Blue like the sky

Friday 29^th July; Pooley Woods to Atherstone long pound (locks 9-10)

Dave wanted to get on with cleaning the engine hole while the engine was cold, so Meg and I set off for a good walk in Pooley Woods.  Dave always walks her to a pond or lake, but I’ve never found it – I tried, but gave up and we went back up to the top of the spoil heap with its far-reaching views.  Only one way out is a gradient gentle enough for walking – the rest are very steep, some labelled as bike runs. 

Not that way Meg!

In one direction Polesworth spreads itself out beyond the motorway, which is hidden from sight in the trees, but not sound – it was very noisy.

In the other direction, a large expanse of water was visible beyond the railway – much bigger than the lakes in the woods.

On the way back I spotted a Holly Blue butterfly which obligingly sat still for long enough to have its portrait taken.  This will have hatched out from the spring brood (the caterpillars having fed on holly flowers and tender leaves), and in August the females from that brood lay eggs on the developing ivy flower buds.  You must have passed ivy buzzing with pollinators on the towpath in September and October!  The caterpillars will eat the flower buds and new leaves before pupating and spending the winter as a chrysalis.  The butterflies emerge next spring to start the cycle again.

A little piece of sky

Dave meanwhile was getting down and dirty in the engine hole.  There was moisture and what looked like a lot of rust which he mopped and scraped out.  He had to use de-greaser to clean the bilge pump and round the stern gland and prop shaft.  Up until lockdown the engine had been serviced at Calcutt at the recommended intervals,  then again in April this year before it went on brokerage, but the engine hole itself had not been well cared for, the way Dave kept Chuffed’s!  We do know the previous owners were elderly and probably couldn't get down there.  So clearly that was quite high on his list.  Annoyingly, neither of us thought to take a photo ‘before’.  But there was a big bag of rust, newspaper and mucky rags after that.

It was late morning by the time we left, and pottered down under the motorway bridge with its stencilled images.  On the offside the image is ‘Roots’.

There are a lot of bridges in Polesworth.  Near one we saw an old bit of boat, though I can’t recall the proper name for it, apparently being used to support a shed roof!

We stopped for lunch by the footpath to the village near bridge 53, then went into the village to the veg shop and the butcher. It’s a pleasant walk through playing fields and across the Anker.

Looking towards the road bridge

We bought local runner beans, and local pork and bacon too.  On the way back, as we crossed a footbridge, some swans were purposefully swimming to meet us – or rather the little girl waiting with a bag of bread!

On we went, the afternoon very hot by now.  There was a boat on the facilities mooring at Bradley Green so we paused by the bridge so I could dump the rubbish, but it was about to move off so we took their place.  It wasn’t a particularly fast tap, so we didn’t wait till the tank was full as someone else had arrived just after us. We planned to moor in the first long pound on the Atherstone flight, above lock 10.  Not only is it quieter than where we moored the other day, but as we approached the bottom lock a moored boater told us that the pound above lock 8 had dropped enough the night before to leave moored boats on the bottom. 

I was highly annoyed that I wasn’t carrying my camera, because as we rose up the second lock there was a shout from Dave – ‘What’s THAT!!’  We couldn’t believe our eyes.  I was delighted to snap my Holly Blue, but this was something ELSE – it must have been an escape from a breeder or butterfly farm – a Blue Morpho!

Click on the image to read more.

There are several species, found mostly in Mexico, Central and South America, which have a wingspan of up to 8”.  But by the time I had recovered my camera it had disappeared.  So I snapped a rather more prosaic blue thing instead.

I don’t think the blue CRT lock labels are as classy as the old black-and-white BW ones.  They look lightweight and tacky somehow.  They seem to be made of a laminate material, bolted onto the rail with steel clamps.  Anyway, the mooring was indeed lovely and quiet.  We got a good TV signal and watched the Commonwealth Games from Birmingham.

4miles 2 locks