Shobnall Fields to Clay Mills Aqueduct
Tilly was allowed some shore leave this morning whilst we had a slow start. All of a sudden our phones were ringing, an old friend checking on us and a change of time for Micks MRI tomorrow. We spent some time working out where would be best to moor for ease of bus access, plus filling with water a job that needed doing today. A plan was made, how would we fair?
With Mick at the helm we pootled up to Shobnall Marina to wind. I busied myself below giving Tilly a fresh pooh box, we’ve both been doing our bit to conserve water, but she really couldn’t hang on any longer! Then I bobbed back up on deck to make sure all was as it should be just as Mick was winding. I hopped off, was handed a windlass and walked on ahead to Dallow Lock to set it for us. Someone had lost a ball, well it was more like a head. Those with kids, grandchildren are likely to know this characters name, but not me.
We reversed back onto the service mooring at Horninglow Basin. It took a while for the hose pipe to actually register that it was attached to a tap! With the tank filling a load of washing was put on, then the yellow water could be dealt with. I’d considered having a shower whilst at the water point, but a boat arrived and the Paddington stares we were getting from them even though we’d said the tap was slow made me stay smelly for a while longer. We actually gave up when the tank was three quarters full. Oh blimey, the sliding hatch at the stern was open! Thank goodness Tilly was having an afternoon kip.
I walked ahead, but kept Oleanna in view as much as I could. Mick seems fine, but I just want to keep an eye on him for a while. My Dad had a similar stroke a couple of years before he passed away which only affected his vision. There were a couple of other things that he had problems with, for quite a while he couldn’t remember what the toaster was called, the kettle was fine, it was just the toaster. Stroke symptoms are individual and there are times when Mick doesn’t notice anything wrong with his vision. But sometimes moving through the outside he has a sort of fogginess, well not quite, hard to describe, his blank spots seem to be happening less. Are there other things that we just haven’t come across yet? Maybe the stern hatch being left open was one of them? Maybe he’d have done that anyway! Thankfully he does still know what a kettle is and can make tea!
We moved on up to Bridge 28, it was starting to rain. Rumbles of thunder had been rolling around us for a while, would we get moored before the skies opened, it was certainly getting darker and darker. I walked on checking that there’d be space for us just after Clay Mills Aqueduct, there was. We pulled in away from over hanging trees and just about got away with mooring up before the rain came down.
If it wasn’t for the A38 this would be a really pleasant mooring, a good view to the south of the canal, good internet and very close to a bus stop for an express service in the morning. At first Tilly wasn’t sure about it. This outside is rumblingly wet! But I sat and stared at it for quite sometime until it obeyed. Off she went, heading off into the friendly cover, not returning for ages despite it raining again. It was gone 6pm when I had to put my shoes back on and walk the towpath calling for her, the noise from the road meaning I couldn’t hear Tilly replying to my calls nor her bell. But in the end I spotted her and she came running.
Mick had an afternoon kip, he may now be caught up on missing sleep from his stay in hospital, but this also may become a regular thing. I made use of the time touching up more of panto. It’s a shame my mind had been elsewhere and I’m now revisiting work, but I know I’d not have been happy with it once enlarged.
Broccoli and mushrooms were added to the very last of the roast chicken and leek sauce and enjoyed with some brown rice.
1 lock, 3.5 miles, 1 wind, 1 reverse, 1 Mick back at the helm, 2 outsides, 1 slow day, 2 bags of used cat litter on the roof, 1 cloud burst avoided, 1 afternoon nap, 37 cows, A38! 50 minutes brisk walking, 1 soggy cat, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval, 0 packets of salt and pepper required.
