Back on the T & M

 I don't think I have ever seen Alrewas so deserted!!! Arriving at 9 30am mooring was no problem and so our trip to the award winning butchers to stock up with Shugburough sausages, decent pork chops, bacon, liver and chicken took next to no time.

After stashing our goodies in the freezer we made our way to the river section. The gauge showed the river to be very low even though we had a night of squally showers. Once off the river came the part of the T & M I hate. The noise of the A38 as well as the lorries on the opposite side going to the weigh bridge is enough to want you to get away from there as soon as possible. At Tattenhall lock the pile of stones from the damaged bridge still lay  untouched with the usual 'Defra Rash' cordoning off the bit where the car went through .Its been like that for well over a year! One day it will be fixed!!

Going past Horninglow Basin I notice that Granny Buttons owned by Andrew Denny was back on its mooring. That's another blogger I have yet to meet.

We decided to stop at Stenson for the night. Ian said he would take me out for a meal in the Bubble Inn to save me cooking. More like it would save him having to do the washing up. Our rule is, The one that cooks doesn't wash up! Anyway I had a curry which was delicious. Ian ordered the chicken Enchiladas. Disaster!! The onions were burnt and the rest of it was tasteless. He complained to the chef who swore blind that all his meals were up to scratch. When Ian went to pay the bill he did notice that they hadn't charged him for his pint. So to me thats as good as admitting the chef got it wrong!

Next morning we washed and polished the side of the boat. BW suddenly appeared at the lock gates and started fishing around with their long handled keb.



Pulling out large sheets of plastic.

  As we were about to leave Ian wondered over to see if we could get through. On his return he told me that, as the stoppage was starting on the 8th, they had to make sure the grooves for their stop planks were free of rubbish. Ian also found out that on all the stoppages no lock gates were going to be replaced. All they would do is to re line them. Apparently nothing major will now be undertaken until the new Canal and River Trust charity takes over. Now I'm wondering exactly what they will do to the problem of leakage on Stenson's Locks. As you can see in these pictures not only have we got a waterfall from the top gates but the bottom right hand gate hasn't opened properly for as long as I can remember!!!



This is as far as this gate will open.

 The rain started again early afternoon so we decided to stop just past the 'Keep Right' signs on a ringed mooring by Bridge 11 near Cliff Wood. For the first time in ages I went fishing and caught well over 40 fish. This is definatly one to mark in the Nicholson guide!