Gnosall Heath to Goldstone Bridge

Gnosall is like Gnangara in Perth, Western Australia. The “G” is silent so it’s pronounced nosall.  We woke to a cold but clear morning.  Actually Jan woke to the cold morning and turned on the central heating.  I woke to a warm and clear morning!

There were plenty of boats heading north today with us joining them around 9am.  It wasn’t for long as we stopped to top up the water tank on the northern side of Gnosall Heath.  It was there we discovered we were one of a convoy of three boats with a kiwi connection.  The boat in front was flying the silver fern whilst the crew behind had a Pukeko wind chime and told us they were heading to New Zealand next month.

The Pukeko is a swamp hen and it tastes foul.  Don’t ask how I know!

A second stop at Norbury Wharf to dispose of the rubbish and enquire in the chandlery about a replacement cupboard catch.  Unfortunately they only had them in brass and ours is chrome.

Diesel was 59ppl and boats travelling north were stopping for fuel. This seemed rather strange when they had passed Turners at Wheaton Ashton (51.9ppl).  As we were leaving I looked back;  and noticed the sign on the bridge; and asked Jan to take a photo.  Unfortunately it’s slightly out of focus

CHEAPEST RED DIESEL  AT A BOAT YARD IN THE COUNTRY

That qualification makes all the difference!

Very few people go under Bridge 39 without taking a photo of the Christmas tree on the lower arch.

We cruised past the Anchor Inn where we stopped with Peter & Margret a couple of years ago and sampled the local brew.

I remember thinking at the time this must be the oldest barmaid in England and I was quite concerned she might cark it having to serve all seven patrons.  The bar was tiny and the beer was delivered by her going out the back and returning with it in a jug.  One of those memorable moments!

Shebdon is an attractive location and there always seems to be at least two boats here on the visitor moorings.

A little further on we went past the Cadbury’s Wharf and both of us wrinkled our noses and commented on the smell. It  was a if the chocolate had come from a boaters cassette {yuk}

There was no loitering and we pressed on with Jan attempting to take a clear photo of The Wrekin in the distance.  Eventually a gap appeared in the towpath hedgerow.

By now our stomachs were making loud growling sounds suggesting it was time to find a mooring for the day so we stopped on the 48 hour moorings at Goldstone Wharf.

After lunch I went out to do more repairs to the roof paintwork whilst Jan cleaned the Reflek stove and it’s surrounding walls.

 

Bill the painter would be proud of me as I remembered to add the Owatrol to the paint.  Last year I repainted the Boatman’s Beam and to make sure the paint didn’t ‘stray’ I applied masking tape to either side.  To my horror specks of rust subsequently appeared where the masking tape had been on the light grey paint.  The affected area was rubbed back to bare metal and has had one coat of primer and two of undercoat followed by one of top coat.  You could see brush marks in the topcoat so today the area was masked up and sanded back smooth before a second top coat was applied.  I’m hoping this time the paint will flatten out. and I can get a 3rd coat on.