We left Fradley Junction not particularly
early on Monday – as we were undoing the ropes a man came to chat – he and his
wife are NZers who have hired a boat for 6 weeks and have done a huge amount of
boating. They are from Napier. Of course they had recognised Waka Huia as an NZ
name.
We had a bit of a mutual meltdown at
Rugeley – we missed the opportunity to have 2 main meals for the price of one
at The Ash Tree, and then I missed seeing the VERY LARGE Tescos at Rugeley
until I was past all of the visitor moorings. What an idiot I am – I was
looking on the port side of the cut rather than starboard. Silly woman!
We stopped for lunch, recovered our
equilibrium and then moved on to Great Haywood. We had a lovely mooring there,
with views of both Shugbrough Hall and the folly in the grounds.
We spent Monday afternoon and Tuesday
there. It was beautifully peaceful and I am sure we will spend many more days
there over the next few years.
David spent some time sorting out the TV
aerial wiring – he had to find a way to get the coax down into the boat without
having it come through the front doors. He managed to get it through the hole
that the previous owners had their satellite cables in. It did require use of
the battery drill which involved my participation. I do need to sort out
properly how the chuck works – some instruction from son Tim on Saturday,
methinks.
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| Rust removal process is now underway |
I did some boat maintenance outside: I put
another coat of paint at the stern, sanded and varnished the wooden part of the
duck hatch lid, and scraped (using the fab wire brush which has a scraper that came
into play in a big way) some rust spots on the roof along the handrail and
under the stern hatch, then I painted them with some rust removal liquid.
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| The duck hatch cover has been sanded |
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| And varnished - there is another piece which came off unaided, now waiting to be glued and screwed back on |
After he’d checked the weedhatch, David
also did a bit of manly looking at the engine – I cannot remember what he was
looking at – coolant level, checking for water in the bilge, or some such.
Anyway, he had both engine bays open - the one over the weedhatch and the
actual engine cover. They have a piece of steel between them, for standing on
and for the lids to rest on. So David finishes his manly checking and starts to
close the engine bay lid, while standing on the steel bar. Of course the engine
bay lid won’t close with him standing on its stern rest so he steps backwards
into the void of the weedhatch bay … Sh*t!!!
He can still move quickly, I am pleased to
report – he let go of the engine cover and grabbed for the side of the
semi-trad upright – fortunately it too is made of steel and firmly welded to
the deck … So he has a bruise on his arm where he scraped it on the doorway,
but apart from that he came off unscathed. It could have been much worse – back
injury, broken leg. AAARRRGGGHHH!!! It does remind me of the time many years
ago when he walked backwards along the scaffolding plank to admire his
painting. I casually asked him not to step off the end. He stopped in a hurry
and said he would have stepped off – he’d forgotten he was 10 feet in the air.
So, I am not sure whether to be relieved that this is clearly not the onset of
senility or anxious about whether these incidents will increase now …
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| Texting Lesley after the abortive trip over towards Shugborough Hall |
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After that trauma, late on Tuesday morning
we set off to Shugborough Hall only to find that it is closed on Tuesdays;
bother!! So instead we went to the restaurant beside the lock for lunch (yummy
ham roast, Yorkshire pudding and veges)
and then we walked down the towpath to the Great Haywood Junction,
across to the Canal Farm Shop (shopped a fair bit) and then along a bridle path
into Great Haywood village, shopped at the SPAR shop and then back to the boat.
I baked a rhubarb cake – had to substitute cream cheese and milk for sour cream
and baking powder for baking soda, but it tastes OK (clearly, as David ate a
huge amount of it …)
In the early evening we saw a hot air
balloon landing in the grounds of Shugborough Hall – very lovely.
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| This bridge wasn't wide enough for a horse and carriage so another bridge had to be built so that the Hall residents didn't have to walk 300 yards to church ... |
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Shugborough Hall which I have still not been inside!
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Wednesday morning we set off early and as
we did, a balloon was ascending from the same place – I’m not sure if it was
the same one though: I will need to check the photos … (Not same balloon –
strange that I didn’t notice the colour or the labelling – I am clearly not an
advertiser’s dream client).
We made our way to Stone, with a stop above
Aston Lock for a couple of hours while we had lunch (yummy salad with Adair’s
dressing – honey, lemon juice and grated green ginger - and tuna mayonnaise)
and worked out where we should have lunch with Michelle and Taffy on Friday and
pick up Olek (our favourite elder grandson) on Saturday.
Having made that decision, we set off
again, and got here to the top lock at Stone. At one lock we chatted with an
Australian guy from Mackay near Brisbane. I think his name was Murray. We also
met people who were absolutely convinced that Mel is a sheep – what do they
know?
We had a lovely mooring opposite a small
working boatyard at Stone. I planted the lettuces and rocket in the long tray
pots and I had to search and scavenge stones to weigh them down. We went
back to Stone Boat Builder’s chandlery to buy a bow button – we have taken out
a mortgage.
After that, David made dinner – cheese and
tomato on crackers, plus a fruit platter and a glass of elderberry cordial.
This morning, I’ve vacuumed, swept and
washed the floors throughout the boat – very hot work – cooked a pot of mince
for cottage pie on Saturday and chopped the meat for a chilli for lunch with
Michelle and Taffy tomorrow. David has valiantly and, with absolutely no
swearing that I could hear, completed and filed his tax return. I get a refund
of about $400 and he has about $350 to pay. Yahoo, guess I’ll be the one out
spending up large then, not!
When David had his brekkie, he headed back
to the chandlers and to Morrisons, then we went off to Stoke – about 17 lock
miles so there were a few hours of boating done. We are aiming to moor up just
before the Harecastle Tunnel so we can be early in line for the first journey
deep below the earth tomorrow morning – I hate that tunnel!
Update: Here we are at the tunnel entrance,
first in line for tomorrow morning
at 8am. Yay!! Probably my worst
mooring up effort ever, even back when I couldn’t handle a narrowboat – I was
all over the place with, of course, 2 CRT men watching. However, we had a good
chat with them. One had an NZ father who was from Greytown. A very small world indeed.
After lunch we tried fitting the rope
button on the bow – first it went on upside down … Then we found that chains
for the lower hooks were too short. So we left it attached by the top chains – and
we are going to get it fitted by someone who knows what they are doing. It will
help if they are a contortionist so they can curl up on the front deck and lean
out over the bow, undo U bolts, hook them through the eyes on the boat (under
the bow), do them up, all without falling face first in the water that would, at
the least, leave them dirtier than before they dunked or, at worst, poison
them! 
