Left at 09:00
arrived at 17:00.
Tardebigge DayD!!!!
Derek up bright and early, its been raining in the night. I was up and waiting for shower when water
warms up, we moved kids out of the back, Charlotte had shower after me, Amelia
was swaddled on bed chair in saloon. Derek was slightly grumpy, thinking of the
long day ahead and that the crew were not performing correctly, for him that
is. !!!! A hire boat went by with lots
of crew at 8 30, we set off 9ish. I had
the first lock ready by 9 08 Raincoat on, it was raining by now, Charlotte
joined me, we got a good system going.
Most of the locks were full, against us, but occasionally they were half
empty, why we didn’t know, maybe
leaky. Some of the ground paddles and
off side gate paddles were hard but ok once the water was flowing. Charlotte managed really well climbing to the
off side and helping me empty the lock, open and close gates. About a third of the way we met Crackerjak,
he set off yesterday evening, he was ok, just having a rest, so we overtook
him. This flight is quite disappointing, I thought it would be far prettier
than it is, it’s shrouded mostly by trees either side and the views, until we got
over half way, were alright but no great shakes. There were sheep in the fields, cows and a
few horses, we say one field stating beware of the bull, dogs on lead, I
wouldn’t even attempt to cross that field.
At locks 31 and 32 there is a Landmark Trust cottage for hire, it looked
very well kept and quite inviting, apparently you get the use of a wheelbarrow
to take your belongings to the property.? Lock 49/50 was Tardebigge Reservoir, Amelia
and I got the lock ready and she climbed up the steps to see the water, this
was the best view so far, it couldn’t be seen from the boat, we put Derek in
the Lock. I walked up or should I say,
half way I practically had to crawl up, the steps were steeper in the middle
and my legs were very tired. Charlotte
climbed out of the boat and came up to us, she had been making lunch for when
we stopped. They tormented me and hoped
I didn’t need carrying down, Charlotte steadied me till we got near the bottom,
all laughing, it could quite possibly be hysteria by now though. At lock 57 there were a group of buildings
(my booklet says former pump house) they had been done up and were now several
private residences. There was a hire
boat behind us, it had also overtaken Crackerjak and it had lots of crew, they
put the ground paddle on one side down for us and closed the gate, it was a
fair ride to the Tardebigge Top
Lock. The rain had been on and off all
day, mostly on!! We were wet through to
the skin, I stood on the side of the boat till we got to the very deep (14ft) top
lock. Amelia and I got off, readied the
lock for Derek and when he was up,we moored just ahead on the visitors moorings
and stopped for a rest and lunch, we were all done for 2 10.??? The kids had eaten their lunches on the way,
I had a quick shower and changed out of my wet clothes and dunked them in the
bath to wash later. Derek was determined
we would get nearer to our destination
tomorrow “Cadbury World” and decided that after we had filled the water we
would go on to Hopwood. We went through two tunnels, it rained faster
and faster. We passed Alvechurch Marina, UKBoat Hire, Anglo Welsh Boat hire and
some lovely looking properties. We went
over an Aquaduct and saw three Herons in the distance, Charlotte spotted
something running along under the parked cars and passing the moored boats next
to the Aquaduct, they were mink, very agile and very black, two of them ran up
the wall and met up with a few more in the hedgerow. We got to Hopwood and moored just beyond the
pub. The Crew (well mainly me) were
ready to revolt, as we were very tired, hungry and stiffening up (still mainly
me). We got changed and trolled off to
the pub, brollies in hand. We had lovely
meals, the kids had chocolate melt in the middle puddings, they really did, it
finished the meals really well. We decided to go to the garage shop for a paper
and a look see what it had to offer, we had to step over a little fence, I of
course nearly got stuck, the old legs really stiff by now, to much hilarity
from the rest of the crew, we crossed the busy road, some more quickly than
others. Got paper, chocolate for later
and kids some coca-cola (were running out of provisions) back to the boat to
sort tele and collapse (me again and Derek very achey by now. All in bed,( sorry Derek had hour or so
whilst we watched tele)for 10 30.
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