They're back!

Our night Security Guards from last night are now back, not arriving until 9.30pm.
There has been no sign of them all day either and they left at daybreak.

Have a Chuckle over this.

Reading the New Zealand news on the Internet this morning we came across this some what amusing article where a youth found that he wasn’t as tough as he thought he was. Probably just alcohol fuelled stupidity.

“Elderly woman fights off youth with rolling pin
A Hamilton woman in her 70s hit a teenager trying to break into her house with a rolling pin, police arrived to find him in tears

3 March 2009
Hamilton police are praising a frightened, elderly woman who fought off an aggressive youth with a rolling pin.
The woman, who is in her seventies, lives alone. She was woken at 3.30am on Saturday by a youth swearing and banging on her door, claiming he lived there. He smashed the glass door and stuck his head through.
The woman called 111 then hit him on the head with the rolling pin - and when he stayed she hit him a second and third time. When police arrived he was still there, crying.
He has been bailed to his parents' house and referred to youth aid. “

© 2009 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

View from our mooring

Looked over by a statue of James Brindley, note the pigeon loft half way down the building on the right hand side of the photo. We had two guards (swans) beside the front of the boat overnight, although they slept on the job most of the night.

Smallest Canal Bridge on the canal system

The entrance bridge to Coventry Basin seen from the basin side,

opened in 1769 it was built without a towpath for security reasons.
It is now a grade two listed building.

New footbridge over the canal at Electric Wharf, Coventry

Coventry Basin

1 Lock, 5 ½ Miles. Now moored in Coventry Basin.

Yesterday while moored at Hawkesbury Junction we were passed by Chris and Lesley on Nb Tripitaka who we first met at Apsley Marina two years ago. We only had time for a few pleasantries through the window as they passed by. After an overnight frost while watering up we spoke to fellow bloggers Brian and Diana on Nb Harnser on their way back to their mooring in Napton. After which we passed through the stop lock and out onto the Coventry Canal where Iain and Alison on coal/diesel boat Gosty Hill were waiting after just replenishing their supplies. Roy on Nb Gerald had beaten us as he was already moored alongside Gosty Hill taking on diesel and coal so we just sat out mid stream until Roy moved off.

Once alongside we took on another 96.61 litres at £57 which is 59p per litre, a drop of 4p per litre since our last fill. Iain did however comment that the fuel he loaded today had gone back up by 2p.

By about 10.30 we were under way heading down to the Coventry Basin. There was a bit of rubbish floating about and we were lucky not to get the propeller fouled but we did hit a few shallow spots where we stirred up the mud.

Once in the basin we found only 3 other boats so there were plenty of moorings available. The only change we found since our last visit is a swing bridge across 1 arm of the basin which is securely locked. This effectively has reduced the moorings by 4 spaces. The bridge reminded us of the 2 bridges across the Paddington Arm which basically serve no purpose other than to reduce pedestrians walking distance by less than 100 yards.

Surprise, surprise we managed to get a satellite signal in the basin too - most unexpected but very welcome.

1588 locks, 3360 ½ miles, 57 Tunnels, 44 swing bridges and 39 lift bridges since Nov 2006

The Signposts tell the Story

Where were we?