The start of my travels

Today we have driven to Tamworth as I am working down here tomorrow. It was nice to see the Coventry Canal and to know we are never far from our watery roots!

It has been a stressful few days as I have started to prepare for a long work stint in various places; Portugal from Tuesday, then straight to Ireland next Sunday for two weeks. After that I travel to Inverness, Fort William and the Isle of Skye, followed by a week 'elsewhere'. I haven't been told where yet, but have been requested to keep it free as a really busy period is coming up and I will be needed.

I have spent the last few days washing, ironing, cleaning, packing and trying to fit in pupils who will miss some lessons while I am away. Luckily a friend of mine who is an excellent teacher is covering for me while I am away so I know they are in safe hands and the school are really understanding and flexible. I am very lucky to have such understanding colleagues. Phil is with me this weekend and will come to Scotland, but in order to 'Maximise profits' as he put it, I am travelling alone to Portugal and Ireland!

Today has been beautiful. I got up at 6am as I had so much to do. The canal looked fantastic:

There was a Moorhen at the end of our jetty:

And he and a mallard were giving each other some very dirty looks!

About mid-morning, as I was working on the PC I heard the familiar sound of ducks nibbling away at the weed attached to the boat. I had some spare bread which needed eating so I rushed out to feed them and found the mallard with the last two of her brood. She started with eight, but there are only two left now:

Yesterday I had my last walk with Jack for a while and we walked down to the allottment to see how it is doing. I think it is doing pretty well actually:

 

And so are our herb and salad patches at the end of our boat:

Jack and I had a lovely walk and I watched the swallows swooping and feeding on the insects on the canal:

Jack was really tired and we were looking after him last night as his mum was having a well earned night out having just finished her degree. he decided to settle on the floor but still had to have his red cushion to lay his head on. He's like royalty that dog!

Eventually he discarded it because he was so contented:

But the lure of the comfy chair was finally too much for him:

Well that is it for a bit now. When I finish this work stint we will be going down to the basin by the bay and it is amazing down there, so come back in a few weeks to see some lovely pics.

We will also be glad to get away from the marina as things are really kicking off there now. Other people are having similar problems to us, in fact more so! I think things will get sorted out eventually, but for now I am glad to be away from it all and I certainly don't want to go back to it as it is now.

Be back soon

Al :)