BASIL at
ALREWAS
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We have had
three days of superb
cruising in glorious weather. We moored at Alrewas
the first night,
after a long (for us) 6-hour day, motoring
sedately through the
countryside. Barb is happy to be operating locks
again. She aches all
over, but then she ached all over before she
started, so nothing much
has changed. "I'm not one to complain...", she
says. Alrewas is a
beautiful little village centred on the canal,
which includes a dreamy
river section on a short stretch of the Trent. We
shopped in the
excellent butcher/greengrocer shop and ate
excellent pieces of fish in
the George and
Dragon for
dinner.
On the 13th we passed through the usual chaos at
Fradley Junction
without a scar. As I approached the lock before
the Swan pub, another boat was
exiting
and the steerer said "It's crazy up there, there
are 500 people
brandishing windlasses and only a few of 'em know
what they're doing.
You'll be lucky to come out the other side." But I
did. Barb was a mere
speck in the distance, walking up the flight to
prep the next lock. We moored in a sweet spot
next to a view which would have inspired
Wordsworth (see right). The
weather continued fine but with a chilly Northwest
breeze.
Today we continued up the Trent and Mersey canal
to Great Haywood
junction (see map) and turned South on to the
Staffordshire and
Worcestershire canal. I had more than my fair
share of navigational
mishaps today. The worst was encountering another
boat on the sharp
right turn on to the Brindley aqueduct over the
Trent. He was in the
wrong position and I was fumbling with my camera
before I realized I
was about to hit him broadside at speed. It would
have done
considerable damage to his boat, rugged though
narrowboats are. I
yanked Basil's helm hard
over, hit full power to bring his head round, then
went hard astern to
minimize the impact and gritted my teeth waiting
for the bang. By some
miracle, we missed each other by a quarter of an
inch.
We stopped in Rugely where Barb went shopping and
I did some odd jobs
on the boat, painting mostly. Now we are moored in
what surely must be
one of the most beautiful spots on the waterways,
Tixall Wide. It is an
artificial lake, created to appease a local
landlord who insisted the
canal could only pass his property in the form of
a lake. He and his
old house are long gone but the lake remains. The
weather will
deteriorate tomorrow, strong winds and rain are
forecast, so we may
hole up here for a while.
By the way, I apologize (apologise?) for the mixed
Anglo and Yankee
spelling. With both audiences, what can one do?
(flicks hair, miss
Piggy style).
This is a taste of what Basil
had to endure last winter.
At times the temperature reached -16C.
(Courtesy Mick and Cathy, neighbours.)
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Barb chats up the local beefcake
Evening Light - view from our mooring July 13.
Moored at Tixall Wide
Sign at Great Haywood Junction
CLICK TO ENLARGE ANY OF THE ABOVE
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