Oh what a beautiful morning

Our mooring this morning

This morning reminded us of why we love boating on the canals so much. After breakfast I sat out at the back of the boat in the sunshine looking at the wooded hillside opposite our moorings. It was full of singing birds. In half an hour or so I had seen a pair of jays, long tailed tits, robins, great tits, blue tits, chaffinches, warblers (I think willow warblers, but I am not very skilled at distinguishing the various types), and a yellowhammer. There was noone else about and little sign of the busy outside world although Nuneaton was only a mile or so away. Perfect!

Today Densie's service was due. Sevicing is recommened avery 250 hours, we had travelled about 245 hours since the last service in October. After leaving our moorings (a quarter mile south of Bridge 16 on the Coventry should any boater wish to find the place) at 10:00 we travelled through Nuneaton. The weather even improved our impression of the town, although this was soon dispelled when we had to stop the boat to remove a length of cloth wound around the propeller.

Substantial flotsam in Nuneaton

Rubbish in the canal can be a problem in some towns and cities. The example in the photo was a bit larger than the norm. It was labelled "forestry safety equipment", but I have no idea what it was.

Soon after leaving Nuneaton we stopped at Valley Cruises just before lunch for the engine service. This was efficiently and thoroughly carried out. The engineer pointed out that one of the fan belts was worn and I agreed that it should be replaced. As far as I know this is the first time that a fan belt had been removed and examined during a service in the 5 years we have owned the boat. So a bill rather higher than I expected did not upset me.

A half mile up the canal took us to what is hopefully another idyllic mooring out in the countryside with a wooded hill on one side and a good view of the pendolinos travelling the west coast main railway line on the other.