Hopwas Heaven… mostly

I have finally managed a whole week out on the boat. I returned to Hopwas, which is a small village with a large and beautiful woodland about 7 miles away. I was so relieved to get there and back without the assistance of the air ambulance this time!

Our trip was a mixture of cruising, walking and painting the gunwales of the boat. The weather was mostly lovely and the walking spectacular with squirrels throwing themselves out of trees in front of a delighted Bonny.

This was where we moored.

We spent a couple of days here before moving down to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. As I passed under the first bridge after leaving our mooring I heard a tremendous rattling noise, as if the propeller had just dropped off. I immediately put the engine into neutral and drifted to the bank. When I investigated, I found that a helpful fisherman had left his metal rimmed keep net in the canal and the whole thing had wrapped itself tightly round my prop. It took ages hanging upside down over my weedhatch to remove it. Here are the remains…

The white parts are all twisted metal!

I got to the B and F without further incident and with my propeller fortunately intact. I had planned to moor at Fisher’s Mill Bridge which is smack bang in the middle of a beautiful water park with fantastic walks. Unfortunately when we got there we found a major flood defence scheme under way…

No walking here!

Shame – it would have been lovely.

There were bulldozers and lots of men in hard hats at my proposed mooring site so I went on as far as the first lock flight to turn at the winding hole. That was a major feat as the canal became very narrow and the winding hole not much wider than my boat!

Turning here was a challenge!

I spent the night on the B and F – very quiet despite it being August and then returned to Hopwas for a couple of days to do some much needed boat painting.

All in all it was a lovely trip and it was particularly good to have some time alone as I haven’t managed much of that lately. As I was explaining to a friend only yesterday – most people are basically social creatures who can quite easily cope with periods of solitude – even enjoying it perhaps, but they get their energy from being with family or friends. I am one of the more unusual types who reverse that. I can quite happily be sociable for periods of time but I am most content and get my energy from being alone. Ah well, it takes all sorts!