Stone and almost stuck by a stone

We set off on Sunday morning in glorious sunshine but with a bitter wind. The trees outside the museum were in full bloom and looked stunning. It's such a shame the blossom only lasts for a few days.

I was thinking about throwing the winter pansies away when we were in Nantwich as they'd taken a real battering in the gales, but the recent sunny weather has brought them back to life and they are now looking really good. I always think winter pansies are such good value. These two troughs full cost me less than a fiver and have lasted since the end of September.

We had a good trip down the locks from Etruria to Stone, except for the next to last lock when we had a bit of an incident. The pounds between the locks were quite low due to the sheer number of boats using them yesterday and as the boat got down to the bottom of Lock 32 it got caught on some loose stones which were sticking out of the lock wall. This meant that the boat started tipping over to one side but luckily Roger managed to rock it off the obstruction and get out of the lock.

As soon as we got out of the lock Roger phoned C&RT to report the incident and they said they'd send someone out to check the lock as soon as possible.

When we arrived in Stone the Floating Market was installed on the visitor moorings and there weren't any spaces available, so we reversed backwards and moored opposite the housing estate. The view was certainly nicer than on the 5 day visitor moorings opposite the factory, but the canal is very shallow there and we ended up being moored at an angle which meant the kitchen drawers kept coming open. The water level rose up enough for us to float normally again once all the boats had stopped using the locks and after the trading boats had set off this morning we moved round the corner into a good spot above the lock. We'll be here for the next 5 days so if you're passing and we're at home, please call in and say "Hi"