Turdville and cheap fuel

There was a change of plan this morning.  The weather was looking good so we decided to forfeit the usual Sunday roast lunch to go cruising.  A hire boat was coming up the stop lock just as we prepared to move off to the water point.  But then they pulled onto the water point.  Fair enough, they were there first and we weren’t in a hurry.

There’s the hire boat… last on the right!

Jan went down to assist in working the boat ahead of us through the lock.  Then she walked over to the hire boat crew as she noticed they didn’t have a hose out.  Oh they didn’t want water.  They had stopped on the nice mooring for morning tea.  So that’s alright then!

After they departed we moved Waiouru onto the water point and promptly discovered another tap with very low water pressure.

There we are down on the water point.  Whilst the tank filled I went off to dispose of the stripped PJ’s which had become very intimate with the prop the other day.

The Greyhound pub would look even more scenic if the overhead power transmission cables weren’t present.

To head north involves a 180 degree turn under the bridge. 

It was in 2007 that we were last this way in a hire boat doing the Warwickshire Ring.  We approached Hawkesbury Junction from the north and when I realised it was a 180 degree turn I chickened out erred on the side of caution and went straight on to Coventry Basin.

Today I managed to turn and didn’t even have to resort to using the “girlie button”.

Just north of the junction is an old building that looks very much like a former steam pumping station.

Something to explore when we are next back this way.  A little further on and we arrived at Charity Dock.  What an unusual location!  Children were playing

Whilst a policewoman attended an investigation

It appeared we had arrived at the end of a wedding with the bride and groom about to depart.

It wasn’t until two of the mannequins moved that we realised there were people present.  One sign that caught my eye was the cheapest diesel we’ve seen on the canal to date.

Moving along we moored at Turdsville (aka Nuneaton) where the dog owners are very disciplined and regimented.  The metalled towpath is clear of turds because the owners have taught their dogs to do their business in the grass verge between the path and the canal.  The turds are evenly spaced with smallest to largest from left to right.  We did notice one lady picking up after her dog but on asking, discovered she wasn’t from Nuneaton.

Walking down a narrow alleyway we made our way into the centre of town via “Little Pakistan”.  Everyone has a better beard than mine and they all wear their pyjamas.  Perhaps this is where the stripped cotton trousers originated?

As we turned into the main street the band struck up and the crowd began to cheer.  I held my right had up and slowly rotated my wrist regally waving to the adoring multitude.  This really got the children going.

At my age the hearing is poor and it took several minutes for me to realize the kids were screaming “Father Christmas… Father Christmas”.  I’m going to have to cut back on the chocolate consumption!

Rather than being ravaged by ankle-biters we ducked down a side road for some anonymity.  That’s when Jan pointed out the nice cafe.

I can take a hint.  She was obviously thirsty.  So I walked her straight back to Waiouru where she could find the kettle.

Later in the afternoon I was able to fix the intermittent fault with the boat horn.  The “faulting finding” was very easy.  All I had to do was reprogram the Empirbus software configuration to make another switch activate the horn.  The horn worked which told me the problem was with the switch.  It was a slightly loose connection on the back of the switch.

We’ll probably go back into Turdsville tomorrow as there is a local wool shop Jan wants to visit.