Stoned again

We both had a half decent night’s sleep last night; the colds seem to be retreating slowly, though we’re still snuffling away. Good job we’re not in the West Country, we might get mistaken for badgers…

/floor

A solid morning’s boating got us to Stone by eleven. There was an awful lot of traffic about below Meaford; it was reminiscent of Fradley on a Friday in the OwnerShips days. The moorings both above and below the locks were very busy. We’d taken a decision, in view of the weather forecast, to carry on this afternoon, so once we’d shopped and lunched, off we went again.

It’s been a very pleasant afternoon; we’ve tied just beyond Bridge 88 at Burston (the tricky one that bends in the middle). Sheila polished the new nav lights and I rigged some fender hooks we bought in Stone Boat Building. One of the old ones gave up at Westport Lake when the fender got caught under the piling waling and on inspection the other didn’t look too clever either.

These are the white plastic type that hook over the cabin handrail; I’ve also replaced the steel bracket one we bought from Tradline, which was looking very sorry for itself, the coating peeling off and allowing it to rust.

These new ones are just over a fiver each (as opposed to £15 for the steel one). As supplied they can rub the paintwork a bit, but the application of strategically placed self adhesive felt disks, bought from Homebase (they’re intended for putting under pots to stand on a polished surface) soon sorts that out.

If we get a window of opportunity first thing in the morning, we might move on a bit further, but otherwise we’ll probably sit tight until Tuesday and then put in a couple of longer days to catch up