At the top of the flight leading down into Fradley Junction we passed NB Tabitha Twitchett, a bespoke Aqua Narrowboat, the owners of whom we met in 2016 when Tabitha was only two weeks old. They were still as proud of her today. Luckily there were volunteer lockies on call to help Mike with the lock work as the Tabitha Twitchett owner walked down the flight of locks with me as we talked.
Coming into Fradley Junction
As we walked between locks we passed boat selling boat bling
At the next lock we waited as NB Riverside, another bespoke Aqua Narrowboat came up the lock, making my mouth water all over again.
And at the very next lock what should be coming up - yep, you guessed it, another Aqua boat, NB Dolly Blue this time.
All three owners had high praise for Justin and the quality of his work and asked up to pass on their regards.
We stopped in Alrewas for lunch, quiche and the last of the salad makings. Going through Alrewas makes you realise you are definitely back in Biscuit Box country
Next up straight after Alrewas Lock was the short river (Trent) section that was closed for a week during the rains. It opened again Wednesday afternoon and was still on yellow (caution) because of the strong flow. Boats we met coming up had warned us to be careful.
And while the flow did double our speed
Lawrence kept A.B. well clear of the weir barrier
Another pastoral scene
There was still quite a strong flow until we passed the secondary weir.
One of the 6000 and something nesting pairs of Mute Swans
Coming to Wychnor Lock our last for this trip
Mike and Tim have wound up the bottom gates paddles to drain the lock
And here she comes
Making the turn in the marina
I forgot to mention yesterday that we had a little incident and Lawrence got a right bollocking from an incensed boater. Well today he excelled himself. The turn into the marina could not have been bettered. Then we had to hover in a gusting breeze waiting for a boat at the services wharf to finish before we could get on. To make it even trickier there were boats moored sticking out at right angles at either end of the wharf and the space to moor in would have only been 10 to 12 feet longer than the boat. He nosed in gently, Tim attached a springer line (or was it a reverse springer?) at the bow and L brought A.B gently into the wharf. Sooooo impressive. After filling with diesel and having a pump out, L got us back off the wharf by using a stern springer (or reverse springer) and then executed a 180 to get us onto our mooring. Tricky stuff, let me tell you. And he did it perfectly. And was there anyone around to see this virtuso performance - not a one!
After a cup of tea and the last scone - Thank you Jean for the delicious fruit cake (gone days ago) and the wonderful scones, they were very much appreciated, especially during the cold and wet weather - we started the big clean out :( However it wasn't too long before we sort of gave up and the boys went for showers while I showered on the boat and then we sat around and decided an all out effort in the morning would be far more producive than what we had been doing.
Having said that I should away to bed as we have to be up early in the morning before Tim and Mike whisk us off to a luxe B&B for tomorrow night.
Finally some statistics
7 miles, 10 locks, 5 hours 45 mins
Overall:
344 miles, 423 locks, 8 lift/swing bridges, 10.8kms of tunnels in 55 days -jeez louise, no wonder we're buggered
