Blog Readers

I’m guilty of sometimes forgetting about you; our blog readers.  We haven’t seen many moving boats since leaving Manchester at the end of April.  In the last few days the number of moving boats has increased significantly and we were reminded of that whilst waiting In a queue at Bagnall Lock.  The lady on a boat that had just come down through the lock called out she was a blog reader.  Unfortunately I was on the bank holding the centreline and couldn’t write down any details.  Then nb Katy passed us and the steerer also mentioned he was a blog reader.  Finally we passed nb Leo moored south of Huddersford Junction and the lady on the stern mentioned she had just read our last blog post.  It has been a timely reminder that we need to consider our readers and ensure we always have the small notepad on the stern to collect names.

Bagnall Lock

We’re obviously back on popular canals as there were queues(albeit short) at every lock.  Just before Hunts Lock we passed nb Wells Cargo.  I remember writing to the owner when designing Waiouru.  He had installed an underfloor toilet tank and I was considering doing the same (we eventually did this).

There was a volunteer lock keeper at Junction Lock and after doing 10 locks (five for other boaters) Jan greatly appreciated the assistance.  Last time we ate at The Swan we thought the meal was very ordinary, so today we continued on turning left onto the Coventry Canal.

The Coventry seems to be shallower than the Trent & Mersey and we’ve been churning up the bottom at many of the bridge holes.

Streethay Wharf came and went!

The weather during the cruise was mixed.  The sun would put in an appearance and poor Jan would start to overheat in her fleece.  She’d take it off and the sun would then disappear leaving her to shiver so she’d put it back on.  Then the sun would reappear.  My only contribution was to suggest “Don’t go topless dear… you might make it snow!” 

We’ve been this way before (several times) but can’t remember it. Except for the section before Hopwas where there are military warning signs on the offside.

The high tower to the west is the Lichfield Transmitter which is no longer in use.  The tower broadcasted analogue TV signals from 1956 until 2011 when the switch to digital occurred and the new signal was broadcast from Sutton Coalfield.

We finished the day on the northern outskirts of Tamworth.