Llangollen - Llangollen Canal

 The weather is still lovely, we have been so luck this trip.

The family emailed to say they would be visiting at lunch time, so we walked down the (steep) hill to meet them and eldest grandson said he wanted to go to the boat for lunch, we we walked back up the (steep) hill.

After lunch they left us and I decided to walk up to the Horseshoe Falls (the start of the canal), so it was half way down the (steep) hill and along the towpath.  I must admit, I only remembered it being about 1/2 a mile long and was dismayed to discover with was 1 3/4 miles, so it was "on! on!"  The picture proves I did it, and got back in one piece (but I did discover the back way into the marina and didn't have to climb the (steep) hill again.

We had planned dinner out with Jackie and Chris in the Cornmill, so it was back down the (steep) hill, a really lovely dinner, and then back up the (steep) hill for the VERY LAST TIME.

 
Sunset in Llangollen Basin

I have been branching out from card cards and this is a card and a box.  It is an easel card with a box in front which holds 4 tealight candles.

The front has 2 sets of patterned paper, the large one matted onto gold mirri card and the smaller one matted onto red card and gold mirri card.  The card base was also red.

The box is attached to the bottom of the card and has a flap which opens to get the candles out.

I decorated the front of the card with some die cut leaves and paper roses.

The inside has more patterned paper matted onto gold miri card and more die cut leaves and a rose, and a small white panel, also matted onto mirri card for the greeings.

The box was finished of with a red bow.

Oh! and there is another box to put it in, but I didn't take a picture.  Doh!

Hockley Heath, Stratford on Avon Canal

 

We are on the move, and the lovely sunny weather has broken.  We set off in light drizzle and it continued all the way to Hockley Heath.  So we moored up for the rest of the day.

I caught the bus into Stratford on Avon, marvelling once again at how pretty Hampton in Arden is.  I really must get of the bus there one of these days and explore.

The canal has its usual amount of debris floating in the water, and the off side is quite overgrown, though a lot of the towpath has been upgraded for the cyclists to race  along. 

We have not done this run in full Summer for ages, and it seems quite dark and gloomy, especially in the rain.


Still a lovely Chinese supper finished off the evening, even if David had to walk the length of the village to get some cash to pay for it.  He was not a happy bunny.

 I have been making these little boxes recently.
They are called explosion boxes.

When you take the lid off the box sides fall open revealing the gift inside.

 In this case some pretty pink and white baby socks.

Curdworth Bottom Lock, Birmingham and Fazeley Canal

 Don't know how long this sign has been by the lock (the bollards were freshly painted), but it definitely says "British Waterways"!  And there were several of them.

The weather was lovely today, we'll probably pay for it tomorrow.  So we left early-ish and did the 14 locks to get here.  We have done 38 locks in the last 48 hours and ONE was actually FOR us!!!  I had to have another nap this afternoon.

We have seen 2 boats on the move since we left, and not very many more moored up.

This is a teabag box.  When you remove the lid the box opens to reveal 4 teabags.  You can also add a few sweeties in the middle as an extra treat.

I made the base by gluing to long rectangles together, making it into a cross  The outsides were covered with patterned paper with the edges inked and decorations added to one of the sides.

More patterned paper was added to the sides of the lid and the top and a die-cut circle stuck to the top with a flower in the centre.

Tixal Wide, Staffs and Worcester Canal

 As usual, we left too early to arrive at Midland Chandlers after it opened, but we did arrive at the lock just as a lovely working boat was coming out of the lock, so we had at least one lock for us.

Around Stafford we came across a boat which had managed to get itself stuck in the rushes on the towpath side of the canal.  He refused our offer to tow him off, so we left him with his pole trying to free himself.

At the next lock we were caught up by a boat with four men on board, two of whom insisted on helping us with the locks, and did so for the rest of the day.  Thanks for the help.

And so to Tixal wide.  Lovely as usual.  We stopped and moored just before the wide itself as it was busy.

I set off to walk to the farm shop at the junction and saw that a fellow moorer in Gas Street, Kathy, was moored up just past the junction.  So I went to visit her and then she came back to our boat, so I never got to the shop.

Here is a box/card thingy.  It is a large card with a box containing, in this case, 4 tealight candles.

I made several of them for the floating market in Birmingham, but the weather was to damp to put them out, so I never sold any.

This is a view of the inside of the card showing the candle box.

An alternative to candles could be chocolates or even small toys.

Gas Street Basin, BCN

 Sorry!  I had every intention of keep up the blog once we got back to Birmingham, but with one thing and another (excuses, excuses!) the time just flew past.

It is difficult to keep up the momentum when we are in one place without gossiping about the neighbours, so I am going to sort of try to catch up where I left off from describing our first time out in the boat, and who knows, maybe the rest of them (it's been 15 years next week!).  So don't go away.

We have spent a lovely 5 days around the corner by Symphony Wharf getting ready for and participating in the Floating Market.  Unfortunately the weather was a bit iffy, and it rained for most of Saturday.  But I think everyone left happy.  Thanks to all who participated and those who worked so hard getting it organised.

Oh! nearly forgot!  We got a mention in this month's edition of the Wet Web in Towpath Talk.  Our edition arrived this morning.  Slightly makes up for not having Bilgepump any more.

This is a tissue box cover.  I had lots of fun with the Cuttlebug and punches.

Hack Green, Shropshire Union

 Don't know when or where we saw this boat, but I have no photo taken today.

We planned to stop at Barbridge.  Well, we did, but we didn't stop there for the night.  David moored on the junction so that I could catch the bus into Chester, but while I was away he decided it was too noisy.  So when I got back we set off again and reached Hack Green at 6pm.  It is so quiet there that you can't even get a signal for the internet!

I have been experimenting.  These pop up card boxes have been published everywhere.  So I had to have a go.

It's ingenious mechanism means the box can be pushed flat so it can be sent in the post.

I punched out lots of butterflies and attached them to thin strips of acetate and then stuck then into the panels in the box so they look like they are flying out of the box.