Bartimaeus

Having been told yesterday that someone would ring back today, Shane felt rather stymied about making plans. It seemed unlikely since the the person suggesting an imminent phonecall was not in the department making the phonecall. At any rate he is keeping taking the tablets and probably that is all that is needed at the moment and if any appointment is offered he has worked out how to get there.

In the end we decided to go the exceedingly short distance to water and turn around. Not much charging would be achieved but better than nothing and we might achieve a better WiFi spot. The early morning ice had thawed and the sun was shining.

There was room to turn at the junction by going round and under the bridge then reversing under another bridge and turning but the light wind seemed to catch us at the wrong angle and it would become hard to turn and ended up being almost wedged (oh no Evergiven moment – will I block the junction?) I couldn’t turn the rudder at one point but we managed to get moving again and had another go, only to end up in a similar position.  Eventually with Shane pushing the bow round, we faced the right way and got moored in the right spot. An elderly man followed the progress ( and lack of it) with interest and offered sympathetic and encouraging remarks.

It added to the atmosphere the the water was still frozen under one of the bridges and crunching while I was reversing into it. Presumably no boats have been going in that direction. That is the way we hope to go next, going towards Coventry. We enjoyed it in November and plan to visit again but by canal rather than rail.

We are now moored very near a boat with a pirate theme but also decorated by many artistic creations. They seem upcycled and ingenious. The parrot is made of tyres.

The electricity generated on this very short trip (a lot more time on water filling and turning than driving along) was about the same amount as used by running the washing machine. We now have tested that there is room to pass through the boat between the new sofa and the washing dryer. Result!

While Shane didn’t feel he could go far, he was frustrated at just sitting in, especially since the sun was shining, so we went for a walk. We started by heading under one of the bridges at the junction. Rather a plain bridge but I was interested that it was named after a Roman road. Last night we made progress in writing the knitting pattern for a Roman shield design bunting to celebrate 1900 of Hadrian’s Wall. I have eventually got round to this as Shane had offered to help with formatting and it is now easier to sit next to each other comfortably to do it on his laptop. I have also tried another test sample in different wools as the previous 4 test and development pieces were all in the same wool. It was all going well until I ran out of the main colour; the usual issue with using up scraps.

This route is back along a canal we were on back in July. We were soon at a pedestrian bridge that was more elaborate than most. We have been under it before but not on it, so this was our chance to climb spiral steps in the towers.

There was a swing bridge just beside it but not operated by boaters. The landowner has the key and can operate it. This one is called a swivel bridge but is the same as a swing bridge. We got a good view of it from the the pedestrian  bridge above, which is certainly high enough that boaters don’t need to move it, but not very wheelchair accessible. The pedestrian bridge is much higher than many of the road bridges we have been under recently.

Heading back to the junction we explored another arm. It was still, despite the sun, thoroughly frozen over. Just beside the aqueduct on the Coventry canal we were able to go down below and walk in a nature reserve. 

The reserve had some more squelchy areas but not as muddy as some of our recent walks and the tow paths have been much better today. We didn’t see any dramatic wildlife in the reserve but heard a lot of chirping in the trees. I just could not see what was making the noise. We have had lots more sightings through the window back at our mooring, mainly sparrows and blackbirds but lively. On our way back, no longer in the reserve, I got some lovely views of long tailed tits flying over us.

No surprise, no phonecall, but we made good use of the day nonetheless.