Onto Gailey

Last time we were here, I made the obvious awful joke based on the name, so I'll spare you that this time.

Despite damp and drizzly weather, we've made a good day of it, getting up by seven and working up Penkridge Lock to start refilling the water tank on the service point above. I was able to get an i paper from the corner shop just by there, and we then had a leisurely breakfast and checked email and stuff whilst the tank filled.

We were away again by eight, by which time traffic was starting to move in a rather desultory fashion. Sheila started a washload between Otherton and Rodbaston Locks, then walked the rest of the way. Almost all of the locks were with us, and downhill boats turned up as we left most of those, so progress was quite fast.

By ten we were tied on the 48 hour moorings below Gailey Lock. We've needed to use the tyre fenders here, what with a bit of a bend in the towpath and the rather uneven state of the piling, not to mention the flows of water when someone works the lock, but it's a reasonably cosy spot, and much better than taking your chance in the chaos that tends to prevail above.

The weather hasn't improved much – indeed, at one point I thought we were going to have to light the fire – but we've been OK, watching another Campion episode and generally loafing.

There's a lot of wind in the forecast for tomorrow, so we'll probably sit tight here, then set off again on Thursday, first getting a pump out at the Viking Afloat, sorry UK Boat Hire yard.