Tesco's delivery

0 Locks, 8 ½ Miles. Now moored above bridge 37 Grand Union Leicester Line.

Today was going to be a wait and see day. First off was the Tesco delivery scheduled between 10am and noon. We had given them our phone number in case they had trouble finding us but the reception here in Crick is absolute rubbish so we just had to keep a watchful eye open for the truck. By 11am Dot had gone up onto the road bridge which was a wise move as she spotted him coming out of the marina where they apparently do quite a few deliveries. The driver had gone in there by mistake. After getting the goodies stowed away it was time for lunch.

Early this afternoon I came out onto the stern deck to find a fisherman had set himself up just behind the boat and was fishing the patch I have fished for the last 2 nights. I had baited up the patch with good results, several Roach and Bream in the 2lb - 3lb bracket, but all this poor guy could catch was tiddlers many of which hadn't been hooked but just hanging onto the maggot bait. He did manage a small Perch, possibly 1lb in weight but that was all. I must admit I did have a quiet chuckle to myself over his demise.

The second wait and see problem was the owner from Leather Lounge in Nuneaton who was going to replace the faulty base for one of the recliner chairs we bought back in March. He said that he would be over some time around 3pm so I walked up onto the bridge to await his arrival. It worked out quite well as he spotted me as he drove across the bridge. Once the bases had been swapped we were free to move.

Cracks Hill just north of Crick

After a quick chat with Derek and Christina and we set off to see how far we could go in a couple of hours as it was still a fine afternoon at this stage. At around 6pm we tried several times to moor up but the banks were so shallow we had no show of mooring so just kept going. Just after our first attempt to moor it started to drizzle with rain so we had several more attempts at mooring without success. Eventually we found this spot where there are already 4 boats moored so we thought that we might also be successful, and indeed we were. It was just as well because since we got here the rain has been getting steadily worse and it is now really heavy.

Damage to a bridge on the Leicester Line together with unkempt towpaths
shows the level of maintenance that is being shelved through lack of funds.

1242 locks, 1806 miles, 42 Tunnels, 41 swing bridges and 19 lift bridges since Nov 2006