A short journey to Alrewas

Wednesday 2nd December

Another cold morning but at least it wasn't raining,we weren't in a hurry to leave Fradley as we were only going to Alrewas. We moved over to the water point to top up and also get rid of the rubbish, Kev emptied the toilet cassettes ( he does love this job!) after these jobs I walked to the lock to get it ready.
We arrived at Alrewas just after 12pm and moored up on the 48hr moorings after the water points. After having a bite to eat we had a walk into the village as we needed to get a birthday card for Kev's niece Alex as she is 18 years old on Monday 7th December. We went to the Crown pub about 8pm as there was an accoustic night on. There were a few artists on but it wasn't as good as when we were there in the summer but even so it was a good night.

Thursday 3rd December
We decided to stay put today so that I could have a clean up and Kev could do checks on the batteries.
There were a few boats about today most of which were hire boats, it started to get a bit breezy and one of the hire boats that came out of the lock nearby got blown onto the bank and there were 3 adults trying to push the boat off one had a boat hook, one had a pole and the other had the mop!! but they managed to get the boat off and the moored up in front of us and called it a day!

Friday 4th December

Awoke to another lovely frosty morning and after Kev had walked Buster we had breakfast and at about 9.15 we left our mooring and headed off down through the lock 12 (Alrewas lock) onto the river Trent,we passed the weir where the water was flowing quite fast. We got to the lock at Wychnor Kev went to open the paddles and it took ages to fill and he said he thought that one of the paddles wasn't working, and after we came out of the lock we turned round at the winding hole nearby. We headed back through the lock at Wychnor and then on through Alrewas and as we were approaching the lock at Fradley we passed nb Peruvian Skies (fellow blogger) and said a quick hello to them, we then moored up again at Fradley. We had been going to get back to Great Haywood next Wednesday 9th December but after checking his emails Kev had got an email about a possible job offshore,so we thought we would go home earlier than expected. Anyway we will get home and get some Xmas shopping done and the tree up in readiness for our grandson Sam. He is staying with us over Xmas and I will be going to Majorca on 18th December and bring him to the uk on 22nd December and will be taking him back on 2nd January 2010.
As this may be the last post for 2009 I would like to wish you all A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS & A FANTASTIC NEW YEAR

Frosty start to December

Tuesday 1st December

Well what a frosty morning! It was nice though better than all that wind & rain and also the towpath was lovely and dry for walking Buster. We had stayed put on Sunday at our moorings near bridge 69 and had a relaxing day only venturing out when we took Buster for a good walk along the towpath. During Sunday night it was yet again very windy and we thought that we may not be leaving Monday morning. Anyway it was ok the wind dropped away and so we left our mooring at just after 9.10 am and headed off to Rugeley where we stopped so we could go to Morrisons and the post office. After we returned to the boat Kev popped Buster for a walk while I did us some lunch, it was still very quiet on the canal only seeing 2 boats one of which was a hire boat. Mind you it is nice and relaxing not having many boats about we seem to have the canal all to ourselves!! We left the mooring at Rugeley and carried on a short distance to Handsacre bridge 58 where we moored up about 1.30pm and stayed for the night. We moored up where there used to be a trip boat moored all the time although we saw that boat moored at Rugeley with a for sale sign on it, we think this trip boat had something to do with the Crown pub.

We are now moored at Fradley opposite the BW waterpoint, where we will fill up with water in the morning (Wednesday) before we leave for Alrewas where we may stay for a couple of days.

Heading to Alrewas

Saturday 28th November

After being at home for several weeks we finally were back at the marina yesterday tea-time. We thought it may be quite cold on the boat but actually it wasn't too bad and after putting on the Webasto & lighting the fire it wasn't long before we were warm and cosy. We were up and about this morning early as usual with Kev taking Buster for his morning walk and after breakfast we topped up the water tank and Kev went to get some coal, we had brought some logs from home as Kev has chopped down a fir tree in our garden. I must admit when he said he was going to chop this tree down I was a bit worried, expecting it to end up hitting the house (our new roof)!! But I was wrong he did exactly as he had been told how to do it and the tree came down ok.

We popped to Asda in Stafford for a few provisions, Beer etc hee hee and met Ben and Mike who were having a breakfast and so we had a natter to Ben then headed back to Great Haywood as we wanted to leave the marina before lunchtime. We left the marina at 11.30 am, we weren't surprised that there weren't many boats on the move due to stoppages on the Trent & Mersey towards Stone and also on the Staffs & Worcs although there were 2 boats ahead of us. When we got to Colwich lock one of the boats ahead of us was in the lock and Kev went to help him, he told Kev that one of the double gates kept coming open so Kev had to open a paddle at the other end slightly so the gate would stay closed while we filled the lock. So we were now wondering what BW had been doing as this lock had been closed for work to be carried out and it didn't seem to be any different from before!

We didn't go much further we moored up just east of bridge 69, where we will stay til Monday. We are heading to Alrewas as we want to go to the Crown pub on Wednesday night. The reason is that earlier this year when we had Sam (our grandson) with us we had moored at Alrewas and went for tea at the Crown ( wasn,t very good) and we stayed in there for a while as they had a musicians jamming night. It was very good and there was a few singers on as well as musicians. We didn't stay to the end as we had Sam but we said we would like to come back again if they still have these nights. So hopefully we will go in there on Wednesday night.

Alive & Kicking!

Wednesday 28th October



This is a short post with no photos,but just to let you all know we are still alive!! We came to the marina on Sunday 25th as Kev had a few jobs to do on the boat. Kev has been working on a land rig about 4 miles from our house and works 2 weeks on & 2 weeks off so we haven't been anywhere on the boat. We have been busy at home decorating and we had a new roof on the house,the reason for the roof was that our next door neighbour had his done and it looked like a new property when they had finished it. Anyway we spoke to Kelvin who's company had done it and he quoted what we thought was a good price (£4,100) so he did it and it took 4days and we are really pleased with it. We are still hoping to sell our house but are waiting for the market to pick up a bit more,houses where we are don't seem to sell as fast as in other places perhaps it is that we are east of Hull and is too far out for people who knows eh! Anyway Kev has been laid off from the land job so he is trying to get back offshore where he can go back to 4weeks on & 4weeks off but as you all know jobs are scarce at the moment so time will tell. We are going to move to another marina probably on the Oxford canal somewhere as this will be the only way we can see different places on the boat. We have been really happy here at Great Haywood and would gladly return in the future. Well Ta Ta for now

A break from decorating!

Friday 25th September

While Kev has been at work for 2 weeks I have been decorating our living room, we thought as we haven't been able to sell our house it would be a good idea to change the living room and give it a new look so we took the carpet up and are putting oak effect laminate flooring down.We will probably be in our house for a few years now as things didn't go to plan! But no use moaning about it so lets get on with things and enjoy the boat as best we can.

We have decided to bring Kev's mum Joan and her partner Ron to the boat today for a trip to Stone. They haven't been on the boat and so this is the first time they have seen it in the flesh so to speak. Ron's daughter and her husband have a narrowboat (sorry can't remember the name of it) and they had it built not long before ours. They have it moored in Beverley near Hull and live on it. Anyway we picked Joan & Ron up at 7.30am and headed for our marina at Great Haywood and had a good journey arriving about 11.15am. After unpacking the car and getting things on the boat I took Buster for a walk while Kev topped the water up etc. We managed to set off from the marina about 12.20pm and decided we would moor at Salt and go to the Hollybush Inn for tea, we had a lovely meal. This is a lovely pub and is supposed to be the oldest pub in the area and well worth the short walk along the single track road which only took about 10minutes.

Saturday 26th September

After all having a good nights sleep we had breakfast and set off for Stone where we arrived just after lunch. The weather has been good and it has been busy with boats both private and holiday boats. We took Joan & Ron for a walk into Stone and had a wander round the shops before having a pint in the Wetherspoon pub where we left Joan & Ron so they could go for a wander on their own. We went back to the boat where I made a lasagne for tea. We went to the Swan pub about 8pm and it was packed, there were a lot of people who we think were off to a wedding reception so we struggled to get a seat. There was a band preparing for the night they were on at 10pm and were quite good although we didn't stay too long as I don't think it was Ron's sort of music!

Sunday 27th September

Well Kev and I were up early as usual as Kev takes Buster for his walk and it was only about 6.45am and we could hear music playing quite loud as we opened the doors into the cratch. Kev seemed to think it was the wedding party still going on ( some party).Mind you it didn't disturb our guests as they were sound asleep well Ron was as Joan was up just after 7am!! The music faded away by 8am so it was back to a peaceful Sunday morning. We were moored up just before the winding hole so after Ron had got up we set off to turn round and head back to the marina. Although we were going to moor at Weston and go to the Woolpack for tea and stay the night at Weston. It was a lovely morning and the weather has been very good for late September,we had thought we may need to light a fire this weekend and even prepared the stove but haven't had to light it! It has been another busy day with plenty of boats on the move, we stopped and moored up for breakfast along the way and had a cooked breakfast sat outside in the warm weather( Can't believe it sat outside for breakfast at this time. Great!!)

We passed the new marina at Aston it was supposed to be almost ready for opening but it didn't look like it was anywhere near completion to us! We arrived at Weston after lunch and Joan & Ron wanted to go for a walk to see where the pub was so I went with them with Buster. I left them and headed back to the boat and sat and did my crossword while Kev pottered about outside. While he was outside Elsie ( Nb bendigidig) came past walking her dog, Kev had a good natter with her,we will hopefully meet up with her again at some point. Kev reads Bendigidig's blog so it was nice for him to meet a blogger he reads.

We had a nice afternoon not really doing much and then went off to the Woolpack pub for some food I must admit we have been here several times and although it has changed owners a couple of times (I think) we have never had a bad meal yet.

Monday 28th September

Only a short journey back to the marina today and Joan and Ron have enjoyed their short trip on the boat. We wanted to get back to the marina for lunchtime so we could sort the boat before leaving ie: empty toilet etc. Although we would be back for the following Friday as Ben (our builder) is having an open day and asked if we would let him use 4Evermoore for people to view and he also had Trudy Ann (a dutch barge)that was near completion to show too. Anyway it was back home for us and we would be finishing the living room hopefully!!

Heading back to Great Haywood

Wednesday 2nd September

Not a bad start to the day but the forecast was for showers and maybe windy too, so at 7.45am we left our moorings near Whightwick. We never passsed any boats until we got to Autherley junction and then there were only a couple of boats heading onto the Shroppie. We passed plenty of fishermen as there seemed to be a few matches going on today. We stopped briefly after bridge 76 to have a sandwich and take Buster for a walk about midday and then carried on to Penkridge where we moored up after Filance lock through bridge 85 at 3.15pm. We hadn't had much rain on the way only a few showers here and there but the wind had picked up a bit with quite strong gusts at times. We will stay here until Friday as I want to do a bit of cleaning and Kev wants to do some odd jobs. We will be heading back to Great Haywood to the marina and are hoping to go for a bite to eat and a pint (of course) with Ben & Kelly (our builders) as we haven't seen them for a while. We will head off for home on Sunday as Kev will be back to work on Wednesday. So this will probably be the last entry on the blog for a while.

Rock houses at Kinver

Monday 31st August

Well not a bad morning so we decided that we wanted to go visit the Kinver rock houses as we had never managed to get to them as each time we had been to Kinver we never seemed to get round to it. As we set off mid morning the sun came out and it was quite warm and it was a good walk a lot of which was uphill and took us roughly just over half an hour. It was worth the walk but we were a bit dissapointed that the houses were closed and are only open on weekends from 2pm to 4pm. But never mind they were still amazing and the views over the countryside are lovely. These houses are now owned by the national trust who have renovated them and used to be home to several families. The first recording of people dwelling here goes back to 1777 and they are in sandstone rock. We walked back to the boat for lunch and then we left the moorings near the Kinver lock and went to the winding hole just before the Whittington Horse Bridge 28 where we turned the boat and moored up near the bridge. We wanted to go to the pub The Whittington Inn which dates back to 1310, Kev had read about it in the Nicholsons guide and it sounded good. So off we went over the bridge and we walked down a quiet lane and onto a busy road and just a few hundred yards we were at the pub. What a super pub, this is said to have been the home of Dick whittington's grandfather and later the home of Lady Jane Grey whose ghost is supposed to sometimes be encountered! We never saw her though even after 3 pints but never mind eh. The pub was very busy with people eating and the food looked really good, and if we are in this area again we will definately be coming here for a meal.

Tuesday 1st September

We were up early as usual and after breakfast and walking Buster we left the mooring at bridge 28 just before 8am. We wanted to crack on today while the weather was fine as the rest of the week the weather forecast wasn't good and we want to be back at our marina for the weekend. We stopped at 12pm for fish & chips at Swindon before bridge 40, well worth it we can recommend the chippy here. The weather was quite good until we reached the bratch where it started to rain heavy at times. We had been following a boat for a while but passed it after Bumblehole lock where we saw the man on the boat with his boat hook , he was trying to free his propeller which had a fold up camping chair wrapped round it so I am glad we were behind him as it could have been Kev with the boathook! Well I hope he managed to get it sorted. We carried on and finally moored at 5pm between bridge 53 &54 near Whightwick.