An Excellent Weekend.

Hi,

Well,as the title says,we have had an excellent Bank Holiday.The Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering that we came for has been brilliant,we’ve seen some wonderful friends and made a few more,with a particular mention for Jo and Keith on the coal boat Hadar,as well as having a great time with Heather and Steve,who visited us for the weekend.The gathering itself has been memorable,thanks to all those who have been involved in its organisation,and also because the weather has been superb,with very little rain.We’ve eaten some lovely food,courtesy of Paul at the Samuel Barlow and drunk loads of everything,courtesy of the wonderful staff behind the bar there.There has been plenty of traditional boats here,a number of floating stalls and some events where boaters got the chance to demonstrate their skill at handling some very large boats.All in all,a very enjoyable weekend.

 

A couple of shots of Alvecote Marina and the moored boats ready for the gathering.This was the site of the Tamworth Colliery.

 

Just two of the boats in the Winding demonstration,unfortunately it was very windy which made a lot of work for the crews in the confined space.

Last week our blog came from Alvecote and this week it will be the same.We hadn’t moved from our mooring here until yesterday morning,when we took Chyandour for a cruise back up the Coventry Canal so Steve could practice his helmsman skills.We went through the two locks at Glascote with Mike and Marianne of Cast off & Blast off fame,on their boat Doormouse, before going our separate ways at Fazeley Junction.Then,a few miles further on from the junction,a bit past Hopwas,we called it a day,moored up, got out the BBQ and sat on the towpath watching the sunset with a glass of wine or three.This morning we Winded Chyandour and with Steve again at the helm we retraced our steps back here to Alvecote,stopping briefly for a snack with Geoff on Blue Buzzard just before we got to Glascote.Heather and Steve left this evening and are on their way back to Ferndown,so,that’s it,all our friends have left us.We are all hopeful of meeting up again in a few months time though,so there’s something to look forward too.

 

After the BBQ on the left and my poor attempt at photographing a sunset,Sorry about the kitchen roll.

A large part of the last week has been spent walking around the local area and some of the time we have been foraging for fruit,as a result,Lisa,with the help of Heather,has been making pies and jam.There are loads of Blackberries,Apples and Plums in the hedgerows and it seems a shame not to make use of them.There used to be a lot of coal mines in this area but now most of the land has been landscaped so there is very little of the old workings left to be seen.What is left has been turned into nature trails where it is just possible to see traces of what used to be here as nature reclaims the land.Alvecote Marina itself is dug out of the site of the old Tamworth Colliery and further along the Coventry Canal is the Pooley Country Park where once was Pooley Hall Colliery.

 

The monument on the top of the old slag heap for Pooley Hall Colliery.It’s a golden tower of leaves which is said to represents,amongst other things,the plant material that helped to form the coal beneath this area.There’s Heather,Steve and Lisa coming down the heap the hard way.

That’s all again for this week folks.Since last week we have done 4 Locks and 16 Miles,giving us a grand total of 468 Locks and 660 Miles since last October.Take care everyone.