Friday 8 May 2015

Stopping short

It was fine enough overnight to sleep with the Houdini hatch over the bed cracked open on the cork, so we woke quite early and got going by seven. The weather was ideal during the morning and we made good progress, despite the single hander who saw us getting ready to go and pushed off the towpath in front of us. Unfortunately, he then had a bit of a problem getting into Tatenhill Lock and we caught him up...

I said nothing, indeed helped him work up the lock; long experience has taught me two things. Firstly, apart from the courtesy aspect of it, it's never a good idea to pull a fast one over your fellow boater; Sod's Law says you'll end up sharing locks or needing his help within the day. Secondly, if you are the victim of that sort of thing, don't meet like with like but smile sweetly and carry on. It leaves you feeling better and heaps coals of fire upon the transgressor's head.

We paused briefly at the refuse disposal point at Oakamoor Cafe to dump the rubbish we collected at Branston Lock. When we got to Barton, the water points were empty so we decided to stop there to fill up and allow the other chap to get ahead of us. Just as we were finishing, an Avante hire boat arrived, so I helped them work up before resetting the lock for Sheila. The single hander had in fact backset the lock for us, a good way to make up for his jumping in front in the first place.

On we chugged to Wychnor, now being followed by another privateer. A boat was locking down Alrewas river lock, so Sheila held back in the calm area alongside the Quartermile Bridge until he emerged, then neatly slotted Sanity Again into the lock, your correspondent nimbly hopping off as the bow entered the tail of the lock.

We'd planned to stop to shop then go on to Fradley for the night, but there was a nice mooring just before the water point, it was beginning to look a bit cloudy and anyway, it was coffee time. So we've settled for Alrewas for tonight and will go on to somewhere near Hopwas tomorrow.

After coffee I walked into the village to post the check to my sister, to buy some pasties and other meat at the butcher and to get a supply of bread for the next couple of days at the Co-op. Since then, we've been doing things inside the boat. The rain finally arrived just after lunch and has been coming down on and off all afternoon. The fire is lit and a quiet evening is in prospect.

Cruising schedule for the next couple of days is Hopwas tomorrow then on to Polesworth on Sunday and up Atherstone on a warm Monday by the looks of the forecast.

3 comments:

Jo said...

I wish we were out boating .... so I'll just have to do it vicariously through your blog!

Bruce in Sanity said...

Glad to be of service ;)

Sheila had an email from Helen at the Burton Mail today; her piece about boaters and Mercia should appear tomorrow.

Cheers

Bruce

Dogsontour by Greygal said...

Oh poo, we've missed one another by a week. Came up the Coventry over the BH weekend - delightfully empty! So nice to find visitor moorings free and unencumbered. Can't say I enjoyed renewing my acquaintance with the Great Hartshill Stink though.;-)

Have fun

GG