We're on our way...

Okay, okay! If you're reading this, Val Poore, I know I once said that my favourite season is the one I'm in at the time. And I know I probably said something very similar about the weather, but I have to fess up now and say that this "hot spell" is just too much.

I sympathise with the fridge. It just can't get cool enough, and it's running its pump continuously. Which is where the similarity ends actually, because I simply don't have the energy to keep active! I'm really aggrieved that I've not been able to do the regular walks I'd been enjoying so much. Sunday, however, was exceptionally cool. The temperature was only 28°, and a decent breeze made it feel cooler still, so I took advantage of that, and walked for almost two hours, a circuit via Crick. I didn't take many photos because I was concentrating too hard on a podcast in my ears.

I arrived back at the marina to see Grace still working on the second Roses & Castles panel. She was in the shade on that side of the boat, and was intent on completing it very soon.

And in fact it wasn't long after that that the final stamens were added to the roses, and the job was done!

Kantara is complete!

I spent a while on Twitter the next day quite unintentionally convincing fellow Tweeps that I'd lost my marbles. The thing is that I was convinced I'd seen an eagle. It wasn't far away, and it stayed in sight for several minutes, wheeling and soaring, and I do know what an eagle looks like. Warwick Castle isn't far from Yelvertoft as the eagle flies, and I knew that they'd had eagles fly away from their display team. When I learned that Stan had been recaptured in 2012, and Nikita was back, too, I had to cast some doubt upon my sighting. Google could find no more escapes. Though it has to be said that if anyone who had an eagle illeagley lost it, they wouldn't be in a good position to report it missing.

Regardless, I did see an eagle. A bit of research led me to believe it was a Sea Eagle (aka White-tailed Eagle). The photo from Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, who report that the bird is making something of a resurgence in parts of the UK.

We're now on our way to Debdale Wharf for the zinc-spraying of the hull. We left the marina on Tuesday, stopping in the early afternoon at Bridge 27, where I finally got round to having a wander through the woods, then at Welford Junction (see how dry the grass is on the bank!), and this afternoon at Foxton Locks. Tomorrow, we'll do the short trip to Debdale, and we'll leave Kantara there on Sunday morning. She comes out of the water on Monday morning, and work commences. We'll head for the house, where work will also commence - decorating! Whoopee!!

Back to Warwick

There's not been much to write about since our return to the marina. Routine sort of stuff, catching up with email, Twitter and so on. We have a number of smallish jobs to do before the end of the month, so those are in our sights.

Yesterday, however, we went to the cinema to see "About Time", an excellent British film with a superb cast; funny, clever, fascinating, poignant, very well scripted and directed. Possibly the best film I've seen for some time.

At the age of 21, Tim discovers he can travel in time and change what happens and has happened in his own life. His decision to make his world a better place by getting a girlfriend turns out not to be as easy as you might think.

Then today, we drove out back to Warwick to see St Mary's church which was closed when we were there last week. After a very good lunch at the Thomas Oken Tea Rooms close to the castle, we went to see what we'd missed.

It's a fascinating building, dating way back to 1123, the original crypt being still usable, with various additions being built in the 14th, 15th and 18th centuries.

Some of the visitors were asleep!

After enjoying the church, we climbed the 160 steps - worn stone, very narrow spiral - to the top of the tower for a spectacular view. I had pictures of the church, taken from the castle. Now I have photos of the castle taken from the church, too.

Road works and confusing diversions forced us to postpone an intended visit to the little church at Flecknoe. We'll have to do that another time.

Cruise to Warwick with Christine and Mike - outward journey

Grace's sister and brother-in-law spent a week with us last year, and wanted to spend longer when they visited us this time. They hadn't visited Warwick before, so we planned a leisurely trip there, with a focus on the castle. They arrived around 7:00pm on Saturday 14th, in time to take part in the marina barbecue and quiz.

Prior to that, there had been a treasure hunt, in which teams of four looked for the subjects of 20 photographs taken in and around Yelvertoft. We were paired with Gordon and Jackie from NB Media Noche. The hunt had been very well organised, and it was a lot of fun. Our team was the last to get back, but lost convincingly, despite the extra time we took! No matter - we had met Gordon and Jackie, and spent an enjoyable couple of hours with them.

With Christine and Mike we fared better in the quiz, and came joint second. It was a really good evening. It was good to meet Martin from NB Margin (Martin & Ginny), who is a reader of this blog.

I left a while before the end of the quiz, to return to the boat and light the stove. It was a chilly evening. When the others returned, we spend ages catching up with each others' news, and went to bed late.

There were strong rumours on Saturday of strong winds and heavy rain the next day, and it certainly didn't look very good at around 10:00 Sunday morning, turning quite unpleasant after a bright and sunny start. Nonetheless, we left the marina at about 11:00, with Grace navigating the exit smoothly despite strong gusts of wind. There were rain showers on and off throughout the day.

At Watford Locks, there were only two boats ahead of us, so our descent was quick. We were surprised, however, to find twelve boats waiting at the bottom of the flight. On our way down, we met Gordon, Chris, Gary and Barry from Yelvertoft, bringing a boat back up from Rugby to Yelvertoft because the owner had been taken ill.

We stopped off at around bridge 5 for lunch, then moved on to Norton Junction, turning right and mooring almost immediately at bridge 9. We enjoyed an evening of dinner, wine (Christine and Mike had brought an excellent mixed case of 12 bottles) and chat, and went to bed relatively early.

Monday morning was sunny, with a blue sky, although the wind continued to blow strongly, and there were several showers on and off after a few hours, some of them really quite heavy, and it was cold because of the wind. Undaunted, however, we made off to Braunston Tunnel.

Surprisingly, there were more boats on the canal than we had expected, and we had four boats approach and pass in the tunnel, two of them striking us as they tried to pass with too much space to starboard. Coming to Braunston Locks, we paired with NB Ivy, and, finding each successive lock set in our favour, we descended in good time.

We moored by Braunston Marina for lunch and a quick trip to the shop for food supplies.

From there, on to Braunston Turn where we turned left and made our way to bridge 100 - a favourite mooring spot of mine - where we moored for the night. The weather now was very good, and the sunlight on the fields quite golden.

It was good to meet the owner of NB Salamader, who, with his wife, had been out cruising since April, and covered many miles since.

Tuesday, too, started in good weather. The wind had dropped considerably, so it was warmer, but the clouds started to build as we moved on. This stretch of the Grand Union is really lovely, the canal winding its way through beautiful farming countryside. It was pleasing to see so many other craft afloat - far more than we had seen back in the first week of June.

When we arrived at the top of Calcutt Locks, it was raining hard. We pulled over at Calcutt Boats yard to buy a bottle of gas. Our bottle had run out earlier, and I discovered then that the second bottle seemed also to be empty. Now, removing them both, I found that the second was actually full, but not releasing gas. I bought a replacement for the empty one, and tried in vain to exchange the apparently faulty one.

courtesy of www.geograph.co.uk

We stayed where we were for lunch, and started down the three locks when the rain had slowed. The rain persisted, however, and we arrived at Stockton Locks in a drizzle which turned heavy and started to soak us.

Mike and I locked, and we made good progress, catching up with NB Amicus at lock 9 and sharing the rest of the flight with them. We moored at Bickley's Bridge, no. 26, lit the stove, turned it up high, and opened the windows, to dry the boat, us and our clothes! We went to bed warm and dry.

It was interesting to note that CanalPlan's suggested itinerary was working out perfectly so far.

Wednesday was colder again, but without rain, and showing some sun, especially towards the end of the day.

The canal was wide and very pleasant. Bascote Locks were only our second encounter with a staircase in which the water flowed directly from one chamber to the next without the side pounds such as can be found at Watford and Foxton.

It occurred to me too late that I could have let an ascending boat into the bottom chamber as Kantara entered the top, with the two boats passing each other when they reached the same level. The crew of the other boat didn't think of it either, so they waited until we left the bottom gate of the pair.

Next came the Radford Locks, six locks over three miles. On the way down, we we dropped off rubbish at Bascombe Bridge, no. 27, and availed ourselves of other services at Fosse Wharf. We had lunch on the other side of the canal from there before completing the locks.

We stopped at Leamington Spa (Royal!), for Grace and Christine to go food shopping, and Mike to look for a solar charger for his mobile phone. Mike and Christine wanted to take us out for a meal, and had found "The Grand Union" in The Gourmet Society list, but it didn't look at all inviting - nor did the town itself - so we moved on to Warwick as soon as we could. 

We stopped for the night around bridge 49, where Grace and I spent ages trying to moor the boat where mooring rings were inconveniently placed, and the bank curved equally awkwardly.

The day ended under a beautiful sunset.

We spent Thursday in Warwick. The weather wasn't best for visiting the castle. We walked there in drizzle, and it turned to heavy rain while we were queuing for the tickets (free, courtesy of Tesco vouchers), but we were able to keep fairly dry by exploring the inside of the castle when it rained, and doing out-door viewing in the dry gaps. And the rain eased off in the afternoon. It was a good day, and we were able to see everything which wasn't specifically child-orientated.

  

The return stroll through the town was fascinating, with Tudor buildings nestling among Edwardian and Victorian. A guitar shop had a beautiful resonator bouzouki for sale - most unusual.

We stayed a further night in Warwick.