Whittington, Hopwas, Fazeley Junction and return to Whittington!

The last few weeks, I have neglected to update the blog as I have had not a deal to share with everyone.  Work type things and lazyness, truth be told, have prevented it's revision....

Moored safely at Whittington for the night

However, today, I was given the unenviable task to steer the big boat towing the butty (steered by Martin, my eldest) over a few miles for the first time all on my own.  Richard has been at work, so the responsibility of moving the pair fell to me.

Narrow bits all the way on the Coventry and usually with a bridge thrown in the mix!

About time, I hear you cry!  Only been living aboard for the past 5 years!  Ok, short distances with Richard on the boat, yes, I have partook in this task, but never on my own.

Not many outside the Tame Otter in Hopwas today

So off Martin and I set from Fazeley Junction this morning.  An hour later we were weaving through the narrow little village of Hopwas, where we had moored on the way down to the junction.

Martin, already quite an expert on the butty, never quite gets excited at the prospect of steering

Hopwas was busy with moored boats and I was dreading getting the boats through before an oncoming boat would halt my progress.

The beautiful willow on the way through Hopwas

But, we were lucky, no boats moved until we came out the other side.  I started to breathe again!

Approaching Whittington and ooh it's tight!

Before we arrived on the outskirts of Whittington, an emergency stop was needed as an oncoming boat came around a blind bend into the same bridge hole I was nearly in.  I didn't panic, which surprised me, as I put her in reverse and came to a stop without any paintwork being touched on either boat!

Scooby loving his position on the flight deck with me

The butty didn't jack knife, so Martin jumped off and pulled the boats back with the centre line, allowing me to jump off and bring the motor into the side out the way.  We let everyone go past, just like buses, so nobody was being held up by us and we carried on to Whittington.

Lovely Whittington

Nearing our destination, we gently tiptoed through Whittington, so we didn't disturb the neighbours, but then...

And the award for the most sensible mooring spot goes to....

We rounded the final bend for the final bridge on our maiden voyage, to be greeted by Mr Stupid and his insanely moored boat leaving exactly one boat width passage between him and the offside privately moored boats.  But hey, we passed between, where cigarette paper would have struggled!

A mooring space greeted us before the long bend and we grabbed it.  Our voyage will continue tomorrow, in our attempt to get to Fradley village......