Hotter still and hotter

Haywood and Colwich locks are notorious for getting very busy indeed in the summer and we were two hours away from Haywood where we were at Weston. So another early start was indicated, Sheila setting off at 6.20. I just had time to grab breakfast before we reached Weston Lock, which was against us.

I worked the boat down and then the curse of Weston struck. Coming up, Sheila had run aground on the towpath side and the offside is always shallow because of the silt carried down in the by-wash, so she took care to keep in the middle as she emerged.

And promptly ran aground again. It took a fair bit of back and forth to persuade Sanity Again to unstick, but after around five minutes we got away. Clearly more dredging is needed there – when we reached Hoo Mill the by-wash was nicely on weir, so the pound was not especially low. Apart from this contretemps, we had a good run. It was cloudy and cool again, to the extent that Sheila took to wearing her fleece for most of the morning.

Haywood lock was no trouble and Colwich was just getting busy as we arrived, with a boat emerging, one waiting to go down and another arriving below as we were working down. By the time we were clear, there were two more arrived, one above and one below. This was not long after half eight, so I dread to think what it was like later today.

We got to Brindley Bank after a straight four hours cruising and found a good slot just ready for us. This is one of the spots where I'm always sure it's a 48 hour mooring, but there are no signs or even any sign of totems, must be my imagination. Maybe it's because it obviously should be 48 hour, so popular is it with its nice new rings and decent dredged depth.

Despite the heat, we tried going up the Bloody Steps. There's no sign of an old pub at the top, just a superb example of a Victorian pumping station. After some roaming around, we took advice from a passing native and found the Co-op, which is quite a large specimen of its type.

To get to it from the aqueduct, walk up the Bloody Steps and alongside the pumping station. Keep going straight on to the main road, which cross by the traffic island just to your left. Walk up the left side of the play park and keep going straight on through the housing estate until you come to another through road.

Note the name of the side road you are on – Jeffrey Walk – and turn right. The Co-op is may be 100 yards on your side of the road and is air-conditioned, oh bliss. We bought a loaf of bread and found our way back (this is where having remembered the name of the side road helps...)

The humidity has gone up a bit so we've been lurking in the boat all afternoon, sweating. We've even dropped the side of the cratch cover to keep the sun off the bow doors.

Tomorrow, on through Rugeley to Handsacre or may be a little further since we don't need to stop to shop, Kings Bromley, perhaps.

Three hours to Weston

It wasn't a good night last night. We didn't feel able to leave the stern doors open in such a public spot (though there was no kind of trouble overnight) so the bedroom was stuffy even with the Houdini open and the consumption of a couple of glasses of Yellow Tail Jammy Red might have left us a bit wired.

We gave up on the sleeping idea at half five and, after beating an "Impossible" Killer Sudoku into submission, got up and dressed. Sheila worked Star Lock and I took the boat down onto the water point at around seven. There was another boat already there filling up, but she soon finished and we ate breakfast to the sound of the tank filling.

Off we went at half seven, heading for Aston, Sandon, Salt and points south. I was actually too chilly in shirt sleeves and wore a sweatshirt for the morning. There's an easterly wind today which, for once, is very welcome, keeping temperatures much more reasonable.

Only one boat, Muleless, was here at Weston when we got here just before half ten. She's since left and others have arrived but there's still a bit of room. We've spent much of the time sitting in the well deck again, back in shirt sleeves now, though we retreated inside for a while whilst I made a start on tonight's grub.

Tomorrow, on through Great Haywood to Brindley Bank at Rugeley, probably. We've never actually explored what lies at the top of the Bloody Steps, so might do that in the afternoon.

Sitting tight

The wind’s not been quite as bad as originally forecast, but we’ve still been glad to stay put today. Apart from anything else, we’ve been on the go one way or another for a few weeks now, and it’s very nice just to chill for a day.

There’s not been much in the way of rain, but it’s apparent from the boats going past that the wind’s enough to cause problems. At least I assume that’s why many of them have felt unable to slow down very much…

/wahaha

I had a bread kit that needed using up, so as soon as we’d had a latish breakfast I got it mixed, kneaded and put in a warmed oven to rise. Whilst it was doing that we walked into the village to post the requests for insurance quotes and to see if the shop was still there.

The postbox is still present but the shop, sadly, has gone; I had a feeling it had from a vague memory of another blog; no newspaper today then. Fortunately, I still had this month’s copy of Waterways World to read, kept for just such an emergency.

This afternoon has seen us continue our research into sofas; my thanks to Jo for the tip about nu-trend; they do indeed seem as competitively priced as the big warehouses but their stuff is made bespoke in the factory in Stapleford on the Derby side of Nottingham. We’re planning to visit them on Saturday.

The rest of the afternoon was spent watching an episode of Inspector Alleyn on DVD.

Tomorrow, on through Great Haywood to the pig farm mooring at Bridge 69, then Wednesday should see us stop in Rugeley to shop and go on either to Kings Bromley or Fradley, depending on conditions.

A bit of extra boating before the storm

Waking at seven this morning, I checked the weather forecast whilst making the tea. The bad weather was now not due until lunchtime, so we took an executive decision* to get going and do a bit more before it closed in.

Sheila steered while I ate breakfast after which I took over. Down Sandon Lock we went and past the offside moorings at Salt. As we approached Weston at around half ten it was starting to drizzle and the wind was coming up, so we called it a day just after Bridge 81, the one near Ingestre Hall.

There’s just a bit of old fashioned concrete piling that’s clearly been someone’s lurking spot, as bits of chain and rope have been persuaded past the railway style waling. It meant rather a square tie, but it’ll do to sit out the storm. The important thing is that we’re clear of the trees; severe wind at this time of year can wreak havoc with trees still largely in full leaf.

It started to rain in earnest as we got tied; I’ve lit the Squirrel and we’ve spent the day pottering, looking up the answers we couldn’t get in yesterday’s Independent GK crossword, buying this month’s Kindle books and the like.

It’s not all been pleasure; Sheila wrote and mail merged a request for insurance quotes for Walnut Lodge and we’ve started the process of identifying preferred suppliers for the soft furnishings, crockery and cutlery. The big item is the three piece suite; Pinelog said that they couldn’t beat the prices of the furniture warehouses for that, so a visit to DFS or similar is indicated in the very near future.

Delivery on large furniture can be as much as six weeks; everything else will only take a few days either to be delivered or to collect.

At present, the main contenders for our custom for the other stuff seem to be Argos and Amazon.

Goulash for dinner tonight, I think; it’s that sort of day.

*I.e. taken in a hurry.

Sunny Sunday cruise

It’s been another good day, though things got a bit hectic towards the end of our boating session…

We’d decided just to head north and stop when we felt like it, either at Weston or somewhere beyond; there are plenty of choices between Great Haywood and Aston. A 7.30 start meant that we were working up Colwich just after eight. The first boat of the day coming the other way appeared in nice time as I was opening the top gate of the lock, but traffic remained very light until we were above Haywood.

I’d nipped off there to get the paper as usual and we had a gentle run to Hoo Mill. After that, boats started turning up coming in the opposite direction and by the time we got to Weston Lock it was very busy, with a queue forming as we locked up. Some steerers were struggling a bit in the conditions, especially as the wind strength was increasing all the time.

In the stretch between Weston Lock and the village we decided to call it a day if we could get in. There was a choice of two slots, each just about 70 foot long, before the bridge in the village. I managed to slot Sanity Again into the first of these, though it was only just long enough and on a bit of a bend.

We were able to get tied and fendered securely, however, and by eleven were drinking coffee in the well deck. Since then, not a lot has been done, apart from checking down the weed hatch. The tiller’s been shaking a bit today, but there wasn’t anything down there. The Comastic applied at Norbury is sufficiently thick that it glues the weed hatch shut; it was quite a tug to get it up.

Finally, I must say hi to the lady steerer of Greenfinch, with whom we crossed above Haywood. I’m glad you enjoy Sally’s literary efforts, but don’t waste your sympathy on her in the matter of chews. Left to herself, Little Miss Piggy would put on far too much weight and has to have her diet managed very carefully, especially as she’s not doing much agility at the moment. Elanor tells me she did get given a lump of bone to gnaw yesterday, always popular with her.

Spring's in the air

Despite a rather grey and murky start this morning, it's been really springlike today, especially this afternoon. We set off just after eight and worked steadily north and west, through Colwich, Great Haywood, Hoo Mill and Weston Locks, being followed up all of them by Ownashare boat Shearwater, who was heading for Chester via Harecastle Tunnel and Heartbreak Hill.

Sheila was lockwheeling, and found it quite hard work; it'll be a few days before we get our boating muscles properly in trim. She ran a washload as we went, and nipped off at Great Haywood to get me a paper.

Apart from a large collection of hippy hutches on the moorings overlooking Shugborough Hall, there's not a lot of moored boats about. We had no trouble getting in here at Weston, the only other boat here being Grey Nomad. There's a steady flow of moving boats, though, mostly shared ownership.

When we first stopped, just before twelve, it was too damp out to be worth rigging the whirligig dryer, so Sheila put the rack up in the well deck and we dropped the cratch cover, leaving the bow doors open. This way, the warmth from the stove rises into the cratch and dries the clothes. This afternoon has seen a big improvement weatherwise, so the whirligig is out there now.

Phone signals are a bit iffy here; we've got a just-about Voda signal, ditto the 3 connection, and the modem has chosen to connect to Orange, but one way or another we're getting by.

Tomorrow, we go on to Stone, and may spend two nights there as we're a bit ahead of ourselves; Stone is the best place on this route to catch up with shopping and the like.

To one of the Westons

One of the confusing things about the Trent and Mersey is that there are two Astons and two Westons. Today, we stopped at the first Weston you come to heading east: we had thought of carrying on to the visitor moorings within sight of Ingestre Hall, but a stop at the water point below Yard lock and a delay queuing at Aston meant that it was gone twelve by the time we got to Weston and so my lunchtime.

It's been a very pleasant day, with improving weather. Whilst waiting at Aston, I had a chance for a natter with Martin and Margaret on Erin Mae, whom we got to know last winter at Great Haywood; they were on their way back from a trip up the Caldon.

This afternoon we had a burst of activity, doing some more varnishing and cleaning out the box steps at the front door. Having got started, we carried on and swept right through the boat. This means that my haircut, scheduled for later this afternoon, will now take place outside, to avoid having to sweep the floor twice in one day.

Fortunately, it's quite warm and sunny out there.

Tomorrow, we press on through Great Haywood to Wolseley Bridge; there's a sense of coming home, as we'll be in Fradley by the end of this week at this rate.

Gently on to Weston

We seem to have moved from early to late Autumn in the space of 24 hours this week. Yesterday, as I said, was gloriously warm and sunny, and today, though not windy, was overcast and very cold. Indeed, the predicted maximum temperature for today was lower than the overnight minima last week.

No matter, we still had some very pleasant boating, just needed to be well wrapped up, and it made the cup of soup with lunch not only justified but very welcome. What was also welcome was the discovery that the system by which heat from the engine coolant is used to warm the radiators worked extremely well, so that we felt no need to light the stove until we’d stopped boating.

It’s warmed up outside a bit now, so we’re too hot even with the Squirrel choked right down, but at least we’re not using huge amounts of coal.

As expected, we’ve come on to Weston; there were a couple of boats here on arrival at twelve, but one of them, Lee, has moved on. The other appears to have been left unattended for a bit, so we’ve tied just in front of it.

The rest of the day has been taken up with pottering indoors, moving more content onto the Kindles and the like. In addition, I changed the nut plus locknut arrangement on the stern gland for the Nylok nuts Peter got for me whilst we were in the yard, to see if that improves its performance. I suspect we just have a rather wet stern gland, and will have to get used to running the bilge pump from time to time. It may settle yet, of course. Sanity had a particularly dry stern bilge, so this is a bit of a change for us.

I trimmed Sheila’s hair just now, and we’ll indulge ourselves with the first stew of the cold season this evening. (There’s no link between these two events.)

We’re now rather ahead of ourselves, as we don’t need to be in Alrewas until Sunday, so we’ll just potter down to Great Haywood tomorrow, I expect.

Good shopping in Stone, and an unexpected load of wood

19th & 20th March

Yesterday was another early start to the day; our body clocks seem to have anticipated the start of Summer Time by around ten days. We go to bed at 9.30, wake before six and are up and about by seven. Very strange.

It had been seriously frosty overnight, with some rime on the inside of the Houdini again, but the day became quite warm as it went on.

We worked down Meaford Locks, and were soon at Stone. We stopped below Newcastle Road Lock (the one above Stone Boat Building) and filled the water tank, before carrying on down Yard and Star Locks to the visitor moorings. These were all but deserted, with only one forlorn GRP cruiser on the further, 5 day section.

We'd planned to arrive before lunch, but in fact were tied by half ten. This led to a rethinking of the cruising plans. If we could fit in two trips to the shops, we need only stay one night in Stone, thus avoiding a Friday night in town.

Accordingly, after a quick coffee, we made a foray to Morrisons to get the stuff we needed for lunch, and a selection of the other items on the list. After lunch, it was back into town, calling first at the little, almost underground, shoe shop by the pedestrian lights nearest the moorings.

Called Footsteps Footwear, I didn't have a lot of hope that they could supply a suitable pair of boots, but things were getting a bit urgent, as the crack in the upper of my right boot had now spread to the point where they were almost unusable. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had an assortment of reasonably priced boots, not so much fancy walking boots as basic site boots.

Included in the range, however, were a pair of leather uppered Hi-Techs at £40, which for a wonder fitted very well. Having made this good start, we went on to find most of the other stuff we were looking for, so returned to Sanity well pleased.

The rest of the afternoon passed quite quietly, if you make an exception for the Thursday evening bell ringing session. These campanologists were at least reasonably proficient, so no complaints.

A fair bit of IT stuff got done, including catching up with responses to blog comments. In that regard, I'm pleased to say that Jane Howarth tells me she's had a reply to her letter to BW West Mids about the 48 hour mooring restriction in Alrewas (see Adam's comments last time).

Chris Thompson told her:

The enforcement office has visited the site and the majority of craft that have been there for a period of time have been granted visitor moorings from October up to the end of March, this location has not been used for winter moorings in previous years and will be reviewed before the winter of 2009 for suitability.

The notices reducing the mooring time to 48 hours will be removed next week due to concerns from local residents, user groups and businesses that the time reduction could impact on the local economy.

The decision regarding changing the mooring limit will be reviewed in the future after consultation with interested parties and a decision made thereafter.

Two immediate thoughts:

1. When, oh when will BW learn to consult before making and implementing the decisions, rather than afterwards?
2. Since BW decided not to respond to requests to provide a rubbish disposal facility in Alrewas (there's nothing between Fradley and the far side of Barton Turns), it's not surprising that issuing winter mooring permits for the place has resulted in a litter problem. I'm not defending my fellow boaters in this regard, whose conduct in the matter of rubbish and fire ash dumping has been frankly lamentable, but the outcome might have been foreseen.

Whilst on the subject of Alrewas, Jane also tells me that the new dentist there, Dr Ehsan Rana, is struggling to fill his list. Admittedly he's private only, but is a good clinician, and does take Denplan patients. I've commented before on how easy it is to get emergency appointments with him. If you need a dentist in a hurry in that neck of the woods, and either have Denplan cover or are in the habit of paying for your treatment, it's well worth giving him a ring on 01283 791 357. He's got a webpage here.

Today was another early waking session, but as I wanted to get a paper before we left, we loafed in bed, making disparaging remarks about Sarah Kennedy, until gone seven. Once I'd been into town, we set off. It was brilliantly sunny weather, but with a piercing cold wind, such that Sheila, who was steering, had to change her fleece for a puffa jacket.

Below Aston Lock they are digging away at the new marina, whilst above Sandon, just as Sanity was descending, I saw a cow, which had been drinking from the offside, jump into the water, swim casually round in a half circle, and climb back out, for all the world like one of those folks you see on the news swimming in the Serpentine or wherever on a ridiculously cold day.

Presumably one of its mates had pushed it in, but it really seemed very casual about it.

Approaching Weston Lock, as we left the village which precedes it, some guys trimming trees on the offside asked us if we wanted any wood. We'd just passed a boat going the other way, and we both started backing up to take advantage of this bounty. It was quite hard to get Sanity in far enough, but by ramming the bow into the trees with the long shaft, Sheila was able to get it close enough for me to deploy the gang plank and make a slightly wobbly trip to shore.

I then tied the bow line to one of the trees, and the other boat (whose name's slipped my mind in all the excitement, except it involved pandas) came alongside us. Anyone else coming along would have had to stop, as we were slewed across the cut, but no one did. I passed quantities of wood across to Sheila, who shoved some on our roof, and gave the other half to the other boat.

When we'd got a sufficiency, we extricated ourselves, leaving the panda boat to go back in and get some more. The roof looked a complete mess, with bits of wood, the long shaft and the plank just heaped up on it, but it wasn't far to the lock landing where we were able to sort it out enough to finish cruising.

Below the lock we went gently on until we came to the first of the visitor moorings that have been created in the middle of nowhere here, complete with interpretation boards about the locale. Here we had lunch, then set to in steadily improving conditions to cut up all the wood we had and stack it tidily.

In the course of this it got warm enough that I actually unzipped my zip offs and worked in shorts. Sheila was wearing normal Regatta trousers, so was unable to do likewise. I think this is the first year ever that I've ended up in shorts before her.

We're having a quiet night, now, and will potter down to Great Haywood and Tixall for the weekend, before finishing our run to Alrewas next week.