Nearly forgot to do this blog, whoops! I was reminded by the appearance of Eric who with his partner Lynn owns a Hudson tug, Stanley, and came along to chat having just moored behind us. They used to follow the Building Sanity Again blog when planning their own build.
We're not at Tixall any more – the forecast changed over time to show today as being dry and tomorrow wet. So we decided to carry on to above Deepmore/Deptmore lock today and to spend tomorrow hunkered down.
Mind you, the forecast has changed again and we may well carry on to Penkridge tomorrow after all. That's the great thing about boating, of course. As long as you've not set yourself an impossible cruising target, you can chop and change plans to your heart's content.
Anyway, we made a fairly leisurely start this morning and ambled off a bit before eight. Sheila ran a washload once we were well on the way and we had a generally pleasant morning, though for the first time on this cruise, it was cool enough to make wearing fleeces a good idea.
There's a fair bit of traffic about, but not enough to be tedious. Things were buzzing at Stafford Boat Club with a lot of caravans parked on the lawn. We had to wait below Deptmore for the boat in front to go up and I then worked a single hander down. By eleven we were neatly tied a few boat lengths above the lock, where it straightens out enough for a 70 footer.
It's worth knowing that depth can be a problem when mooring here. It's ok where we are but gets very shallow at the edge for much of the distance to the Acton Trussell bridge, where it's fine again. But that end is much noisier than here as the M6 is much closer.
Showing posts with label Deepmore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deepmore. Show all posts
Sunday, 31 July 2016
Wednesday, 22 July 2015
Early start, later lurk
We had another short cruise planned for today, from Penkridge to our favourite mooring above Deepmore/Deptmore Lock (the name seems to vary). It involved just three locks, Longford, Parkgate and Shutt Hill, and the run through Acton Trussell. The night before, we'd decided on a start between half seven and eight, but it was another day of uncertain weather so we set off just on the half hour.
Sheila was steering and suited up in her coverall. Since it wasn't actually raining and was quite mild, I refrained from this step. If needed, a waterproof jacket would do for a bit of lock working and I could stay inside for the rest of the time. It proved to be another quick run. Two of the three locks were with us and the weather held off until we arrived at our destination. I just had time to get the breakfast washing up done in addition to my lockworking duties.
There's a lot of Armco between Acton Trussell and Deepmore lock, but much of it is unusable. At the first place we tried, the waling rail, which had been a simple angle iron, had corroded away to nothing and the second, although adequate in terms of the condition of the piling, was too shallow for comfort. As a result, we've ended up just round the corner from the lock, a familiar spot to us. It's almost an ideal country mooring with just about adequate depth, decent piling and far enough from both the local roads and the M6 to be very quiet.
By ten we were established in the cabin with the rain starting to bluster and the temperature falling rather than rising as the day went on. It was cool enough to justify a mug of soup with lunch, though the fire has not been required.
We've not been totally idle; the finishing touches have been made to the quiz for the Owners' Weekend, the whole made up into one document and the answer sheets prepared. We've seen a couple of familiar boats, or rather one and a pair. Leatherworker Dave on Anon... has tied just in front of us and as I was writing this post, hotel boats Duke and Duchess have worked up the lock and boated off towards Acton.
A hot meal tonight, methinks, breaded chicken fillets with new potatoes and sweetcorn. Tomorrow, we'll have a longer day to get back to Tixall.
Sheila was steering and suited up in her coverall. Since it wasn't actually raining and was quite mild, I refrained from this step. If needed, a waterproof jacket would do for a bit of lock working and I could stay inside for the rest of the time. It proved to be another quick run. Two of the three locks were with us and the weather held off until we arrived at our destination. I just had time to get the breakfast washing up done in addition to my lockworking duties.
There's a lot of Armco between Acton Trussell and Deepmore lock, but much of it is unusable. At the first place we tried, the waling rail, which had been a simple angle iron, had corroded away to nothing and the second, although adequate in terms of the condition of the piling, was too shallow for comfort. As a result, we've ended up just round the corner from the lock, a familiar spot to us. It's almost an ideal country mooring with just about adequate depth, decent piling and far enough from both the local roads and the M6 to be very quiet.
By ten we were established in the cabin with the rain starting to bluster and the temperature falling rather than rising as the day went on. It was cool enough to justify a mug of soup with lunch, though the fire has not been required.
We've not been totally idle; the finishing touches have been made to the quiz for the Owners' Weekend, the whole made up into one document and the answer sheets prepared. We've seen a couple of familiar boats, or rather one and a pair. Leatherworker Dave on Anon... has tied just in front of us and as I was writing this post, hotel boats Duke and Duchess have worked up the lock and boated off towards Acton.
A hot meal tonight, methinks, breaded chicken fillets with new potatoes and sweetcorn. Tomorrow, we'll have a longer day to get back to Tixall.
Labels:
Deepmore
Thursday, 2 July 2015
Cooler but still dramatic
The answers to yesterday's questions were 1) Irving Berlin and 2) Cole Porter. Heatwave was originally written for the musical As Thousands Cheer but became a standard and used in a number of films, notably There's No Business Like Showbusiness where it's sung by Marilyn Monroe. A snippet even appears at the start of White Christmas, sung by Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Too Darn Hot comes from Kiss Me Kate.
So, what do There's No Business Like Showbusiness and White Christmas have in common?
And now for the rest of the news...
We had a good morning's boating despite the shallow state of the Staffs and Worcs at the moment. There was one incident of inconsiderate behaviour, though we didn't allow it to spoil the day for us. Just short of Stafford BC, we got stemmed up trying to pass a boat coming the other way. A drainage outfall had left a bar of silt across the channel and both boats ran aground. As Sheila was grappling with getting us off, the boat which had been following for some time, catching up past moored boats but falling behind on the clear stretches (it's called having a one position throttle), decided he was too important to be held up and pushed through between the two stranded boats.
This naturally made the situation that much worse as we were pushed further towards the towpath and hence more firmly aground. The crew genuinely didn't seem to understand why we were narked with them. As another boat was approaching from in front, both stranded boats just sat tight until the traffic had passed and then extricated themselves.
We took care not to rush on afterwards, so that there was no risk of having to help Mr and Mrs Stroppy Chops up Deepmore Lock. We got there at about 11 and have tied just above on one of our favourite out of town spots, very peaceful but with a good 3 signal. The Voda one isn't so hot, but it's only for one night.
It's been a quiet afternoon with rain from time to time but it's been much cooler in general all day. A certain amount of siesta has been taken and I've started work on a load of entries for the BOG Pub Guide that have recently come in. We've just had a fairly fierce squall and have had to close up, making it a bit stuffy again, but I'm still hopeful of a better night's sleep tonight.
So, what do There's No Business Like Showbusiness and White Christmas have in common?
And now for the rest of the news...
We had a good morning's boating despite the shallow state of the Staffs and Worcs at the moment. There was one incident of inconsiderate behaviour, though we didn't allow it to spoil the day for us. Just short of Stafford BC, we got stemmed up trying to pass a boat coming the other way. A drainage outfall had left a bar of silt across the channel and both boats ran aground. As Sheila was grappling with getting us off, the boat which had been following for some time, catching up past moored boats but falling behind on the clear stretches (it's called having a one position throttle), decided he was too important to be held up and pushed through between the two stranded boats.
This naturally made the situation that much worse as we were pushed further towards the towpath and hence more firmly aground. The crew genuinely didn't seem to understand why we were narked with them. As another boat was approaching from in front, both stranded boats just sat tight until the traffic had passed and then extricated themselves.
We took care not to rush on afterwards, so that there was no risk of having to help Mr and Mrs Stroppy Chops up Deepmore Lock. We got there at about 11 and have tied just above on one of our favourite out of town spots, very peaceful but with a good 3 signal. The Voda one isn't so hot, but it's only for one night.
It's been a quiet afternoon with rain from time to time but it's been much cooler in general all day. A certain amount of siesta has been taken and I've started work on a load of entries for the BOG Pub Guide that have recently come in. We've just had a fairly fierce squall and have had to close up, making it a bit stuffy again, but I'm still hopeful of a better night's sleep tonight.
Labels:
Deepmore
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