A leisurely start to the day yesterday, a cooked breakfast, showers, Andrew Marr show, a quick visit to the M&S food store at the local garage and we were off to Radford Semele some four miles away to join Dot and Derek of Gypsy Rover. We broke ice as we set off from our overnight mooring opposite Kate Boats but it was only half and inch thick. By the time we had travelled a mile we were in the tracks of Nb Esther, our companion of the Hatton flight of locks, who had obviously set off earlier than the lazy Caxton crew and broken the ice for us.
As I walked the towpath with the dogs I saw a couple of boats coming towards me, that livery looks familiar I thought and when the boat started to via towards me the penny dropped, it was Nb. Gypsy Rover making a dash for it before Caxton turned up!
The two boats just stopped in the cut and we had a chat. Derek and Dot were making a run for civilisation as the weather set in and the freeze hardened - we will meet up again somewhere later in the year no doubt.
In view of the change of plan, Joe and I decided to push on beyond our original destination and our four mile stint became eight and a half miles and ten locks. We are now moored by Cuttle Bridge, just south of Long Itchington and frozen in again!
7 comments:
Just found your blog, new to blogging but old friends of canal boat holidays. So much so that we are just in process of buying our first boat with view to living aboard from Easter next year.
Have enjoyed reading your messages and wish we were already out there. Sigh!
Karen
Hi Karen
I am glad you have found us and thank you for the vote of support. Where are you getting your boat from?
Lesley
It's currently at Blisworth Marina, coming out tomorrow for survey. Fingers crossed.
Reading your blog last week, I thought you might be going into Birmingham City Centre and I thought we might be meeting. Alas it was not to be. We're there now and it took some shove to get here through the ice. You never know who you're going to meet on the canals and we met Alan Herd from the TV series Narrow Boat Afloat today. What a nice fellow he is. He was at Kings Norton Junction with a crew filming us ice breaking.
Never a dull moment on the cut.
Hope to meet one day,
Kevin and Linda aboard NB Tranquility
http://travelsontranquility.blogspot.com
Hi Kevin and Linda
Paul Balmer of Waterways Routes slapped my wrists for saying we were going INTO Brum when in fact we were just skirting it! We are going to visit the BCN but at the moment we need to get Caxton to Braunston for a stretch this month. I am sure we will meet, like you I enjoy meeting other bloggers. I will try and catch the programme though I don't think I have ever seen it before.
Lesley
Lesley,
You really should avail yourself of a keyboard with a 'Y' included otherwise I fear you are in danger of upsetting Derek & Dot by renaming their boat without their permission!
Enjoy your blog & a big fan of Fletcher & Floyd.
Hi Eric
Thank you for the warning - grovelling apologies will be called for when I next see them - that's if they will talk to me again!
I have mentioned to F&F that they have a fan but they just looked at me as if I had lost the plot - come to think of it, perhaps I have..
happy cruising
Lesley
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