Polesworth to Bodymoor Heath

 We set out at 8.45 after the overnight rain had stopped, though it was still cloudy and chilly. The moorhen family was out and about; the previous evening I’d seen an adult and one chick on a couple of occasions, but it looks as if there are two adults and three chicks.

Our first locks today were at Glascote, notoriously slow to fill – just as well there are only two of them. There were other boats in the locks, so we had coffee while we waited. BCF friends Trevor and Janet on nb Grace were on one of the boats coming up so we had the chance of a few words with them. (I forgot to say that we saw other BCF friends Derek and Judy on Firoza yesterday – only had a chance for a brief greeting as we passed each other.) There were 3 boats waiting to come up Glascote locks as we came out of the second one – it is good that more people and boats are venturing out.

Onward to Fazeley and as we turned off the Coventry Canal on to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, it was pleasing to see that something is being done with Tolson’s Mill - don’t know what is planned, but a lot of new windows have been put in.  (Google later told me that the mill will be living accommodation.) A little further on we stopped at Fazeley Mill Marina for a pump out.

It was on this stretch that we spotted a duck with rather a lot of ducklings. There was no hope of counting them as we sailed past them - I was only able to do so from my photograph. I think there are 16 which seems excessive for one mum!

We moored up for lunch before starting to go up the Curdworth locks. We were only doing three of these today so it wasn’t long before we were moored for the night near the Dog and Doublet. Our mooring is next to a field of rapeseed – very yellow and with a very strong scent.

Mooring up took a while as there is a metal strip running along the edge just under the water level. We didn’t want this to scratch our new blacking, so extra precautions were needed.

Steve’s job for the afternoon was to wax and polish the side of the boat. I did some tidying up inside the boat and then went for a walk – not a very peaceful one as much of it was alongside the M42.

There were not many boats around on this stretch, just 2 or 3 in the late afternoon.

Later in the evening we enjoyed a meal at the Dog and Doublet.

Today’s miles and locks – 8.75 miles  5 locks

Total miles and locks – 27.25 miles  17 locks