On Friday Buddy and I
cycled towards Leamington Spa to work out where we would moor up next. We are really lucky around this area as there
seem to be so many places where we can have a nice quiet mooring and yet be by
a lane so Karen get to and from work easily.
Karen was working from
home as usual and finished at six (early for her of course) and as she had been
indoors all day we went for a walk to the George at Long Itchington for an evening
drink. We saw quite a few butterflies on
the way as the sun was out.
 |
| This Small Tortoiseshell
looks a bit tatty because it emerged last autumn and hibernated as an adult | | | |
 |
| Similarly with this Comma –
in Kent, Comma caterpillars feed on hops so used to be really common of course |
Saying Buddy and I went
for a walk makes me realise that the English language could have more
descriptive pronouns. For example when I
say we went for a walk, that could be all three of us or “Buddy and I went for
a walk” or “Karen and I went for a walk”.
Some languages have words so they can differentiate between these
meanings of we.
We passed over the River
Itchen several times on our walk to the pub and there are some sweet
footbridges in woods and fields.
 |
| Walking back home from the
pub on Friday – sun still out and so are the butterflies |
When we got back, Vanessa
was taking her black Labrador for a walk along the towpath. Buddy and her dog play really well together
but as the path is quite narrow where we are moored, Vanessa’s dog ended up
tumbling in the water. The two dogs have
very similar backgrounds and not just being rescues either. Both were frightened of going on a boat the
first time, the same with gangplanks and bridges. We had a good chat with Vanessa who has lived
on her old working boat for 22 years.
She was born locally and is a teacher.
Whilst chatting, narrowboat Black Sheep turned up. This is a boat we keep passing as we move
from mooring to mooring. A girl called
Izzy owns it and works locally. When I
told her we were into butterflies she explained she is into sheep and I hadn’t
noticed the number of pictures of sheep on her boat – she used to be a shepherd
before living on her boat.
On Sunday we set off for
our next mooring at Welsh Road. We
topped up for water first and then headed for the staircase locks at
Bascote. These and the ones at Droitwich
are the only double width staircase locks we know.
Normally you don’t enter a
staircase (where the bottom gates of one lock are the top gates of the next)
unless there are no boats in it. When we
arrived there were a couple of boats in a right pickle as one was coming up and
the other down. The guy coming up wasn’t
completely with it as he had a week old baby on board and so his wife couldn’t
really help him. The baby was born
whilst they were moored outside the Cape of Good Hope pub in Warwick so they
called the baby Hope.
 |
| Bottom lock of the
staircase |
 |
| Trying to pass but stuck
on the bottom |
The people coming down
were very nervous and she was getting really stressed not knowing what to do
with the gates and paddles. Strangely
for me I took control (rather than Karen at locks) and sorted things out and
calmed her down. All sorts of things
were wrong – a paddle was left open – there was not enough water in the two
locks when they levelled out so the boats were grounded. It was all sorted in the end and put down to
experience.
 |
| The staircase lock with
the far boat going down and the near one coming up |
Another boat had caught up
with us whilst we were sorting out the confusion so we went down the staircase
and the next two locks together.
 |
| Me and the other guy
letting the water out of the third lock whilst Karen was off getting the next
lock ready |
 |
| Our last lock of the day |
The couple we locked down
with had come from Braunston that morning and had started at 8 o’clock. We told them that it had taken us nearly two
months to get that far – a complete change of lifestyle.
We moored up at Welsh Road
and walked back to get the car.
 |
| Our Saturday night mooring |
 |
| Quaint bridge on our walk back to get the car |
 |
| Underside of a Green Veined White |
Karen thought this pair of
Canada Geese were excellent parents, even though she is not particularly keen
on them as a species - flocks of them
destroy crops and leave such a load of muck when they congregate on the tow
path.
 |
| Walking through a field with their young between them |
 |
| Constantly on the look out |
 |
| Keeping them in line |
When Karen was cooking
dinner later the goose family turned up at our open hatch to see if we had any
spare food.
No comments:
Post a Comment