Once again no internet yesterday so I'm making up for it today.
On Sunday morning we were rudely awoken by a trad. boat making a lot of noise on both the locks either side of us - John got up for a pee and I asked what the time was "6.30, and it's a b....y Sunday" was the reply. I felt strangely awake and so after a short while I got up to make a cuppa. Checked the clock and it was 8.45 - his watch was 1.5 hours slow!
We'd been to the Shroppie Fly (shortened version is the correct one) the previous evening only to find that a band was going to play - we hung on but they didn't get started until about 9.30 (I was more than ready to be back in bed by that time) and they were very good - a Bob Dylan tribute - all older than us and obviously having done this for at least the last 50 years. Unfortunately they went a bit overboard on the sound level - I have a lot of Bob Dylan stuff and he is not noted for his ear- splitting quality. When the mouth organ came into play it became too painful to cope with so we came home. Shame really - we'd have both liked to have stayed for the music but value our ear-drums (and John's almost deaf as it is!!!!).
John had stayed up the previous night and also this one to watch the golf so he was becoming increasingly tired and we had the rest of the flight in front of us. I'd seen a volunteer going up the locks just as we were about to get ready and was hopeful of some help. Naturally the locks were against us most of the way and we didn't see a boat coming towards us until 3 from the top (we had 12 to do) and we found the volunteer at the same time. Great. Still the weather was a lot better than forecast and so it could have been worse. We did the 12 locks covering almost 2 miles in 2 hours! What a team.
We then did the next flight of 5 and stopped for lunch. After some discussion we decided to call it a day as John was tired and we were on a good mooring and there was a flight just the other side of Market Drayton which was about a mile away. Tomorrow we felt was another day.
Today we left a bit late as neither of us had a good night - the golf is now over and Europe beat America so all is well in John's world! Showers had been forecast and sure enough they came and went a couple of times while we were going through the locks.
There was very nearly an interesting incident on the locks today. There was a boat going up before us and then one came along behind us. The woman doing the locks came up just as we were about to leave the first one and she seemed a bit uncertain but John had a quick chat and we went on up. When we got to the third lock I looked back and the top gate for the lock below had opened and so John ran back down and shut it as she arrived to open the paddles to empty the lock. He was back up and shutting our lower gates when I saw that the gate had opened again on the lock below and she was gaily opening the lower paddles. For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm talking about basically she was doing a very dangerous thing that could empty the pound above and cause flooding in the lower pound. John once again set out to run down as she couldn't hear our shouts or the boat horn. Luckily the gate - which had completely opened, shut itself while he was on the way and so he just came back up - she was totally oblivious to all this going on. Locks can be very dangerous things in the wrong hands......
We had the narrows which last time we came through reminded me of a Tolkien landscape as it was very dark and gloomy - today the sun was shining in the cut and it was completely different. We only met one boat (straight after a bridge on a narrow section) and emerged happy.
Coming towards another bridge a bit later we saw a boat coming through so John pulled over and as the boat went past we became stuck on some rocks. John manoeuvred us backwards but we kept finding the rock ledge and suddenly the tiller swung right over and we were well and truly stuck. We tried gunning the engine and I jumped up and down on the off side and John used the pole. Eventually doing all 3 at the same time meant that John was able to pull the tiller free and thankfully we were able to get going again. It was definitely the worst grounding we had encountered. We noticed the boat following us keeping well away from the towpath side as they came through.
We had hoped to get to Norbury Junction today but I started feeling a bit poorly - my throat hurts and I feel full of cold. We were also following a boat whose occupants were presumably using a guide dog and going rather slowly along a perfectly good straight (for a long time). Then it started to rain heavily so we gave up and are once again near the Anchor just north of Norbury. Tomorrow we will call in to fill up with water and empty the cassette and get as far down as we can. I'm taking Beechams and will have an early night I think, and wrap up well in the morning. Incidentally as soon as we moored and got the pram cover up the sun came out and now it is still lovely over an hour and a half later.
A rare sight - a volunteer on the locks - unfortunately not there for us....
Another rare sight - a boat coming out of the lock in front of us....
The Shropshire Lass - seen in Market Drayton - we both did our helmsman's courses in this almost exactly 2 years ago.
Some Mandarin Ducks also seen in Market Drayton - pretty little things.
Sunshine make the cutting look very different!
This was John down the weed hatch with some of the debris he got out of it!
Thought I was on a roll then and was going to go back and put some more pictures on but it doesn't seem to be happening.....
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