It was a lovely quiet evening with nothing passing and no dog walkers it seemed. The road is a fair distance so nothing to disturb us. We decided to stop in Rugby again as Helen had been looking forward to going shopping at M&S and other places, and now we could.t get to Coventry she wanted to have a bit of a shop. Helen is incensed that they closed the M&S in Hull yet they have one in Rugby and two in Coventry. I had jobs to do so plans were made. Before leaving I had to reinstate the morse control that I had removed for painting yesterday.
I thought the blue of the C&RT boat looked good through the bridge. On the old OS map it shows that Newbold Wharf was opposite our mooring. Nothing to show today and the field beyond the hedge is about 8 to 10 ft higher too.
We picked up a nice mooring on the park, and off Helen went. I didn't see here for almost three hours. I had a check of the batteries, installed our little East Yorkshire flag on the swans neck and swept up the fore deck and made tidy. I then went back to yesterday paint job by the morse control as I could see some of the old paint had lifted and needed sanding back a little more. I then repainted it. I then set about the paint work around the chimney flue. I think that they have forgotten to install a gasket or barrier as the chimney fixing plate looks to be aluminum and obviously the hull is steel so, by the looks of the pitting there may well have been pitting caused by the reaction between the two metals. I chipped off as much as I could and then got the sander on it and down to bare metal where I could. After a dust I dampened it and painted on the Freatan. I knew it would dry almost straight away, but what can you do? I did one or two other little tasks before Helen got back with a couple of bags. I put the kettle on as she talked me through the purchases. I even got some chocolate covered cashews nuts! We decided to have a bit of lunch before pulling back to the water point and topping up before setting off. It isn't too often you can take a picture of your boat looking up!
It was a very pleasant rip to Hillmorton Locks. Do you think they are going to build house all the way from the top of Hillmorton Locks to here at Bridge 68? That would be a load of homes.
The volunteers were still on at the bottom lock, about 15:20 and we were soon on our way. The hedges by the two higher locks were lush with blossom and flowers
St. John's Church at Hillmorton is just about visible from the middle lock, but maybe not for much longer.
I found an article from June 15th 1866 that a trip had been organised to take passengers on a trip from Hillmorton Locks to Coventry Fair. They started early and on the way the boat began to roll and scooped up a fair bit of water over the sides. The skipper promptly beached the boat until things were stabilised. They got there and back with no further mishap. There were 130 passengers in the boat!
We had decided to moor up out in the sticks, rather than the hubbub of Braunston, and it would be quite late when we got there. We found a nice quiet spot just before Bridge 80 and settled in. Beer and nuts were delivered. Unfortunately as the the canal runs almost north/south here there is not much chance of getting evening sun when there is a hedge. However there will be morning sun to wake up to. Unlike these cows I didn't start my beer immediately as I went and washed of the Feratan and then wire brushed it all once more before coating it once again in the cooling shade. Then I went back to my beer!
However, once drunk I did think I should wash the side of the boat as it was in shade and needed doing. I even said I may get my new polishing machine out, but after washing, rinsing and drying a side of the boat, with some timely assistance from Helen it has to be said, I decided it was getting on a bit and needed my tea. Besides I may have to get up and see if we can see the northern lights as they are expecting a massive solar storm to hit the atmosphere and react with the magnetic field.
I think we are due a turn round of the magnetic poles soon, well soon in geological time. I seem to remember that they discovered continental drift and plate tectonics as flying over the Atlantic they could see the needle of instruments swing back wards and forwards. They could see that these indicated where the poles and flipped, but looking at them when the were plotted they could see that they were identical either side of the mid ocean. It was magma being extruded from the mid ocean plate joints that were pushing Europe and North America apart!
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