Thursday 4 April 2013

Hopwas to Alrewas

The annoying thing is that Blogger is not allowing me to upload photos. And after I virtually promised photos yesterday.

Still - here is a record of what we did today. We set off from Hopwas at about 1000, after David had driven to Alrewas with his bike. He was to meet us later, at Huddlesford Junction.

Today has been the coldest for steering that I have known for a long time. The wind has been fierce and cold (but there was no ice on the cut, which made a pleasant change). Despite all the layers, the heat still goes from one's (unprotected) face. Taking gloves off to use the camera almost induced frostbite!

We stopped to pick up David, who had cycled up to meet us, and then stopped at Huddlesford Junction anyway to investigate the stub of the Wyrley and Essington Canal (as Nicholson has it) or the Lichfield and Hatherton Canal, under which name it is being restored. The Lichfield Cruising Club are very, very security conscious, and have padlocked gates and strong fences coupled with security cameras etc. so getting onto the in-water section by foot is virtually impossible. We walked along Park Lane, under the railway and across a field to get to Cappers Bridge (have I got that right?) where the private moorings and the navigable canal end.

Meanwhile Jan and Penny had walked on ahead, only to stop at Streethay Wharf to look at a boat for sale. When we cruised up to that point in Shadow we came alongside so that we, too, could look round. The boat was Star, a 43' tug with 2-cylinder Petter engine and traditional back cabin. Drool! If I hadn't already bought a boat I would have been very seriously tempted. It was amazing!

Oh well. Back to reality. We continued to Alrewas where we tied up to let David and co. off. Then Jan and I walked round the village, saying again to ourselves what a nice place it is, buying some bacon from the butcher's, and deciding to stay for the night.

We ate at the Indian restaurant Jaipur Cottage. It was good (especially the Chicken Chat starter!) At the end of the meal Jan was presented with a single red rose and I got a complimentary brandy!

Tomorrow we have to make an earlier start to make up for the fact that we stopped two-and-a-half hours before our scheduled stop (at Branston). I have no doubt we'll be able to make up time.

Boats spotted today: Nev's Percy at Hunt's Lock, Fradley; and, at Alrewas, Minnow, formerly owned by Blossom and Dawn.

4 comments:

Adam said...

Star is Kevin Blick's boat, and is indeed lovely. He also blogs (occasionally), and has just restored his new boat, Harry.

Ketro said...

Try using Google Chrome to upload your photos. Blogger have done something to restrict its use if you're using Internet Explorer. I don't know if this is intentional, but I've experienced problems loading photos and I know other Bloggers have too.
Kevin
NB Tranquility

Anonymous said...

Hello Mr Retirement,

Why not try using Windows Live Writer to blog (to blogger, but bypassing it's interface.) It's easy enough to set up if you've got a Windows Live account. Download, install, connect to your blogger account (ID & password), DONE!

You'll never lose another blog post into the ether, or lose the option for uploading photos!!

I've been using it for years now, never lets me down.

H

Halfie said...

Adam, I should have realised when Vicky said they were Vicky and Kevin. (Had Kevin been there I feel sure I would have recognised him from his mugshot from when he used to edit CB.)

Kevin, I'm reluctant to get a different internet browser. I can cope with IE - I know more or less what it does - but is it worth changing everything just to be able to upload photos? I'm a bit technophobic with computers!

And Heather, the same applies to your suggestion. Sorry! (Can it really be as easy as you say? You're a computer whizzkid, so you can navigate around things like that!)