Fish and chips for supper

Thursday 29th

A lovely sunny start to the day, and breakfast outside. Our breakfasts are usually at a time when everyone else is motoring past as slowly as possible to get where they want to go as quickly as possible. 

After setting off we soon passed under the M45. I didn't think you wanted a picture of another motorway bridge, they're not very exciting anyway. What was exciting was seeing the alpacas at Barby Marina.

After that a slow plod past the private moorings along what we call the Barby Straight. 

We love this row of cottages/dwellings at the wharf by Tarry's Bridge. There is a winding hole opposite which must provide amusement for the residents.

Gosh! Look at the change here. What was a shabby marina has had quite a facelift.

Not exactly a facelift, just the new houses outside of Hillmorton.

And so on to the top lock.

I asked the lock keeper about this mechanism between the two locks. The first lock was built in 17something and the second in 18something when the canals got busier. The idea was that if there were lots of boats going through in one direction you could save water by emptying half of one lock into the other. Seems that it was an idea that sounded good but didn't really catch on. But they do keep it nicely painted!

And here I am pushing one gate open with my leg before opening the other as you would normally. To close them I shut one half and then step across the gap - not something underwritten by Health & Safety. (Got to have some excitement in your life)

And under the Kent Road Bridge, the nameplate made out of pieces of tiling. 

You can't see much here but this is the closest we have ever moored to the Tesco Superstore in Rugby. It's only five minutes away from the towpath. Time to stock up the larder. 

After our time in the temple of delights we travelled a little further along the canal to Newbold on Avon where, once again, we moored as close as we could to the fish and chip shop. Guess what we had for supper!