Rude Awakenings!

Just before 6am I was awoken from a deep slumber by an enormous amount of splashing and noises over, under and against the side of the hull. Thinking perhaps someone had fallen in I jumped out of bed to investigate. There were a number of mallards of the male variety deciding to have a fight over the attentions of the sole female watching the proceedings from the sidelines. After some banging on the window they retreated and silence reigned again.

I tottled off back to bed and less than an hour later was awoken again by an early boat heading north. As he drew abreast of the back of our boat there was a cry of “Pākehā”. Now for those of you who do not know, this is the New Zealand Māori word meaning “white man” I did not recognise the boat but he obviously knew more about New Zealand culture than most of the english we meet in our travels. Perhaps he was trying to tell us something!

Good Friday

Early Birds.

0 Locks, 2 Miles. Now moored at Hopwas School Bridge.

Our current mooring at Hopwas.

It was an early start this morning at 8am to reach Hopwas before the forecasted rain arrived. Just a short cruise of about 40 minutes with only 2 other boats on the move. Since mooring up though, there has been constant stream of boats heading off for the Easter break in both directions. We will probably stay here until Saturday if the forecasted heavy rain arrives

View over the River Tame from our mooring.

1601 locks, 3403½ miles, 59 Tunnels, 44 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Unusual Patterns in Masonry at Tamworth Castle

If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see the beautiful herringboning in the brickwork under the castle as commented on by Greywolf.

Tamworth Castle

The beautiful gardens below the castle walls.

Pathway up to the castle entrance.

Smell the fragrance?

0 Locks,1 Mile, Now moored at Sutton Rd Bridge.

After manoeuvring across the canal to the water point opposite we took a short cruise up to Sutton Road bridge which appears to be the closest point on the canal to reach Tamworth Castle.

Inside the castle grounds looking back at the main entrance.

The band rotunda which is still used for concerts in front of Tamworth Castle.

Having been through here a couple of times without so much as a sideways glance Dot had found out about Tamworth castle and had put it on the must see list. Another glorious but breezy day made it very enjoyable. We could see the castle as we walked towards the town and it looked quite strange with the high rise apartment blocks towering above the castle.

River Anker below Tamworth Castle. St Editha's Church behind the band rotunda.

As we entered the gardens below the castle they were a blaze of colour. As we got closer the fragrance from the Hyacinths which had been planted among Tulips, Daffodils,Pansies and many other flowers reached our noses it was a reminder that Spring had arrived. It’s just a pity we don’t have smelly vision for you to enjoy the fragrance as well.

Hyacinths and Polyanthus.

The lady's bed chamber which is supposedly haunted by the Black Lady.

We timed our arrival well as the castle only opens at midday. From the outside the castle doesn’t appear that big but it took us a couple of hours to work our way through the various rooms and floors and even went out onto the roof to take in the 360deg view which stretched for miles.

St Editha's Church towering over the town centre.

Out to one side the view over the old town and beyond was great but unfortunately the view on the opposite side was totally marred by all the unattractive barn shape buildings that have gone up housing all the hypermarkets in the Ventura park area. Still I suppose that’s progress for you or is it?

1601 locks, 3401½ miles, 59 Tunnels, 44 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

Passing Bloggers!

This morning we decided that we would walk into town for some supplies. We had established that the old shopping centre to the west of us only had a Tesco Express but if we walked the other way there was a huge ASDA and Sainsbury’s supermarkets amongst other stores at Ventura Retail Centre. It was a good 20 minutes walk to ASDA and the store is enormous covering 2 floors.

The stores are actually in a retail park with parking for hundreds of cars, no where near the town. It’s no wonder that the High Street’s up and down the country are feeling the pinch. These retail parks are set up purely for the motor car and the convenience of customers.

Yesterday we passed Nb Sanity with Sheila at the helm and today amongst many other boats passing by was Andy and his father on Nb Khayamanzi heading up to the Shroppie. As we are sort of heading that way we will cross paths with them again within the next week. It was good to see you again Andy.

View from our galley window this evening