how many years?? - we had an uneventful cruise along the sleep-inducing Barby straight where the new marina hides most of its space behind the on-line moorers and trees, but it looks half empty.
Arriving at the top of Hillmorton, the inside locks of the first two pairs were fenced off as BW is apparently doing maintenance work on the locks. We had to wait a while as BW and two single handed boaters ahead of us were busy refilling the first pound. Some enterprising boater had earlier left a top paddle on the middle lock slightly open and had managed to drain the pound.
Once down the locks, more boats started to appear, no doubt drawn outdoors by the lovely weather. However, when we pulled into the moorings by Tesco’s, we were the first boat there although there were two more on the off-side moorings.
It is a strange sensation leaving the canal environment after just 2 and a bit days and entering that strangely alien C21st world that is Tescopoly on a Sunday morning. But we needed milk and fresh vegetables so we had to endure it. We were glad to get back to our own world, and head out over the aqueducts towards Newbold.
The tunnel at Newbold remains lit by the garish green, blue and red lights, and, frankly, after about 5 years it looks a bit passé in 2012. I hope BW is not spending any money on it!
Boats now became quite frequent, a combination of boaters out for the day and those out for the Eater holidays. These and a steady succession of moored boats meant a stop-start sort of progress until we passed All Oaks Wood to the car park and barbecue area (complete with very fat rat) to the moorings at Brinklow.
I know it's only April 1st, but we were sunbathing this afternoon. We need rain and lots of it (but perferably overnight!).
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