Hatton bottom lock (don’t you hate it, finding a nut on the floor with no idea where it came from?)



Thursday was spent mainly on the boat – there was very fine snow all day but, with the wind, it wasn’t much fun being outside.  For the first time we can remember, Buddy wasn’t happy in the snow and was quite content to be stuck on the boat for most of the day. 

There was a brief respite when he came across a flock of fieldfares in the hedge at the bottom of the gardens where we are moored.  He suddenly forgot the cold and was anxiously looking up at the trees hoping to find some friends.

Nearly home and Buddy suddenly sees some fieldfares

Talking about the fieldfares reminds me that I must start using our new camera.  We have spent a lot of time watching them on the bushes opposite the boat and it would be great to get a good picture of them.  

We did pop out again briefly in the afternoon and walked up several locks of the Hatton flight.  It’s quite exposed where it climbs through some fields so there were some interestingly shaped drifts of snow across the towpath.

  
Karen worked from the boat on Friday morning and, after lunch, just as it started snowing again, she asked me if I fancied taking her to visit all the gates in Warwick.  I’m always game for anything that keeps us outside in the snow so how could I say no – I’ll always be a child at heart 😉
 
There were very few cars about and even fewer people considering it was a Friday afternoon.

Northgate – snow beginning to settle on the roads again

We walked through all four gates and, coincidentally, at Westgate, the final one, we realised we were next to the real ale pub, The Old Post Office.  We needed to warm up and give Buddy a rest so we went in for a quick beer or two.  It’s a great little pub with some quirky customers as well as customs.  For example, they only take cash and you are encouraged to bring in your own food and takeaways.

It was snowing hard for our walk home and when we got back we realised we had left the engine running all the time we were out!  We had remembered to lock the boat up though and, fortunately, we don’t keep the boat keys with the ignition key, so the boat was safe 😊

I mentioned the spare nut earlier.  Karen found it in on the galley floor so it’s probably from the fridge, washing machine or oven but, try as I might, I cannot find out which and everything seems to be working OK and not falling apart, but it won’t stop me worrying.  It’ll probably end up in the box of things that contains unknown items that I’m too scared to throw away.

Now Friday is over it’s time to update Karen’s countdown – five weeks to go before we get on our travels again!



The obligatory snow and ice shot







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