Roy Annie and Adrian took Panther down to the Coventry basin (near the Plumb Centre) whilst I busied myself cleaning and repairing on Independence.
I pulled out onto the Coventry canal through the stop lock and water/looed and awaited their return.
We set off together about 1ish and moored at the Anchor just south of Hartshill . A pleasant pub followed by curry cooked on Independence, which was well received.
Awoke at 6 the following morning by the quarry opposite. Crash bang wallop - bloody uncivilised hour to start cutting rock. Who could possibly need a bit of stone at 6 in the morning!?
Off by 9 30 and a glorious run through Hartshill to Atherstone. A beautiful part of the canal with lots of twists and some locks at the end.
We had already sussed out the moorings five locks down, just past the Kings Head and very handy for the station.
Moored up found the car ntact and took Roy and Adrian back to Stoke Bruerne and Grafton Regis for their cars. Adrian continued on back home and rejoins us somewhere on the next leg to Barbridge.
My laptop got soggy in Wednesday nights deluge and the keyboard doesn't work + I am unable to download any photos from the camera so blogging is a bit restricted for the mo.
Found a repairman in Atherstone who thinks he can fix it for my return after Yorkshire. Till then its all on the phone. :'(
Atherstone is a good town. Lots of very friendly folk and they even publish a "Boaters Welcome to Atherstone" guide which is very good and an example to others.
We spent Friday night in the Kings Head cos we were dining there. 10/10 and Saturday night there because the rain was so potential the access to town under a railway bridge was willy - deep in rainwater!
The excellent landlady Claire kindly lent me an umbrella to get back to the boat which saved me a megadrenching.
On Saturday we visited Stone by car to work out possible stop with railway station for crew changes. Later in the trip I'm looking forward to changing Crew at Crewe !
Sunday and woken by a boat pulling alongside. Got up to tell them to bugger off and Lo! It was Peter Hawker on the workboat Bletchley who used to do the Cowroast coal and diesel deliveries.
Roy and I both filled up with diesel.
Peter had his two youngsters with him enjoying a working holiday. Good to see Peter. A bloody nice bloke.
Roy and Annie left after lunch so I'm in charge till I leave for Yorkshire. Had a good walk down the flight followed by a pint, roast lamb on board, a dvd of Airplane and an early night. All excellent.
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