17^th May

Very late start for us today, it was after 9.00am and it was overcast with a slight shower which soon cleared. We pottered along on our way back to the Marina and as we stopped at Rose Narrowboats to open the swing bridge we espied Autumn Years from Newark on Trent standing next to us just have had its bottom blacked. What a surprise, as we had just spent the last 7 weeks with Autumn Years. It is of course the Richardons first boat which has the same name as their current boat and it still looked pretty good.

* Autumn Years 1

* Autumn Years 2

Carrying on through All Oaks Wood we were warned of a large log floating across the canal which we duly found about half way through the wood. It was a willow branch that had come off a tree which had fallen from the offside and had been cut up and stacked on the towpath near bridge 37, however the barnch was now stuck on the offside bank so gave us no trouble.

* All Oaks Wood

At the end of the wood nearest our marina we found Lois Jane, a Sandhills boat moored but when we hailed her there was nobody on board so we carried on to the marina and for once moored up on the pontoon without any wind, quite a strange experience!

* Back at Brinklow Marina

After lunch we decided to pack away a few of our things to make it easier for us tomorrow when we go home. When I came to start the car to bring it to the boat I realised I had not disconnected the battery and over the last 8 weeks it had run down to the extent that it would not turn the engine over.

A knight in shining armour came to my rescue however in the form of Keith and the people on Opal Mist who lent me their jump leads so that we could use Keith’s car to start it. It started first time and I then took it a run to Ansty and back to charge up the battery. This was a journey which had taken a couple of hours by boat but which took ten minutes by car.

Later I decide to walk back to All Oaks wood to see if Debbie and James were back on Lois Jane and found them onboard so introduced myself as we had only met by email on the Sandhills Owners group. Lois Jane is the First true Sandhills boat and is in excellent condition and we spent nearly an hour chatting about our boats. They are a great couple and showed me around their pride and joy. I was most impressed with the boat which is gas free using an engine mounted generator to provide the electricity for cooking etc. They have only recently bought the boat and it is un-mistakenly a Sandhills boat even down to the inlays in the woodwork.

* Debbie and James on Lois Jane

As I walked back to our boat the marina was buzzed by two military helicoptersquite a sight!

* Helicopters buzz the Marina

Stats

During our 8 week trip we have covered 368 miles with 207 locks and 30 swing bridges so you can see why June says - it is not a holiday!

We have visited Birmingham, Wolverhampton,Liverpool, Manchester and many other towns and villages on route covering the following Canals:

North Oxford

Coventry

Birmingham and Fazeley

BCN Main Line

Shropshire Union

Middlewich Branch

Bridgewater

Leigh branch of the Bridgewater

Leigh branch of the Leeds and Liverpool

Leeds and Liverpool

Manchester Ship Canal and the River Mersey by passenger ferry.

Tomorrow we go home to reality!