Hail to the Hive!

We realised recently that since we resumed cruising the canals, after being stuck in one place for 3 months, that we've essentially covered the same ground again. We re visited Leicester, Leamington Spa and Warwick, which was really good to do again and we will go back for sure, but we are yearning to get out there and do some stuff and go to some places we have not yet visited.

But what to do? Where to go?

Photo Source - https://www.pontcysyllte-aqueduct.co.uk/

It's winter and most narrowboaters are staying put and hunkering down for the winter but I think that's a trifle dull and boring so we are going to not only keep moving but set off on a 112 mile trip negotiating 79 locks to get to the longest aqueduct in the UK and the highest canal aqueduct in the world

We have just been at our home from home which is the boatyard in Fazeley that replaced and installed our new engine. They've given the engine the once over and serviced her so we are ready for the trip.

Stocked up on e coal, wood, food, beer and topped up with water today in readiness to set off early tomorrow morning. We are quite excited.

Looking at the route planner we think that conservatively it should take about 12 days to get there. Now that may sound like a long time to you guys but you need to remember we only chug along at approx 3mph and there are a lot of locks to negotiate (79 to be exact) not to mention we will have to book passage through 'Harecastle Tunnel' or 'SCARECASTLE!' as it's been nick named. I personally think we will take over 2 weeks as we will no doubt find some great places on the way and also probably have some really crap weather thrown at us at some point.

This Journey will take us past the point we originally set foot on Badger the Narrowboat back in march. We should pass there in about 2 days and then we venture into unknown territory and new canals. Well new for us but that's the whole point, a little bit of slow motion adventure 😝.

It also means we cross over from England into Wales which will be a first for us.

Picture of map sourced at www.infoandopinion.com. Free Map Downloads.

We've heard a lot of good things about not only the final destination but the entire route and even though the weather will be bloody cold over the nex teo months we don't care, it's an adventure.

This route is usually extremely busy with pleasure boaters in the summer months so we figure let's do it in the winter when it will be far less crowded. Roll the dice and see what happens.

Now what I intend to do is do a daily post to track our progress. @krazzytrukker has been asking for maps of our travels so I will be posting every day explaining what we are dealing with and showing a detailed map of where we are and the route taken. There will be some video posts also as I love to capture a lot of what we do on video. I know I know it's not exactly the fast and the furious, it's more the slow and a bit annoyed but filming at 3mph while driving is pretty safe.

Very Very excited like a little kid tonight so I thought I'd channel that into a post. It's good to be 50 years old in the middle of winter feeling like a kid, excited about tomorrow!