Friday 27th September
It has been a perfect cruising day today and just as well because we have done a lot of it (well, for us anyway)! We set off this morning just after 8 am to travel the 12.5 miles and 6 locks from Penkridge to Compton. The first lock, Otherton Lock was empty when we got there so we were able to go straight in. A good start we thought but as we left the lock a boat moored at Otherton Lane Bridge pulled out in front of us (3 times this week!) and he was single handed. Pain in the arse, no 1.
A boat was just about to come down Rodbaston Lock so the single hander and I worked it for them, then he let me do the lock for him all by myself! He was a nice chap though. He moored up just before Gailey Lock and as a boat was just coming out that was a bit of luck for us because we were able to go straight in.
We had a brief and less disastrous water stop than yesterday’s one, at Gailey and continued towards Autherley Junction. Just before the narrow cutting we met an Anglo Welsh hire boat who said there were two or three boats behind him. The next boat we saw said there was one more behind him. As there was no room to pass at our end of the cutting we had to wait where we were. Another boat emerged and said there was yet another one behind him. Peering through binoculars I spotted him some way off and creeping along. (Pain in the arse)
I decided to get off the boat, walk to the passing place and stop anyone else if they appeared, otherwise we would have been waiting all day. Apparently there had been a hold up on the Shroppie (a coping stone had fallen off one of the bridges or something) and that was why all these boats were bunched together. After the last boat had passed I phoned Ken to let him know the coast was clear and I waited for him to catch me up.
While I was waiting a couple of cyclists came along and I had to back into the hedge to avoid getting run over. Unfortunately the hedge was full of stinging nettles! A real pain in the arse!
I got back on the boat and we carried on through Autherley Junction and Aldersley Junction eventually mooring up below the lock in Compton about 2 pm, hurrah! We were going to moor above the lock on the 5 day moorings but they were full of badly spaced boats so there wasn’t room. We are of course near the road bridge where the road works started up at 3-45 am last time we were here. Unfortunately they haven’t finished the work but fingers crossed they have finished the early starts!
I had to post a couple of letters and by a strange quirk of fate the post office happened to be right near the pub! We tripped up and fell in The Swan and had a couple of pints (as you do) sitting outside in the sun. While we were there a couple of chaps dressed as Captain Mainwaring and Private Walker from Dad’s Army came along collecting for Macmillan.
Tomorrow will be another biggie as it includes 13 locks, aaargh!
