Dogs and dodging thunderstorms.

Yesterday evening our friends Rose and Pete, and their greyhounds Bella and Toby, came to see us.

This is James having kisses from Bella while Toby waits his turn.  They’re not so sure about narrow boats!

Rose, Doug and Pete enjoy a glass of bubbly before going out for a meal.  Annoyingly, The Greyhound at Hawkesbury told us they were serving food all day on Sunday but when we got there we were told they stop taking orders at 7 o’clock.  Never mind, we all went by car and we had a brilliant meal at  The Pheasant at Withybrook.  Thanks Rose and Pete for your company amid your very hectic schedules, it was lovely to see you.

We had a early start at 6:00 this morning as we were both wide awake and raring to go.

We soon passed the tempting entrance to the lovely Ashby Canal but, sadly, we don’t have time.

There are some very beautifully kept gardens along the canal side as we pass through Nuneaton.

A dazzling display of “Lucifer” crocosmia in someone’s Nuneaton garden.

Getting to the Atherstone flight of eleven locks we soon got down the first five and moored up for a walk into the town.  We spotted this gem of a spill weir on one of the lock sides.

Getting out of lock 5 looked a tight squeeze – but all the other boats have done it!

Further down the flight we had a great surprise when we met nb ‘Hudson’ with Heather and Mick on board.  ‘Hudson’ was the showboat next to us in the Crick show 2011 and is, without question, at 70 feet, one of the finest boats on the system.

For all the “mechanical heads”among us, ‘Hudson’s’ 3 cylinder Gardner engine is orgasmic!

This, out of sequence, photo of Atherstone’s railway station and house doesn’t require any description, its now a veterinary surgery, with the station still behind.

We were lucky to get down the Atherstone flight without being rained on but as we motored on a bit the storm clouds started to gather.

Before our luck ran out we moored up in a lovely remote spot just after Bradley Green where we’ve spent the afternoon enjoying a couple of jolly good thunderstorms amid the glorious sunshine. 

Going back in history a bit, we’ve received some great photos from Martin and Karen on nb ‘Aria’, taken by their friends while we were gadding about London.  Spot the boat!

….. and this one of the two of us looking as though we were about to set sail across the Atlantic!  It’s definitely ‘Chance’ but we don’t know where all the rigging has come from!