Lazy weekend

so we get to loughborough and do some shopping but decide to goto pilings and turn round but as we got there it was empty and quiet so we decided to stay for the weekend, that was soon broken friday evening when the marina boats came out of the marina and reversed passed us to moor up, they unloaded chairs, tables, gas bottles and bbq onto the towpath and no-one could get by them so they had to move it to the edge,next thing you know out comes the chainsaw and into the woods they went cutting  large branches off the trees, anyway we needed to get back to loughborough on sunday for the aldi special on chainsaw chains, we stopped off at bishop's meadow lock to water up and empty the toilets,there was a notice on the door which read "this station is closed, elsan is in car park" so off i trotted to the car park,hmm couldnt see a elsan point anywhere so nick went and had a look, low and behold he found it, it was a grey tank on the floor that you just tipped the toilet into, no water to clean it down, the smell was immense as you can imagine the stench of everyones shit all in a closed tank in the sun, then we travelled down the soar and found a quiet spot to stay.

Tank

how kool is this

boathouse

todays view

tonights sunset

Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to luff we go

Not a very pleasant morning this morning but the rain didn't last long and when it did rain again it was only shower's, quite windy tho and got blown about a bit at zouch lock and bishop's meadow, we reached luff about 3.30pm and went for a swift half in the boat inn before we went shopping, we are going to stay here for a couple of day's seeing as the weather is going to be nice over the weekend.

rain showers

Tonights view

Kegworth deep

Big water

onward and upward's, off to the trent before the rain comes, today was windy but dry and i managed to get cold in my ears which wasn't nice, the trent was very calm and so was the soar.

Leaving the T&M

Calm trent

get a move on

Trent, Erewash and soar meet

swan row boat

water level on arrival on the soar

Alrewas and on the trent

still feeling under the weather and yesterday i felt like doing nothing but sleep but hey ho!!! we still carried on as normal, arrived at fradley junction and to our surprise there were no boats at all how strange is that, same thing at alrewas, empty locks whats going on!!! although saying that there were no moorings to be had, not that we wanted to moor but all the same it was full. the trent from alrewas lock to wychnor lock was very calm and well into the green.

watch out for the speed camera and police boat lol

plaque on the mile marker

Juggler

Arrmitage Tunnel

and inside

The Plum Pudding and caravan park to the left

Armitage shanks

Armitage shanks factory

Fradley Junction looking up the coventry canal

an empty junction

chocolate boat at bagnall

river open

Staff & Worcs to the T&M

been a little under the weather for the past few days with a very sore throat and a chesty cough, nicks not been as bad so we have still traveled with me driving through the locks when needed then going back inside once it's done, had to have the fire lit too as i had a tempreture and was feeling the cold, the weathers not been too bad tho although we have had a little rain tonight.

river sow

Tixall lock cottage

Tamburo at tixall wide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tixall wide

another sunken boat

Trent

Heywood Junction

Goodbye Shroppie

Today saw the back of the shropshire union canal and hello to the staff & worc canal, sun was shining and not many boats about today, maybe this is a sign that winter is on it's way, quite a few boats were laden with wood from the surrounding forest cull by CRT, after we moored up we got to doing the chopping of the previous day's wood collection.

Stretton Aqueduct

Brewood church

Avenue Bridge

wolverhampton sailing club

Heron

Autherley Junction

Looking back up the narrows

                                                      12 Miles 1 Locks

nice day for boating

not much to see today just miles and miles of rural countryside, its been a pleasant day tho, only 1 lock to do then find a mooring for the night, as luck would have it we stopped at a place where they had been cutting tree's down, how lucky was that :) most of the wood had been cut prior to our arrival but we found a complete trunk about 20 foot long, that will do nicely thank you!!

                                                                      13 Miles 1 Lock

Up the shroppie

no need for an early start today as there were only 5 locks to do, seeing as we did the bulk of then yesterday, weather was cloudy but muggy and warm so a pleasant day.

Treeman

1st lock of the day

huge slug

the narrows

swans at goldstone

rocky sides

pic for Ben :)

shroppie countryside

                                                                        10 Miles 5 Locks