Hawkesbury to Brinklow

On Saturday we had a brief visit from Heather on Smile and Wave, they passed by and moored up on the Coventry Canal side of the junction, Heather wandered back to have a chat and also look out for friends of theirs who were following on a bit behind, we were briefly interrupted by a hire boat bashing its way around the corner, passing by us and shortly after clattering into a boat on the permanent moorings. Thanks for stopping by Heather it was good to see you again.

Saturday evening saw us in the very busy Greyhound Inn, we actually managed to get a table, well a share of one, and had an enjoyable evening.

Our intention was to set off from Hawkesbury on Sunday, but we didn't because it was busy so we thought we'd leave them all to it and not add to the congestion. We took a stroll back to the junction in the morning and did a bit of gongoozling, it just so happen we watched the hire boat from yesterday go through the lock, a member of their crew seemed to have difficultly dropping the paddle behind them so left it up. A couple of guys from the Coventry Canal Society were following on a boat behind them and raised the paddles in front to help them on their way, everyone stood around for some time before James had to go and let them know that paddles both ends were open, luckily its only a stop lock so nothing drastic this time. The hire boat wasn't doing too bad a job of the turn until there were a couple of other boats coming towards him at the narrow section by the pump house, after a bit of confusion as no one was indicating their intentions and at that point it really did look like the hire boat was trying to wind, everyone was soon on their way.

So this morning we set off, but as usual for us not far. We passed through Ansty where the 'Strictly no mooring' section has increased further from the permit holder moorings right through to the M69 bridge. I wonder why there is no mooring here? And is it really necessary for all these signs in about two boat lengths? 

I am always reminded of a nasty lady when we come through this way. When we very first hired from Lime Farm Marina, which is only about seven miles away, we got to this section and it poured down and hailed as we couldn't really see much and being first timers we thought it would be safer to stop and having spotted the mooring rings and a vacant spot we pulled in, we did overshoot it somewhat and I jumped off in the 'strictly no mooring' section, so we were just going to pull the boat back to the rings. I could soon hear some shouting and a lady appeared from one of the houses, as she got closer I could make out her shouting at us 'you can't stop here, its no mooring' and pointing to the many signs. I tried to explain we were just stopping because of the weather and were pulling back onto the rings, she just continued to shout and scream at me about no mooring here. bearing in mind it was absolutely pouring down I really couldn't understand her actions. Anyway I am always reminded of the incident and unfriendliness of Ansty.

We continued on passing under the M6 and then into a section made narrow by the overgrown reeds on the offside.

Next up was Rose Boats and their little swing bridge, I jumped off and opened it, it wasn't until James was going through I realised there was an arrow on it indicating which way to push, oops I had gone the wrong way, I did try both but pushing it the correct way it wouldn't budge, once James and LJ were through and it did close OK.

We stopped just short of All Oaks Wood on the visitor moorings and had a walk into Brinklow Village, and as it was lunchtime we had a bag of chips and sat on the new benches by the new war memorial. It was lovely and warm this morning with some sun, but this afternoon we've had a few showers.

Tomorrow it's back to Lime Farm Marina to see John, the owner, to get a quote for some work we want doing on LJ.

7.75 miles

Total 447.5 miles and 362 locks

Yeah we've pumped out at last...

Yeah we've pumped out at last...

Good job too coz we are moored in the middle of nowhere today. We knocked the pins in about five minutes into the Wales Scotland game, we would have been on time but I had to pull over in Ansty  for a stubborn gall stone to finish its journey and I had to wind and reverse onto the service wharf at Rose boats in pretty much no space, and then do the same thing to leave. 

A sharp left then reverse up to the bridge, glad it wasn't windy 

Interesting chat with the gaffer of Rose boats who did some work on LJ in the past who doesn't really rate our shaft driven geni. I don't either but when it broke down last May I didn't really know enough about the boat or the alternatives. I did consider changing to diesel cooking then but it looked quite a lot of agro. I think it is quite a weak link in the system and if it fails again will look at getting gas put in and get the engine changed to conventional variable throttle. In think the costs would have been about the same. 

We passed the car grave yard again, not a scrappy just someone with too many cars and not enough space. I recognised one coz I found a similar one for dad. It is a black Volvo P1800s but this one is the rarer Jenson one with the upswept chrome bumper. He has also got a couple of old VW campers that are probably worth a couple of bob too.

The Saints car in a garden

The lump of brisket on the bone that I bought in Coventry market made a wonderful beef stew. I had it slow cooking on top of the stove from about 8.00 so it didn't take much finishing off once we had stopped. It was good value at £2 as well.  Whilst on the topic of food (never too far from it!) Jess sent me a picture of the cake we made deb  for her birthday with me grinning like an eeejut in the background, not too often I'm that side of the camera :-) 

We were happy with our efforts

It looks like the weather may take a turn for the worse over the next few days so we will plod on to Rugby moorings in the morning just in case we get iced in too far from our BSS test on Tuesday. 

Lunch on the Tump...

As today had no rain forecast and a good deal of sunshine we decided to head back into Brinklow by bike to have a better look around the village. We set of in a chilly wind at about 10.30 but as we were cycling we soon warmed up. The old legs not burning as much as before which is an encouraging sign and we were in the village within minutes. Good old invention, the bike - bought for next to nowt, virtually maintenance free and no running costs. Ok our average speed is still pitifully low but I am confident it will increase and my average tank of diesel only returned an average speed of 17 mph when I was working in Bournemouth. 

A pretty little rural village Brinklow, according to John at the Lime Farm, nothing like it used to be but sadly the same is to be seen in most small communities. It still has a bit of a highstreet with a couple of shops, takeaway, small primary school and clutch of pubs which is more than can be said for a lot of places baring in mind that its population is only just over 1000 people.

Again being close to a canal  (having formerly had its own arm) it has more than its share of history. It has a beautiful 13th century church lots of old houses including one faced in Staffordshire blue bricks. These have been used entirely for decoration and status, not their strength as they are in several railway bridges. Brinklow also boasts one of the largest  Norman motte and baileys.

Blue Brick House

On the Tump for lunch

From the local history group - Brinklow's most notable topographical feature is the imposing grassy mound behind the church, known locally as the Tump, or the Big Hill.  Built on a natural rise, and offering a striking view of the surrounding countryside, the hill and its nearby earthworks represent one of the best preserved motte-and-bailey castle sites in the country.  However, the name of Brinklow itself suggests a much older settled community, or at least a site that was important to people long before the Norman Conquest.

The name is thought to originate from two Old English elements: the personal name Brynca, and the word hlaw, meaning "hill" in the sense of tumulus or burial mound.  This ancient derivation implies that there was almost certainly a man-made "tump" here long before the Normans exploited the site to build their castle.

Brinklow Tump may well have had some significance to the ancient Coritani people, whose capital was Leicester, but who, it is thought, may well have strayed in small isolated settlements southwards.  It is one of a line of such tumuli and earthworks that run diagonally across Warwickshire from north-east to south-east, and which are roughly parallel to the Fosse Way; this last may be by accident or design, but many have suggested that such "ley lines" are either the remnants of ancient and lost trackways, or that they echo pagan belief in the harnessing of natural earth-energy forces along such man made connections. One such trackway is "Tutbury Lane", an old green path which runs from the River Avon to Brinklow Heath.

Vid from my phone so hope it works!

As the weather was still good we decided to push ourselves further out into the countryside before returning to Brinklow and back to LJ and it took a little longer cycling back from Brinklow than it had to get to it in the morning! Luckily we had saved some of the scones I had made a few days ago and it was a very 'wind in the willows' afternoon having afternoon tea on the fore deck. Time for a bit of toad from toad hall later - I've spotted another fallen tree and this time its not willow!

Bus trip back to Braunston

Today was due to be bright and breezy so we had planned to get the bus back to Braunston via Rugby to pick up the van and a few essentials on the way.

We're not too far from a fairly small back road to Brinklow village centre, about 1.5 miles' so it was up and out fairly early for the first leg of our journey. We managed good time to the village (good for us anyway) at just over 25 minutes. It has been a while since we have used local buses so were pleased it was on time but we didn't have a clue how much it would cost. Naively we got on and duly handed over our £20. Ah... all the passengers were, lets say, bus pass users and the bus driver had about £3.20 in change and doubted whether he would pick up many cash passengers. Rather than kick us off and let us get the next one in 30 mins or so, he drove round the corner and parked outside the local shop so Deb could get some change. Don't think you would find bus drivers like that very often. 

We had a bit of a closer look at Rugby town centre with its 'once you've seen one you've seen them all', shopping mall and a browse round a few charity shops looking for a book identifying tree types for the next time I got my chainsaw out again, no luck yet. A lot of Rugby's large architectural buildings are part of Rugby school and I would guess always would have been as the school has been around since the 1820's.

From Rugby to Braunston was a pretty journey and it was nice to see some of the surrounding countryside. We didn't stay long but were glad to see that the van was still where we left it and all in working order and now hidden on the end of all oaks wood just up from the canal.

All Oaks Wood (looking like all Beech to me!)

The new batteries are proving a worthwhile investment and we havent drained them yet. The new monitor shows quite easily what %age left and we have cut our diesel bill by about 25% and I am hoping to get below 50% of Aprils usage as soon as we have solar up and running.

Time for LJ to visit the Doctor...

Nothing serious only a 'check up', well in reality an engine service. 

After our very brief trip through Rugby we arrived at Newbold where we moored up for the night just before the tunnel, in a lovely spot and if we didn't have to be at Cathiron the next day we would have probably stayed a while. So Wednesday James and I were up and on the move by 9:15 as we were due at Lime Farm Marina for 10:00. Lime Farm is where we hired Sarah-Louise from last year and John and Sarah who own and run it are a down to earth couple who probably know, between them, everything you would need to know about narrowboats.

Now the entrance from the canal into Lime Farm marina is a little tight (we remember from getting back with Sarah-Louise!!) I was on the front deck ready to fend off the sides, James was doing really well and was looking like getting it through in one, then I spotted John running towards us shouting - unfortunately I couldn't hear him until he was quite close and he was saying ... "can you come in backwards"!! I wasn't sure if James had heard so out with the walkie talkie to relay the message - "he wants us to come in backwards"!! I knew James had heard my message when I saw him laughing - or was that crying!! This meant turning 60ft LJ round in a very, very tight space. But with a little help from John pulling the front round the the rope James got her in backwards.  

We had a long chat with John and Sarah, then once the engine had cooled down John could have a good look to see what filters etc he needed. We had decided to leave him to it and went off for a walk towards Brinklow. We walked down the lovely peaceful country lanes, except for the Virgin train whooshing by, and arrived in the village where we spotted a chip shop - it was lunch time so a treat was in store for us. Leaving with bags of chips in hand we went back to a bench we had past - then it began to rain, so with chips eaten in the rain, we decided not to explore the rest of the village and headed back for Lime Farm Marina, which was about two and a half miles away! (we will go back to Brinklow as it seems to have a really interesting history). It rained heavier and we got soaked, we had waterproof coats with us but not the trousers and jeans are not particularly comfortable when wet!!! 

We arrived back and John was still working on LJ with a massive umbrella over the engine bay. We went back on board and sat still, so as not to 'rock the boat' and read our books. John pumped out all the water that had been sitting in the bottom of the engine bay, which had been there since we bought her, and what a difference. When it gets warmer and drier (if ever) I will get down there and paint it. Well with the service complete, more diesel bought, pump out done and another bag of coal we were on way, that's when I realised it was 7:30pm! What service from John and Lime Farm Marina - as you can probably tell I would highly recommend them.  

Up and about this morning I was getting the fire ready to light as James was going to cook up some rhubarb to make into a crumble for pudding tonight, he was also making some scones as we had got some clotted cream in Aldi on our last visit and this needed using and scones and jam are the only way to have clotted cream. So with a little coal stored in the engine bay I lifted the top and then .... I felt like a cartoon character with my eyes popping out - I couldn't believe it a couple of inches of water again - so down I went and started bailing it out. I knew it rained last night but really - that much - I got about five buckets out and there is still more there, so a mop is on the next shopping list so I can get the rest out. Whilst I was down there I thought I may as well check the weed hatch again - all was ok with that. This probably ended up taking a couple of hours and I was rewarded with some very delicious scones with clotted cream and jam.

This afternoon has been on and off rain - so we stayed in a relaxed. With the fire lit I prepared the cottage pie for dinner which was followed by rhubarb and apple crumble - yum.

Tomorrow we are getting the bus to Rugby and then back to Braunston, where we have left the Bongo and bring it back close to us - oh yes with a stop off in Tesco at Rugby to pick up the home brew kit - so bye bye airing cupboard for a couple of weeks.

Oh and James has asked me to put this picture in - this is the family size nan bread, he has previously mentioned, from our visit to Rugby with Pam and Pete.  Must be for a huge family as the four of us couldn't manage it all!!!