Off we go again

Thinking that Stone Boat Building opened at nine this morning, we aimed to be away a bit after eight, so as to stop on the water point below Newcastle Road Lock and fill up, then patronise SBB during or after. The first part of this went just fine; we followed a "Ginger" boat (that is, one from Stone Canal Cruising) down the two locks, and found the water point free.

It appears to be tediously positioned, where the lock landing ought to be, until you realise that accessing the lock from there would quite hard, owing to the bend in the line of the canal. After I'd nipped off to the Co-op to get a paper, I took the folding trolley to SBB, two bags of solid fuel being the main requirement.

They don't open until ten.

/floor

Mind you, it was now twenty past nine, and the tank was not yet full, so we just waited until we'd got it brimful and pulled onto the shop mooring to wait. When they opened, we were able to get the fuel (Excel at £10.50 for 25 kg), and some more Jabsco toilet cleaner, which is proving very successful when used every few days. What wasn't available were the paints we'd ordered (not until Monday) nor any kindling.

Heigh ho, we'll have to persuade Elanor she wants to visit Stone next Saturday.

Setting out again, we had a trouble free run down the final Stone locks, and stopped on the VM below to offload the recycling. Then on we went, washing machine doing its thing, down Aston Lock and on into the countryside. By ten to twelve, the washload was in rinse mode, the wind was getting up and we were feeling hungry.

So we've stopped for the night just below Bridge 86, in the middle of the countryside. It's a very nice location, though a touch shallow; we had to try a couple of places before we could get reasonably close to the bank, and Sanity Again is showing a tendency to lean over from time to time, especially as boats zoom past.

A bit of foraging along the towpath got enough small stuff to use as kindling for a couple of days, as well as a larger chunk of wood. We've been able to relax in the sun this afternoon, or rather, looking at the sun through the portholes, as the wind is still very chilly, and it's just come on to rain.

Tomorrow, we'll carry on through Sandon, Weston, Hoo Mill, Haywood and Colwich, before stopping either at Wolseley Bridge or beyond Bridge 69.