Toffee in disgrace

 Aug 4th

Today was supposed to be dry, the local weather mentioned cloud cover most of the day with sunny spells later. So why then, having set off wearing a jumper, Ian in his usual T Shirt, were we caught out when the heavy drizzle started. And with the wind blowing toward us, that drizzle soon had us soaked! Ian went below, allegedly to make a cup of tea but I believe to get out of the rain, leaving me to try and grab the coat off the hook, keep the boat heading in a straight line and all the while trying to find the armhole in my raincoat! Anyone watching would have seen FS weaving drunkenly from side to side! And of course no sooner had I managed to get the coat on, the rain stopped!!

We didn't travel too far today, a little under 4 miles. Destination Penkridge. For once we got away before Jim and Jenn, in fact their ariel was still riding high above the boat as we pulled away. TV reception was not very good at Deptmore. 

 

First lock was Shutt Hill and apart from some leakage from the top gate which had put several inches of water into the lock, enough to keep the gates closed no matter how hard one pushed, a few turns of the windlass on the paddle gear and Ian soon had the gates open. FS had almost finished rising to the top when Jenn turned up. Wow, they must have put on a spurt to have caught us up!

It was about half a mile to get to Park Gate lock. A long straight run in and Ian wanted to get off FS well before the lock. Silt was my problem, a good three foot from the bank and I came to a stop. Ian managed to jump off, and Toffee decided to follow. If only I could have had the video going on the camera because I swear she is a gazelle in disguise. She must have leapt a good 4 ft in the air and cleared the open water landing a further 4 ft onto the bank. Then she had a nut spell!! Must have thought what a very good girl she was as she tore up and down the towpath feeling very pleased with herself. I was furious but could do nothing about it. Ian thought it amusing...well he would! I never allow her to get off the boat without being told and rest assured, she won't be doing that again!

Reversing off the silt, I managed to point FS toward the lock and was pleased to see a boat exiting.

No sign of Dire Straits yet, Ian would only lift a paddle for them once he had them in sight. But at the top two more boats were waiting and a third seen in the distance. Gosh, how glad was I that we were heading for Penkridge and not Great Haywood. 

I was amazed to see the building that had once housed Midland Chandlers, had changed hands and been taken over by Park Gate leisure. Ian was itching to go for a look but because of the amount of boats queueing he decided this would wait for another time.

Ian did manage to lift a paddle for Dire Straits at Longford Lock, he spied Jenn walking in the distance. We went off to find a mooring for both our boats, quite a challenge at Penkridge. We were lucky, a boat pulled out in front of us, that space would do for Jim and two boat lengths further on was another space made just for FS.

This will be our mooring now for tomorrow. With Storm Antoni approaching this is a good place to ride it out.