Saturday 31st July
Our one year anniversary of moving aboard!
We have now travelled from Etruria to Stone via 2 days in Barlaston. It took quite some time to get down Stoke locks on Thursday as there had been a boat going down in front of us and there was no one coming up to start with. Thus I had to fill the locks before we could go in. Fortunately I remembered just in time that the second lock was the one which poured the water in the bedroom window last time we came down them. Ken rushed in and closed it before another disaster befell us! Although we started fairly early it was getting on for lunchtime when we reached Trentham lock which is about half a mile from Barlaston. We decided to moor up near the Wedgwood factory at Barlaston, rather than right in the village itself because it is more open and therefore less claustrophobic. We managed to get a tv signal there this time but no internet again. Mooring out of the village also had the advantage of making our lazy dog go for a half mile walk to get to the pub, which he managed very well!
While we were outside the pub we met the lady with all the (8) dogs who we met when we were there the first time we visited. Luckily she only had her newest addition, a Patterdale Terrier called Toby, with her. He was in the basket of her mobility scooter so George couldn’t see him! We had quite a long chat with her (as we did last time) putting the world to rights.
Friday was quite fine to start with (for a change) so we decided to stay at Barlaston and I did a bit of cleaning. We also emptied our freezer, which being 240v, has been using quite a lot of our battery power, in spite of the improvements made by the alternator regulator, so we have decided to dispense with it’s services! Obviously we then had to cook everything so we now have meals in the fridge for the week!
That evening we were joined in the moorings by several other boats including ‘Erzenmyne’ (I know!), ‘April Fools’ and ‘Artful 2’ who are travelling together and who we have been leapfrogging for some time now. They got all their chairs and tables out on the bank for dinner together and it absolutely fell down, bless! They had to adjourn to the back of ‘April Fools’ under an umbrella but they still got wet. There was a certain amount of jollity and laughter coming from their direction so they obviously weren’t bothered. We saw them again today and apparently there was quite an alcohol consumption as well!
This morning we set off for Stone and experienced the same thing with Meaford locks as we did at Stoke, we were following someone down and no one was coming up. Still, we arrived at Stone by mid morning and celebrated with a sausage sandwich (we have several cooked sausages in the fridge!) Then we went in to town for shopping and Wetherspoon’s obviously! We wanted, among other things, a pair of shears to cut the grass/vegetation on the bank where we moor up if it is a bit long. This is especially useful if the undergrowth encroaches into the hatch when it is open and you have to stick your hand into a load of stinging nettles trying to push it out of the way when shutting it. It is also useful to expose ‘stealth’ dog poo lurking hidden in the depths of the long grass, don’t get me started on that again!
Anyway, these shears nearly got me into a lot of trouble when we were in Morrison’s. I had them in my rucksack with the handles sticking out the top, looking like a pair of rabbits ears and the flap of the rucksack between them. I swung round to look for Ken and nearly took out a poor chap who was perusing the salad counter. I said it was a good job they weren’t the other way up, I could have had his eye out! Luckily he was quite amused by the whole thing, as was his wife.
Another of today’s purchases was a mirror for Ken to use to see if any boats are coming from the rear when he is sitting in the cratch fishing so he doesn’t have to keep standing up to look. He really is a comfort fisherman these days! Actually the mirror works very well and also saves me from having to keep looking out of the hatch and shouting ‘Boat coming!’
Tomorrow we are off to Weston for a couple of days as we don’t really need to be in Stone until next week.
