Into the unknown

I didn't manage to blog yesterday, whatever pollens I react to must be about and by the time we stopped my eyes were so itchy the thought of looking at a computer screen didn't appeal.

There wasn't really much to say. We didn't travel far, just up through Tamworth to stop for shopping at the Asda on the far side. We were following Da Vinci and Lowry, a pair of boats that belong to canal artists which meant that there was a delay at Glascote Locks as they went through. After that we had a further delay at the second lock because the boat coming up didn't have the good sense to realise that when your boat is only about eight inches narrower than the lock you aren't going to get out if the lock gate won't open fully!
A bit of wood had drifted behind the gate stopping it from opening and they got stuck! Instead of being sensible and backing off they kept trying to push their way out. I walked down, showed them the problem and hopefully they won't make that mistake again.

Today we had a good day's cruising, up the rest of the Coventry Canal and onto the Trent and Mersey, but onto a bit we have never travelled before. The canal was busy so there was a wait at each of the locks, but not too much of a problem. At Shadehouse Lock there was a sunken narrowboat, quite sad really, it was obviously an old one as it had a wooden hull. I hope someone raises it and and repairs it, I hate to see all the old boats disappearing and being replaced by shiny new ones. I'd love to have a historic boat, I wanted to buy a 1929 boat when we bought Morgana but Ray wasn't keen. Well, he liked the idea but not the work involved!

Anyway, we stopped for the night at Rugeley, very quiet for a town mooring. Ray went on an unsuccessful mission to try and get spare glowplugs for the engine. He is getting paranoid about what could go wrong!
Tomorrow we hope to cover a fair distance as we hope to make Stoke-on-Trent by Wednesday. Ray wants to use his old codgers discount at B & Q.

Yesterday's journey 5.5 miles and 2 locks.
Today's journey 17.1 miles, 3 locks and 1 swing bridge.
So far we have travelled 186 miles, 173 locks, 5 swing bridges, 2 lift bridges and 3 tunnels.