Thursday 23rd March to Sunday 2nd
April 2017
We left the mooring at a not too early hour – at least for us at any rate
– just after 8am – did the swing bridge and the turn at the junction and the
first lock – then whilst Diane headed down to set the next, it was a quick stop
at the services for Elsan duty.
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| Rounding the corner through the junction - it may look like a collision with the bank was likely but I assure you it was around and straight into the lock |
Surprisingly, on the way out I spied Martin heading down for the same job
– his was made more difficult because they were heading the other way and he
had a longer carry than I did.
Anyway we said more goodbyes and no doubt we will catch them up somewhere
this year.
We managed to get through the next three locks and who should be cruising
along but Gary and Carolyn on nb Inca – we had left the lock ready for them but
that didn’t stop us both stopping midstream for a good chat – as you do, when
you are boats passing in …. broad daylight – it was a lovely and unexpected
surprise – but with another boat heading up toward the lock they needed to get
going and so did we.
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| I spy with my little eye something beginning with I.... |
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| ...Inca with Carolyn and Gary ready for a mid-canal chat - yes it was a bit chilly! |
Alrewas was on our horizon for the day – not a huge cruise but
sometimes you just stop at the places you want – well really you do that all of
the time.
We do like Alrewas and found a lovely mooring just outside the graveyard
of the church – no disturbance from the neighbours tonight.
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| The following morning it was a lovely fine and sunny morning - this is opposite our mooring... |
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| ...and this was sun-rise |
A bit of a walk around the village – not to see anything – just to
stretch our legs a bit and then we were back on the boat.
The following morning and Diane got a call from Carolyn – “How are the
moorings at Alrewas?” … “we are coming back to there (from Fradley)”.
Whilst they were cruising back we decided that we might do another walk
around the village but this time we did so by following the Geo-Caching App –
we have decided to give this a go and find a few of the hidden “treasures" around the place; enjoy the walking and have a bit of enjoyment looking for
them.
Well to reward ourselves for finding some, we called in at the Alrewas
Fryer for a pre-lunchtime snack – during which Carolyn got in contact to advise
that they were moored up in front of us and were we anywhere close by – we were
back there reasonable quickly and then we all headed back to the William IV pub
for a drink and as it turned out lunch and a bit more of a chat – this time
without the need to get to the lock.
A lovely way to spend some time on an early Friday afternoon.
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| Gary loves his ice-cream - the big kid that he is |
During this time we arranged for a bus trip into Litchfield for the
following day – Gary
We both love Lichfield and it characteristic cathedral (three spires) and
after the pre-requisite coffee following the bus trip, we had a bit of a wander –
there was some shopping, the cathedral wandering, looking on at the gathering
of members of the Staffordshire Regiment to celebrate an important
anniversary of their formation – we presume that they have some special
privileges with the city and their march through took priority over the local
traffic – everyone was having a great time indeed.
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| Lichfield Cathedral |
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| Upstairs in the private chapel |
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| Lighting candles for mum and dad and Lauren |
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| Once a forces man then always - they marched all in step |
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| A hastily taken selfie - these re-enactment guys in the background were bearing down at speed |
In the end we finished everything that we had come for and after a bit of
a wait for the return bus we made it back – another boat was just mooring (nb
Meredith – Sharon and Paul) – we all ended up on the towpath for a few drinks
and more chatting (a boating requirement).
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| First drink on the tow-path for the year - perfect weather for this time of year |
They seemed lovely people and whilst they were not able to be full-time
liveaboards, as much as they wanted, they enjoyed their boating none-the-less.
The following day (UK Mothers Day) we were off heading further northwards
and this time is was a goodbye to Gary and Carolyn (they would be heading back
the other way); a stop at Barton Marina – just for a look around and a visit to
the store there and then a late breakfast at the café; then it was onto Burton
and we moored up at Shobnall Fields.
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| Perfect weather again - well lovely and sunny anyway - it was a bit chilly |
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| and plenty of water around too |
We decided that a couple of nights here were warranted; we had some
things to seek out which we found; some walking to do – but as it happened, we
didn’t get too much of that done on our second day – a painful heel on my left
foot meant that under Nurse Ratched’s instructions I was confined to the boat,
whilst she went down to the pub (no she really didn’t) – but she enjoys putting
on that cute nurse’s uniform and getting back into her last day job – I
particularly enjoy the sponge baths – but I digress.
After some rest it felt a lot better, but the next day she still had her
stern face on and equally stern voice – I do like it when she is forceful – and
she locked me inside to carry on working whilst she single-handed – at least
until the elsan point and then to help with the lock (although she had it under
control) – after that, I had convinced her that I should be allowed to stay
outside.
We moored at Willington just on the end of the Winter Moorings –
perfectly allowable – and again did a bit more geo-caching (it isn’t a big
place); found the new location of the Co-Op (has it really been 3 years since
we have stopped here) and Diane continued her evaluation of English chippery’s
– this one got an average vote but it didn’t stop her from finishing the allocation.
Willington is one of those places (Berhampstead is another) where you can
moor close to the railway line and the sounds of the trains does not affect you
– even the freight trains in the middle of the night – and we both had a good
nights sleep.
By this time we were on a bit of cruising schedule – we had to be in Shardlow
by Friday morning (9am) – and whilst it could be done in one day, we were not
so inclined to want to rush through it all – but two days was easily enough
time to get there.
Our first stop was at Mercia Marina for fuel and a chandlery visit; we
had hoped to catch up with Jim and Joan (nb Two Jays) whom we know from our
Aston days, but they had buggered off on some flimsy excuse – apparently
grand-daughters don’t turn 21 every week, but we would catch them on their
return – just not here.
A mooring at Swarkestone was planned and then a walk down to the pub on
the Trent River – I can’t remember the name at the moment – for lunch and enjoy
the views and then a peaceful afternoon back on the boat – we did try to catch
up on some of the programs that we have still to watch but not much progress
was made.
It seems that an enjoyable lunch, followed by sitting in a comfortable
chair, by a cosy fire has some type of hypnotic effect causing you to doze off
– some would say that we were getting on a bit and that it is normal for older
people – I just think that we have been doing super-human efforts lately (like
reading and cruising) and were totally exhausted.
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| On the mounting block waiting to mount something |
Thursday morning arrived – I am doing my usual day job things; Diane is
in bed holding it down and reading on her iPad – other blogs and facebook
entries – suddenly there is a bit of anxious alarm.
Seems that a car has gone into the canal at Cuttle Bridge on the Trent
and Mersey the previous evening – that was just two bridges down from us (800
metres) and on our way – oh bloody hell – there was a need to assemble a posse
to go and check on it; and whilst I waited for her to get ready, I surveyed the
scenery (numerous times).
We met a fellow coming up from there on our way down and he advised that
there must have been some incident at the bridge – the parapet had been almost
demolished, police tape was around – but nothing else ???? – what no car –
nope, no car.
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| That section on the tow-path is the middle part of the railing from the bridge, and not too long this photo was taken there was a car in the water |
We saw for ourselves that whatever had happened, parapet was demolished
with a great deal of brickwork on the towpath but no signs of any car – it was
clear to proceed – thankfully.
On return to the boat wewere ready to leave and after filling with water
we locked down and headed off – we will say that as we went through the
bridge-hole there was some serious scraping on the baseplate and a bit of
vertical movement of the boat – something was still down there
The rest of the cruise was uneventful and we moored in Shardlow about
11:30 and – in full sunshine – lovely and pleasant.
Quite relaxed we were yet again in the afternoon – very very relaxed – it
was a restful nap indeed.
The reason for the hurry-up to Shardlow – the “wire” basket in our
Reflecs fire was now in two parts – one small and one larger – it was a bit
fragile and we feared that if we attempted to remove it again for cleaning then
it would not be in a fit state to go back in and therefore no way of causing
the diesel to ignite – so we needed a new one and Paul at Lockgate Stoves was
going to be there for us at 9am.
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| The basket that we needed for the Reflecs - when I take the old one out I will put a photo of that up on the blog |
This type of thing is usual and having had 4 winters out of it was quite
good – so with the wallet just a little lighter, but more importantly with the
new basket we would be able to carry on – Paul was off to fit more units to new
boats – he is extremely busy at the moment as more and more new builds are
having them put in.
We were ready to move on – our internet and TV signals were not consistent and since there was nothing else that we needed to be here for we journeyed just a couple of miles down to Sawley and moored outside the marina on the public moorings.
The foot was feeling immeasureably better by now – not yet 100% - but
Nurse Ratched allowed me to venture out again and we wandered up into the Sawley
“village/town” area – just to see what was there and to raid the shelves of the
Co-Op.
A Happy Friday drink on the way back and check out the marina – Diane
simply cannot walk past a chandlery these days – has to take a look inside. I
am convinced that when we are back in Melbourne
The foot was a little sore again after maybe a bit too much walking over
the past few days, so Nurse Ratched has devised a new means of taping my foot
to relive the pain first thing in the morning – it mainly involves stopping my
foot from bending forwards.
As I found out on Saturday morning it does work quite effectively, but as
far as being able to easily get my jeans on, it is impossible to point the foot
and actually makes the process a bit harder – I think she wants to keep me just
half-dressed and in the kitchen all day making coffee for her.
There is a list of jobs that I need to get done before we head down
through the next lock on Monday and onto the River Trent, so on this morning I
started on these – one of them being to replace the seal on the weedhatch as
well as doing the weekly check and maintenance.
I managed to get these completed (as much as I could do) fairly easily
and we decided that a bus trip into Nottingham would be a wise use of our time
– after all we would be there in a couple of days and wanted to check out the
mooring places (we actually haven’t taken the boat here before - so a new city
for us).
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| Diane with friend - they shuffled off after this yelling "Exterminate, Exterminate!!" |
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| The Castle House stands where the original Nottingham Castle used to look out over the surrounding countryside |
We did just that and a little more – note to self – please resist the
temptation to go into cities on Saturday mornings – way too many people about.
But it was a lovely ride in and back – it is not in the least bit
surprising just how much noise 4 teenagers can make, even when they are talking
“quietly”.
We were really looking forward to Sunday – Jim and Joan had made
arrangements and would be popping over to see us after coming back from their
grand-daughters 21st, so it was certainly going to be a special day.
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| Another lovely sunrise - this time at Sawley |
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| and hitting right onto the boats everywhere |
We met them just near the marina café and adjourned into there for a cuppa
and then lunch.
We managed to catch up on all of their news especially how very pleased
and happy they obviously were with their mooring at Mercia Marina, and the more
that the spoke about it the more envious we were that we hadn’t all decided
years ago to moor up in there.
There are more and more marinas understanding that their livelihood is
based on keeping their primary customers happy and being able to provide for
their needs and not just the fly-ins who drive in for a quick visit on the way
to somewhere else.
Activities, trips away, seeing quickly to problems and a 1000 other
things.
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| They haven't aged a bit - Joan still as lovely as ever; Jim was exactly as we love him |
They both looked really well and were in fine form – just such a great
pleasure to see them both looking so well and so happy. It was all too soon and
we were saying goodbye to them, but they did get us thinking!
25 Miles, 16 Locks, 1 Swing
Bridge
YTD: 175 miles (282
km), 135 Locks, 13 Tunnels, 3 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges
Total: 4807 Miles (7736 km),
3286 Locks, 137 Tunnels, 69 Lift Bridges , 175 Swing Bridges
