Cloudy, Rainy, Sunny, all good though.

I looked out of the side hatch this morning around 8am and pondered two things, firstly should I go or should I stay, the weather looked very dodgy but the forecast was showers, secondly how should I spend my lottery win!

Now when you get that email that says ‘We have good news about your ticket’ first thoughts (for me anyway) are ‘it will be a £10 or something’ but then you start to think ‘what if it’s not £10’ so I logged onto my account and it was not £10.... it was £2.80, now that’s 80p I didn’t have yesterday so what to do with it L, oddly I don’t usually do the Euro lottery but twice this year I have and both times I have ‘won’ £2.80, perhaps I should do it weekly, all those 80p’s would add up!

Anyway I decided to risk the weather and move on so at 10:15 I set off and moved onto the water point for a splash and dash, it pays to keep it topped up, and then headed for Newbold Tunnel.

When you look at that picture it doesn’t look as if there is room for two boats to pass but there is.

I managed to get a picture looking back as I headed for the exit portal, you can see the lights in the bottom left corner, they are placed at regular intervals and should light up the tunnel in different colours, I have seen pictures of when they were first installed and it looked good, a real shame they are not working now.

I often snap pictures by mistake whilst picking up or putting down my camera as I am usually watching where I am going and not how I am holding the camera, they get deleted of course but I thought I’d keep this one and share it, it’s not bad, in focus and in the dark of the tunnel, I like it.

The grey is my fleece lining flapping open, not my stomach !

This little boat could have been made for me, but something’s not quite right, Mmmmm.... I wonder what it is J

You may need to zoom in.

There are a few bridges that would have been the course of the original canal before the improvements in the early 1800’s but now lead to nowhere although some are used for entrances to Marina’s or residential moorings, this one, and the one further on, leads to Brinklow Marina.

The weather had been kind until I was just pondering finding a mooring close to the village of Easenhall and suddenly there was a very heavy downpour, pretty much soaking me before I had time to get the waterproof jacket out and on, and then as I came around a bend through the pouring rain I spotted the mooring that would suit nicely and got tied up only for the rain to stop and the sun to come out, my timing was not so fortunate today.

I had a visit from the local swan family, the eight signet’s now almost as big as mum with some white colouring showing, they will soon be fully grown and set off on their own, I don’t know where dad was, he was with them yesterday as they passed me while I was having my beer at the Barley Mow.

As I was typing this a young idiot on a hire boat came past far too fast and too close and side swiped me as he tried to correct knocking a few bits of the shelves, there’s plenty of room just look at the mooring pictures! nearly all these problems (not that here have been many) are caused by boaters (not only holiday makers) going too fast, I had words but I doubt it will make any difference.

I will stay a while and visit Easenhall and Brinklow as I am somewhere between both of them just before bridge 34 with fields all around.

Tonight’s Mooring

Totals Today: 4 miles : 0 Locks : 1 tunnel