11 Locks and a Water Vole

Monday 14th October, 2013 near Polesworth.
The rain continued this morning, so we decided to walk into Atherstone town centre in search of a fishing umbrella, the purpose of which is not for fishing but to keep us dry when cruising. We do have a golfing umbrella, but it only just covers the two of us - and if it is blowing hard, we still get wet! The gentleman in the small angling shop, called "Fishing 4U", was very helpful but didn't have any in stock. So R consoled himself with a coffee...

After lunch, the rain eased off a bit and we decided to tackle the flight of eleven Atherstone locks immediately ahead of us. So, we entered the top lock...

On the way up this flight last month, we met the Kingsground boat "Reflections". This time, going down, we met another Kingsground boat called "Maud Rose"; she was on her way down to Kingsground at Enslow Wharf for a re-paint. She is ten years old but still looking good! The owners said they are still delighted with her.

Finally after a couple of hours, when the rain held off (thank heavens), we came out of the last of the eleven locks...

While cruising on, we happened to see a water vole sitting on a rock beside the canal watching us go past. They are normally very shy and difficult to spot, but this one seemed very unconcerned at our passing so close. Unfortunately we couldn't get the camera out in time to photograph him (so we took this picture off the internet).

It is a terrible shame that the release of American Mink into the wild has decimated the Water Vole population (they are a favourite "snack" for mink). This is the first time in our two years of cruising that we have seen one.
We also spotted a duck with a very young duckling - unusual to see one so small at this time of year. As you can see, Mum was being very protective!

The skies cleared to give a lovely evening.  After an early supper, we enjoyed watching "The Titfield Thunderbolt", a classic Ealing Comedy with lots of beautiful steam engines.

After we had gone to bed, we saw a strange light on the curtains on the canal side of MM. It turned out to be a narrowboat going by in the dark. It is very rare for boats to travel at night and it passed silently by like a ghostly, grey apparition in the moonlight. A bit scary!

Today: 4 miles, 11 locks and 3.3 hours.
Trip: 548 miles, 346 locks and 437.9 hours.