January 2019 to April 2019

Travelled:- Stone (Trent & Mersey) to Radford Bank (Staffs & Worcester)

Mile:- 5975      Locks:- 4327

First I must send my apologies to the individual (you know who you are) who has pulled me up for not updating the blog again.

To be honest we have not really been very far in the last 4 months, basically we have only been travelling backwards and forwards between Stone, Stoke on Trent, Radford Bank and Penkridge Pictures with stops along the way which included Barlaston (where we met up with some friends), Weston, Great Hayward and Tixall Wide.  This has been mainly due to it being the winter months and because of the winter stoppages.

We have also had problems with the calorifier (another leak) and the back boiler on the fire also sprung a leak which was very annoying as it meant that Paul had to let the fire out and drain the system down to be able to disconnect the back boiler, this should have been straight forward but turned out to be quite tricky and took a few attempts, not good when you have to let the fire out every time.  Luckily we could still use the fire (once Paul had finished playing about) but with no back boiler connected we now don’t have any heat in the bedroom and bathroom radiators.  Paul sorted the calorifier out and did get the back boiler welded and after spending a whole day putting it back in the fire and reconnecting all the pipe work and refilling the system thought job done, but no, life is never that kind and much to his dismay and annoyance the back boiler still leaked.  He is now looking for somewhere else to get it welded so that he can have another long day putting it all back together (hopefully before winter).

I popped down to see my Mum in early April and we spent a few days visiting Peter and Karen in their new home in Somerset.  We stayed in a lovely B&B Amonite Lodge in Chard Pictures and spent time with them and Lilly and Harry at the new house.  Unfortunately Lilly got a bug and we took it home with us and ended up feeling rather poorly for a few days.  I did manage to catch up with friends whilst there which is always nice and was blessed with some lovely weather.

Whilst I was away Paul traveled from Stone to Radford Bank for my arrival home in time for the Easter Weekend where we have been since.  There is a considerable increase in boat movement now so we will be moving on very soon heading to the Shropshire Union canal.  I will make an effort to update the blog a bit more often now that we are going to be on the move, hopefully we will find somewhere we haven’t been yet and I will have something of interest to impart.

July 2018 to December 2018

Travelled:- Barlaston (Trent & Mersey) to Stone (Trent & Mersey)

Mile:- 5907      Locks:- 4280

Once again I find myself remise over updating the blog and can only apologise; I really don’t have an excuse as it is not as if I am really busy.  It just seems that life takes over and before you know it I am once again apologising. 

We moved from Barlaston and over the coming 6 month we have been travelling the network and now found ourselves nearly at the starting point back in Stone.  It would appear from this that we haven’t actually travelled very far in this time but we have been and I will now regale you with them, although be warned most of the places visited have been mentioned before.

So from Barlaston we travelled to Etruria (Stoke on Trent) and whilst there received a call from Lilly to invite us to her school play, it was her last year in Primary and she was playing the lead role (Juliet) in Romeo & Juliet, so we decided to head back to Great Hayward where we could leave the boat to travel to Devon for the day.  It was brilliant, the whole cast were amazing and the amount of lines they all learnt was phenomenal.  From here we travelled onto Fradley Junction where once again we found ourselves hiring a car to visit Pauls’ family in Bury St Edmunds.  On the way to Fradley a rather large Weeping Willow that was across the canal very kindly picked up our TV aerial and swept it into the canal, luckily it was a hot day as Paul spent the next hour searching for it with our sea searcher magnet and pole, luckily he found it and we were able to continue our journey.  After this we went down to Fazeley Junction as we found ourselves having to visit Bournemouth as we had a change of tenants at the house and it provides the ideal opportunity to do remedial maintenance etc.  We also met up with family and friends which was great. As you can see it has been a busy year for hire cars, so far we are up to 8, but hopefully next year will be better.

After this rather busy period we once again found ourselves on a mission, albeit a bit slower to get to Stratford Upon Avon for Lilly’s summer holiday visit.  On the way we had stops at Minworth, Catherine de Barns, Knowle, Lowsonford, Saffron Wawen and Bishopton before finally arriving in Stratford.  Just prior to Lilly’s visit I did a train trip back to Stone for the dentist and unfortunately on my return visit had a slight accident hurting my back.  Subsequently on my arrival at Stratford train station I was in so much pain and could hardly walk that I ended up being taken to Warwick hospital by ambulance.  Thankfully after a lot of gas & air in the ambulance and some serious pain killers being administered I was allowed home after a few hours.  The next few days were rather difficult and still suffer from the occasion twinge but on the whole all ok now.

Finally Lilly arrived; we had a trip down the River Avon to Bideford to visit the park from her previous visit here and returned to Stratford to enjoy the Butterfly farm and surrounding area.  One of the highlights of the week was when Paul and Lilly decided to go swimming in the river, it was a lot colder than they thought it would be but survived the experience, I obviously declined.  Unfortunately it was only a short visit this time so taking her home came to soon.    

After we spent another few days on the River Avon and taking a cruise towards Hampton Lucy which is at the end of the navigation this way. 

As the previous couple of months had been rather busy we decided to travel back to Lowsonford where the Fleur de Lye Inn is and spend a week relaxing and decide where to head to for Christmas and New Year.   We had intended to go to Skipton for winter this year but on investigating the route decided that the timescale, stoppages in place and with the impending maintenance work it was not feasible, so we decided to take a leisurely journey back towards Stone.  Our first main stop was Birmingham, mooring up at Gas Street where we stayed for a number of days and took in the opportunity of visiting the local sites and watching the changes happening due to the Tory Conference that was taking place during our stay.  On leaving Birmingham and because the canal was closed off by the conference centre we had to let a bomb sniffer dog aboard and had a police escort through the cordoned off area.  We then travelled via Wolverhampton and Hatherton to Penkridge.  This is a nice little market town and stayed here for quite a while before moving onto Radford Bank just outside Stafford.  Although we have stopped here a couple of times for lunch we have only stayed overnight once before, but this time we spent a couple of weeks here.  It is a great spot, the pub is great they mainly serve Carvery Roasts and fresh baked Pizzas and the staff are all very friendly. During this time we had a lovely visit from Peter and Karen as it was half term which was really nice as we got to see Lilly and Harry.  There is an Aldi five minutes walk away and the town is only a couple of miles.  From here we popped down to Tixall Wide and Great Hayward for a few days to get Diesel, Gas, Water and visit the local farm shop.  It was at this point that the Alternator went kaput, luckily we have the generator which gave Paul time to do a temporary repair on it, having decided to purchase a new one we headed back to Radford Bank so we could get it delivered to the pub and as I was travelling to my Mums for a visit it was ideal as getting to Stafford train station is easy from there.

So I left Paul at Radford Bank to sort the alternator out and once he had done this he headed off to Penkridge, stocking up with coal on the way.  Having spent some time there he once again got more coal before heading back to Radford Bank for my return from Bournemouth.  During all of this I had a great visit with my Mum,  we went to London for a few days and saw 2 great shows, Kinky Boots and The Play that goes Wrong, they were both brilliant.  We visited the V&A museum as unbelievably my mum had never been, I also took her to Paddington Basin and Little Venice to show her where we had visited and moored.  We had such a busy time we were exhausted by the time we got home.  The following days were taken up with Christmas shopping and visits with friends.

                                                                                   

On my return to Radford Bank we stayed for a few more days before moving to Tixall wide.  Next stop will be Weston, stopping at Great Hayward to top up with Water and Diesel etc.  I will also take the opportunity of visiting the farm shop again to stock up for our stay in Weston as there are no shops there but luckily there are 2 pubs so plenty of choice if we get low on supplies.  From here we will being going to Stone for Christmas and New Year, so all that's left to say is Happy Christmas and all the Best for 2019.