alafloat

Hi Again

We had  a  good day off on Monday as it happens the weather was bad and my arm really ached though the passed without incident and was very boring we needed the time out. Tues morning we were off again
We decided on a short day from Trentham just south of Stoke on Trent heading for stone only 8 miles and 9 locks this was to be my baptism of fire to see if being one handed would hinder me everyone agreed my handling of the boat was no different only using one hand?? However before leaving Trentham john was putting extra grease in his stern tube when his plunger rolled into the canal, we tried for half an hour to retrieve with no luck I suggested as we were not going far the answer was to take my plunger off using it to force the grease into John stern tube then return the plunger to mine that way we could still move and get a replacement en-route which we did though John was not amused at having to buy the whole unit over £50 I never did get the exact price as it was inaudible though the swearing, but we made  the necessary  repair.   We stayed the night in Stone which is a very pleasant Market town so as tradition demands the town has shops so lets shop: having done the charity shops so many of them and then Morrison’s for the late shopping whoopsies  we returned to the boats.  Wends morning dawned  cold wet  and windy but not undeterred we were off again on a short run hopefully to Tixall wide, Great Haywood  a very popular stop for boaters  10 miles and 4 locks, we ploughed on through wind, rain, and cold the wind was horrendous and had us all over the canal we covered the first 3 locks quite well but I was in front and not having seen Orion for at least 3 miles we decided to hold up have lunch  at the next lock and await their arrival. 2 mins into lunch we had a knock on the boat and a young lady saying “your mate on Orion  is a mile back with a broken  throttle” so with spare in my pocket off I go to find them which on a canal isn’t difficult is it, I located them almost mid canal as the back was to shallow to get right in, we soon found  that the cable wasn’t a broken  it was a dislocated throttle leaver, Kath had tried to chop some trees down with it and it had come out of its housing. John soon had it sorted  and  we were soon back on our way. Now! remember its  blowing a gale and I want to come off the Trent and Mersey onto the Staffs and Worst which means doing a 90 degree turn into a gale that is coming at you through a bridge hole at 60mph, OK we made it but only just after three attempts and a lot of swearing. That’s it we are now for a few day we are tucked up in Tixall Wide for a few days R&R
Sight Seeing hpefully

Look after yourselves

May your God go with You

A montage of Ceranic tiles made by School children 

Welcoming you to Stone