Canal Date 11th June 2011
Travels 5Miles 0Locks
Current Location 2 miles south of Brinklow (Oxford Canal)
I do believe that we have started to become accustomed to the trains, we do not particularly notice them any more. However, there is an annoying bang as the boat hits a submerged rock when a passing boat goes past too fast!
Spent much of the day giving the side of the boat 2 coats of polish. It had started to go dull and chalky and has a shine now.
I removed the blistering paint at the rear corner and gave it a coat of green undercoat.
We took off the rear pram cover and gave the inside a good scrubbing. I found that soap and water had no effect on the stains so I tried white spirit. That worked well. I then washed it off with loads of water. It has come up well. I do hope that the white spirit does not have any detrimental effect on the material.
Next day we painted the rear of the boat. Both Pam & I managed to hold on to the wet paint when getting on board! Later we fitted the anti-slip tape on the side of the boat. Hopefully, it will reduce the number of unintentional dips I take. Well that is the plan anyway!
We walked into the village of Ansty after lunch, It took about ½ hour each way. Other than a pub & post box, there does not appear to have anything else. A range of uninspired houses, nothing of interest.
I then cycled to look at the moorings further on, to the village of Brinklow. The towpath was very rough, not pot holes, just rippled earth. It was like riding over badly laid cobbles. It shook anything and everything loose. It was only 6 miles but it appeared much further with the terrain.
We set off, heading towards Brinklow. We had to wait for ages for some new live aboard boaters. They did not have a clue what they were doing and boy did it show. We were against the Rose hire fleet and moored boats on the other side. It was all I could do to hold the boat when other traffic came past. Eventually we got on the water point and had our fill. We moved on a few yards to the first useable moorings and walked to a Farm Shop. We were told that it is about 20 minutes away. It took us 40! The farm shop was worth the effort. It was well stocked and not overpriced. There is a good coffee shop which we took full advantage of. When we got back to the boat we called in to the chandlers. Again, a very good and well stocked shop. We then moved out of the Chandlers moorings and found some nice rural spaces about a mile further down the canal. Once again, the sides are too shallow for this boat. We had a bit of a list to starboard. This is a much quieter mooring than Ansty, the railway is a bit further away and hidden behind trees. However, it is in a steep cutting and totally over hung with vegetation. It looks like we are in the middle of the Burma jungle. I am expecting tigers to jump out any minute. We shall find a better location to spend the weekend. We walked to the village, it seemed to be a long way but it was only about one mile each way. The village is nice, wide open roads with a complete range of houses, some very old and up to modern brick built houses. There has never been any form of planning as there is just about every style of house one could imagine all jumbled up. We did call into the only tea room in the village and had a tea cake before walking back.
NOTE 3 pubs and we went into a tea room!!!!
As soon as we arrived back at the boat we moved on again. We had no particular destination in mind, just somewhere a bit more open. We soon found the spot. Open fields to our Port side and a low hedge with meadows beyond on the Starboard, this will do us nicely for the weekend.
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