To Tamworth for some retail therapy

19th & 20th March

Sheila wanted to be away by eight yesterday, and we nearly made it. I set the heating to come on at seven, but we didn't in fact start getting up until we'd had the cup of tea in bed. Nonetheless, by nine we were at Fradley Junction. We'd planned to fill up with diesel at Fradley, but the service flat had been pushed across to the towpath, presumably either to fill her diesel storage tank, or empty the sewage tank.

So we went round the corner onto the Coventry and stopped on the water point there to fill that tank instead (note, there's a choice of two places to water at Fradley – on the Trent and Mersey outside the BW office, or on the Coventry, just by the swing footbridge. For some reason, the Coventry one has decent pressure, whilst the T&M one is so slow, we've been known to run virtually an entire wash cycle whilst trying to fill the tank.)

Once we'd got the hose set up, I took our rubbish round to the bins by the office. On the way, I noticed that they were now moving the service flat back to its usual place, presumably having finished whatever they were doing. Oddly, Sheila, whose turn it was to steer, didn't fancy reversing Sanity back through the footbridge, onto the service flat, then reverse again and turn back onto the Coventry.

Instead, we'll have another go at getting diesel at Fazeley Mill marina, if it's open this time. Of course, that means I'll be steering, and will have to do the turn into the marina and manoeuvre onto their service point in what's forecast to be a strongish wind... Oh well, that's the luck of the draw.

By 10 we were on our way again, chugging along a familiar bit of canal through Streethay, Huddlesford, Whittington and Hopwas to the mooring by Sutton Road Bridge. It was fairly uneventful, on a bright but very cool day.

We lunched on the way, the first time for a while we've done that, and by 1.30 were tied on the rings that are unobtrusively provided here. Only one other boat was here at the time – it's one of those moorings which is either full of, shall we say basic, liveaboards, or virtually deserted as now.

Later in the day, another boat, Bohemian, turned up and tied just a couple of boat lengths away. It's always nice to have a bit of company on a mooring, even one as normally unthreatening as this.

As soon as we'd tied we made an expedition to the retail parks which are the raison d'être for stopping here. We'd planned to get some new bow saw blades at the Focus Do It All, but it's gone! Well, the building is still there, obviously, but the store is no more.

We went into the Halford's next to it (I wanted some stuff for sorting the rust on the well deck) and the cashier there told us the Focus had shut just before Christmas. Nice for the staff. Apparently it's to become a Homebase, so there will still be a DIY store, just one of the others.

Back at the boat, and with the forecast due to deteriorate, we did another wood cutting session before settling with a deserved sigh into the warm saloon. The only disturbance later on was some kids on a trail bike and two up on an all terrain buggy charging to and fro along the towpath.

Today we had a relaxed start, then returned to the shopping fray. We wanted some towels and pillows, and I wanted another long sleeve thermal vest, figuring that this end of the season is the time to look for one a bit cheap.

Went to Black's but the only thermals they had were pricey Peter Storm stuff. Must say I'm not surprised Black's are struggling – the place didn't feel like an outdoor shop at all, despite the small displays of boots and tents and stuff. It felt much more like a fashion outlet, with prices to match.

So we went across to Marks and Sparks, looking for the towels and pillows. They didn't have any (huh?) but they did have a thermal vest at a better price.

So we went to Sainsbury's after that, to finish food shopping, and there we found... yup, the towels and pillows. "Is it me?" as Wogan would say.

We've spent the rest of today inside, happily out of the increasingly cold wind and sleety showers. Tomorrow we plan to go on to visit the Kingsbury Water Park, hopefully after getting diesel at Fradley Mill on the way.