Sunday 22 February 2009

Monday 16th February 2009

Met up with our son and family and had another nice meal at the Red Lion - altogether a good celebration - here's to the next 40!!


Sunday 15th February 2009 - Our Ruby Wedding Anniversary


Well..... 40 years married, where did all those years go?


Alison and Ashley called and brought us a bottle of red wine to celebrate our day, we had a good chat and Alison said that Rock 'n' Roll's layout was exactly what she had envisaged for their build, we exchanged details and hope to see them again in the future.


We again went to the Red Lion in Atherston for our anniversary and had a very nice evening - Iwas a little aprehensive about leaving Molly on board as we could hear her crying as we walked away - she knows how to tug the heart strings - she was very pleased to see us return.


Saturday 14th February 2009


Atherston - Met a Nuneaton couple (Alison and Ashley) who want to become continuous cruisers when he is made redundant in April this year, they were asking the usual questions - what do you do about doctors, dentists, post etc and we had an interesting chat about boat builders and fitters and sailaways etc. I suggested that if they were still around later or on Sunday we had a couple of canal magazines they could have to enable them to see what boatbuilders and fitters are out there. They said they would call on Sunday morning.

Saturday 21 February 2009

Friday 13th February 2009





I had picked up some local information sheets from the BW office at Fazeley, amongst which was a tour of historic Atherstone. The Town Trail started and ended at the Market Square and..........








.............. at about lunch time took us into/past the Old Swan, built in the 16th century and was previously a regular meeting place of the Atherstone Hunt.



An interesting history for what initally appears to be an unremarkable place


We had a call later from our daughter saying that they were currently in Cheltenham and asked us to book a table for 7 at a local hostelry and would see us there at about 7.30 - fabulous! We booked the Red Lion and enjoyed a pre Ruby Wedding dinner - it was so good to see them all. They returned to Cheltenham later that evening and returned home to Scotland on Saturday, Louise's 14th birthday.





Thursday 12th February 2009


The canal froze overnight and we broke the ice all the way from Polesworth to Grendon Dock and from there to Lock 7 of the Atherstone Locks we cruised through snow, hail and then rain!






Proceeding through lock lock 4 towards bridge 42 - nearly there!Finally moored above top lock.
Wednesday 11th February 2009



Stayed at Fazely again last night and upsticks this morning to move on.



This is Pooley Hall on the way to Polesworth

Monday 9 February 2009



Saturday 7th February 2009 - Tamworth ~ Coventry Canal

Moved down to Sutton Road Bridge and moored for the night - we don't believe in doing too much in one day!

Sunday - walked into Tamworth (about half a mile from mooring) and looked round the shops at the Ventura Retail Parks ( all the shops you need, large M&S, Argos, Homebase, Boots, Asda, Sainsburys etc.). Then walked into the town - very quiet on a Sunday. Walked round the castle but didn't go in as we had Molly with us.

Monday - collected water at Fazely Junction and did the weekly wash, will fill up again in the morning and upsticks.

Friday 6 February 2009



Friday 6th February

Another lovely sunset.


Hopefully we will upsticks tomorrowand move down to Fazeley Junction as the weather is supposed to be good and more snow is forecast for Sunday night into Monday.


Thursday 5th February 2009 - Coventry Canal


Went to the Plough, Huddlesford for our evening meal -venison steaks which where delicious, although the puddings (apple crumble and pecan tart) tasted just 'out of their sell by dates'.


Thursday 5th February 2009

We're now moored by bridge 83 on the Coventry Canal. We walked into Whittington (couldn't find Dick, but his cat has a pub named after him/her). This sunken boat is just before bridge 80 and appears to have had a BW notice attached to the tiller.






Monday 2nd February 2009


Coventry Canal - Fradley Junction


A snowy evening









2nd February 2009


Coventry Canal - Fradley Junction


A beautiful sunset

Thursday 5 February 2009



Molly loves the snow but kept eating the snowballs and ended up with an upset tum!

Sunday 1st February 2009


Fradley Junction





















Snow over night and most of the day




Hubby George with Molly - Paterdale Terrior heading for the cathederal.

Saturday 31st January 2009


Caught the bus to Lichfield - had a nice day round the shops the sky was clear but the wind was biting cold. Treated us to M&S Dine in for Two for tea tonight - very nice.