Friday 15 October 2010

Gypsy Rover I Presume?

11 Locks, 6.97 Miles. Now moored at Alvecote.

What a cold damp miserable day it has been. Dot managed to keep warm doing the locks and I dug out a thermal top to keep the cold at bay.

Granny Buttons NZ 158

BOB The Branching Out Bus. A combined Warwickshire County Council / Citizens Advice Bureau mobile office reaching out to people in country towns and villages.

Going down the Atherstone flight and I was set to exit lock 3 while Dot moved ahead to lock 4 as there was a boat coming up. Upon arrival Dot was greeted with “Gypsy Rover I Presume” not “where’s Andrew?” as before by the sole occupant of this other boat. He didn’t strike either of us as a blog reader so was it the towpath telegraph working as usual or did we come to the wrong conclusion? We cannot recall the boats name but we think it was Welsh.

Dot seemed to be standing talking to this guy for ages while I cooled my heels in lock 3 but it turned out that one of the top paddles was missing and it took ages for the lock to fill. There were a few other boats in the flight so we made reasonably  good time.

At Polesworth we stopped for lunch and then went for a walk. We had been told that the original part of the village was pretty and as we had never stepped foot in the place previously we thought we should as we may never pass this way again. It was then back aboard for the hour or so run up to Alvecote.

Granny Buttons NZ 157  Polesworth Tithe Barn very much modified.Granny Buttons NZ 156The Polesworth Dove Cote where in medieval times pigeons where housed for winter food and fresh eggs. No windows, just a door.Granny Buttons NZ 161  Tudor style in Polesworth.Granny Buttons NZ 163 The archway was built in 1343 as security for the Abbey. The part to the right was added in 1535.Granny Buttons NZ 169Polesworth Abbey Church.Granny Buttons NZ 167 Milled timber was not as we know it in those days.Granny Buttons NZ 165 Still some thatched properties in Warwickshire.Granny Buttons NZ 180 Lovely floral display this late in the year at Polesworth.

A total of 57.92 Miles, and 36 Locks on Granny Buttons.

2 comments:

Andy said...

That was me, I've been following your travels for quite a while so it was good to finally meet you. I did wonder if that lock was ever going to fill.
My boat's name is actually Vietnamese, the reason why is at http://andy3196.blogspot.com/2009/08/my-boat-has-name.html on my own not very intersting blog.
Hope the rest of your trip goes well.
Andy

Derek and Dot said...

Hi Andy
Thanks nice meeting you, sorry I mistook the name of your boat. Vietnamese cave, really interesting. Have viewed you blog before but didn't make the connection.