Saturday 20th October
This will be our first full day back at Mercia Marina, and we’ve noticed a few changes already. For a start, a couple of new ‘Park Home’ style cabins have been erected. These are holiday homes which cost about £150k on a 100 year lease and, if the purchaser also owns a boat, the moorings come free – I think, but don’t quote me on it.
Also, probably due to the excessive amount of rain experienced during this summer, much of the foliage around the site has really spread out. This is good, because it breaks up the view of the marina sections and creates a rather wild look to the place.
We have also heard that plans are afoot to build a noise reduction fence along the side of the site that faces the confluence of the A50 and A38. This is a huge gyratory system, which can be really noisy during peak hours, so such a fence will be of great benefit to those closest to it.
Bonfire night will be held on the planned gastro pub site as usual, but, since the pub is to start taking shape fairly soon, it will be the last one on that site. With Rusty becoming deaf to all but the offer of food and walkies, she doesn’t hear the fireworks now, so we’ll probably attend the festivities this time.
Tuesday 23rd October
I mentioned in the last blog of 2012 cruise, the fact that I had caught a cold. Well, that has turned into the most horrendous cough and it’s been losing me precious beauty sleep over the past few nights. I’m spending almost as much time in the armchair as I am in bed, so I won’t be sorry when it goes.
The Savile Investigation…..
So, where is the Savile family whilst this furore is going on? Apart from tearing down his headstone very early on in the proceedings, we have not had a peep out of them. Could it be that they knew he was a pervert, or are they just so embarrassed by the whole thing that they are keeping a low profile? Whatever the case, all I’ve seen and heard is innuendo and claims by those who were, supposedly, molested by him. And you know what they say about rumour and innuendo, “Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear”. It works for me!!
Wednesday 24th October
Oh boy! We drove into Burton yesterday, partly for shopping, but also to see if I could find something to rid me of this hacking cough. To this end we called in to Boots and checked out the selection at the Pharmacy counter. There, sitting on a shelf, was an item called ‘Pulmo Bailly Oral Solution’, which claims to be a ‘Cough Suppressant Expectorant’. That, I thought, has got to be the bees knees of cough mixtures. Along with it, since it was offered at a discount when bought with any medicine, I purchased ‘Covonia’ Double Impact Lozenges.
Upon arriving home, being eager to try the stuff out, I checked the directions and opened the bottle. Phew! That smell. It reminded me of visits to old folks homes. It’s something that always seems to be there. If you have ever come across that smell, you’ll know what I mean.
So, ‘mix with a little water and add fruit juice or sugar if required’, it said. Ye Gods, you really wouldn’t want to drink this stuff without the sugar or fruit juice, it really is foul. I have never tasted anything so awful. Ughhh!!
Did it work? Well, I can safely say that my cough reduced in severity but, whether this was due to the efficacy of the medicine, or my fear of having to drink any more of the stuff, I have no idea. Suffice it to say, my cough has all but gone. Thank goodness.
Sunday 28th October
Well, just for a change we tried The Red Lion in Repton for our Sunday drink today. We have discovered that Saturday night is live music night there. Now, we’re not lovers of pubs that run live music nights, they are usually far too noisy for our delicate ears now. However, The Red Lion has a Folk night next Saturday and, on the following Saturday, they have Jazz Guitar and Harmonica, so there’s a good chance we will pay them a visit on one of those nights. We gotta get out more!!
Education
When I was at school, way back when, I was left in no doubt that my teachers had been fully trained in the 3Rs. After all, if a teacher of one subject was away sick, another teacher, who would probably teach a different subject, was perfectly capable of standing in for the absent one. Now, guess what, all teachers will now be expected to be well versed in those three subjects before being allowed to teach.
Now there’s a novel idea!!
I would have thought, being the logical person that I am, that as with any college or university course, an applicant would need to show that they have some grounding, i.e. recognised qualification, before being accepted onto the course, especially so when entering the teaching profession.
It seems I was wrong!
Tuesday 30th October
We took the bus into Derby yesterday morning. This trip was mainly to purchase a selection of nuts, but also because I was in great need of some decent tracing paper. (Not all budding artists are capable of freehand drawing, sad to say). Unfortunately, with only one bus per hour, our time is limited, because we really do not want to spend two hours in town.
We also visited our favourite book stand and exchanged five books for another five, at a grand total of just £5.25p, a bargain in anybody’s reckoning.
While we were away our friend Chris; he’s the one who took care of the car while we were away; borrowed ours because his is away being repaired after some clot bashed into him. White van man was the culprit.
Savile
I saw a picture yesterday where Esther Rantzen was with Jimmy Savile. This lady, allegedly, knew he was molesting children, well, at least strongly suspected him of doing so and yet here she is, right alongside him at some event or other.
Many other celebrities have come forward now who also suspected him of these foul deeds. But, nobody ever came put their head above the parapet when it mattered, because they thought they wouldn’t have been believed, or that Savile was too big a celebrity.
Well, nobody told those two intrepid American reporters that Nixon was too big. They went ahead and shopped him anyway. It seems we Brits have been lacking in guts for a very long time.
However, the Savile family have now added their voices to the furore, with the plea that they ‘had no idea what was going on’. Oh, really! They are now probably trembling at the thought that they could be liable to million in damages. But Jimmy is dead so, how do you punish others for his, alleged, wrong doing? Is this right and proper? Did his family do anything wrong? Did they know, like so many others around the man, that he was a wrongun?
There is still much media interest and legal investigations but, I still say, show me proof! Put up or shut up!
Finally, for this and future blogs, you may not share my views regarding the subjects I have a say about, but I hope you will respect my right to say them. These subjects won’t always be in the top spot in the media, and they will be picked at random. You are free to comment, or email me if you know my address, but I reserve the right to respond or ignore you. This is, after all, just a blog, not a public forum.
All the best for now
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Tuesday 30 October 2012
Friday 19 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 30
Great Haywood to Mercia Marina
Friday 12th October
The weather this morning is not looking too promising, with heavy clouds and a light breeze, which could easily turn into a downpour and gale force winds. We live in hopes as we really don’t want any further delays in getting back to Mercia.
Yesterday, as I reported in Blog # 29, I had more trouble with replying to emails through Outlook. In desperation I sent a query to the help desk at Absolute Email but, like a twerp, I didn’t think to include the full text of the error message. This morning, surprise, surprise, Absolute replied asking for just that. In ‘replying’ to their request I told them I would let them know just as soon as it happened again. Would you believe, that reply went out without a problem? Hmmmm, and Grrrr!!
We took our belated trip into Stafford yesterday but, with buses running at only one per hour we didn’t have long for shopping. The ride there was pretty hairy as the driver had some time to make up and took a few more risks than I would have done. After all, even going at breakneck speed, he was only ever going to make up a couple of minutes, if that. The ride back was much more sedate, I’m pleased to say.
Saturday 13th October
It’s foggy man, really foggy this morning, so we may have to wait until the sun burns it off or the wind and rain disperses it. Whatever, we only have a couple of miles to go to Rugeley for shopping at Morrison’s, then on to Handsacre, where we’ll stay for Sunday lunchtime at The Old Peculiar pub.
Yesterday we spent about 1½ hours travelling the 3 miles and 2 locks to bridge 69 and, believe it or not we moored right opposite the pig farm. Fortunately there’s no smell to speak of since the wind is carrying it away. That farm also has chickens and a cow and one of the workers there lives on a boat with his Border Collie. Whilst out walking with Rusty yesterday afternoon I actually watched that dog kill a chicken. I think it was trying to herd it back into its compound, but became so frustrated at its refusal to do so, that she picked it up and tried to toss it over the wire, with fatal results.
I have just received the last part of the caravan pastel instructions. Goodness knows how Emma manages to depict a picture in such detail, it’s completely beyond me. But, with a bit of perseverance I’ll actually finish it soon. I will then file it away, never to see the light of day again.
So, what is the incubation period for the common cold? Not that we’re common you understand, but I now seem to have caught the wretched thing, and the only person I can possibly blame it on, is my dear wife. Out come the Beecham’s Powders and the Honey and Lemon drinks. Actually I can’t really blame Wifey because, as every woman will tell you, we men do not have colds we have man flu, which makes us very ill indeed and unable to cope with the simplest of tasks.
Sunday 14th October
I arose from our pit at the usual time of 5.15 to a very chilly boat. Fully expecting to see a frost on the ground, but finding none when I peeked through the window, I then cast my eyes towards the fire, where the fan on top was turning rather slowly. Oh dear! Who forgot to top the fire up last night? Fortunately it still had some life in it, so it was just a matter of topping it up and opening the vents, so it wasn’t long before the fan was spinning like crazy.
The fan here, for those non-boaters reading this blog, has only one moving part, and that’s the blade. It sits on the top plate of the solid fuel burner and, with a little help from rising heat currents, the fan spins, sending the warmth of the fire throughout the boat. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to do. In practice though, the heat doesn’t quite reach the bedroom, so, during the really cold weather we close the bedroom door and revel in the warmth. Lovely!
We now have just four days to go for this cruise and I fully intend for this to be the final blog posting. It may be a few pages longer than normal, but I’m sure you won’t mind.
Tomorrow we should be at Fradley Junction, followed by Alrewas on Tuesday, Branston Wednesday and home to Mercia on Thursday the 18th of October.
Monday 15th October
Yesterday, after an hour in The Old Peculiar, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. O.K., so we do plenty of relaxing anyway and Sundays are no different in that respect, but Sundays are not conducive to bus rides into town centres, so they always seem to go slower than the rest of the week.
The day was bright, with a chill wind and we fully expected a frost this morning but, luckily for us the day has started off cloudy and, especially for Wifey’s sake, since we do have a few locks to go through, so she won’t have slippery metal to walk across.
We’re only going three miles today to Fradley Junction, so it shouldn’t take us more than an hour and a half, even with the locks thrown in.
Rusty is becoming more and more prone to her tummy upsets, so one of our first ports of call when we get back to Mercia will be a trip to the Vet’s. Hopefully he will come up with some idea as to what is causing it because, whatever he prescribed last time, didn’t work.
Tuesday 16th October
The caravan is finished, but not really to my satisfaction. But, it’s safe to say that, once I have submitted a copy to Emma it will join the painting of Rusty. The sunset project will be treated with much more care and, with luck, result in a much cleaner and more detailed finished article. Meanwhile I now have to find a board on which to lay my A3 sheet while I’m working on it, and I also need to find a way of storing it between sessions. Not only that but, since our printer only goes up to a maximum of A4, I will have to take whatever picture Emma sends me to a photo shop for enlargement.
We arrived here at Fradley Junction at about 10.30 yesterday morning and were met with a notice warning boaters to proceed with caution when passing through the river section at Alrewas, which is our next stop after Fradley. Obviously that section; which is only about 200 yards long; is a bit high due to the heavy rains of late but, since we won’t be going through Alrewas until tomorrow I’m hoping the high water would have subsided by then. If the warning signs tell us that the water level is in the red, then we’ll have to wait until it goes down again.
We took a walk up to the shop yesterday, just to see how much more they’ve done to it since we passed through earlier in the year. The upstairs Art Gallery is complete, with displays of work from several artists. Downstairs is almost complete, with a small section being set aside for basic foodstuffs for passing boaters. We had, I think, our final ice cream of the season and bought a couple of the ‘Favourite’ series of recipe books, of which there are 86 in total. We now have 16 of them, so a long way to go yet.
Wednesday 17th October
When we awoke yesterday morning we were met with a high wind and bright sunshine. The sunshine is always welcome, but the wind makes it very difficult to steer 15 tonnes of steel, so we decided to stay another day at Fradley. The strong winds stayed with us until late afternoon, by which time it was too late to head for Alrewas. Besides which, we would have had trouble finding a mooring spot that late in the day.
We had hoped by this morning that the river section would have subsided but, with heavy rain overnight the warning sign has probably slipped into the red. We are, therefore, between a rock and a hard place, do we stay here for a third night, or do we go on to Alrewas and wait it out there? If the water level is now in the red, there may already be quite a few boats held up at Alrewas, which may make it rather tricky finding a mooring spot. This late in our travels I do not need the horns of a dilemma!! Even now, the wind seems to be whipping up again, adding to the problem.
…….. It’s now almost 6.30 am and I’ve just come back from walking Rusty. The wind is now just as strong as yesterday and it is now raining stair rods. Not only that, it is now a head wind, so we definitely are not going anywhere this morning, and it looks like a late arrival at Mercia, probably the weekend. What a way to end seven months cruising!
Last winter I didn’t bother with the blog, with the result that I was unable to use it just before setting out for this years cruise. This winter I will continue with the blog, but on a more ad hoc basis. Obviously being stuck in one place and passing our days very much like everybody else is not conducive to the production of exciting reading. This means that I will have to be rather picky in what I write about.
I have no doubt that my pal Alan will continue sending jokes and links to various amusing online videos, which I can include if they are suitable for family viewing. There’s also the matter of certain newspaper articles, some of which do tend to infuriate me. For example: this witch hunt of Jimmy Saville. Loads of other notable people have been dragged into this, including Esther Rantzen and Freddie Starr, to name but two. BUT, when is somebody going to offer PROOF of any wrongdoing by this man? All I’ve heard – and this is not unusual when a famous personality dies – is accusations from women who say ‘his touch lingered just a little bit too long’. What’s that supposed to mean? Did he molest these girls, or was he just being affectionate? I know, I know, there’s no smoke without fire, and all that cliché stuff and, I don’t think I’m being naïve here. We’ll probably never know the truth of it, despite the investigations going on, but an awful lot of heads will undoubtedly roll as a result of them.
That’s the kind of thing I plan to include in the winter blog. What you will have to bear in mind though, is that we only read the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, so I will probably be a wee bit biased. Well, you pays yer money and takes yer choice!!
Thursday 18th October
Much to our surprise, yesterday morning turned out fine and dry, so off we went to Alrewas.
This village has a Co-op, newsagent and a really good butcher, a shop that we always seem to spend too much money in, and yesterday was no different than usual. He usually has fresh bread on sale, but all of it was sliced this time, which we simply hate, (more like cardboard, if you ask me) so Wifey had to set to and make her own. I love it!
Today, after all the rain last night, has dawned clear and dry, so we should be able to get to Branston. This means a short stretch of the River Trent, immediately after the last lock in Alrewas. However, it’s only a short section, which ends at another lock that takes us back onto the canal.
Branston will be our last port of call before Mercia, which is where I will post this final blog of 2012.
Friday 19th October
A fine morning yesterday saw us make our way to Branston. Five miles, four locks and 2½ hours later and we arrived here at 10.30 am. We are moored, as usual, right beside Branston Water Park, an oddity as parks go, because it also has Dog Dip spots, where your pooch can paddle and swim to his/her hearts content. There was a time when Wifey would have been able to take Rusty all the way round the lake, sadly that’s no longer the case as Rusty is no longer up to such a walk.
There’s only one thing wrong with this mooring, midges. I noticed them yesterday evening when one settled on my hand. Not only that, there are also little, green aphids around. It’s October, for goodness sakes, what the heck are they doing here at this time of year? I’m becoming a little paranoid now and, with every slight tickle on the skin I think I’m being attacked. Reminder to self: do not spend high summer in the wilds of Scotland, where, so I’m told, there are millions of the little perishers.
We have lots of tasks to carry out this winter, including a partitioned tray to go under the side hatch, a new and bigger flower box for the top of the boat and a new bathroom cabinet; I hate that cheap and nasty wire shelf thing. Then there are the panels for the back doors, which would normally be Castles and Roses, but which may not be in our case as we like to be different. I also have to get back to my guitar and uke practice, of which I’ve done very little while we’ve been cruising. Whilst I wouldn’t call myself lazy, cruising for long periods certainly makes it seem that way.
But, we don’t want to be worrying about that, our first job will be shopping at Morrison’s, followed closely by a look around The Range and Derby Market. Not for anything special you understand, although, having downloaded a very interesting book on watercolour painting, I would like to buy a small box of pan paints and follow the exercise in that book.
Saturday 20th October
Well, that’s it for Cruise 2012. We left Branston quite late yesterday due to fog, with seven miles and two locks to go to Mercia, and arrived here at about 2.15 pm, well past our usual lunchtime, which accounts for why Rusty was pestering us during the last hour or so, the poor wee thing was hungry, bless her!
When we arrived at the first of the two locks, we found a family of holiday boaters in the shape of middle aged dad and four boys of varying ages, (don’t know where mum was). However, instead of moving on after passing through the lock, two of the boys waited for us and helped us through and told us that they wanted us to go in front, because they were in no hurry and didn’t want to hold us up. Now that was a first as nobody has ever done that before, and there’s many a time we’ve cursed boaters for really poodling along, when we want to get where we’re going.
Along the seven mile trip we enjoyed plenty of sunshine and good spirits after that show of consideration. Last year we were slaughtered with wind and rain for most of the second half of the trip.
And that’s about it, apart from saying, thanks for keeping us company along the way, even if it was only in spirit. We look forward to doing the same in 2003.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid the problems I had with Blogger last time, I will keep the blog going throughout winter, but on a much reduced level, as I’ve already mentioned.
Finally, I may have discovered the reason for those problems with Outlook. I received a reply from my email company, Absolute Email, who tell me it is because I am using my Internet providers own server, a fact that they have confirmed through their own logs. I now await details of how to change my Outlook settings from ‘3’ to Absolutes server. Should be interesting and, I hope, stop the returned emails.
Best wishes to all from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 12th October
The weather this morning is not looking too promising, with heavy clouds and a light breeze, which could easily turn into a downpour and gale force winds. We live in hopes as we really don’t want any further delays in getting back to Mercia.
Yesterday, as I reported in Blog # 29, I had more trouble with replying to emails through Outlook. In desperation I sent a query to the help desk at Absolute Email but, like a twerp, I didn’t think to include the full text of the error message. This morning, surprise, surprise, Absolute replied asking for just that. In ‘replying’ to their request I told them I would let them know just as soon as it happened again. Would you believe, that reply went out without a problem? Hmmmm, and Grrrr!!
We took our belated trip into Stafford yesterday but, with buses running at only one per hour we didn’t have long for shopping. The ride there was pretty hairy as the driver had some time to make up and took a few more risks than I would have done. After all, even going at breakneck speed, he was only ever going to make up a couple of minutes, if that. The ride back was much more sedate, I’m pleased to say.
Saturday 13th October
It’s foggy man, really foggy this morning, so we may have to wait until the sun burns it off or the wind and rain disperses it. Whatever, we only have a couple of miles to go to Rugeley for shopping at Morrison’s, then on to Handsacre, where we’ll stay for Sunday lunchtime at The Old Peculiar pub.
Yesterday we spent about 1½ hours travelling the 3 miles and 2 locks to bridge 69 and, believe it or not we moored right opposite the pig farm. Fortunately there’s no smell to speak of since the wind is carrying it away. That farm also has chickens and a cow and one of the workers there lives on a boat with his Border Collie. Whilst out walking with Rusty yesterday afternoon I actually watched that dog kill a chicken. I think it was trying to herd it back into its compound, but became so frustrated at its refusal to do so, that she picked it up and tried to toss it over the wire, with fatal results.
I have just received the last part of the caravan pastel instructions. Goodness knows how Emma manages to depict a picture in such detail, it’s completely beyond me. But, with a bit of perseverance I’ll actually finish it soon. I will then file it away, never to see the light of day again.
So, what is the incubation period for the common cold? Not that we’re common you understand, but I now seem to have caught the wretched thing, and the only person I can possibly blame it on, is my dear wife. Out come the Beecham’s Powders and the Honey and Lemon drinks. Actually I can’t really blame Wifey because, as every woman will tell you, we men do not have colds we have man flu, which makes us very ill indeed and unable to cope with the simplest of tasks.
Sunday 14th October
I arose from our pit at the usual time of 5.15 to a very chilly boat. Fully expecting to see a frost on the ground, but finding none when I peeked through the window, I then cast my eyes towards the fire, where the fan on top was turning rather slowly. Oh dear! Who forgot to top the fire up last night? Fortunately it still had some life in it, so it was just a matter of topping it up and opening the vents, so it wasn’t long before the fan was spinning like crazy.
The fan here, for those non-boaters reading this blog, has only one moving part, and that’s the blade. It sits on the top plate of the solid fuel burner and, with a little help from rising heat currents, the fan spins, sending the warmth of the fire throughout the boat. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to do. In practice though, the heat doesn’t quite reach the bedroom, so, during the really cold weather we close the bedroom door and revel in the warmth. Lovely!
We now have just four days to go for this cruise and I fully intend for this to be the final blog posting. It may be a few pages longer than normal, but I’m sure you won’t mind.
Tomorrow we should be at Fradley Junction, followed by Alrewas on Tuesday, Branston Wednesday and home to Mercia on Thursday the 18th of October.
Monday 15th October
Yesterday, after an hour in The Old Peculiar, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. O.K., so we do plenty of relaxing anyway and Sundays are no different in that respect, but Sundays are not conducive to bus rides into town centres, so they always seem to go slower than the rest of the week.
The day was bright, with a chill wind and we fully expected a frost this morning but, luckily for us the day has started off cloudy and, especially for Wifey’s sake, since we do have a few locks to go through, so she won’t have slippery metal to walk across.
We’re only going three miles today to Fradley Junction, so it shouldn’t take us more than an hour and a half, even with the locks thrown in.
Rusty is becoming more and more prone to her tummy upsets, so one of our first ports of call when we get back to Mercia will be a trip to the Vet’s. Hopefully he will come up with some idea as to what is causing it because, whatever he prescribed last time, didn’t work.
Tuesday 16th October
The caravan is finished, but not really to my satisfaction. But, it’s safe to say that, once I have submitted a copy to Emma it will join the painting of Rusty. The sunset project will be treated with much more care and, with luck, result in a much cleaner and more detailed finished article. Meanwhile I now have to find a board on which to lay my A3 sheet while I’m working on it, and I also need to find a way of storing it between sessions. Not only that but, since our printer only goes up to a maximum of A4, I will have to take whatever picture Emma sends me to a photo shop for enlargement.
We arrived here at Fradley Junction at about 10.30 yesterday morning and were met with a notice warning boaters to proceed with caution when passing through the river section at Alrewas, which is our next stop after Fradley. Obviously that section; which is only about 200 yards long; is a bit high due to the heavy rains of late but, since we won’t be going through Alrewas until tomorrow I’m hoping the high water would have subsided by then. If the warning signs tell us that the water level is in the red, then we’ll have to wait until it goes down again.
We took a walk up to the shop yesterday, just to see how much more they’ve done to it since we passed through earlier in the year. The upstairs Art Gallery is complete, with displays of work from several artists. Downstairs is almost complete, with a small section being set aside for basic foodstuffs for passing boaters. We had, I think, our final ice cream of the season and bought a couple of the ‘Favourite’ series of recipe books, of which there are 86 in total. We now have 16 of them, so a long way to go yet.
Wednesday 17th October
When we awoke yesterday morning we were met with a high wind and bright sunshine. The sunshine is always welcome, but the wind makes it very difficult to steer 15 tonnes of steel, so we decided to stay another day at Fradley. The strong winds stayed with us until late afternoon, by which time it was too late to head for Alrewas. Besides which, we would have had trouble finding a mooring spot that late in the day.
We had hoped by this morning that the river section would have subsided but, with heavy rain overnight the warning sign has probably slipped into the red. We are, therefore, between a rock and a hard place, do we stay here for a third night, or do we go on to Alrewas and wait it out there? If the water level is now in the red, there may already be quite a few boats held up at Alrewas, which may make it rather tricky finding a mooring spot. This late in our travels I do not need the horns of a dilemma!! Even now, the wind seems to be whipping up again, adding to the problem.
…….. It’s now almost 6.30 am and I’ve just come back from walking Rusty. The wind is now just as strong as yesterday and it is now raining stair rods. Not only that, it is now a head wind, so we definitely are not going anywhere this morning, and it looks like a late arrival at Mercia, probably the weekend. What a way to end seven months cruising!
Last winter I didn’t bother with the blog, with the result that I was unable to use it just before setting out for this years cruise. This winter I will continue with the blog, but on a more ad hoc basis. Obviously being stuck in one place and passing our days very much like everybody else is not conducive to the production of exciting reading. This means that I will have to be rather picky in what I write about.
I have no doubt that my pal Alan will continue sending jokes and links to various amusing online videos, which I can include if they are suitable for family viewing. There’s also the matter of certain newspaper articles, some of which do tend to infuriate me. For example: this witch hunt of Jimmy Saville. Loads of other notable people have been dragged into this, including Esther Rantzen and Freddie Starr, to name but two. BUT, when is somebody going to offer PROOF of any wrongdoing by this man? All I’ve heard – and this is not unusual when a famous personality dies – is accusations from women who say ‘his touch lingered just a little bit too long’. What’s that supposed to mean? Did he molest these girls, or was he just being affectionate? I know, I know, there’s no smoke without fire, and all that cliché stuff and, I don’t think I’m being naïve here. We’ll probably never know the truth of it, despite the investigations going on, but an awful lot of heads will undoubtedly roll as a result of them.
That’s the kind of thing I plan to include in the winter blog. What you will have to bear in mind though, is that we only read the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, so I will probably be a wee bit biased. Well, you pays yer money and takes yer choice!!
Thursday 18th October
Much to our surprise, yesterday morning turned out fine and dry, so off we went to Alrewas.
This village has a Co-op, newsagent and a really good butcher, a shop that we always seem to spend too much money in, and yesterday was no different than usual. He usually has fresh bread on sale, but all of it was sliced this time, which we simply hate, (more like cardboard, if you ask me) so Wifey had to set to and make her own. I love it!
Today, after all the rain last night, has dawned clear and dry, so we should be able to get to Branston. This means a short stretch of the River Trent, immediately after the last lock in Alrewas. However, it’s only a short section, which ends at another lock that takes us back onto the canal.
Branston will be our last port of call before Mercia, which is where I will post this final blog of 2012.
Friday 19th October
A fine morning yesterday saw us make our way to Branston. Five miles, four locks and 2½ hours later and we arrived here at 10.30 am. We are moored, as usual, right beside Branston Water Park, an oddity as parks go, because it also has Dog Dip spots, where your pooch can paddle and swim to his/her hearts content. There was a time when Wifey would have been able to take Rusty all the way round the lake, sadly that’s no longer the case as Rusty is no longer up to such a walk.
There’s only one thing wrong with this mooring, midges. I noticed them yesterday evening when one settled on my hand. Not only that, there are also little, green aphids around. It’s October, for goodness sakes, what the heck are they doing here at this time of year? I’m becoming a little paranoid now and, with every slight tickle on the skin I think I’m being attacked. Reminder to self: do not spend high summer in the wilds of Scotland, where, so I’m told, there are millions of the little perishers.
We have lots of tasks to carry out this winter, including a partitioned tray to go under the side hatch, a new and bigger flower box for the top of the boat and a new bathroom cabinet; I hate that cheap and nasty wire shelf thing. Then there are the panels for the back doors, which would normally be Castles and Roses, but which may not be in our case as we like to be different. I also have to get back to my guitar and uke practice, of which I’ve done very little while we’ve been cruising. Whilst I wouldn’t call myself lazy, cruising for long periods certainly makes it seem that way.
But, we don’t want to be worrying about that, our first job will be shopping at Morrison’s, followed closely by a look around The Range and Derby Market. Not for anything special you understand, although, having downloaded a very interesting book on watercolour painting, I would like to buy a small box of pan paints and follow the exercise in that book.
Saturday 20th October
Well, that’s it for Cruise 2012. We left Branston quite late yesterday due to fog, with seven miles and two locks to go to Mercia, and arrived here at about 2.15 pm, well past our usual lunchtime, which accounts for why Rusty was pestering us during the last hour or so, the poor wee thing was hungry, bless her!
When we arrived at the first of the two locks, we found a family of holiday boaters in the shape of middle aged dad and four boys of varying ages, (don’t know where mum was). However, instead of moving on after passing through the lock, two of the boys waited for us and helped us through and told us that they wanted us to go in front, because they were in no hurry and didn’t want to hold us up. Now that was a first as nobody has ever done that before, and there’s many a time we’ve cursed boaters for really poodling along, when we want to get where we’re going.
Along the seven mile trip we enjoyed plenty of sunshine and good spirits after that show of consideration. Last year we were slaughtered with wind and rain for most of the second half of the trip.
And that’s about it, apart from saying, thanks for keeping us company along the way, even if it was only in spirit. We look forward to doing the same in 2003.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid the problems I had with Blogger last time, I will keep the blog going throughout winter, but on a much reduced level, as I’ve already mentioned.
Finally, I may have discovered the reason for those problems with Outlook. I received a reply from my email company, Absolute Email, who tell me it is because I am using my Internet providers own server, a fact that they have confirmed through their own logs. I now await details of how to change my Outlook settings from ‘3’ to Absolutes server. Should be interesting and, I hope, stop the returned emails.
Best wishes to all from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 11 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 29
Bridge 7/8 Shroppie to Great Haywood
Friday 5th October
From here to our next stop, which should be Cross Green on the Staffs and Worcester canal, is about six miles, with just the one stop-lock at the end of the Shroppie, so, weather permitting; and it’s looking O.K. at present; we should make landfall within a couple of hours or so. From the moorings there it is just a short walk to the local paper shop, after which we can settle in for the rest of the day.
Sheila still has the remnants of her cold; which has turned into that nagging cough that usually follows such things; whilst I still have a grumbling tummy, but that too has eased off. I guess we’re both succumbing to the ravages and vagaries of old age. Once these problems have cleared up of course, we’ll be our usual silly selves. Life is too short to have the miseries for too long.
Saturday 6th October
A beautiful, clear sky to start the day, although according to the mail yesterday, we can expect rain later, so, why is it that the BBC tell us to expect a clear day today?
Yesterday was another day of suffering, with Sheila still in the throes of a lousy cold and me with my upset tummy. I actually retired to bed very early last night and am now feeling much better. My tummy is gurgling, but it’s now from lack of food, I’m pleased to say. Sheila still has a bit of a cough, but that should soon clear.
Well, with a bit of luck we now have only 10 days to go before we’re back at Mercia. After all the lousy weather we’ve had of late, it can’t come soon enough for me. We can then look forward to those clear, crisp and cold winter mornings instead. Hmmm!
Sunday 7th October
A chilly start to the day, but it promises to be a bright one. This is good news to me, because we’re off to Penkridge, it’s Sunday, my tummy is all better and I’ll be able to enjoy a couple of Guinness’s. Great!!
It only took us 1 ½ hours to get here from Gailey, but it was a lovely morning and there were very few other boaters about, except those that are permanently moored up and slow us down. However, since we are rarely is a tearing hurry; at 4mph that’s impossible anyway; they don’t bother us too much, except when it’s raining, when they can be a pesky nuisance.
Coming through the final lock yesterday the boat took a bit of a soaking from a spout of water emanating from the side wall. Such leaks are quite common, although they are not usually as strong as this beauty. Anyway, I closed the back doors to avoid splashes and jiggled the boat about in an effort to avoid the worst of it. But, when we arrived at our intended moorings and, finding I needed to reverse a bit, I experienced an awful burning smell from the engine bay. Thinking the worst I lifted the cover and, sure enough there was a load of liquid, which I took to be an oil leak. Thankfully it wasn’t. Obviously some of the water gusher had found its way onto the fan belt, causing it to slip and burn a bit. Phew!
Monday 8th October
We’ve decided to spend another day here at Penkridge. This is one of our favourite stopovers on the Staffs and Worcester. There’s a good pub by the side of the canal, although, truth to tell, it was rather noisy with the music yesterday. Now, I am of the opinion that, if you choose to eat in a pub you should at least be able to do so in relative comfort. Loud music does not equate to comfort when eating. This could account for the fact that, by the time we left The Boat, at about 1.30, there were no diners there whatsoever. The Cook/Chef was behind the bar and could have been no older than 25/30 and the Manager, when he appeared, didn’t look to be much older. Neither of us recognised either of them from previous visits, so the pub may have changed hands. Whatever the case, if that places wants to remain in business, it would behove them to give due consideration to their customers, rather than the level at which the staff wish to hear the music. Nuff said!!
We’ll be taking a walk into town this morning, because there are some good shops there and, our favourite, the local butcher. On the other side of the main road there is a market, but we think that’s only open two days per week, neither of which is Monday.
You may remember me mentioning the visit by a heating engineer a while ago? Well, since then I have been trying to conserve battery power. I do not, for example, run the Inverter/Charger unless the engine is also running. This means that, when I use the laptop in the morning, I run it on its internal battery. I then charge it up as and when I have the engine running. This simple change has resulted in much more power available in the morning and, provided that I continue in like fashion, we should arrive at Mercia with batteries intact and reasonably healthy. Once we’re back on land based power, we’ll have no more problems for six months.
Tuesday 9th October
Once again, nothing out of the ordinary to report for yesterday, just the usual routine of shopping and walking the dog and reading of course, oh, and we had some rain. All very exciting, as you would imagine. Perhaps a wee bit of flippancy there?
Today we’ll be off to Weeping Cross, from which we will take the bus into Stafford. Unfortunately the butcher in Penkridge was closed yesterday; some butchers still do so on Mondays; so we had to resort to that thin and tasteless bacon from the Co-op. We need proper bacon!!
Later….
Well, we arrived at Weeping Cross somewhat later than I had hoped. Perhaps we were simply going slower than usual but, with five locks and six miles to do, we took 2½ hours, in a light, but chilly wind and, poor old me, I started feeling quite cold during the half hour prior to our arrival.
Weeping Cross has a pub beside the canal only a short walk from our current moorings, which we called into on one previous visit. We said at the time ‘never again’ because, not unlike a post office or bank, I was asked to queue in a line for my second drink. Now though, the place seems to have changed hands – what a surprise – and looks like one of those Beefeater type joints, so, on our next pass through, we might just give it a second chance.
Initially we were considering taking the bus into Stafford today but, since we didn’t arrive until after 11 am, we have deferred the trip until tomorrow morning.
Wednesday 10th October
Well, tomorrow has arrived and looks set fair for a trip into Stafford. The original purpose for this trip was to buy myself a pair of waterproof boots because, when we arrived at Penkridge, my socks were wet. We put this down to leaky boots at first but, when we arrived here yesterday, having walked over lots of wet grass again, with my sock still dry, we now think the gushing water through the lock before Penkridge, must have splashed over the top of my boots and seeped in through the laces.
This doesn’t mean we have no reason for the trip into town. Who needs a reason for a free bus ride? Although, should I find a reasonably priced pair of waterproof shoes, I might still spend some cash.
My pastel painting is not going so well. In fact, it’s becoming a disaster. Pastels are such a messy medium, as I am rapidly coming to realise. With watercolours and oils you are left with a few splashes to clear up, but, with pastels, the dust gets everywhere, including all over the work already done, resulting in a smudged and messy piece of paper.
Emma seems to think that, once I have gone through the whole picture, most of the smudging will have been covered up with new pastel. She has yet to convince me of this fact.
Later…..
We changed our minds about the trip into Stafford. Instead we set off for Great Haywood, as the weather was dry and still fairly mild. Arrived GH at 10 am and will probably do the Stafford trip tomorrow morning.
Although I haven’t finished this pesky caravan pastel, Emma has asked me if I could get some bigger paper, probably A3. What she has in mind, I have no idea, but it will probably be a landscape of some kind. I’ve asked that she keep it simple, which rather coincides with my simple mind, I suppose.
Thursday 11th October
If things pan out as intended and the weather holds good, we should be at Mercia by this time next week. With the days becoming just a wee bit colder and the nights drawing in, that marina will be a welcome sight. We have been allocated a bay just a few moves away from our last one, so we’ll still be among friends. We’ll be closer to Richard and Sue; they looked after Rusty a couple of times last winter; and we’ll have a couple of nurses, I think, right next door.
We are, as you know, at Great Haywood, where the Internet tower is within shouting distance, as is the train line. Fortunately we rarely watch TV whilst cruising, because reception here is not very good. Up here, just past the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal, reception is possible but, had we been just a few boat lengths further along, we would have had to go without.
As it is I’ve been able to maintain contact with Emma, who has helped me over a bit of a stumbling block with my caravan painting. Painting? Blooming mess more like. I’ve had trouble placing a flimsy curtain in a window and, after several mistakes, decided to change it somewhat. But, I won’t be sorry to see the back of it. Of course I’ll keep it, if only to show how dreadful I was at this stage. Hopefully the next project will be somewhat simpler in detail and give me a chance to improve my technique.
Here we go again!!
I’ve just been online to Emma, thanking her for helping with that curtain. Once again Outlook refuses to send my reply, instead sending me the usual error message as to why the message can’t be sent.
After no less than three attempts whereby, as is my normal practice when this happens, I shut down my dongle, rebooted the laptop and pressed send/receive. Nope, same message. This is so infuriating and I don’t know what I can possibly do about it. If anybody who knows my email address has any idea as to what I can do here, your help would make me a happy bunny. If no help is forthcoming I’ll scweam and scweam and scweam. So there! What’s more, I’ll stamp my feet as well.
Now, since my laptop is running short of power and I am now offline, I’ll have to post this blog later.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 5th October
From here to our next stop, which should be Cross Green on the Staffs and Worcester canal, is about six miles, with just the one stop-lock at the end of the Shroppie, so, weather permitting; and it’s looking O.K. at present; we should make landfall within a couple of hours or so. From the moorings there it is just a short walk to the local paper shop, after which we can settle in for the rest of the day.
Sheila still has the remnants of her cold; which has turned into that nagging cough that usually follows such things; whilst I still have a grumbling tummy, but that too has eased off. I guess we’re both succumbing to the ravages and vagaries of old age. Once these problems have cleared up of course, we’ll be our usual silly selves. Life is too short to have the miseries for too long.
Saturday 6th October
A beautiful, clear sky to start the day, although according to the mail yesterday, we can expect rain later, so, why is it that the BBC tell us to expect a clear day today?
Yesterday was another day of suffering, with Sheila still in the throes of a lousy cold and me with my upset tummy. I actually retired to bed very early last night and am now feeling much better. My tummy is gurgling, but it’s now from lack of food, I’m pleased to say. Sheila still has a bit of a cough, but that should soon clear.
Well, with a bit of luck we now have only 10 days to go before we’re back at Mercia. After all the lousy weather we’ve had of late, it can’t come soon enough for me. We can then look forward to those clear, crisp and cold winter mornings instead. Hmmm!
Sunday 7th October
A chilly start to the day, but it promises to be a bright one. This is good news to me, because we’re off to Penkridge, it’s Sunday, my tummy is all better and I’ll be able to enjoy a couple of Guinness’s. Great!!
It only took us 1 ½ hours to get here from Gailey, but it was a lovely morning and there were very few other boaters about, except those that are permanently moored up and slow us down. However, since we are rarely is a tearing hurry; at 4mph that’s impossible anyway; they don’t bother us too much, except when it’s raining, when they can be a pesky nuisance.
Coming through the final lock yesterday the boat took a bit of a soaking from a spout of water emanating from the side wall. Such leaks are quite common, although they are not usually as strong as this beauty. Anyway, I closed the back doors to avoid splashes and jiggled the boat about in an effort to avoid the worst of it. But, when we arrived at our intended moorings and, finding I needed to reverse a bit, I experienced an awful burning smell from the engine bay. Thinking the worst I lifted the cover and, sure enough there was a load of liquid, which I took to be an oil leak. Thankfully it wasn’t. Obviously some of the water gusher had found its way onto the fan belt, causing it to slip and burn a bit. Phew!
Monday 8th October
We’ve decided to spend another day here at Penkridge. This is one of our favourite stopovers on the Staffs and Worcester. There’s a good pub by the side of the canal, although, truth to tell, it was rather noisy with the music yesterday. Now, I am of the opinion that, if you choose to eat in a pub you should at least be able to do so in relative comfort. Loud music does not equate to comfort when eating. This could account for the fact that, by the time we left The Boat, at about 1.30, there were no diners there whatsoever. The Cook/Chef was behind the bar and could have been no older than 25/30 and the Manager, when he appeared, didn’t look to be much older. Neither of us recognised either of them from previous visits, so the pub may have changed hands. Whatever the case, if that places wants to remain in business, it would behove them to give due consideration to their customers, rather than the level at which the staff wish to hear the music. Nuff said!!
We’ll be taking a walk into town this morning, because there are some good shops there and, our favourite, the local butcher. On the other side of the main road there is a market, but we think that’s only open two days per week, neither of which is Monday.
You may remember me mentioning the visit by a heating engineer a while ago? Well, since then I have been trying to conserve battery power. I do not, for example, run the Inverter/Charger unless the engine is also running. This means that, when I use the laptop in the morning, I run it on its internal battery. I then charge it up as and when I have the engine running. This simple change has resulted in much more power available in the morning and, provided that I continue in like fashion, we should arrive at Mercia with batteries intact and reasonably healthy. Once we’re back on land based power, we’ll have no more problems for six months.
Tuesday 9th October
Once again, nothing out of the ordinary to report for yesterday, just the usual routine of shopping and walking the dog and reading of course, oh, and we had some rain. All very exciting, as you would imagine. Perhaps a wee bit of flippancy there?
Today we’ll be off to Weeping Cross, from which we will take the bus into Stafford. Unfortunately the butcher in Penkridge was closed yesterday; some butchers still do so on Mondays; so we had to resort to that thin and tasteless bacon from the Co-op. We need proper bacon!!
Later….
Well, we arrived at Weeping Cross somewhat later than I had hoped. Perhaps we were simply going slower than usual but, with five locks and six miles to do, we took 2½ hours, in a light, but chilly wind and, poor old me, I started feeling quite cold during the half hour prior to our arrival.
Weeping Cross has a pub beside the canal only a short walk from our current moorings, which we called into on one previous visit. We said at the time ‘never again’ because, not unlike a post office or bank, I was asked to queue in a line for my second drink. Now though, the place seems to have changed hands – what a surprise – and looks like one of those Beefeater type joints, so, on our next pass through, we might just give it a second chance.
Initially we were considering taking the bus into Stafford today but, since we didn’t arrive until after 11 am, we have deferred the trip until tomorrow morning.
Wednesday 10th October
Well, tomorrow has arrived and looks set fair for a trip into Stafford. The original purpose for this trip was to buy myself a pair of waterproof boots because, when we arrived at Penkridge, my socks were wet. We put this down to leaky boots at first but, when we arrived here yesterday, having walked over lots of wet grass again, with my sock still dry, we now think the gushing water through the lock before Penkridge, must have splashed over the top of my boots and seeped in through the laces.
This doesn’t mean we have no reason for the trip into town. Who needs a reason for a free bus ride? Although, should I find a reasonably priced pair of waterproof shoes, I might still spend some cash.
My pastel painting is not going so well. In fact, it’s becoming a disaster. Pastels are such a messy medium, as I am rapidly coming to realise. With watercolours and oils you are left with a few splashes to clear up, but, with pastels, the dust gets everywhere, including all over the work already done, resulting in a smudged and messy piece of paper.
Emma seems to think that, once I have gone through the whole picture, most of the smudging will have been covered up with new pastel. She has yet to convince me of this fact.
Later…..
We changed our minds about the trip into Stafford. Instead we set off for Great Haywood, as the weather was dry and still fairly mild. Arrived GH at 10 am and will probably do the Stafford trip tomorrow morning.
Although I haven’t finished this pesky caravan pastel, Emma has asked me if I could get some bigger paper, probably A3. What she has in mind, I have no idea, but it will probably be a landscape of some kind. I’ve asked that she keep it simple, which rather coincides with my simple mind, I suppose.
Thursday 11th October
If things pan out as intended and the weather holds good, we should be at Mercia by this time next week. With the days becoming just a wee bit colder and the nights drawing in, that marina will be a welcome sight. We have been allocated a bay just a few moves away from our last one, so we’ll still be among friends. We’ll be closer to Richard and Sue; they looked after Rusty a couple of times last winter; and we’ll have a couple of nurses, I think, right next door.
We are, as you know, at Great Haywood, where the Internet tower is within shouting distance, as is the train line. Fortunately we rarely watch TV whilst cruising, because reception here is not very good. Up here, just past the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal, reception is possible but, had we been just a few boat lengths further along, we would have had to go without.
As it is I’ve been able to maintain contact with Emma, who has helped me over a bit of a stumbling block with my caravan painting. Painting? Blooming mess more like. I’ve had trouble placing a flimsy curtain in a window and, after several mistakes, decided to change it somewhat. But, I won’t be sorry to see the back of it. Of course I’ll keep it, if only to show how dreadful I was at this stage. Hopefully the next project will be somewhat simpler in detail and give me a chance to improve my technique.
Here we go again!!
I’ve just been online to Emma, thanking her for helping with that curtain. Once again Outlook refuses to send my reply, instead sending me the usual error message as to why the message can’t be sent.
After no less than three attempts whereby, as is my normal practice when this happens, I shut down my dongle, rebooted the laptop and pressed send/receive. Nope, same message. This is so infuriating and I don’t know what I can possibly do about it. If anybody who knows my email address has any idea as to what I can do here, your help would make me a happy bunny. If no help is forthcoming I’ll scweam and scweam and scweam. So there! What’s more, I’ll stamp my feet as well.
Now, since my laptop is running short of power and I am now offline, I’ll have to post this blog later.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 4 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 28
Overwater to Bridge 7/8 Shroppie
Thursday 27th September
Well now, with only about 16 days to go before we’re back at our winter moorings, this will probably be the penultimate blog for 2012. Despite the poor summer this year, we have enjoyed our travels over the past six months and we hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs.
Next year our aim is to visit Liverpool and cross the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal and take a look at how Lancastrians live. We had hoped to make those two trips this year but, with some kind of festival taking place on the Lancaster and with bookings for the Ribble Link already oversubscribed, this was not possible. So, we will plan those trips during our winter break and book them up prior to setting out, probably at the end of March.
Friday 28th September
I have discovered that, when it comes to painting with pastels, cleanliness is next to godliness – but, hey, who wants to be an angel? Anyway, unlike other budding artists, I can’t keep my efforts standing on an easel waiting for any additions I will make later. Nope, I have to remove my painting from the board it rests on, slide it carefully into a plastic sleeve and put that in a folder. With the best will in the world therefore, the darn thing is bound to get smudged, which is what is happening with my ‘Caravan’ project.
I’m beginning to think I should have gone back to watercolour but, having agreed to be Emma’s guinea pig for this series of paintings with pastels, I can’t really let her down. So, later today, after we reach the bottom of the next set of locks – and we have 11 of these Audlem locks still left to do today – I’m going have a look around for any books I may still have on the subject and, with my trusty laptop, search out some info on watercolour pencils; of which I have a whole bunch; and then find a subject to paint.
Meanwhile, should the weather be clement, we’ll be off through the rest of the aforementioned locks. Amen to that. The weather at present is far from clement in fact it’s drizzling with rain and rather windy.
Here’s a question for experts on Internet Explorer:
All of a sudden and out of the blue, without me making any adjustments to IE settings, every time I click on a link in IE all I get is a tiny screen at the top left hand side of my screen, which I then have to enlarge. I have no idea why this is happening, nor do I know how to fix it. Heeeeeelllpppp!!!! It’s driving me nuts!
Incidentally, when I open IE for the first time, it comes up as normal size.
Saturday 29th September
I have been sitting here at my laptop since 5.15 this morning and, after several attempts at getting online, without success, I took the dongle and propped it up on the roof. Even then I could only get a poor signal. Still, I did manage to download my emails but, when it came to sending, no chance. ‘Here we go again’, I thought.
Once again we were really lucky with the weather yesterday. Sheila walked into Audlem for the paper but, when she returned it was still raining. So, we hung around for a while and, as it seemed to be easing off by about 8.15, we set off to start the other 11 locks of the Audlem flight and the 2½ miles to the bottom of Adderley locks. By mid afternoon, down came the rain again and continued well into the evening. In fact, it stopped when I took rusty out, started again when we got back, then stopped when Sheila took her out and re-started as she got back. I think we lead a charmed life where the weather is concerned.
Sunday 30th September
Well, that’s another month out of the way and autumn to look forward to. Already we can see some of the trees changing colour and dropping their leaves. Still, in another couple of weeks we’ll be safe and secure at our winter moorings.
Yesterday turned out fine, with not a drop of rain, so we headed off for Market Drayton at about 8.15 and arrived at 10.15 and topped up with water.
When we came through here in April, or thereabouts, we took a walk through town to Morrison’s. Now that is quite walk or, as some would say, a good stretch of the legs. On that occasion, even though my legs ached, as they always do on such walks, I don’t remember the walk as being particularly uncomfortable. This time however, I can safely say, I really suffered and had to sit down as often as I could on the way back. I’m still feeling the effects of that walk this morning. Still, the nearest pub is just across the nearby bridge, so that won’t be a problem.
Listed below are our planned stops from now until Mercia:-
Goldstone Wharf, Gnosall, Wheaton Aston, Brewood, Penkridge, Great Haywood, Rugeley, Handsacre, Fradley Junction, Alrewas, Branston (where we plan on a pub lunch, proper) and finally Mercia, on or about the 16th.
Monday 1st October
Sunday lunch time was spent at The Talbot pub, which is just a short walk across the nearest bridge. Market Drayton has a huge selection of pubs, but most of them are within the town itself and The Talbot is the only one close to the canal. Having walked into town yesterday, with the resultant aching legs, another such walk did not seem too attractive.
In fact, the last time we passed through here we did walk into town, but only to the nearest pub. Sadly the pub we chose was all spit and sawdust and not really to our liking. Had it been placed in the Wild West I have no doubt it would have had bat-wing doors and spittoons by every table. I can even conjure up a honky-tonk piano to go with them, not to mention a few floozies sitting on cowboy’s knees. Ah well, that’s my imagination for you.
Today, as you can see above, we are heading for Goldstone Wharf, which also boasts a really good pub. However, weather permitting, we may push on a bit further so that we can run the engine for as long as we like, assuming nobody else chooses to moor up with us. I also need to take our back box off and repair the lid. For some reason that I am unable to fathom, I forgot to screw the blocks holding the hinges and, instead, left the wood glue to take the strain. Consequently one of the blocks has come unstuck and needs to be secured with screws.
Tuesday 2nd October
Yesterday morning, after Wifey had walked into town for a few bits and pieces, we set off for Goldstone Wharf, on a bright and mild morning. We had about 3 miles to go and five locks at Tyrely, plus a narrow cut of about two miles – maybe a bit less.
We had been moored close to a pine tree for these two days, so you can imaging the mess on our roof by the time we left. I managed to brush most of the pine needles off from one side whilst going through Tyrley Locks and, after our cup of coffee, removed the other lot whilst Wifey took Rusty out.
When we came through this cut earlier in the year, as you may recall, we were heading in the opposite direction and came face to face with a fallen tree and, since we couldn’t go forward, I had to reverse almost a mile, turn around and head back to Gnosall while a BW crew removed the blockage. You could say that this tree is the reason for the 2 mph speed limit along this stretch, because the banks that rise above the canal are pretty unstable, especially during periods of heavy rain, which is something we also ran into yesterday.
Two miles per hour may seem slow but, anything above this causes a bow wave and wash that can easily erode the canal bank and cause a land slip, so it’s best to keep to a very slow speed. The floating barrier still surround that fall, so I guess somebody will be along during winter stoppages to clear the rest of the debris.
At Goldstone Wharf is a very pleasant pub that sits beside the canal and a bridge. Unfortunately, the road passing the pub is currently closed for repairs, so the owner must be losing some trade here. He does have a couple of fields open for caravans and campers but, with the road closed and the season coming to an end, he’s not getting much custom their either.
The other problem with this mooring is no Internet access and no mobile phone either. So, despite seven pages of this blog, I won’t be posting from here. I’m not too sure about Shebdon Wharf, which is where we’ll be heading for today but, if possible I’ll try to post from there.
Wednesday 3rd October.
It is just after 7.05 am and I have just committed the most stupid mistake since I started this blog. I must have added a couple of pages to it this morning but, when I came to the end and closed my Word document down, instead of clicking on ‘yes’ when asked if I wanted to save the changes, I clicked on ‘no’. I sometimes wonder if I’m quite the man for the job and I’m damned if I can remember what I wrote.
Having wasted all that time and with Wifey about to surface, I will just say that, having spent 2½ hours travelling here yesterday, partly in pouring rain, yet again, we are now at Norbury Junction where, as with our last visit, I am unable to get online and post this blog.
And that’s that for this entry.
Thursday 4th October
We arrived at Wheaton Aston yesterday at about 10.45. I had thought we might catch the bus to Stafford, but with Wifey being poorly, we decided against it. Instead we walked to the local Spar shop, just for the paper and a bottle of milk.
We have probably travelled some 10 miles without Internet access and, when I finally connected this morning, there were 76 emails, many of them really comical ones from Sandra. Keep ‘em coming Sandra, I’ve got a folder full of your jokes and pictures, which I go back over when I’m in need of a chuckle.
My caravan painting is coming along, although it does look rather grubby. However, Emma assures me that it will all work out in the end.
The local garage her at Wheaton Aston, has a Red Diesel pipe running down to the canal and it must be the cheapest on the cut at just £0.76.9p/litre. When you consider that most other outlets are in the 90p + bracket, you can understand why this bloke is so popular. Needless to say, we’ll be topping up before we leave this morning.
Friday 5th October
There’s not much to be said for yesterday, except that, after stopping off at Brewood for a spot of shopping, we continued on to one of our favourite spots on the Shroppie, between bridges 7 and 8. But, with Sheila still suffering with her cold; which has pretty much cleared up this morning; and me developing a serious trapped wind problem later in the day, we were looking a sorry pair.
So, having ended on a less than cheerful note and with a good signal, it’s about time this blog was posted.
All the best to one and all. Enjoy the coming weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 27th September
Well now, with only about 16 days to go before we’re back at our winter moorings, this will probably be the penultimate blog for 2012. Despite the poor summer this year, we have enjoyed our travels over the past six months and we hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs.
Next year our aim is to visit Liverpool and cross the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal and take a look at how Lancastrians live. We had hoped to make those two trips this year but, with some kind of festival taking place on the Lancaster and with bookings for the Ribble Link already oversubscribed, this was not possible. So, we will plan those trips during our winter break and book them up prior to setting out, probably at the end of March.
Friday 28th September
I have discovered that, when it comes to painting with pastels, cleanliness is next to godliness – but, hey, who wants to be an angel? Anyway, unlike other budding artists, I can’t keep my efforts standing on an easel waiting for any additions I will make later. Nope, I have to remove my painting from the board it rests on, slide it carefully into a plastic sleeve and put that in a folder. With the best will in the world therefore, the darn thing is bound to get smudged, which is what is happening with my ‘Caravan’ project.
I’m beginning to think I should have gone back to watercolour but, having agreed to be Emma’s guinea pig for this series of paintings with pastels, I can’t really let her down. So, later today, after we reach the bottom of the next set of locks – and we have 11 of these Audlem locks still left to do today – I’m going have a look around for any books I may still have on the subject and, with my trusty laptop, search out some info on watercolour pencils; of which I have a whole bunch; and then find a subject to paint.
Meanwhile, should the weather be clement, we’ll be off through the rest of the aforementioned locks. Amen to that. The weather at present is far from clement in fact it’s drizzling with rain and rather windy.
Here’s a question for experts on Internet Explorer:
All of a sudden and out of the blue, without me making any adjustments to IE settings, every time I click on a link in IE all I get is a tiny screen at the top left hand side of my screen, which I then have to enlarge. I have no idea why this is happening, nor do I know how to fix it. Heeeeeelllpppp!!!! It’s driving me nuts!
Incidentally, when I open IE for the first time, it comes up as normal size.
Saturday 29th September
I have been sitting here at my laptop since 5.15 this morning and, after several attempts at getting online, without success, I took the dongle and propped it up on the roof. Even then I could only get a poor signal. Still, I did manage to download my emails but, when it came to sending, no chance. ‘Here we go again’, I thought.
Once again we were really lucky with the weather yesterday. Sheila walked into Audlem for the paper but, when she returned it was still raining. So, we hung around for a while and, as it seemed to be easing off by about 8.15, we set off to start the other 11 locks of the Audlem flight and the 2½ miles to the bottom of Adderley locks. By mid afternoon, down came the rain again and continued well into the evening. In fact, it stopped when I took rusty out, started again when we got back, then stopped when Sheila took her out and re-started as she got back. I think we lead a charmed life where the weather is concerned.
Sunday 30th September
Well, that’s another month out of the way and autumn to look forward to. Already we can see some of the trees changing colour and dropping their leaves. Still, in another couple of weeks we’ll be safe and secure at our winter moorings.
Yesterday turned out fine, with not a drop of rain, so we headed off for Market Drayton at about 8.15 and arrived at 10.15 and topped up with water.
When we came through here in April, or thereabouts, we took a walk through town to Morrison’s. Now that is quite walk or, as some would say, a good stretch of the legs. On that occasion, even though my legs ached, as they always do on such walks, I don’t remember the walk as being particularly uncomfortable. This time however, I can safely say, I really suffered and had to sit down as often as I could on the way back. I’m still feeling the effects of that walk this morning. Still, the nearest pub is just across the nearby bridge, so that won’t be a problem.
Listed below are our planned stops from now until Mercia:-
Goldstone Wharf, Gnosall, Wheaton Aston, Brewood, Penkridge, Great Haywood, Rugeley, Handsacre, Fradley Junction, Alrewas, Branston (where we plan on a pub lunch, proper) and finally Mercia, on or about the 16th.
Monday 1st October
Sunday lunch time was spent at The Talbot pub, which is just a short walk across the nearest bridge. Market Drayton has a huge selection of pubs, but most of them are within the town itself and The Talbot is the only one close to the canal. Having walked into town yesterday, with the resultant aching legs, another such walk did not seem too attractive.
In fact, the last time we passed through here we did walk into town, but only to the nearest pub. Sadly the pub we chose was all spit and sawdust and not really to our liking. Had it been placed in the Wild West I have no doubt it would have had bat-wing doors and spittoons by every table. I can even conjure up a honky-tonk piano to go with them, not to mention a few floozies sitting on cowboy’s knees. Ah well, that’s my imagination for you.
Today, as you can see above, we are heading for Goldstone Wharf, which also boasts a really good pub. However, weather permitting, we may push on a bit further so that we can run the engine for as long as we like, assuming nobody else chooses to moor up with us. I also need to take our back box off and repair the lid. For some reason that I am unable to fathom, I forgot to screw the blocks holding the hinges and, instead, left the wood glue to take the strain. Consequently one of the blocks has come unstuck and needs to be secured with screws.
Tuesday 2nd October
Yesterday morning, after Wifey had walked into town for a few bits and pieces, we set off for Goldstone Wharf, on a bright and mild morning. We had about 3 miles to go and five locks at Tyrely, plus a narrow cut of about two miles – maybe a bit less.
We had been moored close to a pine tree for these two days, so you can imaging the mess on our roof by the time we left. I managed to brush most of the pine needles off from one side whilst going through Tyrley Locks and, after our cup of coffee, removed the other lot whilst Wifey took Rusty out.
When we came through this cut earlier in the year, as you may recall, we were heading in the opposite direction and came face to face with a fallen tree and, since we couldn’t go forward, I had to reverse almost a mile, turn around and head back to Gnosall while a BW crew removed the blockage. You could say that this tree is the reason for the 2 mph speed limit along this stretch, because the banks that rise above the canal are pretty unstable, especially during periods of heavy rain, which is something we also ran into yesterday.
Two miles per hour may seem slow but, anything above this causes a bow wave and wash that can easily erode the canal bank and cause a land slip, so it’s best to keep to a very slow speed. The floating barrier still surround that fall, so I guess somebody will be along during winter stoppages to clear the rest of the debris.
At Goldstone Wharf is a very pleasant pub that sits beside the canal and a bridge. Unfortunately, the road passing the pub is currently closed for repairs, so the owner must be losing some trade here. He does have a couple of fields open for caravans and campers but, with the road closed and the season coming to an end, he’s not getting much custom their either.
The other problem with this mooring is no Internet access and no mobile phone either. So, despite seven pages of this blog, I won’t be posting from here. I’m not too sure about Shebdon Wharf, which is where we’ll be heading for today but, if possible I’ll try to post from there.
Wednesday 3rd October.
It is just after 7.05 am and I have just committed the most stupid mistake since I started this blog. I must have added a couple of pages to it this morning but, when I came to the end and closed my Word document down, instead of clicking on ‘yes’ when asked if I wanted to save the changes, I clicked on ‘no’. I sometimes wonder if I’m quite the man for the job and I’m damned if I can remember what I wrote.
Having wasted all that time and with Wifey about to surface, I will just say that, having spent 2½ hours travelling here yesterday, partly in pouring rain, yet again, we are now at Norbury Junction where, as with our last visit, I am unable to get online and post this blog.
And that’s that for this entry.
Thursday 4th October
We arrived at Wheaton Aston yesterday at about 10.45. I had thought we might catch the bus to Stafford, but with Wifey being poorly, we decided against it. Instead we walked to the local Spar shop, just for the paper and a bottle of milk.
We have probably travelled some 10 miles without Internet access and, when I finally connected this morning, there were 76 emails, many of them really comical ones from Sandra. Keep ‘em coming Sandra, I’ve got a folder full of your jokes and pictures, which I go back over when I’m in need of a chuckle.
My caravan painting is coming along, although it does look rather grubby. However, Emma assures me that it will all work out in the end.
The local garage her at Wheaton Aston, has a Red Diesel pipe running down to the canal and it must be the cheapest on the cut at just £0.76.9p/litre. When you consider that most other outlets are in the 90p + bracket, you can understand why this bloke is so popular. Needless to say, we’ll be topping up before we leave this morning.
Friday 5th October
There’s not much to be said for yesterday, except that, after stopping off at Brewood for a spot of shopping, we continued on to one of our favourite spots on the Shroppie, between bridges 7 and 8. But, with Sheila still suffering with her cold; which has pretty much cleared up this morning; and me developing a serious trapped wind problem later in the day, we were looking a sorry pair.
So, having ended on a less than cheerful note and with a good signal, it’s about time this blog was posted.
All the best to one and all. Enjoy the coming weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
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