A good couple of days boating, plus a slight disappointment

We've had a good two days, though I couldn't blog yesterday as the 3 signal at Goldstone Wharf was very off and on, and mostly off. We called at Norbury Junction where they not only kept their promise to give us a free pump out after we'd grumbled about them scratching our nice new blacking coming off the dock, but did one of the best we've ever had.

Truly, they are nice people there.

In the afternoon, we made a start on cleaning the front end of the boat by scrubbing the underside of one side of the cratch cover, but otherwise rather took it easy. I finished the first draft of my paper about the IWA Festival, and I've emailed it to a select few for their comments.

Today, we had the passage of Woodseaves Cutting, and Tyrley Locks to negotiate:

Prehistoric Woodseaves

It always feels quite creepy in the depths of this cutting. The heron, which has a paleontological look to it, seems the most appropriate bird to spot in here, and when Sheila said she'd seen a big raptor flying across into the trees, I was quite prepared for a pterodactyl to peer out at me.

We had a brief and hollow laugh at the sign at the entrance to the cutting, which reads "Danger bank erosion. Take care." There's a few of us with reduced savings pots who will heartily agree…

/shock

It was a nice run down the locks,with one boat following, and some just starting up as we got to the bottom. There was no problem finding a mooring at Market Drayton, and we've done a couple of largely successful shopping trips. I'd had a repeat prescription posted to the branch of Boots here, and it had arrived this morning.

Unfortunately, when I went to collect, they were out of a couple of the items, including the atenolol, would you believe. I need to go back just now to see if the missing stuff came in on the afternoon delivery; if not, we'll have to spend an extra day here, which is a bit tedious. Drayton is a lovely town, but we want to get on.