Eventually we had to take our boat away from the beautiful
Froghall Basin and back to the real world.
This time we filled the water tank
before we went through the tunnel so we could use the motor and avoid any undesirable
Ann-Marie/very large spider conflicts. Once on the other side we washed the roof,
then put it all back together,
apart from the big tubs which have broad beans, runner beans,
courgettes, tomatoes and lettuce in them and are too big to go under most
bridges, never mind tunnels. While we’re boating they get humped into the well
deck along with the raspberry canes. Next year we’re going to try and get the
raspberries to shrub out sideways.
On our way up to Consell Forge we did our bit for the
greater good by pruning back an overhanging branch and cleaning an information
sign. It’s not often that we’re in the right place at the right time to join in
with volunteer work parties so we’re always on the lookout for an opportunity
to contribute something towards the upkeep of the waterways. We stopped for a couple of nights right
outside the Black Lion. It was a lovely mooring, made all the better by the
Churnett Valley Railway going right past the pub, and the pub having very nice
beer.
Elizabeth brought her daughter Sarah along for the day for
some EOTAS which, that day, meant learning about canal locks and water pressure
and river flow and invasive plants and cherry buns. The cherry buns lesson will
no doubt be remembered long after all thoughts of hydraulic equilibrium and the
spread of Himalayan Balsam have faded, and so it should.
We boated with them up to Cheddleton, which
has also got a pretty railway station,
then the next day, retraced our steps up to Hazelhurst
Junction where we reversed back to the lovely moorings on the Leek Branch.
Dave made good use of the wide towpath and got the new
window frames finished off. They’re all done and in now, and very smart they
look too. While we were waiting for the last coat of varnish to dry, we thought
that as we had all this outside space, it would be a good idea to tidy up the
well deck and give the inside walls a lick of paint. As is the way of things,
this soon developed into completely emptying the well deck, attacking the floor
with the wire brush attachment on the grinder
and repainting the whole thing.
It was hard work and Dave looked a bit like a coal miner at the end of it, but
it was all worth it. We celebrated with a towpath barbeque,
finished off with a
marshmallow on a stick.
It’s a good life.
Despite it only being hearsay, we took heed of the warnings
about the stretch of waterway below Milton, moored up just before engine lock at
Stockton Brook and then went straight back to Etruria in one go. When we got there
David and Kate joined us for the weekend. After one night outside the museum which, it has to be said, got a little out of hand,
and didn't finish till about 3am, we
said goodbye to the beautiful Caldon Canal and, joining the Trent and Mersey
again, set off down the locks and out of the urban sprawl. The boys had a
really interesting time leaving Stoke as both of them used to drive trucks
through there on a regular basis, in fact David still does, and it was very
strange to see familiar landmarks go slowly by from a lot lower down. As you
drive through Stoke on the A500 and the A38 you are hardly aware of the canal,
but it’s right there next to the road for a lot of the way.
We had one night at Trentham near the Wedgewood factory then
moved on down the lovely Measham locks to Stone.
Kate got to see a Kingfisher
for the first time and it was a really good one; in bright sunshine with its
colours all sparkly, it flew ahead of the boat straight down the middle of the
cut then perched on a branch till we caught up. At Stone we dropped through the locks to the
water point where David and Kate left us to go home. That included the Stone
Bottom Lock which is in the middle of the Star Inn beer garden, and provides
passing boat crews with the opportunity to show off their locking technique. Or
not, as the case may be. No-one booed or threw rotten fruit at us, so we’ll
call that a success.
Just as we’d finished on the water point, and with perfect
timing, a boat pulled out of one of the two mooring spots and we were able to
nab it.
While we were near a chandlery, Dave got some high
temperature stove paint for the Squirrel. We need to get on with that fairly soon,
but It’s tricky; you need to cure the
paint after you’ve applied it by lighting small fires just using kindling.
Trouble is, at the moment even a small fire is going to be stifling, so timing
is everything.
We carried on down the T&M, past the very grand Salt Bridge,
stopping for one night at
Burston then mooring up behind the Saracen’s Head in Weston-upon-Trent.
That was where we’d chosen to leave Legend for a long
weekend while we went to the Ely Folk Festival. This is the one bash we try to
get to every year; it coincides with our wedding anniversary and it’s a
fabulous friendly little festival in one of our favorite cities. The organisers
have managed to resist the temptation to expand, but they still attract some
big names. Steve Knightley was followed by Breabach on Saturday, and Eddi
Reader topped the bill on Sunday. Other stuff that made it a terrific weekend
were Blackbeard’s Tea Party, Vin Garbutt and our favourite act in the world;
The Gerry Colvin Band. For the first time ever, at 1am, we were awake and dancing at the end of
the Friday night ceilidh. Loads of our friends were there; all of Bourne
Borderers, who were performing around the city and at the festival site, as
well as Glen, Holly and Ann from Pig Dyke Molly, who weren’t. Well, no more
than usual. We did a Morris workshop with the rather scary Witchmen and almost
got it right. It felt good to be bashing sticks with each other again. It had
been raining for a few days before the start so we weren’t allowed to take cars
onto the camping field and had to put all our stuff into wheelie bins or
wheelbarrows, however the weather wasn’t bad on the whole. There was the odd
thundery shower, (including one that came bucketing down just when we were all
singing along to Steve Knightly’s “Rain”, which was amazing,) but the field survived and there wasn’t that
much mud. In-between, the sun came out
and the arena filled up with happy smiling people.
Perfect Ely.
After we’d barrowed our stuff back to the car and said
goodbye to all our mates, we came back to Weston. On the journey home we’d been
debating whether or not to move the boat when we got back, and settled on not
doing. However karma had different ideas. Just as we were giving the plants a
good watering we got a text from Gordon and Helena on Mandakini; another couple
we met on our Rippon adventure last year. They were just a bit further down the
T&M, moored up at Great Haywood and were going to be turning onto the
Staffs and Worcester next. We didn’t want to miss them so we pulled the pins
and headed their way. It was really good to catch up; we went to the pub and
had a brilliant evening.
If that wasn’t coincidence enough the next day we were
walking back to the boat and came across Shirley and Peter who were with us on
our return crossing on the Ribble Estuary, and who we’d last seen at Appley
Bridge on the L&L. We’ve met some fabulous people since we started this
boating malarkey and it’s really cool when your paths cross in unexpected
places.
Right next to the canal at Great Haywood Essex Bridge,
It's a packhorse bridge over the River Trent and very well preserved.
From Great Haywood we went to Rugeley, stopping at Wolesley
Bridge for a walk around the nature reserve, which was rather lovely.
After one
night next to the Aqueduct over the Trent,
(which is getting rather big now; a
little bit further on the T&M joins the river for a stretch, but we’re
turning off before that onto the Coventry Canal at Fradley Junction) we had a
few days on the visitor moorings in Rugeley; not our usual habitat, it must be
said, but quite nice all the same. It got a bit hairy the second night we were
there, there was a thunderstorm and at around 3am a big branch fell off a
chestnut tree right next to us. With the car parked next to the boat it’s very useful
for our immediate adventures; very shortly were going away for 10 days to
Ireland for Chloe and Shandy’s wedding in Antrim. John is coming to boat-sit
for us and we’ve picked out a tranquil little spot where we think he’ll be
happy, but at the moment we’re feverishly ticking things off lists. All we have
to do before we sail is somehow shoehorn all ours and Anne’s and Anne’s family’s
camping gear into the car, along with a load of stuff we’ve got for the
wedding.
Oh yes, and the wedding cake. Mustn’t forget that.