Stoned again

It’s been another good day, even if the weather is breaking for the time being; it is possible that the weekend will see a return of fine conditions, but that’s a long way off yet. We made another half seven start, except it was a bit earlier than that, and had a steady chug through Salt and Sandon to Aston, running a washload on the way.

At Aston the lock approach was complicated by a boat someone had left chained to the lock landing:

Looks a familiar paint job...

Yup, it's one of CRT's very own

As can be seen from these, the boat wasn’t even tied at one end of the mooring or the other. Now, I’m not fond of CRT bashing and wish them well in the challenging task of safe guarding the waterways heritage on a tight budget, but I do think that CRT staff should try to set an example for everyone else by following the precepts of the Waterways Code and the Considerate Boater Manual, both of which discourage obstructing lock approaches.

Later in the day we saw Grayling being moved, so presumably it had only been a short term stop, but there was plenty of space on the pilings above the lock, even if some of it was taken up with another CRT boat that’s been there since last autumn at least:

Plover on the bottom

Heigh ho, it was too nice a day to stay irritated for long. We’ve found a space on the visitor moorings below Star Lock, arriving there just before ten. There’s always a bit of pressure on these moorings, but at least folk do seem to be complying with the time restrictions here. If we hadn’t been able to get in, we’d have carried on up the locks and tied at the top.

We had a call from Peter Mason at Braidbar this afternoon, as a result of which we now know what we’re doing for the rest of the summer. It’ll be most convenient if we arrive at the yard mid August, so we’ll visit the Caldon next, then go through the tunnel and down the Cheshire Locks to Anderton.

We’d like to visit the Weaver and this seems like a good year to do it; we’ve not been on there since our OwnerShips days.

Finally, a shout out to Pam and Terry on Rooster’s Rest; Pam’s another blog follower. It’s always nice to meet up with you all, it helps me to know that I’m not just wittering on to myself…

/wahaha