To Horninglow and back

13th & 14th March

Sheila wanted a prompt start yesterday, so we set the heating to come on at 7 and shortly after 8 I was ready to pop out to get a paper before we left. I found that a sore ankle which had been troubling me a bit after my walk the day before was now seriously painful, so it took a while to hobble to the shop and back.

We finally got away at half eight and boated down Alrewas, Wychnor and Barton Turn locks in fine style. Whilst we were watering below Barton, a BW tug and hopper came through and set off ahead of us – we'd seen the crew getting ready to take her from above the lock as we went down. The crew-cabbed 4x4 pulled up, the guys got out and two of them had a contemplative cup of coffee whilst the third opened up and started the tug.

Down Tatenhill we went behind them, but they stopped at Branston Water Park, so we got down Branston Lock ahead of them. It became apparent that whilst one steered the tug and hopper, the other two were riding from lock to lock in the 4x4. Chatting to them, we learnt that there was a tree down near Horninglow, and they were on their way to cut it up.

This raises the question, why did it need three of them to lock the boats? Why not have two guys on the boats, and leave the third to drive the vehicle direct to the site? No doubt there's some Elfin Safety reason, but it's a bit of a puzzler.

We stopped at the Morrison's mooring on the outskirts of Burton just before lunchtime. Sheila went off to buy bread, so as to save my aching ankle, and whilst she was gone, the BW crew arrived, moored nearby and took their lunch break. At this rate, it was going to take them all day to move a boat from Barton Turn to Horninglow.

In the afternoon we had another wood cutting session, then settled to a quiet end of the day.

This morning was calm, though a bit grey, but nonetheless a pleasant change from the storms of the past week. We got away by nine, and went straight down to Horninglow, where I had my usual struggle to wind Sanity and reverse her onto the sanitary station mooring. I forget every time that there's not really room to do it at the obvious end of the moorings there, and you have to wind at the first bit you come to and then reverse down and round onto the service mooring.

However, thanks to Sheila's hauling on the bow line from the towpath we got there in the end, and whilst I set up the pump out gear, Sheila went off into what she subsequently described as darkest Horninglow, eventually returning with a newspaper. She commented that you can tell you are not in the posh end of town when every other advert on the roadside is for some new drug that helps people cope with the after effects of smoking skunk cannabis.

Pump out completed, we set off back, stopping again at Shobnall to go into the chandlery there. This proved to be a good move – not only did I get some of the approved oil for the Beta, but they also had the new First Mates Guide to Birmingham and surrounding canals, and they ordered the light switches I've been looking for. They were quite happy to keep them for us until we get back to Burton after Easter.

We stopped at Branston Water Park to eat lunch, then decided that since the weather was now very pleasant, we'd go all the way on to Alrewas today.

Barton Turns Marina was busy with Shakespeare Classic Line boats setting off – next week is the start of the Easter holiday, of course. At Alrewas, there were only four boats tied between the water point and the lock, where there's room for five, but unfortunately Montmorency and Sunbeam had moored with gaps between them such that there was no way we could get Sanity in as well.

So we watered, muttering a bit, and then came on to tie outside the bowling green. I nipped into the village on my much improved feet and bought some stuff at the butchers, including pasties to have with chips from the chip shop tonight. (This is decadence by our standards.)

Elanor looked in on her way back from work – she too is looking and feeling much better. We're planning a social evening with Will Chapman and Jane Howarth tomorrow, and Elanor has decided to join us, so should be a good laugh all round – watch this space!