Aqualate Mere in the winter light, Stafford in the dark..

Weekend Norbury Junction to Gnosall, Shropshire Union Canal, 2 miles 0 locks

Finding somewhere to moor on the Shroppie is a pain if you want to moor other than visitor moorings.  With embankments and cuttings wonderful that they are, they do not lend themselves to mooring.  There is an under water ledge stretching some 12 inches or more out from the canal side to protect the bank.  That is fine, and I can understand that, but trying to moor against it.. not on!  The only way to be able to do that is to carry a couple of mini car wheels along, so when moored they can be floated alongside, keeping the boat away from the bank far enough not to keep banging the underwater ledge!

Don’t have any of those, although I did have an opportunity to get a couple, Vic refused to have them on the roof “We really would look like water gypsies with those on the roof”.. Well not such a bad thing I say.. and I will never forget overhearing this from a young family.. “New age travelers I think” said one.. “More like old age travelers to me!” said the other in reply!  I loved that.. Yep Old age travelers will do me fine!

Anyway.. I managed to find a very nice mooring between Norbury and Gnosall for the weekend.  It was rural, and I wanted to go visit the large expanse of water known as Aqualate Mere.  There was a bit of a ledge under the water, but not very wide, so our large fenders kept us out far enough…

Here we are just entering this nature reserve, so delightful walking in the woodlands at this time of year, but also so annoying that parts of this wonderful place are only open to “permit holders”. Money, money, money!   

To get to some of the most beautiful parts of this country you have to pay!  Never will I do that, we enjoyed what we were allowed to see for free, and Lucy and pup Meg just loved it, charging around in all the fallen leaves. Meg crashed later!..

Here she has pinched borrowed Lucy’s bed for a snooze! But only borrowed part of it..

I caught the bus from Gnosall to Stafford at lunchtime today after pulling the pins this morning on our mooring only about a mile further north.  I was just about to go to the dentist’s chair when a power cut disabled the centre of Stafford with alarms going off everywhere and city centre banks in a panic.. doors being slammed shut and customers ushered out of shop premises.  Gawd, did this mean that my appointment would be cancelled too?.. Nope!.. Just the funniest though, cos when I went into the room the dentist’s ‘chair’ was a bed!  Of course no electrics to bring it back up to a sitting position after the last appointment!

It was all a bit dark and dingy, but my dentist did what he could, and I will return in a couple of weeks time!  I was lucky that I had already purchased a new dog bed for Meg before hand, and it actually came with a ‘bone shaped’ fluffy pillow too.. here Meg is trying it out..

I wonder how long it will look like this.. already she is chucking that pillow around the boat attacking it with her teeth.. I shall compare this photo with one I will take in a month’s time.. that is if that bed is still in one piece!

Oh and Vic has been hard at work this weekend..

Now this is a very handy area on the back of No Problem where a work bench can be set up.. very productive I must say!