Sunny boating back to Alrewas

5th & 6th June

Just as we were settling down to make a salad for dinner the night before last, there came a knocking on the roof, and there was Helga from Sebeq (Braidbar no 77). They had snuck in and moored behind us with out our noticing.

After dinner, therefore, we went round to Sebeq and had an evening with Klaus and Helga. Elanor is getting quite used to getting text messages from us saying "Don't bother to ring, we are out drinking with friends." It all just reinforces my comments the other day about our expanding circle of friends on the cut.

Sebeq is on her way to the Thames for a few weeks – they tried to cruise that river last year, but were caught up in the floods for quite a while.

In the morning I went back to Argos and collected our folding chairs. The system actually worked very well. I used one of the Quick Pay terminals, entered the reservation number I'd got off the website, paid with my credit card and five minutes later was staggering out of the store with two cardboard boxes each weighing 4.5 kilos.

Getting back to the boat via the rather overgrown footpath from the Retail Park was a bit of an adventure, but I made it at last, and we then realised that it would be prudent to assemble the things before boating off into the distance with them.

This is why at 9.30 the four of us (Klaus and Helga weren't going to miss such a good piece of entertainment) were busy putting two Director's Chairs together on the Coventry Canal towpath by Sutton Road Bridge. All was well, and indeed we are very pleased with the result. They take up less room when open than the two camping chairs we've been using as extra seating up until now, and will be useful both on the towpath and inside.

By 9.45 we were off again, heading for Fradley, though in view of the substantial traffic about, we decided to stop a bit short, rather than risk not finding a mooring when we got there. There's a place about half way between Streethay Wharf and Fradley Junction, where BW load work boats from the minor road that runs by the canal just there.

It has a notice asking you not to leave boats unattended, which is fair enough, but as it wasn't in use by BW, we borrowed it for the night. On the way there, we passed Granny Buttons at Huddlesford, all closed up and patiently waiting for her master.

A few of the other boats at Huddlesford have been there for at least two years to our knowledge, sitting either on the 48 hour mooring or a bit further along, where they are limited to staying for no more than 14 days. I believe that BW are planning to improve the way in which they monitor mooring use, and might be prepared to make more use of their power to charge an overstaying fee of £25 per night, but at the moment they don't seem to have the resources (or the will, perhaps) to do so.

In the afternoon, I started the process of recovering one of the big side fenders I made with a rolled up rubber mat as the core, and half hitched over. I first tried making these this time last year, using some sisal fender rope I had. They've worked well, but the sisal has rotted a good deal, so I'm starting all over again with the new "Victory Black" synthetic stuff we got at Braunston.

Today we made an earlyish start, in case BW turned up to use the mooring, and set off at eight for Fradley. Just as we got there, sure enough we passed a BW tug pushing one hopper and towing another. It made for some interesting boating, as we were alongside the large number of moored boats on the approach to the junction at the time.

After watering, we went down the Fradley locks, Sheila lockwheeling on the bike as she likes to do on this stretch. It was a sunny if cool morning, very pleasant for ambling down to Alrewas, where we've tied above Bagnall Lock.

This means that we can wind in the hole just below the lock when we leave, rather than going down into the village and having to choose between reversing round a bend and under a road bridge to get to the winding hole, or else going down the river section and below Wychnor Lock to turn.

It proves to be a good place to stop on a sunny Friday. There's a lot of traffic up and down, there's room on the grass verge of the towpath for our chairs and table, so we've spent the afternoon sitting there, me fender making and Sheila crocheting, whilst others do the sailing as the song says.

The big fender is nearly finished, but I want to do the final bits in the morning when I'm fresh. Then we are going to Elanor's to examine the new cat, coming back to the boat for dinner.