Heading North in the sun

9th & 10th June

Having gone to Will and Jane's for dinner on Sunday night, it was well past our usual bedtime before we were back on the boat, but nonetheless and with amazing fortitude we got up early to be boating by 7.30.

The reasoning for this, according to Sheila (who as steerer for the day made the decision) was to get well on with the Fradley locks before it got too hot and too busy. This was a good theory, I must admit, but by the time we'd worked down Bagnall Lock, and She had winded below and come up again, there was a fair bit of traffic about already.

It also got very hot very quickly, so it was a case of taking it steady and accepting that no records were going to be broken for the run from Alrewas to King's Bromley.

It actually made for very pleasant boating. Although there were a fair number of novices around (both hirers and privateers) almost everyone seemed to be in a good mood, so we just plodded steadily upwards through Common, Hunts, Keepers, Junction, Middle and Shade House. It was only at Woodend that we actually had to queue for a significant time, and Sheila took advantage of this to start a washload, which was virtually finished doing the water heating bit by the time she needed the engine for motive purposes again.

The only downside was that Nemesis struck me down for making a mock of Graeme the other day. When last he rang, he described having to push his bike three miles home after getting a puncture (despite Kevlar reinforced tyres what's more). He admitted that when he came to do the repair, he realised that previously he'd been sticking the wrong side of the patch to the glue (no Graeme, not the rough side, peel the backing off the smooth side and use that.)

I set out to ride our folder from Bagnall to Common, but instantly got that "I'm riding up a steep hill" feeling, and on investigation found that there was no air at all in the back tyre. After lunch I took the wheel off the bike and the tyre off the wheel. There was no obvious hole in the inner tube, and immersion in a bucket of canal water finally found a leaking seam right by the valve.

It was an absolute pain of a situation to get a patch on, especially as the weather was now so hot the rubber solution was drying as soon as you put it on the inner tube, so that by the time I'd got the stupid backing paper off the patch I had to put more solution on the tube, and the patch then skidded about instead of sticking quickly.

Finally got it all done and wrestled the wheel back onto the bike. Rear wheels are always more of a hassle on a derailleur geared bike as the gear change mech gets in the way, and everything has to be lined up just so or the chain will jump off the cogs when you change gear.

In addition, handling the spanners had become an exercise in masochism, as they'd been lying in the sun getting fiercely hot. Sheila, who thought I'd been a bit harsh with Graeme, helpfully said, as I squealed and dropped yet another ring spanner, "You should have put the tool box in the shade."

Time alone will tell if the repair will hold air, of course. If not, I guess it's new inner tube time.

On the way to a mooring by King's Bromley Marina (there's some good Armco between the marina entrance and bridge 55) we passed Delft, Braidbar number 29, going the other way

During the afternoon, I staggered as far as the main road at bridge 54, and walked up it to find the garden centre that's marked on the Pearson's. We've often meant to visit it, but have never done so. It proved to be a fairly basic one, but with a lot of camping and caravanning stuff as well – folding chairs and basic supplies of loo blue and the like, so would make a good source of hose connectors or whatever if you were stuck for something.

The side road from bridge 55 is actually better as a route to it, though – the main road is very busy, and there's not much of a verge to stagger along.

Elanor took advantage of our proximity to her route home from work in Rugeley to stop by in the late afternoon - we'll next see her at Cathy and Graeme's house on the 18th of this month, when we are celebrating Daniel's first birthday.

After all the exertions of the past couple of days, we had an early night, and woke refreshed and raring to go this morning. The weather was now cool and cloudy, but still very pleasant, especially once the sun started breaking through. We've come on through Rugeley (water stop at the Spode House moorings, shop at Morrison's) to tie at Wolseley for the night. Tomorrow, another early start, I think, so as to get up Colwich Lock before the queues start.

We're planning to leave the boat by Stafford Boat Club for our trip to Lincoln next week, so we'll probably spend a couple of days at Great Haywood, and the weekend on Tixall Wide.