Boatwif

Rather like going into a different supermarket and being surprised by unfamiliar items, this area of Southern California is presenting familiar views – along with a few unexpected sightings. Out at Oceanside it was good to see the pier again The bridge connecting the pier to the road level is due for closure and a rebuild next year. . Who wouldn’t smile at the resident pelicans, or peer down at the surfers, or look out for the anglers, or pause...

It had been a long day, one which took 22 hours to get from a bed at A (Beds) to a bed in B (San Diego), via taxi, aircraft and shuttle bus… For months Boatwif and the Captain had been craving a face-to-face reunion with the full Californian family. Once news of booked flights percolated through certain Cal Clan members pressed their own cravings for a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate delivery… There was a 90 minute delay in take-off from...

If there was a thread of any kind through the Cleddau crew’s October maybe it was breakdowns, deliveries and one short list growing ever longer.. The month hasn’t been entirely boat-free. Squeezed between various appointments and domestic crises (more, later) there was a three night meander from Crick to Welford Junction and back. Carefully  (October 8th) Cleddau was inched out past her pontoon neighbour,  out onto the main line and past nbTrafalgar.   In the warmth a butterfly posed on...

Norton Junction – Cracks Hill Footbridge – Crick Marina: 4 miles, 7 locks, 1 tunnel It’s hard to leave a favourite mooring, especially one as glorious as this. A couple of hundred yards ahead was the pedestrian bridge at Norton Junction.    Under the bridge, round past the pretty cottage and the shepherd’s hut in the garden    and under Bridge1 of the Leicester Line. An oversight on the Captain’s part (he kicks himself still!) had been the shock discovery...

Newbold-on-Avon to Norton Junction 16½ miles, 9 locks, 2 tunnel transits, 0 swing bridges After the delightful, if “entertaining”, mooring near the Armada Boats (incident described here:) a strategy for a stop at Rugby had to be devised… Through the Newbold Tunnel,   past a boat with a lovely Welsh name,   over the aqueducts (2 of them),    passing yet another swan family with five cygnets    to arrive on the outskirts of Rugby. Along the North Oxford Canal the...

              Market Bosworth (Ashby Canal) to Newbold-on-Avon (North Oxford Canal)                                                    25¼ miles, 1 lock, 0 tunnel transits, 1 swing bridge   When departing a mooring there’s a lot to do before ropes are untied and the boat is pushed off from the bank. Mobile phones are moved to the back...

Ambion Wood – Market Bosworth – Snarestone – Market Bosworth 16 miles, 2 tunnel transits, 0 locks Mid-afternoon (Bank Holiday Monday) the mission to reach the top /the end of the Ashby Canal was continued. Under the disused railway bridge    (paths from here through the woods to the Battle of Bosworth Exhibition and Shenton Railway Station) and past King Richard’s Field… Donkeys,   an aqueduct     and an offside skeleton     all caught the eye… It’s this central Ashby Canal...

Ashby Canal: Hinckley to Ambion Wood: 7¾ miles Progress along the Ashby Canal may seem serene and peaceful – but despite the  gentle surroundings the Cleddau crew felt increasingly embattled as they made their way north. There’s the difficult sightlines to contend with – trees, bushes and bankside growth often making it hard to see oncoming boats. The canal has long had a reputation for shallow water – when passing moored boats on the towpath side and meeting oncoming moving...

 Hillmorton (North Oxford Canal) – Hinckley (Ashby Canal) 22½ miles, 1 lock, 1 tunnel transit, 1 swing bridge  Some 2½ miles on from Hillmorton is Rugby, a magnet for boaters along the North Oxford Canal. There’s a water point there – and easy access to an enormous Tesco Superstore (one of those “open to midnight” types!) There’s a limit of course to what you can trundle up a footpath and along a towpath on your back, but at least the...

 Crick – Norton Junction – Braunston – Hillmorton  17 miles, 16 locks, 2 tunnel transits Back to the boat – would it be fit for another little voyage? Well, yes – the bilges were empty of excess water, thanks to some fine plumbing detective work which had identified water overflow from the calorifier as the problem, and created a pipe diversion to an existing external hull fitting.   (This solution was a relief, as Boatwif for one had had anxious...