Too hot to paint!!!

Today Paul got stuck into the bow painting, having first decided to re-varnish the wooden stern hand rail. Which meant all the canopy had to come off and the dodger. I left him sanding it down while I carried on with my bit of cleaning. After an hour or two I popped up the back to see how things were progressing and I couldn't see the stern deck for half inch of dust. He was a busy little bee though and there was already one coat of varnish on the wood work. Thank heavens it was another lovely day as each coat of varnish dried quickly. In between the five coats of varnish that were applied it was up the sharp end to get that sorted. Gas locker hatch came right off as did the cleats , the angle grinder came out and the rust

was removed once and for all. Needless to say there was no undercoat on the locker hatch much mumbling ensued, now there is red oxide and undercoat on all the bare metal. Paul also put a layer of bird sand either side of the hatch to give us a non slip surface as many a time when it has been wet things have been a bit on the dodgy side. Will look good when it is finished

hopefully tomorrow. As you can see Paul was wearing neither hat nor t shirt rather remiss of him considering the years we spent in Spain where he always wore a hat, having had an operation to remove a skin cancer you would think he would know better. You cant tell these men can you!!!!

Believe it or not even though it must have been the hottest day of the year so far the boat traffic has been relatively quiet, suppose with half term being over the vast majority of hire boats are back in their marinas. I must admit that I love it when we can spend a weekend in such a lovely spot as this, there are no pubs, shops or a main road near by and the tow path traffic is mainly walkers it is so peaceful. Mind you, might change my mind if it was pouring with rain.

Tomorrow the boat must have a good wash down to get rid of the dust from Paul's sanding, if the topcoat is going on the bow I will have to be very careful, will have to work front to back and start before Paul gets his paint brush out. Lets hope the sun is shining again and I may even put my shorts on and a vest top may as well look as if I am on holiday, then again life is one big holiday isn't it!!!!!!

Bridge 85

How do we do it? On the move by 9am only because a few boats on the move early to get to wherever and the banging was getting on our nerves. Stopped by The Shroppie Fly for water so nb Chickadee got to the lock before us, but as there is only 3 more in this flight I don't mind waiting. Our plan is to find a nice quiet mooring away from everything. After we left the bottom lock we pulled over to let Crystal off for a few minutes, she seems a bit better today but isn't happy about getting up the steps onto the cruiser stern so we are finding it easier to get her off at the cratch. Toilet stop complete and we were on our way, such a lovely day I even gave the world its first glimpse of my ankles put a pair of cropped jeans on and a T shirt so even my arms got an airing. Paul surpassed himself and a T shirt emerged from the depths of his wardrobe. Journey was a dream we passed a nice 48hr mooring with rings but decided to go a bit further finally came upon a nice stretch of armco just before bridge 85 could see a couple of boats nearer to the bridge so Paul decided to pull in a little bit away from them, well, every time I leapt ashore with the centre rope we found we kept running aground as it was so shallow, 3 times I did this and I was getting decidedly miffed because everytime I had to get back on, the boat was further away from the side so it was one big leap to get on . Well we are now moored up about 2 boats lengths from the boat in front so much for being on our own. Paul had to go and speak to the guy as he noticed that he was fishing they have been here a few days and apparently it will get busy here tonight. Nantwich is full so its a good job we weren't making for there. Its ideal for touching up the side (again) and hopefully the bow can be done too. I had better clean the windows as it is like looking through a fog.

Any way this is our mooring for the weekend nice eh!

Paul has just woken up after his siesta (feeling 10 times worse) and has now taken the hatch doors off due to the fact they need a good greasing, think this calls for me to get a chair on the tow path and watch an expert at work. Don't you just feel so much better when the sun is shining.

Audlem

Well believe it or not we were actually on the move by 9am, nb Chickadee had gone before us so they must be very early risers. Nice and warm bit overcast but no wind, horrayyyyyy. Down the Adderly locks then it was the Audlem flight and do you know at every lock there was someone coming up oh what joy it was nice not to be running around closing gates after Paul he just sat in the lock until the one coming up started to come out and they crossed in the pound perfect. Had two mishaps the first one being Paul lost all steerage coming into a lock don't ask me what one as I cant remember so a few paint touch ups as he hit the gates going in, It transpired that the rudder had come loose so while in the lock it was out with the tools and a quick tighten up, thank goodness it was nothing worse. Other mishap was that Crystal has injured herself while getting from the bedroom to the back of the boat. We have steps and she usually just jumps up them with no problem but today I think she has strained herself so getting her on and off the boat has been a bit of a nightmare as she is very uncomfortable she even ate her dinner lying down.

Scenery has been lovely just rolling hills green fields with the odd house how can you not enjoy this life style. By the time we had got to lock 11 we had had enough been on the go for over 4 hours so once out of the lock we tied up at the 48hr mooring and we are now banging up against The Shroppie Shelf. Trouble is every time a boat goes through lock 12 the water level changes so when we came back from the canal shop the back of the boat was actually sitting on the shelf so I think another early start will be in order tomorrow to get away from the banging. Had a drink with Kath and John in the Shroppie Fly this afternoon, they are off to Nantwich tomorrow and we are hoping to find a nice quiet spot for the weekend. Must dash as it is the last ever episode of ER and I can't miss that.

Market Drayton

Was a case of shall we shan't we this morning, couldn't make up our minds whether to go or stay. At midday we decided to go, the wind had dropped although it did look like rain. Noticed in one of the books that the cutting ahead could be a bit on the narrow side and its sods law that as soon as we entered the cutting a boat was coming the other way. We pulled over as near to the side as we could to let him past, luckily this was the narrowest spot and the other boats we encountered were able to pass with a few inches to spare. Got to Tyrley locks and the wind got up, boat coming up gave us a bit of advice about the weirs in each pound as they are a bit of a hazard at the moment with all the rain we have had recently. Paul was so busy talking to a guy on a boat waiting that he didn't notice the boat slowly being drawn towards the weir only me shouting at him made him get his concentration back. These locks were very busy with boats coming up only us going down so invariably there were a couple of boats in each pound waiting for us to come out of the lock. At lock 4 we went in and the boat in 5 waiting to come up sat in the lock as the pound has a shelf tow path side so it is best to pass in the middle of the pound and not try to moor up. We were hoping that with the amount of traffic we had passed Market Drayton would be empty but no, we had the last set of rings before bridge 62. Mind you as I write this there are lots of boats behind us on pins obviously a popular spot and they are still arriving at 9pm.
We walked up to the town just for a look round had to go to the bank so that is now sorted. Went to Morrisons for milk and ended up with a rucksack and 2 bags of shopping. Paul tells me he is not coming in another supermarket with me as I tell lies about the amount of shopping I am going to get and he has to carry the heavy stuff (which is usually his beers). Does this man want to eat I ask my self. Don't think there is another waterside supermarket until we get to Whaley Bridge so it looks as if I will have a lot of lonely supermarket visits. We went to The Talbot for a meal and I have never seen so much food on a plate. I had even ordered a small portion and still couldn't eat it all, so no room for a pudding. Our friends who originate from Hyde nr Manchester told us the further North we went the larger the meals and we thought they were joking. Paul can afford to put on a couple of stone I certainly can't. Paul is getting in to the different beers though. I had my normal cider and black and noticed the cider was 6% proof good job I only had a half. Have met up with nb Chickadee here, they originate from Sittingbourne in Kent which is about 5 miles from where we come from, last time we saw them was in Rugby last summer so was nice to catch up again. We are hoping to get to Audlem tomorrow so I think we are planning on a fairly early start as we have a few locks to do. For the past couple of mornings we havent got up until 8.30 so had better set the alarm so we can be on the move by 9ish.

Bridge 55 Goldstone

Our visit to The Anchor Inn was an eye opener to say the least. It is like sitting in someones front room, in fact you are. Beer out of a jug, cider from a flagon very oldie worldie and this is the charm of the pub. There were 8 of us there and the room was full, talk generally was about motor bikes and boats Paul ended up having 3 and a half pints so another disturbed night with numerous trips to the loo will this man ever learn?
Left about 10 this morning in a blustery wind, just our luck to be following a day hire boat from Norbury Junction, to say he was having a problem coping with the wind was an understatement in fact at one point he was going down the canal crab like. Still it gave us something to smile about. We decided to moor at bridge 55 Goldstone just in case we couldn't get in at the bottom of the locks. Needless to say day boat decided to moor up in front of us so we held back while he sorted himself out. He jumped onto the tow path tied up the back of the boat by which time the front was across the canal blocking our way, quick toot and there was panic poor chap was trying to get the front in while the back was tied up in the end he untied the back and just swung the whole thing round, his kids thought it was very funny. Good job there was nothing coming the other way. Still we are settled for the night now, it is still windy but sunny. Storm never materialised last night plenty of rain though. Need to get to Market Drayton for the bank and a bit of shopping, hopefully this will be tomorrow.

bridge 42 Anchor Inn

Left Gnosall this morning and have done the sum total of 2 hours cruising. Okay I know a lot of you think we are light weights but what is the rush we don't have a time schedule.

Passed under this famous bridge on the way and the journey was pleasant and warm. Needed to use the sanitary point at Norbury junction but couldn't get on it as there were so many boats, so next available facilities are at Market Drayton, good job we have two cassettes. Got to bridge 42 and are now moored below it just past The Anchor.

We have been told that we just have to go into this pub as it is like stepping back in time. So tomorrow I will let you know how we got on. Got chatting (like you do) to a couple moored up next to us and the lady very kindly came aboard to point out the best mooring places and those to avoid on our journey up to the Peak Forest and back on the Trent and Mersey. Have arranged to meet them in the pub tonight.

Although it is still warm it has just started to rain and with the promise of storms tonight think we will need to get to the pub early, as it doesn't open till 7 will give us time to eat and get showered. This is a nice spot 48hr with rings will probably only stay tonight then move on up a bit further. We need to be on our own somewhere as Paul has to get the angle grinder out to get stuck into the paintwork on the bow. Have a bit of rust on the gas locker hatch and round the cleats so these need to be sorted soon. More boats have passed us today than over the past 2 weeks about 50/50 hire boats and private. But it is so peaceful here what living on the canal is all about.

Hot hot hot. (at last)

Oh what a lovely day this is what bank holidays should be like. Have had to set the laptop up on the back of the boat as the signal here is rubbish. I have managed to get the brass steps polished, Paul took them off the boat so I could do "a proper job". Cheeky monkey. It goes without saying that Paul is watching the Grand Prix. Had a drunken phone call from number one son on his way home from Wembley yesterday needless to say Gillingham won., so very happy family all round.
Now, will we move on tomorrow or stay here another day, such a big decision to make. Weather forecast for tomorrow evening is thunderstorms so as long as we are moored up somewhere what does it matter where we are. Well not a lot to report so I think it is time to get the chair on the towpath and catch some rays!!!!!!!!