Tuesday 27 March 2012

Canal Holiday - Day 5


Today was planned to be a longer day in terms of locks and miles, but it was still a nice mooch. We moored up for lunch and gossiped with the lock-keeper at Bratch.

It was a very good day, with sparkling weather, friendly fishermen and ducks saying hello, but not a lot to really talk about, just interesting folk met.

There was the Iranian publican, Roscoe, in his stripy pinny, supervising a lock from the pub side of his adjoining wall.

Another lock had a man with four children that he managed to keep remarkably under control. The youngest, also the only girl, was riding a pushchair and bouncing up and down excitedly as she pointed at Hawksmoor, shouting ‘boat! Boat!’ Of the other three, two boys were beautifully behaved but the third was clearly a bit of a rascal, wandering a tad too close to the lock edge, then running over to almost throw himself into the culvert, but a couple of slightly sharp words brought him under control.

There was a minor distraction when we moored up and Dad couldn’t find his wallet, and boat was searched from stem to stern. Wallet was located, along with a right sock, a tin of tartan paint and a left-handed screwdriver.

The Mermaid at Wightwick was open and serving food when we arrived as planned, so we ate there, congratulating ourselves on achieving two planned eateries in a row. Then went back to the boat and continued the doggy-bagged wine, accompanied by Maltesers, before retiring for the night.

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