Arriving at Alrewas

30th September & 1st October

We've done a lot less boating in the past two days than recently; it's quite nice to be able to lie in in the mornings again. Yesterday we set off around 8.30, but only to go into King's Bromley Marina, where by quarter to nine Sheila had managed the tricky reverse turn to lay Sanity alongside the rather wobbly service pontoon.

There was a notice giving the opening times as 9 in the summer and 9.30 in the winter, so we waited to see which season we were in. It proved to be summer still (they go by the clock, so if it's still summer time, it's still summer) and we had the usual friendly welcome that is a characteristic of KB. Prices have gone up even further – a pump out, a bit over 100 litres of diesel and five bags of Supertherm, together with two packs of compressed sawdust logs came to more than £160.

This is the first solid fuel we've bought this Autumn. They only had Supertherm or Taybrite, and I've never got on with Taybrite, so I decided to chance the Supertherm. It has a slightly dodgy reputation because it is said to contain petrocoke, which means that it can burn very hot indeed. It also comes in a very large "egg", making it a bit harder to light than other solid fuels.

The compressed sawdust blocks were as expensive as the coal based stuff, but is of course greener, as it has a nil net CO2 output; you are only releasing the CO2 that was taken up when the tree grew in the first place.

Both seem to be burning well in the Squirrel, and I am in any event always careful to moderate the air supply, especially when closing down for the night.

Fuelled, pumped out and stocked up, we set off for Alrewas. Woodend, Shade House, Middle and Junction Locks were negotiated, with a fair bit of traffic both ahead and behind us. The weather wasn't very thrilling, and it was a case of wearing waterproofs all day.

We filled the water tank at Fradley, and decided to carry on to the moorings above Bagnall Lock despite the weather, as the forecast for today was even worse, especially as regards wind.

By 12.30 we were securely moored and able to tuck into a well deserved lunch. One of the advantages of tying here is it's particularly easy for Elanor to look in on her way home from work, which she's done both yesterday and today.

The only other event of note yesterday was an attack by a manic swan in mid evening. We'd put the porthole covers up, but hadn't yet taken the polycarbonate screen out of the side hatches. Suddenly there was a massive swirling of water, and there was a swan trying to batter its way in.

I took the screen down, but didn't fancy sticking my hand out to grasp the side hatch doors. In the end, I had to bash the beast on the bonce with the fly swat to persuade it to desist long enough to secure us from further assault.

Today was indeed very windy. We had a seriously lazy start, and loafed about for most of the morning. Mid morning, Graham and Beryl came past on Priscilla, and we joined them for coffee and Braidbar gossip before they went off heading for their mooring at Barton Turns. As we'll be around here for a good few weeks, there's a reasonable chance we'll see them again.

Otherwise it's been a housekeeping sort of day: minor shopping, sorting surgery appointments, sawing up the wood on the roof so that it's ready to burn.

Will Chapman looked in in the afternoon, and we talked Save Our Waterways business for a couple of hours, as well as more general nattering.

It'll be more of the same tomorrow and Friday; I'll have to think of something to add to this blog on general topics to make it worth your while reading it!