Lower Burston Bridge to below Meaford Bottom Lock
I’m liking these mornings with shore leave, I don’t feel the need to return for my dingding quite so much. However this morning She started to call for me long before my hour was up! Just what was She wanting?! I was busy.
Well it would have been very rude of Tilly not to have shown her face to say goodbye to Karen and Bill before they pushed off, wouldn’t it Tilly! Yes!!!
We waited and hoped that the wet air would subside, it did a little. Where we are planning to go has nowhere to fill up with diesel, NB Halsall is currently on her way down the Shroppie. A comment made by Brian on facebook somewhere suggested that the price at Aston Marina would be good. We decided to pull and and see.
Aston Marina has two entrances, however one is an entrance, the other an exit. They operate a one way system. We turned in, a family busy feeding ducks and geese from the bow of NB Winding Down, we waved to Paul and Aileen. Round to the service point where a bridge crosses the marina. Gosh Brian had been right, this would be the cheapest diesel we’ve had all year.
Turning back out onto the cut we made our way to Aston Lock. A boat was coming down, Mick helped then it was our turn. The offside bottom gate was obstinate in closing. Mick wiggled it around a bit, still a couple of inches gap, but that was better than it had been. Up Oleanna rose, the half way mile post, garden hut came into view along with the Aston Villa stop planks.
In towards Stone. It’s further than you remember it being, I’ve once walked from Stone Station to Aston Marina and its even longer by foot. The end of the moorings showed. The bank where we’d pulled in back at the end of April is more settled, adding a new length of mooring capability. There was a space just past the footpath, we pulled in and soon discovered why it was empty. Oleanna’s bow came in but not her stern. We tied up anyway, time for lunch.
We checked on the new bins, up a little footpath by the Scout hut, no recycling facilities, at least there are bins again. M&S for fresh food supplies. A chat with a chap who moors on the Caldon about his extended nappy pins, pins with a long hooped handle welded onto them. Then it was time to make a move.
Star Lock, always gongoozlers here. Loud music came from the garden and two kids in fancy dress ran around in great excitement. Up ahead a boat could be seen leaving Yard Lock, Mick walked ahead. The boat coming towards Oleanna wasn’t making a very good job of avoiding the moored boats. The crew walked past Mick, ‘We’ve emptied it for you’, fairly obvious, he could have left the gates open too especially as the lock bridge is cordoned off at the moment. In his defence he’d not have been able to see us coming, but the person at the helm would have.
I managed to hover, bow close to the gates to avoid being blown about, whilst Mick walked round the lock to open the gates again. Up we rose. The chap had said he’d left the lock empty, he’d also left a paddle up by four inches, that was soon rectified once I’d spotted it.
The pub was busy, most of the Ginger hire boats were in. The obligatory photo of Joules Brewery had a different look to it today, the building covered in scaffolding and red netting.
A boat was filling with water below Newcastle Road Bridge, not enough room before or after it for Oleanna to pull in to drop Mick off. We backed in and off he hopped. I’ve never noticed how the brickwork to the entrance of lock funnels in to meet the width of the lock.
At Lime Kiln Lock a boat was coming down, their crew walked on down past me, asked how far we were going, maybe just to the moorings above today. He said there was room, they’d just pulled out after the first boat. As we cruised past we’d need not have fretted, only two boats moored along the whole stretch. Anyway we carried on that bit further getting away from back gardens and closer to the bottom of Meaford Locks ready for the morning. Tilly was given 45 minutes, she didn’t use them all Too many woofers!
The other day we’d worked out a cruising plan, we knew we’d have enough time on our hands to cruise where we wanted, a calculation of how many hours cruising a day would be required. However we now were getting suggestions for rendez vous with several people. We realised our plan would require fine tuning and adjusting to meet up with transport for various dates. This meant an hour of deep concentration and Canal Plan. Railway stations required on at least four occasions, maybe returning back to join the Trent via the Shroppie hadn’t been such a good idea.
Suddenly our cruising hours had shot up to four hours a day. How come? It had us heading for Derwent Mouth Lock to join the Trent, then returning to Nantwich before heading along the Shroppie. Another session is required for fine tuning. By now we both wanted to watch the final episode of Imposter: The man who came back from the dead. What a terrifying true crime story of a man who woke from a Covid coma in Glasgow accused of being a serial sex offender on the FBI’s most wanted list. We needed to know if he was extradited back to the States.
5 locks, 5.1 miles, 2 outsides, 1 dragon, 1 jaunty mooring, 2 biffa bins, 1 top up shop, 1 huge cauliflower cheese, 0.5 of a sock knitted, 1 painting scanned, 1 box of paints to put away.
