We've been working our way downhill ever since Gailey, first following the Penk from Penkridge until it joined the Sow near Stafford and now on to the confluence of the Sow with the Trent. Strangely, although the Trent is one of the major rivers of England, it never finds the sea, as it flows into the Humber before it gets there. We won't go that far of course – some do take a narrowboat through Trent Falls, but our view is that boats have evolved for particular conditions and it's not wise to push them too far out of that zone. So the odd bit of tidal work, fine, but we don't go in for the seriously heavy stuff that needs exactly the right conditions to get away with it.
However, enough of the lecture already. We had a good cruise today, just the two locks, Deptmore at the start and Tixall at the end, and a steady plod round the southside of Stafford in between. We got to Tixall just before ten and had a good choice of mooring spaces. We've come through to the western end so as to be handy for walking to the Farm Shop. As I approached the chosen spot, Sheila pointed out that the boat in front was that of a couple of friends from our IWA National days, Di and Reece on Wandering Whimbrel.
They've got a new spaniel since we saw them last, but she's just as scatty as the old one...
Before lunch, I went down the weedhatch to clear a bit of stuff from round the propshaft. I'm pleased to say that the deployment of a couple of pieces of wood between the crossbar and its location stubs sorted the tightening problem by moving the captive nut onto a new part of the threaded rod. I had to do a bit of work to clean that thread up, but it seems fine now. Many thanks to John of Destiny for the tip.
After lunch, we walked to aforesaid Farm Shop and splashed out on a piece of rump steak for tonight, part two of our anniversary celebration. It wasn't going cheap, but then it's beef, not chicken. ;)
Sorry.
We plan to stay put tomorrow. We're about due a lazy day after boating the length of the Staffs and Worcs again and the forecast is a bit grim. We'll move on on Saturday, I expect.
1 comment:
Ah, Wandering Whimbrel, who we have spotted many times on our travels and who we had the pleasure of finally speaking to the other week at the Irk Aqueduct up on the Rochdale. They don't hang about! Lovely couple and yes, scatty spaniel who was obsessed with jumping in the cut - as you do if you have spaniel tendencies. Hey, who knows, we may even get to say hi to you one day!
GG
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