Cruising South from Fazeley

On Monday we left Fazeley just after 10am with a broad plan in mind, cruise to the Dog and Doublet Pub for lunch and see how things go from there.

Once again the day started out dull, overcast and a chilling wind in my face. This was a short cruise, just short of two hours and that included three locks. We cruised through predominantly farm land that included quite a large nature reserve with a significant lake system. The photo really doesn't do it justice. My best guess was 100 or so hectares (approx 250 acres).

Coming up on a swing bridge, this one under repair. Most of the canal we have cruised along this year has been nice and clear of overhanging trees, it is obvious lots of work has been done over the winter.

We came up on the Dog and Doublet (behind that big tree) with the wind really getting up. It had been quite cold all the way, I appreciated seeing the pub.

We quickly tied the boat up and went straight down to the pub for lunch and a drink. There was a little discussion about returning to the boats and continuing on but I offered another round of drinks which stifled the conversation nicely. We spent another hour or so in the pub before returning to the boat and putting the heater on. Serafina was buffeted by the winds during the night and there was the  odd bang against the submerged edge of the canal. The heater stayed on until we went to bed.

Today (Tuesday) has been basically the same although nowhere near as cold. Just a short cruise, originally to a little village called Minworth however, a CRT Volunteer at one of the locks advised us that gale force winds were expected tonight and the moorings at Curdworth may be a better alternative. That made our trip even shorter by about 15 minutes.

We stopped to fill our water tanks along the way and as we pulled the hose out a lady from a hire boat came up and asked if we were getting water, looked obvious to me! Anyway, she asked where the next water point was as she didn't have a map. Rachael gave her a look at our map and sent her on another 45 minutes. Hope they don't need their holding tank pumped out in a hurry!

You can see from the pics that at Curdsworth we are well protected on both sides, although the large trees bother me a little. Curdworth Tunnel is in the background, all 52 metres, it wasn't worth turning my light on to go through.

We had planned to cruise around the outskirts of Birmingham and on to Catherine-de-Barnes tomorrow but Rachael has convinced us that an overnight stay on the moorings at Star City (casino) in Birmingham is sure to be nice and safe...we'll see.