Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 11:41:28 +0100 From: Ann Harvey Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Amos's August trip - Part 5 [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] TUESDAY 22 AUGUST We left Atherstone at 9.45 am to descend the remaining locks. We met a tug with 2 mud barges coming the other way ^Ö and a very disgruntled and growing queue behind them. The sunshine was hazy but soon was shining again. At 12.30 we stopped and went to the shops in Polesworth. Once again we stopped and watched the trout shoaling below the bridge in the clear water of the river. I had a little bargain from the charity shop in the form of a set of 4 small white ovenproof dishes at 40p each. After getting our supplies we went to the Royal Oak to sit in the sunshine outside with a couple of drinks. We were under way again by 2.30 and met Mike Skyner followed by Coronation. (Hello again) The trip to Hopwas was blissful in warm sunshine. After we arrived at Hopwas at 5.45 we immediately tucked into the hotpot which had been cooking gently for the last hour. The scent wafted back along the canal and Penny had been tantalised by it along the wayThis meal was followed by a peaceful hour^Òs reading, before we all took a stroll to the pub. We went first to the Otter, but as this was a ^Ñfoody^Ò pub, the staff^Òs attention was once again directed principally at diners so the queues for service at the bar were long and also the beer was not as good as Pat and Ken had enjoyed the night before. We decided to try the Red Lion on the other side of the cut. This place was much better. Although they also served food in their restaurant area, the rest of the place resembled a pub more than the Otter. We stayed for the rest of the evening then went back to Amos. WEDNESDAY 23 AUGUST We cast off at about 10.00 and kept going till we reached Fradley junction. Pat needed to top up Koinonia^Òs water tank, but was unable to get onto the water point, so we continued up the flight towards Heywood. In the 1st lock I wound up the ground paddle and had crossed to the other side of the lock to begin winding the other, when Amos suddenly shot forward and hit the cill with a great bang, despite Ken^Òs frantic efforts on the boat to prevent it. Penny had arrived by this time and quickly shut the paddle, but Ken said that everything had fallen off and out of cupboards and there was glass everywhere. Once we were through and I had the chance to investigate and clear up the glass there was amazingly only one casualty, a wine flute, but a great amount of tiny slivers of glass. The squirrel stove had moved sideways about 4 inches and the bed was full of items from the shelves above. On the next boat there will be no forward or backward facing cupboards ^Ö they^Òll all face sideways. We continued without further mishap through to the empty waterpoint at Spode, just before the Ashtree. As the men filled the watertanks Penny and I picked blackberries. The weather was fine and warm ^Ö which was fortunate since Ken got a good shower as he turned on the tap. Patrick slipped off the gunwale and banged his shin but managed not to fall into the water. We continued then without further stop to the mooring just before bridge 70. After tea Penny and I went into the woods bordering the River Trent to gather firewood for a bonfire. We sat with glasses in hand and watched Pat fishing until it grew too dark to see the float. We then lit the bonfire and sat round it drinking and snacking on cheese and crackers and crisps, throwing the occasional log onto the fire. Pat put on the cd player on the boat, and as there was no-one else to hear we were able to have it as loud as we wished. Another boat arrived after dark and moored between us and the bridge, but not too close and they soon went to bed (or switched off all their lights) without acknowledging our presence. It was a shame at last to have to throw water onto the glowing embers, but we had all drunk as much as we could and we staggered off to bed, voting this to be one of the best and most memorable nights of our trip. THURSDAY 24 AUGUST We slept well and got up at the usual time and had finished breakfast before Pat and Penny appeared. It is another glorious sunny morning although our mooring is in the shade. We left at 10.15 and made our way up to the lock at Little Haywood. A boat was leaving so we were able to enter right away and on rising we found that there were 3 boats waiting to go down. As we left this lock and cruised towards Great Haywood we met about 10 boats going down, of which number 6 was Whisper who shhhusssshed past. Andy said that they'd enjoyed the GIG. Ah well, maybe next time :-) We moored in the sunshine below Haywood lock to wait for Koinonia to catch up, then we all went off to the village to shop for food for the barbie and stock up on the gin and tonic and lager ^Ö all the essentials. We then went up the lock and moored behind the trip boat at the junction and Ken went and dumped all our rubbish while Pat was coming through the lock. We got chatting to the people on the boat moored there and the lady showed me over her boat. At 1.00 we moored at Tixall wide in scorching sunshine and set up on the bank with chairs, table and parasols etc. We spent an idyllic afternoon reading chatting and watching the world. The barbecues were lit at 5.30 and Penny and I went looking for wood. We came back with a few bagsfull. Once we had eaten enough food, we took the grid and the back off the barbie and added a few sticks. We gradually built it up with small logs until we had a decent fire. Out came the candelabras etc and we sat round these till midnight. We drank a few bottles of wine and will need to buy more wine, gin and tonic. The night was clear and the stars were bright and by the time we went to bed there was a mist rising from the water. ---