4th May- 18th May
Not so much a log as an end of journey report.
Yesterday morning, as we worked our way back to the yard was to prove one of
the coldest May days for years. It also rained heavily, apart from that we
only needed to don wet weather gear for 3 hours during the whole fortnight.
We enjoyed some glorious, warm, sunny days, not a cloud in the sky, and some
when we needed 4 layers of clothing but the whole “fortnight” was a
fantastic experience. 
We could fill a book with wildlife sightings foxes,
water rats, stoat, and endless birds, robins, kingfishers, moorhen, lapwing,
crow, rook, pigeon, heron, blackbird the list goes on but curiously only 1
thrush.
We grounded (3x), threw a fan belt (Kate boats had
us under way in an hour, thanks Craig), enjoyed some great pub meals, met
some marvelous, friendly people and enjoyed some great humour. We (avoided)
collisions, took no wrong turnings once and learnt how Royalty must feel
constantly waving to people, but what a great idea. A super fortnight,
England, look after your canals, a huge asset, we will be back.
7th April
to 11th April
So far we have had a great time, especially as it
was a surprise holiday for us.
Looking back over Amy Clare's log book no one has
seemed to have kept a record of the wildlife they have seen, so that is what
we set out to do.
On our very first day we were fortunate enough to
see an otter! It was running along the bank, then it disappeared into a hole
behind a tree.
When we were doing the locks we saw quite a few
frogs 7 in all so, look out for them when you are working hard pushing,
pulling and twisting!
One night a pair of swans came gracefully swimming
up to the boat. It looked by the way they were acting that they were
expecting us to invite them in for the night. We found the other boat
handlers very friendly, and they all waved and smiled to us as we past. The
ducks were just as friendly as the swans; over the duration of the holiday
we saw 86 of them, they quacked and swam alongside the boat it was great.
Jodie thought she saw a misty coloured fish twist
under water. Many of the owners had dogs which bathed in the shadowy sun
light. I said there were quite a few, by our record we saw 23 dogs all were
very well behaved.
In the fields alongside the canal was loads of
pheasants which could be seen clearly darting about.
We seemed to notice lots of horses and ponies about,
they trotted up to greet us when we moored.
When we moored up it was always outside or near a
pub. Every pub was different, but we liked the Blue Lias, it was amazing
inside with lots of nooks and crannies in it to sit in. the food was
excellent. It was tasty and all homemade. It had beautiful lighting which
added to the relaxed atmosphere. The ceiling was deep blue with tiny gold
stars dotted about we all highly recommend it.
Amy Clare is a truly wonderful boat, and she
provided us with a wonderful break. So when you have the delights of her
watch out for all the wildlife its amazing what you will see if you are
careful enough to spot it.
Record of animals we saw.
| Rabbits 4 (in fields by canal) |
Otters 2 |
Hares 2 |
| Fish 1 |
Ponies 15 |
Swans 8 |
| Frogs 7 (in the locks) |
Pheasants 12 |
Birds 135 |
|
Queen bees 5 |
Ducks 88 |
|
These are our results. One of the otters was a very
young otter, they are hard to spot but they are there if you look for them.
