A long weekend away

We have just returned to our mooring at Hopwas after a long weekend away. We left Hopwas on Friday and cruised up to Fradley where we met up with some new friends we had made at the National Festival. We then cruised together to Alrewas and moored up for the weekend. A nice meal was had at The Crown in Alrewas on Friday evening, followed by a fairly long walk to the National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday. We ended up walking right to the far end of the arboretum as we had just started our new pursuit of geocaching.

On Sunday we both moved back to Fradley where I met up with Bruce and Sheila from nb SANITY. They were on their way back to Alrewas for a few days.

On Monday morning Sandra and Paul on nb KANDAHAR left Fradley to return to their mooring at Stafford. We left later to return to Hopwas.

To most people KANDAHAR is the second city in Afghanistan. BUT....HMS KANDAHAR was one of several K class destoyers built in 1938 and commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1939. After a relatively short service in the Indian Ocean and then the Mediterranean KANDAHAR left Malta with several other warshops to intercept an Italian convoy off of the coast of Tripoli, one of the warships, HMS NEPTUNE struck a mine and started to sink. KANDAHAR went in to rescue the crew and also stuck a mine. NEPTUNE sank almost immediately and KANDAHAR sank much later. Other warships were called back from the rescue because of the uncertainty as to where were the mines.

HMS NEPTUNE sank with the loss of over 700 lives, only one person survived. This was probably, and still is, the greatest loss of life in one warship in the history of the Royal Navy.

Anyway, we left Fradley, found a geocache near Fisherewick on the way back, and are now moored up for the best part of the winter.

IWA Festival Site, Pendeford Park + 7 weeks

I needed a few bits from a chandlery today, and, being a nice day, I thought it would be nice to go for a little drive with the wife and the dogs. First stop was Pendeford Park, it was amazing how nature is gradually taking back what we did to the site in under 3 weeks. Obviously the bit where the funfair drove in is a little bit muddy still, and the main entrance area still has some way to go, but the rest of the site already shows little evidence that we were ever there. The dogs, Lewis and Afie, enjoyed a good romp around the park, and then it was back in the car and down to Limekiln Chandlery to buy the few bits we needed. The weather was lovely, and Pendeford Park was drier now that it ever was during the run up to the festival. Murphy's Law I suppose!

Not long now before we are off cruising for the weekend, can't wait.

BW spending more money.....

For as many years as I can remember there has been one of those sort of zig zag gates on the towpath by School Bridge at Hopwas. It is one of those things designed to stop motorcycles using the towpath. I really should have taken a picture as a picture is worth a thousand words.... It has however not stopped the motorcycles as there was a 12 inch gap (30 cm for the purists amongst us!) between the woodwork and the canal. Today BW have fitted a metal extension to the gate, protruding over the canal slightly to stop the motorcyclists? or is it for health and safety reasons? My point is though, how long will it stay there. How long before someone decides to try and forcibly remove it. I'll give it six weeks at the most! Anyone wishing to start a book?

Not long now before we set off cruising again, albeit only for a long weekend. It will be good to be cruising again. We need diesel and a pumpout. Plus I have just taken out a second mortgage for four new leisure batteries so I will be interested to see if they work alright as the existing ones seem to be a little bit tired. We are not going far, probably as far as Alrewas to meet up with some new friends we made at the National. There is no doubt about the fact that canal boating is a very social event, and despite the bad press regarding the modern canal boater being anti-social, there are a lot of people out there who still talk to other boaters and still want to make friends. So, to all the friends I have made over the years and to the ones I will meet in the future, good health!!