WARWICK
December 22, 2022
David and I managed a belated birthday
dinner at a restaurant called “The Boat” in Turner’s Green. We took a chance
and ordered a martini. The last time David ordered one it came in a tumbler
without olives! What’s a martini without olives? We were pleasantly surprised
when they served up our martinis in a proper martini glass with two olives. Reason
alone to celebrate. David’s fillet of sole and saffron risotto was the perfect
selection for the birthday boy.
The clotted cream cheesecake and once again
Sticky toffee pudding was over the top. I suffered from its richness once
again, but it was well worth the sacrifice.
We had an early departure at 8:30 the next
morning in 43 degree temperature with patches of 1-1 ½ inch ice as we made our
way through the canal. We were a bit
surprised that there was still ice on the canal.
The renter of the boat, Dave Dare, had
visited the day before and was talking excitedly about the boat he had readied
for the Fullaways. He was going to send them a video of the boat. We will have our
boat, The Duke, and Mike and Diane’s boat, The Duchess, in tandem on the canal
soon.
He also brought us a new antenna since we
had ours knocked off going through one on the locks. He has six boats on the
canal this winter and he was visiting each one to check on things.
He shared with us that in parts of the
canal the ice was reported as 3- 3 ½ inches thick. Glad we didn’t encounter those
conditions. 2 inches was plenty to deal with.
We had five locks to go through on Wednesday, and we had an early Christmas gift. Along the locks there were Canal Trust volunteer angels who operated all the locks for us. It was a sweet easy ride for us. Such a gift. We wished them a Happy Christmas and hopefully, made them realize how much we appreciate their help.
We moored near a water station so long showers and laundry were on the evening’s agenda. We refilled the tank in the morning.
Today we knew it was going to be a
challenging day. We had 21 locks to get through in 2.2 miles. We were told that
volunteers would be on the locks to help, but that wasn’t the case. They
probably didn’t want to be out in the rain. Who can blame them?
We encountered two boats coming through in the opposite direction as we approached the first lock. It wasn’t until we had about 8 locks left that we came across another boat going in the same direction sitting in a lock with the gates open. He was traveling by himself and had done the first 18 locks on his own, quite a feat. We cruised up next to him and we tied up together. Dave and I worked each side of the canal…the paddles and the gates… as Allen, who has 45 years’ experience on the canals, drove the two boats through the next 8 locks.
Allen was grateful for the rest, while Dave and I did the muscle work. The lower 8 locks were a distance apart, so we had about a ¼ mile to walk between them. By the time we finished our last lock, we were noodles, totally exhausted. Allen had told us about a pub not far away and that unsurprisingly lifted our spirts. We followed Allen to the spot to tie up near the pub just before the next set of locks we will face tomorrow.
We dined at “The Cape of Good Hope” pub. We are noticing a lot more pre- holiday gatherings of large groups. We were seated next to a rambunctious group of young people. My steak pie was fabulous. For the sake of my tummy, we had no desert.
As I was working the locks today, I kept thinking about how much easier it will be to have Diane as my partner. We can work both sides of the canal, and I won’t have to cross over the canal which is time consuming and energy draining.
It
rained most of the day, but you work up such a sweat that soon I was throwing
off my scarf, gloves and hat. David got rid of his jacket soon after he started
to work the gates and paddles. Our new jackets and rain gear have proven
themselves well worth the expense.
It took us 7 hours today from start to
finish. My body feels it.
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