September 2009

In September we visited Saltaire World Heritage Site, the brain child of Sir Titus Salt, a man ahead of his time and modern town planning originated from his designs.

August 2009

In Gargrave on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Dot couldn't resist taking this photo.

Petition to Downing Street

Just noticed that the link on Nb Piston Broke is not working so here is the correct one. We have signed the petiton several days ago and 10,000 names have been added since. Come on guys add your names NOW.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/protectourcanals/

July 2009

In July we travelled to Liverpool via the New Liverpool Link.  A must for all boaters.  We had a fabulous time and wished that the 14 days we spent there had been longer.

Looking Back over the year

The cat that we rescued from drowning at midnight at Etruria in June. We heard back from the Cat Protection League that it was doing well. It had been given a clean bill of health from the vet and would be sent to a new home to hopefully see out the rest of it’s life in a happy environment.

London Calling!

0 Locks, 2.05 Miles. Now moored at Brownsover Park.

We had all good intentions of staying at Hillmorton for the week-end and then moving to our present position on Monday for shopping purposes. Unfortunately Tracey has been unwell and back in hospital so Nurse Dot is off to London tomorrow to see the patient to help out for a few days. Brownsover is the easiest place from which to catch a bus to the railway station. It will give me the opportunity to get some work done without having the foreman looking over my shoulder and getting growled at for making too much mess.

2028 locks, 4017.16 miles, 76 tunnels, 130 swing bridges and 54 lift bridges since Nov 2006

A Rare Sighting!

0 Locks, 7.5 Miles. Now moored at Hillmorton.

Today we made the final run into Rugby stopping off at Clifton Cruisers for a new gas tank and pick up our mail. Just out of Newbold we spotted a Heron which from a distance looked white which we just put it down to the way the sun was glinting on it’s feathers. When we got closer we were surprised to find it actually was a White Heron.

White Heron at Newbold, Oxford Canal.

At All Oaks Wood contractors are busy repairing half a mile of towpath which has been long overdue for repair. Placing sandbags along the top of the original wall they are now able to build the towpath up to it’s original level. It will probably become quite popular with walkers in the summertime as there are always cars in the nearby car park.

Contractors at All Oak Wood Repairing the towpath for half a mile.

Passing through Newbold and Brownsover we found the moorings to be full so we hope that this situation changes in the not to distant future otherwise we may have to rethink our plans for the next few weeks. As we are boat sitting for Derek and Carrie at Christmas we want a mooring close to where they can get their rental car. After calling in at Clifton Cruisers we carried onto Hillmorton where we watered up, winded below the locks and cruised back half a mile to a mooring. Now the temperatures`are dropping we need to keep the water tank full in case we get frozen in as we did last winter.

A bit of unscheduled demolition at bridge 66, Oxford Canal.

2028 locks, 4015.11 miles, 76 tunnels, 130 swing bridges and 54 lift bridges since Nov 2006