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Winter on board Double0

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 We hadn’t quite planned for this one. When our friends asked us how we were going to get on in the winter and what we would do, our plan was ….we’ll see what happens. So we arrived at the end of November at Droitwich Marina, through the snow, and very grateful for electricity and gorgeous facilities. We knew we would survive Christmas because it was our first English Christmas in 20 years, and we booked an apartment in Worcester so that my brother could come and stay. So that was easy. Then the weather started to close in a bit more. A lot of ice and snow. It’s surprising how living below the water level makes the floor very cold, and we both had to buy new snug slippers. Droitwich is a pleasant town with a lot of history. And we are walking distance along the canal to Waitrose and Morrisons Supermarket, as well as some good coffee. But nothing can prepare you for the cold in England. It’s a five minute walk to the facilities block which we try to use as much as possible. We rarel...
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Bad Timing!

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 We decided that the lovely Diglis Basin had disadvantages that outweighed its advantages, in particular, lack of Mobile reception, and therefore lack of Internet access, and zero TV reception.  The Central Worcester location is gorgeous and very convenient, but now that we have a nice little car, we felt that we should move to Droitwich, 15 mins drive away, as it has it all!! We had been waiting for the perfect weather conditions, and when week after week no perfect time came along, one morning we decided to get up and go anyway.   It is a trip that can take either one or two days, but because of the shorter days, we allowed at 2 full days. We set off in a mood of excitement, but there were quite a few jobs to do first, like filling up with water, dumping some wee, and offloading our recycling.  We had enough supplies for 2 days, no problem. At the Locks, there were plenty of Gongoozlers, boats on the move being a rare sight at this time of year. We had been fi...
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Tardebigge again!!

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  We left Venice.... I mean Birmingham, refreshed and warmer after our comfortable city break there, and headed down towards King's Norton Junction.  We were now in familiar territory again, and very aware that after having done no locks for four or five days, we had 52 to do before arriving back at Worcester.  The city is flooded so there was no chance of going via the river.   Autumn has arrived.  The canals are quiet and there is an air of peace as we travel with no engine trouble, experienced crew and a luxury boat. One hazard of the Autumn leaves is that they keep getting caught in the bow and the weed hatch is troubled with Withey weed everywhere.  This required a bit of stopping and clearing, but nothing to difficult. We moored up outside Bourneville train station in order to visit the Cadbury chocolate factory.   This was a very disappointing choice. When we thought we had found the factory we were wrong.  This was the staff shop...
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The Home Stretch for this Year at least!

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 After the rude, chilly dip, we took the Junction at Great Haywood and headed for Wolverhampton. nobody really looks forward this as it's not the best part of the country, but there were some pretty spots. Aquaducts are all over the place, and it's nearly always lovely, but with water going over water it makes it even more special. We continued uneventfully to the Autherley Junction, where we rejoined the Staffordshire/Worcs canal briefly before turning into the Birmingham main line via the Wolverhampton staircase.  We hadn't been looking forward to this and the weather had turned really cold.  We knew there were a lot of locks ahead so we moored overnight before turning off to rest before a big day of locks ahead. Already there were some pretty awful sights.  This less touristy area lets itself down badly and the rubbish is very noticeable in the water and surrounds.   There were 21 locks in a row in the first staircase, so we chose our clothes carefully a...
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Four Counties Ring

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 Having decided against embarking on the LLangollen, we have a new plan.... the Four counties Ring.  This will take us into unseen (for us) territory and, as the Rivers are too fast to go back down the Severn to Worcester, we will take a route through Birmingham, and back down Tardebigge, which doesn't seem quite so daunting now we are so much more experienced.  We took the Middlewich Branch of the Shropshire Union canal towards the Trent and Mersey.  This was uneventful and very pretty.  The Trent and Mersey seemed much busier and had a completely different feel, particularly as much of it followed a busy road and the noise was deafening.  Pretty ugly surroundings remnant of salt making works centuries ago.  We battled on to get away from the noise. It got prettier at last, and we experienced our first double locks, which are no big deal really.  It just means that when you head for one, it's probably out of action and you should have headed for ...
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