Monday 10th July.
I cannot say how happy I am to be back on
Stronghold again, after a week at home, where every day had an objective to be
achieved – and they were, day by day, until all were completed by midday on
Sunday, so I was half a day ahead. Getting back to the boat, I found that
either the inside hire boat had been hired out, or the boatyard had had just
reversed her; anyway, the spring line was missing and the mooring lines were
slack, consequently the old girl had been banged about by passing boats and
several items inside were on the floor. I found the spring line inside one of
the lockers on the hire boat, so whoever moored Stronghold up did not know how
to secure a boat properly. While on the subject of mooring, have a look at ‘Moored
Like a Twat’ on Faceache. I think it was originated by Maffi.
OK, rant over. I departed north towards
Rugby, as I had to stock up again with food at Tesco, but there was enough to
make a meal with tinned meat balls and potatoes on board for just such an
occasion as this, as I can shop in the morning. I got one of the last moorings
on the park side and close to the water point, so not too far to get to the
main road. It is 6 pm and time for a well deserved pint in the local Harvester
– oh dear!
Tuesday 11th July
It would appear that the summer has been
and gone, because it was rain this morning and rain all afternoon, so not very
conducive to going out, but there was a great deal of shopping to be done and
nothing in the larder except tins of stuff. A lot of time was spent surfing the
net, making a retail therapy list and reading. At about 5pm and bored stiff, I
ventured out towards Tesco in the rain, although it wasn’t quite so bad then. I
tried a new route through the housing estate, which seemed shorter, but
probably wasn’t, although it did avoid a steep hill back up to the canal.
Another trip to the Harvester pub, which
still had the Doombar clips on all three pumps handles, but what a surprise was
to come....... it was off! This just goes to show how badly this pub was
organised. A piss up in a brewery comes to mind! Being there, I was committed
to having a pint, so it was San Miguel, but at the same price as Doombar. I
have a good mind to complain to Mitchells and Butlers who own Harvesters – in
fact I did:-
“This was my fourth visit to The Bell and
Barge and on every occasion there were two choices of real ale on tap, which
was take it or leave it, because there were Doombar pump clips on all three
beer pump handles. On 11th July the beer was not on tap at all and pulled up cloudy,
so I had no option but to drink San Miguel. For such a large establishment,
this is not what I expect when I go out for the evening and if smaller pubs can
deliver a choice, then so can you. For this reason I have no intention of
visiting The Bell and Barge again, nor any other Harvester house in the future.”
I did get a reply, but it was the standard type of email that they would send out to anyone who complains. No offers of any sort were forthcoming, not that I would accept them anyway.
Wednesday 12th July
It was all change with the weather again
this morning with the sun shining through the clouds. How different from
yesterday.
I phoned The Greyhound at Suttons Stop,
but Saturday night was full in the restaurant, so it has to be an early ‘grab a
table’ time in the bar on Saturday evening, or even eating outside if the
weather is OK.
The moorings here are filling up fast and
as they are OK for 14 days there are many boats here for that time, while
opposite, the moorings are for 24 hrs only. A lady opposite asked if I was
moving on today, as her husband had a hospital appointment the following day
and needed longer than 24 hrs mooring.
Everyone seems to be on the move here at Rugby.
It must be because of the clement weather after yesterday’s constant rain. At
12.30, boats were passing me in queues ether way and there was even a queue for
the water point opposite. It is always amusing to see hire boats getting the
stern in first, or reversing with the bow way out in the middle of the cut and
no way of getting back onto the mooring. This really is a spectator sport and
they often don’t appreciate unsolicited advice.
After a period of tidying up and a bite
to eat I let go for Newbold and the other boat moved across immediately. It was
only a half hour trip, but long enough to warm up the engine for an oil change.
I have got this down to 20 mins now, although it takes a bit longer to tidy up.
Getting rid of the old oil is a problem on the waterways, but it will keep
until I get back to Braunston, where there is an oil disposal tank in the
marina.
Thursday 13th July
A cool start to the day with no wind,
which is always appreciated when cruising. This is such a quiet spot for mooring,
although there are houses just below the towpath, but their roofs are level
with the canal, so you don’t hear much noise. There is NO TV signal here,
despite turning the aerial this was and that. I wondered if the water had got
into it after all the rain.
There is an unvisited pub at Ansty, called
the Rose and Castle, which would be good to have on the pub database, although
I shall be going past this morning, which is too early for pubbing - maybe on
the way back. Having just looked this pub up, I see that it is more of a
restaurant than pub, with table service.......mmmm?
When I got to Rose Narrowboats. I decided
to take a walk up the arm to take some pics of repairs done to the NBT pair.
Rose Narrowboats were OK for me to moor up for a while on their refuelling
mooring, while I went for a walk along the towpath. Sure enough Nuneaton was
close to the yard and overplating was obvious with new blacking applied in the
appropriate places. Brighton was moored up in the winding hole with a new gas
vent cut and some work done to the stern. I had a chat with Steve Priest,
wondering if a boat I had spotted was for sale for a friend of mine, but the
answer was no.
 |
| Motor Boat Nuneaton at Brinklow. |
 |
| Butty Brighton in the winding hole. |
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| Several familiar boats are moored up here. White Heather was moored up at Pelican Wharf a few years ago. |
Cruising on, I passed by the Rose and
Castle pub gardens, but the pub itself was not visible and I did remember where
it was, having passed by before. Mooring is on the towpath, which is on the
opposite side to the pub, but there is a bridge close by.
I arrived at Suttons at 4.30 pm and there
were no moorings available on the Oxford canal, but around the corner on the
Coventry I spotted a place for two boats and immediately made headway for it,
knowing that if I stopped for water, it would be taken by another boat, as
happened to another boat watering up. At 6 pm boats were still arriving and
looking for moorings.
Trying out the TV aerial here, I found
that there was nothing wrong at all and I got a perfect signal. Wi-Fi is
excellent too, with a five bar signal.
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