Friday 14th June
Apart from the loo flush giving up the ghost again (we’re back on the squeezy bottle) today has been a good one. We have travelled about 4.5 miles and another 9 locks from Cuttle to Radford Semele and are moored upstream of Radford Bottom Lock. We were grounded to start with but having moved a few yards backwards are afloat again.
It has been very mild and pretty windy with a couple of light showers this morning. We began the day with the staircase lock at Bascote locks and had to wait while a boat came up before we could descend. 5 locks later our next stop was Fosse Wharf for water and sanitary things. Or rather ‘insanitary’ things as the elsan disposal there is one of the most malodorous (good word eh?) ones I have come across, apart from one on the Grand Union last year which I couldn’t even enter!
Following the delights (not) of Fosse Wharf we continued another half a mile or so and another 2 locks and moored up. We walked about 3/4 of a mile to The White Lion on the main road, a Chef and Brewer pub with only one real ale available but as it was Old Hooky, one of our favourites, that was fine by us. Another bonus was that when we first got there the barman only charged us for one pint instead of a pint and a half.
This evening Ken has been trying to do some fishing. But unfortunately the wind has got up even more and as he said when he came in a little while ago – ‘There are no f***ing fish in this f***ing canal!’
Tomorrow we are going in to the Saltisford Canal Centre moorings in Warwick. We are planning to stop about a week, maybe more and I will be making good use of their laundry facilities while we are there!
