It
was not long after Barry and Sandra left that there was a knock on the door and
someone shouted my name; it was James from nb Gabriel, who I had last seen on
the Staffs and Worcester. We had a quick chat and decided to meet up for a meal
in The Star later.
I
pulled the pins at midday and set off for Great Haywood, passing the Indigo
Dreamers on nb Indigo Dream, fellow bloggers, who I met after the BCN
Challenge. Maybe we will meet up one day for a pub session. I also came across someone working a lock,
whom I recognised, but could not place. His wife remembered though, that I had
moored beside them for a short while at Stafford Boat Club.
I
stopped to dump some rubbish at Gt. Haywood and found this on top of one of the
bins.
Even the whistle works!
There is
absolutely nothing wrong with it, so why do people throw things like this away?
It will make a good replacement for the aluminium one that has a melted handle,
that I left on the gas to boil dry. It is not the first item of value that I
have seen in marina bins, although on the other occasions, tempted as I was, I had
left the stuff in there.
In
a while, I went through the two locks to Fradley Juction and turned right there
to find a convenient mooring just a little way up, which is not too far from The
Swan, aka The Mucky Duck. I took a chance passing the moorings above Shade
House lock, as they were all taken and a long walk from the pub.
Having
just returned from The Swan, I have to say that I am not impressed at all; the
barman was more interested in clearing glasses than serving me and the fact
that their kitchens were closed down last year by the Health Authority just adds
to the lackadaisical attitude in there. Unless this pub changes hands, I don’t
think I will bother when I pass it again.
I
took rubbish to the bins before I left and on top of one bin was this portable
electric drill, which actually worked and an old iron, which was covered in
dust – both of which I took away with me. There was also a 100W solar panel,
which appeared to have a diode missing at the back, but it was too big for my
boat anyway. I find it amazing that people just dump these things which still
work!
I
knew from the NBT schedule that Barry would be at Alvecote the following
Saturday, so I planned to be there to see him and catch up on the news of the
Trust, as well as having a few beers in The Samuel Barlow.
I
arrived late on Friday and Barry turned up the next day, so there was much talk
of NBT business and a few jobs to be done on the boats, which had to be moved
out of the marina, where they had been since the Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering.
The pair were breasted up and Barry did a very good job of extracting them from
a difficult and tight mooring. David Thompson arrived later to collect the
range, which is going to be repaired. Graham Roberts and Bob Geeson were the
crew for the trip to Awbridge and they arrived on Sunday. Once they were
unpacked, Barry expertly demonstrated springing the pair off the berth to head
off up to Fradley Junction for their first stop.
Barry springs the pair off the mooring and Graham
prepares to cast off the bow line.
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