Coldplay......and a bit of boating thrown in.

The morning after the night before.....and we're still buzzing. 

Yesterday saw us travel from Hartshill to Hawkesbury, a reasonably uneventful journey. Nuneaton is not our favourite town to cruise through, but it didn't seem as full of litter as in the past. We had a slight coming together with a hire boat at Marston Junction. The steerer was so intent on reading his map, he forgot the job in hand, but no harm done. 

Hawkesbury Junction - the bridge was made in Derby !!

At Hawkesbury we had a chance meeting with our friends David & Sarah on their new boat 'The Hodma'dod'. They had just negotiated Hawkesbury Junction as we approached it and it seemed to take a while for the penny to drop with them as to why two ''strangers' on a vaguely familiar boat were waving frantically at them. We bought Blue Moon from them last year and have kept in touch since. We had arranged to meet up on the Ashby later this week, but there's no time like the present, so we enjoyed lunch sat outside The Greyhound in the sunshine. 

There was a shortage of moorings in the area, so we hopped into their spot as they headed off onto the Ashby and we will meet them later this week for a tour of 'Hoddie'

Louise outside the Ricoh

So, onto the main event of the week - Coldplay in concert at the Ricoh Arena. Quite simply an awesome experience. We've done a few gigs and concerts in our time, but this, for me anyway, topped the lot. The stage set, lighting (aided by the use of the fabulous 'xyloband' wristbands), crowd and oh, not forgetting the music, were incredible. An absolute must for any music fan. I've 'borrowed' the video below because, quite simply, it's better than the ones I took.

So today we say goodbye to Liam who is heading back off to university and we are heading off up the Ashby, still buzzing.

Polesworth to Hartshill

The sun is still shining but the traffic is much lighter today. We were in no rush to get away this morning as we wanted to get to Atherstone for midday as we were expecting an extra crewman to join us today.

We had a pleasant cruise to the bottom of the Atherstone flight and, as the water was with us, decided to go up the first couple of locks. We could see a boat waiting above lock 10 as it was empty and as we entered the bottom lock, another boat pulled in behind us to wait. The chap from the boat above lock 10 had already opened the bottom gates for us, so having filled and then exited the bottom lock, Louise then went to shut the top gate as I went to go straight into lock 10. Before she had even started to close it, a member of crew from the boat behind opened the bottom paddles to empty the lock resulting in the top gate slamming shut very hard and leaving Louise grasping fresh air.....and not a hint of an apology !!

It is so frustrating that some boaters don't seem capable of looking after the equipment and infrastructure that we all have to use - but will no doubt be the first to moan when it's broken.

We had a short coffee break above lock 10 and then continued on into Atherstone. Our eldest son Liam is home from Cardiff University for a few days, so he had caught the train from Derby and met us just below lock 5 and was a welcome pair of extra hands for the remainder of the flight.

We are now moored at Hartshill Yard and have enjoyed a pleasant evening chatting and drinking whilst sat outside in the sun. This time tomorrow we will be watching Coldplay....can't wait !!

Hartshill Wharf

A lovely summer evening