On Sunday before retiring for the night I checked my weather
App and it told me Monday was going to be wet and windy with some improvement
on Tuesday so when I woke on Monday I took my time doing the usual morning
jobs, around 9am I ventured outside and it was bright, dry and windless so I
checked my App again and it had changed to Monday being better than Tuesday, I
decided to move up to Penkridge, casting off around 10am.
I was soon back below finding some sunglasses as the sun was
bright and low reflecting off the water.
Passing Stafford Boat club and then Hazelstrine bridge no.96
the sun making picture taking difficult.
First lock of the day was Deptmore Lock (42) at a depth of
10ft 3inches deeper than most I’ve encountered recently.
I then passed through Acton Trussell, a small village with what
seemed to be just a church and a very nice four star hotel, The Moat House, it
looked very nice and very expensive but the sun prevented any pictures.
I was amused by the name of this cottage, well little things
amuse me as I pass the time looking at my surroundings, in case you can’t make
out the name I’ve captioned it.
 |
| Canalside Cottage, it must have been difficult coming up with that name. |
The M6 runs through this part of my cruise for quite some
distance, busy with people rushing about their business oblivious to little old
me a few hundred yards away enjoying my morning.
Entering Shutt Hill lock (41) proved entertaining with the
sun blinding me, I could see a gap in the gates so I knew the lock was empty
and gently nudged my way in allowing the boat to do the hard work opening the
gates for me, after entering a single lock when going uphill I like to nudge
the bow fender against the front gates or the cill (very gently of course)
leaving the engine in drive on tickover then keeps the boat in place and when
the lock is full the boat nudges the gates open and starts to move out of the
lock with me hopping aboard when convenient, well that’s the theory. This time
the cill was just below my bow fender level and so even though the boat was
hardly moving at all the violent stop as steel hits stone was enough to knock
over a few items inside the boat, it’s this reason a lot boaters fit an extra
fender beneath the main one, something I may do sometime.
 |
| A blind approach slightly on an angle, you can just make out the gap between the lock gates telling me the lock was empty and could be nudged open. |
Teddesley Boat Co. And Midland Chandlers are alongside Park
gate lock (40) and it all looked very quiet with nobody around.
Just after this the canal passes beneath the M6 at a shallow
angle making the bridge almost feel like a wide tunnel.
Longford lock (39) another deep one at 10ft.
I stopped and moored just before Penkridge lock (38) and
then walked up to see how busy it was and finding that there was plenty of
space I moved up through the lock and stopped on the service point to empty and
fill before mooring on the 48hr moorings (14 day in winter).
I now have to wait for Otherton lock (36) to reopen after
winter maintenance work; it should reopen on the 12th.
Today I have busied myself, between heavy rain showers,
doing little regular jobs about the boat, cleaning filters, checking battery levels
and such. I have also started to investigate more fully the electrical system,
intending to find out exactly how the boat is wired from batteries to
distribution boards, I have a ‘live’ 12v cable in the battery compartment that
goes nowhere, I would like to know why, and it must be a solvable issue J , well maybe.
Total travel: 4.5
miles : 5 locks
And finally, a joke that made me chuckle:-
Yesterday the wife asked me to pass her some lip balm, I gave her superglue by mistake, she's still not talking to me.....
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