A few chilly days..... Then a potter up to Marston Doles to collect the crew and back 13th to 17th January.

Having found a lovely spot to moor I tried out the crayfish trap but no luck at all....

After 4 days I came to the conclusion there are no crayfish in the canal or they don't like Sprats....

My other Job was to sort out the mushrooms (brass Vents on the roof not the things you fry for breakfast) This involved unscrewing them from the roof the polishing them to get them all nice and shiny again then I gave them 2 coats of varnish to seal them. Hopefully this will stop me having to polish them every week to keep them shiny. The one on the left is the one I've cleaned up.

I went for several long walks with Scooby managing to get lost once ending up miles from the boat and walking just over 5 miles on that occasion. That will teach me to take the map with me....

Scooby warming himself beside the fire after a long walk.

I woke up on Saturday morning to find the canal frozen with a layer of ice about 3-4 mm thick. I waited for a while then another boat went through about 12 o'clock so I decided to head off for my rendezvous with Jo and Ryan at Marston Doles.

 

It's a bit hard to see but the canal is covered in ice.

 

I got to Marston Doles and there was no where to moor above the locks so I went through the 2 locks single handed. It took a while longer but with a bit of care it was quite an easy operation then found a nice spot just below the locks. manage to get moored up and cook dinner awaiting the arrival of Ryan and Jo. We had fresh pasta and meatballs with a freshly baked focaccia loaf. (I try to spoil the guest Ryan you never know he might come again)

We woke up to a covering of snow on Sunday morning and then we set off back through the locks and back to our spot in the middle of nowhere. It was very cold with an icy wind and after three hours of boating we were glad to get in to the lovely warm boat for a cup of tea and a warm up.