Jack and Jill went up the hill

 We left Whittington, it was grey and threatening rain.  I had another instruction on weather apps and their shortcomings.  No Lisa 30% chance of rain does not mean that 30% of the countryside is going to get rain...  it went on and I went inside to hoover.

I think this stretch is a rather dull section, apart from going through Hopwas, I have very happy memories of this pub with friends and last summer was it we were sitting in the garden when an unknown to me lady approached the table and asked if I was Lisa, she was a blog reader, however I digress.

The Tame Otter at Hopwas.... a nice place.

On we went and at a bridge north of Tamworth we moored up and took David's bike into the Retail Park.  He'd got home this am and his bike would not fold down, a bit irritating as the name is on the tin and it was slightly large on the deck.  David had located an independent bike shop on the far side of the park, to get the bike there would require carrying, now this model can easily carried, maybe into the boot of the car or onto a bus but to stagger 1.1miles was quickly proving to be a challenge so instead of having some fun time unsupervised in M&S I offered to "Jack and Jill" it with him to the shop, about 30 metres along the pavement I had to swap arms and so it continued until I spotted a Halfords and we detoured into there where somewhat embarrassingly a schoolboy fixed it in about 45 seconds.

Schoolboy in action.

  Back to WaL and away again, through the two locks at Tamworth.  As we approached the lock a man was up by the gates, I thought he was with a boat so I hopped off early to walk up and lend a hand, but in the event he was a dog walker and had opened both gates for us.  I thanked him profusely of course as he walked past in a cloud of marijuana smoke... 

Past Polesworth and I spotted this boat, a little unforgettable,  I've seen it in this area a few times before, I wonder if it's travelling the onward journey that CART say have to be journeying.

Approaching the service point at the bottom of the Atherstone flight.

Now I was trying to find a photo of this some years ago, I think its was in the region of 6-8 years ago, my question then as it is today is when does a restoration project become a salvage and disposal job?

 

We moored up opposite the service point, jumped in the car with David's bike which was found to have a puncture, Halfords didn't have the correct size inner tube so off we went to Nuneaton.

The bike was mended and I spotted a branch of Dunelm and in that wondrous shop I bought a new mattress topper, a memory foam one and oh my goodness every bed should have one, comfort beyond belief, I wonder if I will sleep any better......?

Back to WaL and we did several trips to the rubbish bins, the old flat topper, our own rubbish and I picked up with my bare hands a split bag of cans, burger plastic packaging and various other items on the towpath that can only have been dumped by a moored boater.  My mother would say Litter Bugs should be taken out and shot, I'm slightly more liberal.

Supper was splendid, Ottolenghi baked rice with tomatoes, feta and most interestingly cinnamon sticks, a meal in itself but we had it with roast chicken.

HERE