Jenny and Sid's Narrow Boat Adventures: Hilmorton, Rugby, Hawkesbury Junction and Coventry

On Friday we decided to moor up early because the wind g had picked up and we were both, yet again cold. A shirt walk down the Hilmorton locks and through the village warmed us a little but with rain threatening we headed back to the boat, having first stopped at the bus stop, where there was a convenient bench because we were aware that we could get an Internet signal at that spot. Only a very weak one but enough to get emails. Makes a change from finding a pub. The pub in the village was closed by the way.

After days with no locks we arrived at the 3 locks of the Hilmorton flight on a very chilly Saturday morning. A cheery CRT volunteer was on hand at the last of these duplicate locks. This is only the second time this season that we have seen a volunteer! They must be avoiding us!

The old and the new at Hilmorton Locks

During the morning the sun shone through and it did appear to warm up a little but the north wind meant keeping fleeces on. We arrived at a very busy Rugby and fortunately found a 57 foot space just waiting for Hunters Moon. Tesco shopping to replenish dwindling stocks was on the menu for Saturday afternoon followed by some blackberry picking. Jenny had it in her head that a blackberry and apple crumble would be nice on Sunday.

We had not been back at the boat long before there was a tap, tap on the hull. A very anxious looking chap carrying a folding bike was trying to find someone to mind the bike for him. Apparently his wife had had an accident and the ambulance was waiting to take her to hospital and the chap was moored on the opposite side of the canal and it would take him too long to walk around and over the bridge to put the bike on his boat. Of course we agreed and quickly found out which was his boat so we could take it round there in the morning if he wasn't back. At the time we knew no more.

We were just readying ourselves to leave Rugby on Sunday morning, having prepared a little card to leave with the bike when we returned it to Mistol when the poor man appeared. He looked washed out having spent the night in the hospital. The good news was that nothing was broken and his wife had been discharged with a pair of crutches. Not the easiest of thing to manage on a narrowboat. Apparently she had been returning from a swim at the leisure centre by bike and a motorist had opened his car door in her path and knocked her off the bike. The road was busy with traffic so it could have been very nasty. So, a word of warning to drivers - THINK BIKE!

Sunday then turned into a beautiful September day, the sun shone, the temperature rose and Sid and Jenny wore a smile. We arrived at Hawkesbury Junction and relaxed for a couple of hours in the sunshine whilst the roast pork cooked. The delicious roast dinner was followed by apple and bkackberry crumble with ice cream. The perfect end to a perfect day.

Another bright day dawned on Monday albeit rather chilly again and we ventured down the Coventry Arm to the Coventry Basin. Warm and sunny again. We wanted to visit the Cathedral and light a candle and pray for Terry a family friend who died last week. Whilst we were there a lovely lady approached us and we started to talk together. We shared our story and the reason for us being at the Cathedral and she then told us that she had had stage three cancer eight years ago and things looked very grim but here she was, now a Chaplain in the Cathedral. We lit our candles and prayed together and left that wonderful building feeling uplifted and blessed.

Sitting in the sunshine writing this rather long blog by the side of Hunters Moon. We have a connection!

I might even try some photos!