Saturday 17th August
A late start today due to domestic matters at home and a gloomy weather forecast – which turned out to be late anyway!
I cast off Jannock and we set off south from Hartshill whilst Brenda was unpacking and preparing lunch inside. Although there was quite a stiff breeze it only affected us when we slowed down to pass moored boats where there was no shelter provided by trees or hedges. The plan was to try and get as close to Hawkesbury as we could before mooring up when the forecast rain set in. On the approach to Nuneaton we happened across a fishing match but unlike the Milton Keynes ones, there were only 9 participants here.
Just after Wash Lane bridge there is a large blackberry bush, on the offside near the allotments, that was smothered with large juicy fruit so we stopped Jannock alongside and harvested as many as we could before another boat came along and we had to move on due to the bows having swung across the canal effectively blocking it. The, long closed, Navigation Inn alongside bridge 14 is undergoing a major renovation but I suspect it is not destined to re-open as a pub again.
We moored for the night, just before Hawkesbury junction prior to the forecast rain starting. We ate most of the harvested blackberries for dessert accompanied by tinned rice pudding – they were excellent. In fact they were so nice we suspected that the bush was originally cultivated stock that has escaped from the allotments next door and not a run-of-the-mill wild bush.
Graham
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