To Great Haywood in the dark..

Salt to Great Haywood, Trent and Mersey Canal, 4.5 miles 2 locks

Oh my back!  Oh my legs!  Oh my arms!

Still it was worth it!  …….

Earlier, it was a quiet and dry when we pulled the pins mid morning..

Lucy and Meg were quite happy to trot along the towpath while Vic and I cruised the 4 plus miles we had planned for the day.. What with all the talk about the Association of Pleasure Craft Operators (APCO) balloting their members to see if they thought continuous cruisers should pay a higher licence fee, I decided to have a look to see if any of the narrowboats we passed on our way to Stone a couple of weeks ago were still moored in the same place, thereby breaking the continuous cruising rules of 14 days only in one place.

In the four and half miles we did today, there were 5 boats that had not moved!

Now these people don’t help our cause do they!… I do believe that it is because of this problem that we are being targeted to pay a higher licence fee. But where are the British Waterway Wardens or Linesmen to check out our towpaths for overstayers?.. They just don’t have the man power.. “Oh we will just put up the licence fee for them” is their attitude I am afraid

We stopped under Weston Bridge to collect some eggs from the first house by the towpath.. the chickens are always running around here, some even go up onto the road.. we had a couple of eggs for lunch, and they really sat up in the pan, I guess they were laid today!

So after lunch we set to and cut all the wood into lengths before carrying/trollying it back to No Problem moored about 50 yards around the corner as we could not get in close to the fallen tree.. and once we had done that, it was cuppa time before cutting it all up into rounds…

Look at that, the steam is even coming off the cuppa!.. Anyway by the time we had finished, and got it all put on the roof and into the front cratch, we were both knacked.. but we couldn’t stay at that mooring, it was too silted, and it took a good push to get the narrowboat free.. still just about light it was.. very unusual for me to be cruising in the dark!

Vic adjusted the front headlamp, and soon I could see exactly where I was going, passing a line of moored boats on the left, it wasn’t long until we came to Great Haywood Junction, and looking hard into the distance I could see that it was full of boats, with no obvious gaps, so I decided to turn right into the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal and hope that the mooring where the lady sells her canal ware during the summer was free.. Yep it was!  Phew!

Vic squared over while I put the dinner on, and after a hearty meal of gammon steaks, we both collapsed in the chairs well satisfied with our day..