Slick work and a messy job

Thursday 29^th September; Long Itchington to Radford Semele

We certainly slept well last night!  Ten Grand Union locks on the first day out is not our usual experience.  Meg and I took the footpath across the fields to the Co-op in the village for some milk, and we left our mooring soon after 10.  We arrived at the Bascote flight to find a boat emerging from the top of the staircase, and as we waited for them to move out of the way Dave spotted a boat approaching behind us, so we were delighted to have company today.  It was a private share boat – one main owner and 11 shares.

Dave and Mark chewing the fat

They were good company and we developed a great system of shared work.  As we saw Welsh Road lock in the distance a boat was coming out and there was activity at the gates – surely someone wasn’t turning it in front of us?  Absolutely not!  The crews of the upcoming boats were opening both gates for us.  One was Adam from NB Briar Rose – we have read each other’s blogs for 8 or 9 years but this is the first time we have met!

Adam

Thanks for spotting us in time Adam!  We knew Briar Rose was on her way, but as we had no signal last night where we were moored we had no idea how close they were.

Adrian and Briar Rose

I walked along to Wood lock with the dog, passing under the conveyor bridge for HS2 between the locks.  We knew it would be there from Waterway Routes and the odd comments in blogs.

It does all make a mess of the countryside.  I hope it’s all worth it in the end.

At Fosse Middle lock the wind was getting up and making it difficult to get away from the offside below the bottom gates.  So we tried a gentle nudge with the bow thruster to help our companions on their way.

Gently does it

It worked beautifully.  We used the technique again at Fosse Bottom lock, where one of the beams needs attention.

We said farewell to our companions, who were aiming to get closer to the Hatton flight so they could do the locks before tomorrow’s forecast rain, and moored a few hundred yards before Radford Bottom lock.  We had lunch, then went for a walk in the sunshine along the Offchurch Greenway, which is a footpath cum cycle route along the old railway line.  We saw no one, and on our way back picked some blackberries to add to those I had picked at Bascote locks.

We went on down Radford bottom lock, as we weren’t sure what tomorrow’s weather would bring, and moored between the winding hole and Radford bridge.  Time to clean the flue pipe on the stove.  I got newspaper, the holly ‘flue brush’ we had brought from home, and some twine to pull it up the flue.  I needed Dave’s biggest screwdriver to clear the build-up of soot from the top of the flue, then used it to take the twine down the pipe to tie to the holly so I could pull it up the flue.  (If I cut the branch long enough to push it down from the outside it wouldn't fit in the car!)  I deployed the holly, and a great deal of soot dropped down into the stove as I pulled it upwards.  I usually do this two or three times.  It got a bit stuck on its third time through, and I had just freed it (with the blunt end of the boat hook) when a nearby boater kindly offered his flue-brush.  The holly had done most of the job, but the flue-brush made sure we had cleared the lot.  And there was a lot!

My foot gives the scale!

We don’t normally read the Times, but one weekend on our last trip our preferred Sunday paper wasn’t available.  The Times pages are still the old broadsheet size, and very awkward to read, especially on a dinette table, but excellent for wrapping rubbish!  Before it got dark I carried the soot, well wrapped up in newspaper, to the skips back at the lock.

4½ miles, 9 locks