Gnosall to Market Drayton
Monday 29th April
Yesterday, just for a change, we walked into Gnosall to the
Royal Oak for our Sunday drink. A very clean and tidy pub with plenty of space,
unlike the two pubs at Gnosall Heath, where there are two pubs, The Boat and
The Navigation Inn.
When I say we’re mooring at Gnosall, the visitor moorings
are actually at Gnosall Heath as that’s where the canal passes through. The
main shop is also in Gnosall Heath and, by studying the poster on canal side,
Gnosall doesn’t even boat a shop, only a chemist and a fish shop. So, Gnosall
Heath is by far the better place to moor up, since there are no moorings at
Gnosall.
I do hope all the above is clear!!
Today, assuming we are all rained out now; we had plenty of it
yesterday afternoon and evening; we’ll move on to Norbury Junction, where we’ll
stay for just one night.
Tuesday 30th April
Next weekend sees the annual festival at Norbury Junction
and, funnily enough we came through here just short of that time. At the time
there were enough spaces for visitors to moor up, although there were signs all
along the visitor moorings advising boaters that the whole length of moorings
had already been booked.
Now, just because of the utter chaos caused by these
festivals, we never bother to visit them. In the first place it is always
necessary to book a berth well in advance and, if you are not very careful, if
you do decide to visit you’re quite likely to have another boat moored
alongside.
When we arrived here yesterday morning at about 10.15, we
could only find one space, and that was right at the end. So it seems that some
visitors to the festival next weekend have already arrived.
Personally I don’t object to festivals as they can probably
be fun events but, what I do object to is not being able to visit the place at
all while there is a festival going on.
For winter moorings later this year we are looking around
for something nearer to Harlow, although not so near as to be outside our
budget. At Mercia we have been paying just over £200 per month, plus the very
low cost of electricity. Since we only stay for five months, well, you do the
math.
On the Oxford Canal there’s a new marina opening this year
at Cropredy and, as any fan of music will know, this is where they hold a music
festival every year, which was started many years ago by Fairport Convention
who, although with a different line up, still attend every year.
The rates at the marina are £150 per month, which would set
us back £1800 per year, which is still a little steep, but it might still be
worth it for a permanent base. We’ll see.
Soon after we arrived at Norbury Junction yesterday, Wifey
decide to do some washing and, for what it’s worth, she now does so on a cool
wash, thus saving on battery power. Anyway, having checked the reading on our
panel, she noticed that, even though we had been travelling for an hour and a
half and the engine was still running, there was only just 12.4 volts showing
on the domestic side, whereas the starter battery was way above that. Further
investigation showed that the new alternator/charger remote unit was not
alight. Oh dear! What the heck had gone wrong now? As usual in these
circumstances, I threw a fit and berated the blessed thing.
So, before phoning Andy and giving him the bad news, I took
another look in the engine bay, but all connections seemed intact; I’d been
down there before leaving Gnosall and suspected that, just maybe I had pulled a
lead out.
Andy suggested that we might have a dodgy alternator and
promised to come along, all the way from Willington, later in the evening.
Now, it just so happens that we do have a spare alternator,
so we fished it out and I donned my scruffy work jeans and climbed down into
the engine bay, all togged up and ready to swap alternators, saving Andy a
journey and us more money.
Lo and behold I immediately found a lead hanging off the
alternator which, because it was simply dangling down unsecured, was easy for
my clod hoppers to pull apart.
When I texted Andy with the good news, he replied “You sure
know how to age a man”. Hmm, I would have thought that was his wife’s job!!
Anyway, all’s well now, until next time, when we probably won’t be so lucky.
It’s a beautiful morning, although it started with a frost
layer on the boat. If it stays bright and the promised rain doesn’t arrive,
we’’ be off to Shebdon Wharf. But first we’ll walk down to the chandlery cum
café and buy a paper.
Wednesday 1st May
It’s crumpet day today, after which we’ll be moving on to
Market Drayton. Fortunately for us it’s Market Day today and that’s something
we’ve never been there for, so we could be in for a treat, especially if the
weather stays fine for us. We have eight miles and five locks between us and
the town, so it could be a long trip.
Yesterday was quite good too, although our run to Shebdon
Wharf was rather chilly. Apart from The Wharf pub, which only opens in the
evenings, there’s nothing here but a boat repair yard, so it’s been nice and
peaceful. That situation will change when we get to MD, as that is a pretty
busy town.
It is a gorgeous morning, so the eight miles and five locks
should be a pleasure.
Thursday 2nd May
The eight miles and five locks to Market Drayton took just
three hours and all in bright sunshine. What a delightful change from some of
the runs we’ve made this year. Still, it is early days yet, we could still get
more snow!!
The bad news is, the fire went out last night and I’m
sitting here with a cardigan, scarf, fur-lined boots and winter coat on. Nah!
Only kidding. The reason the fire went out is because of the dodgy bag of coal
we bought earlier this week. I won’t say where because, generally they offer a
good selection of coal and we’ve had no problems with them in the past.
I only opened this bag od Anthracite yesterday evening and
what I found inside surprised me somewhat. Although there were proper cobs in
there, it mostly consisted of misshaped pieces of, what I can only assume was
house coal, which is OK for an open fire, but not a lot of use in a solid fuel
burner.
Anyway, despite the fact that it was also wet, I topped the
fire up before retiring to bed but, since it didn’t seem to be taking hold, I
opened both vents and waited to see if it would burn. Wifey took a look after a
while and assured me it was burning as she could ‘hear’ it. Well, who am I to
argue, I’m only a man after all. Well, the result of closing the vents and
going to be, was a very cold boat this morning. However, the sun is now up, the
mist is rising on the canal and we should warm up soon.
Meanwhile, since our chimney needs a thorough clean, we’ll
set to on that job after breakfast and relight the fire. Light my fire, light
my fire!!!!
Yesterday morning after we arrived here and had our coffee,
off we walked into Market Drayton and, fortunately for us Wednesday is market
day. This is a street market and takes up the whole length of the main road
right through to the cross roads, which you would cross if you were going to
Morrison’s. This market sells just about everything you could wish for, from
food stuffs to hardware and back again and is highly recommended by the
Chamberlain family.
Today we’ll be popping into town again for our main
shopping, but this time we’ll call in to Asda’s, which is a whole lot nearer
than Morrison’s.
But first, that pesky chimney!!
Friday 3rd May
Before setting to with clearing the chimney, we walked into
town for our main shopping. The town shops are a good half a mile away, so, by
the time we got back from shopping, we had walked over two miles in those two
days.
Happily the chimney was not such a struggle as the last
time, when it was choked up with solidified ash and soot, which I eventually
managed to chip away with a long and pointed piece of steel rod. This time I
simply removed the worst of it with the rod and then shoved the brush down it.
Job done!
Talking about which, with 6 pages of gumpf, I suppose I’d
better post. Have a good weekend folks.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
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