Doggin on the Twenty-one!

I thought that headline would get your attention.

It's been another lovely day and we had an uneventful trip up the Wolverhampton 21. That is until we got to Lock Sex (6). More about that in a minute though.

We started off up the flight at 1.00 and the first few were full so needed emptying, but then we met a couple of boats coming down so that made Roger's job easier. I'm back to steering again as the one lock I worked the other day took it's toll and proved I'm not as fit as I thought I was.

Autumn is well and truly here and the trees and bushes have started showing their spectacular colours.

So, as mentioned earlier, we had a pretty uneventful trip until I was half way up lock 6 and a youngish couple came and sat on the lock beam behind me. I didn't pay them much attention at first but Roger signalled for me to look back at them and I got a bit of a shock. He was sat on the lock beam and she was sat on his lap with her legs wrapped around his waist getting rather amorous. They seemed oblivious to us and were getting more and more raunchy. Once we'd left the lock I glanced back, as you do, and she had her jeans round her ankles and they were going at it with some gusto!  At 3.00 in the afternoon and with people walking along the towpath too!  Brazen pair........... I felt like shouting "get a room".

We got to the top of the flight without any further incidents and were greeted by "sounds of the city".....Wolverhampton Station tannoy announcements and a couple of ambulance and police sirens.

After nipping into Broad Street Basin to dump the rubbish and fill the water tank we're now moored for the night on the main line ready to carry on again tomorrow.

Penkridge Market

There was no lie-in for us yesterday and we were at Penkridge Market by 10.30. If you haven't already been it's definitely worth a visit just to see the poultry and produce auction.

There were lots of cages of birds, everything from tiny quail to large turkeys, even some mallard!

There were crates and crates of quail, hen & duck eggs for eating and plenty of live eggs for hatching too. After the poultry sale there was a general produce auction selling bin bags of windfall apples, allotment flowers etc. etc.

We didn't buy anything from the auction, I was under strict orders to keep my hands in my pockets, but we did stock up on fruit and veg. It was unbelievably cheap. A lot of the non-food stall holders were complaining that there was still no money about and nobody was buying anything. One stall selling coats had Trespass waterproof ski jackets at real knock-down prices and I got myself a nice bargain. Earlier in the year I bought some new waterproof pants which I stowed away in a safe place till winter.....so safe that I now can't remember where I put them so later today I need to raid the cupboards under the beds.  If I don't blog for a few days you'll know I've been sucked into the black hole that lurks down there.

After lunch we set off again on our journey.

It was a bit windy but very bright and sunny and we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon cruise through Gailey to moor in the middle of nowhere just before Coven.

Breakfast the lazy way

Last night we moored at Weeping Cross and yet again the rain over night was torrential. It was still a bit grim this morning so we decided to do something we've never done before and went to the pub for breakfast.  It was one of those Crown Carvery pubs where you can get a roast dinner for £3.79. They also do an "all you can eat" breakfast for £3.99 and while it was a bit like a transport caff nosh-up it wasn't too bad really. We won't be rushing to find another one though. By the time we left at 11.30 they had already stocked the hotplates with roast joints and an assortment of veggies was being kept warm under the heat lamps. I would imagine that by the time they opened for lunch at 12.00 it must have been a bit shrivelled up.

We set off straight after breakfast and Roger finally decided I was fit enough to work a lock - my first this year.

He only let me do the one lock but there are plenty more due in the next few days so hopefully we'll get back into the routine of sharing locking & steering. I find it quite boring steering all the time, I'd rather be up at the lock gates having a gossip with anyone who's waiting.

There's no place like gnome..............

The rain stopped and the sun came out just as we arrived at Penkridge so we moored below the lock and went into the village to stretch our legs and do a bit of shopping. We're going to the famous market tomorrow.

This is the Old Gaol

complete with stocks.

Penkridge is mostly full of modern houses but this old one was quite beautiful. It looks like it must have been thatched originally.

Sunday is the best day of the week!

Sunday is definitely the best day of the week as far as I'm concerned.

We had a nice lie in and finally surfaced after 10.00 The sun was shining and there were plenty of passing boats to watch and talk about while we had coffee and breakfast.

I didn't fancy cooking lunch so dragged Roger kicking and screaming to the pub.......if you believe that you'll believe anything.

I really fancied a Sunday roast but the Clifford Arms only serves a basic pub menu. However, they redeemed themselves by having 5 good real ales on tap so we stayed and had lunch while sampling a few of the beers.  We also bumped into Pauline and John from n.b. Kali who we'd last seen on the BCN trip 2 years ago.  It's one of the good things about boating in that you can make friends who you only see once in a blue moon, but you always carry on exactly where you left off. We spent a really enjoyable couple of hours catching up on gossip etc. and finally went our separate ways just after 3.00.

Just after we'd left the pub the heavens opened and we had a mega thunder storm. We sheltered under a big tree as the rain was torrential and passed a very damp but pleasant half hour chatting to a local walker who was also sheltering under our tree.

By the time we'd walked home to the boat the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. The coats went straight in the drier and the kettle went on.

Sundays.......don't you just love them?????

Fuertaventura to Tixall Wide

We left the boat in Aston Marina while we went off for a well deserved holiday in Fuertaventura.

We booked our holiday on-line and hoped it would be OK. Well it was 100% better than either of us could have imagined and it was a hell of a wrench to come back home.

This was our "suite". The living room was twice the size of our boat

The bathroom was just amazing. We had a jacuzzi with a view, as well as a separate shower. It was sheer decadence and we made the most of it relaxing with a bottle of chilled fizz after a long day in the sun.

We also had an outdoor shower in the private sunbathing patio

and a private front garden

This was one of the swimming pools where we did a lot of sunbathing. I even conquered my fear of the sea and spent hours swimming and playing in the surf. It was heaven!!!

The weather was fantastic although it looks a bit cloudy in this pic. It was 25'C every day with a nice breeze that made it extremely bearable. 

Holidays aren't holidays without the compulsory visits to bars and restaurants and we made sure to check out a wide variety.

This one was in the middle of nowhere. We just asked the taxi driver to take us somewhere nice for Sunday lunch and he took us to this small fish restaurant on the other side of the island. It had a huge swimming pool to keep the children occupied while their parents enjoyed themselves and even had a life-guard on duty.

 We ate different fish every day. This was Dorade - grilled sea-bream with garlic - and was delicious

Obviously we had to have paella at some point so we saved it for lunch on our day of departure.

We got back home to the boat in the early hours of Thursday morning and spent the rest of the day catching up with sleep and food shopping at the supermarkets in Stone. Then on Friday we set off on our travels again and spent the night at Great Heywood, opposite the marina.

Today we moved to Tixall Wide and just as we moored up the sun came out and a pair of swans came visiting. I just love it here, it's one of my favourite spots on the whole system. We'll stay here till Monday or maybe even Tuesday, depending on the weather, but then we'll carry on towards Birmingham as I have to be there by the end of the month.

Aston Marina

It's been another glorious day and the solar panels have been working well.

We set off down through Stone locks meeting boats at almost every one.  There were people everywhere, presumably because of the Food & Drink Festival still being on, and we had quite a large audience at Star Lock.

We got to Aston Marina at 1.30 and moored on the vistor moorings for a couple of hours while we recorded the Grand Prix and went in the Bistro for a really good Sunday roast lunch. Later on we moved into what will be our new home for a while and I've been chilling out in the sunshine while Roger caught up with the GP.

We're really impressed with what we've seen of the marina so far. The facilities are superb and everyone is really friendly.

Chico seems quite happy here too......

Stone

We've really enjoyed our time in Stone. Yesterday we hired a car from Enterprise, who pick you up and drop you off again, and went back to Manchester for a hospital appointment. We made full use of the car while we had it by stocking up with all the heavy tins and bottles at the supermarket. It saved us lugging the granny trolley up the tow-path.

This weekend is the Stone Food & Drink Festival so we walked down into town this morning to pay it a visit. There was a Farmers Market in the main High Street which was doing a roaring trade selling everything from wet fish, pork pies and vegetarian food too.  The Food & Drink Festival itself was over by the Recreation Centre and was £6 each to go in. When we got there at 12.00 it wasn't too busy but later on it was rammed and the tents and marquees were very hot and stuffy inside. We'd wanted to have lunch in the posh pop-up restaurant and got there at 12.30. Only one table was occupied but we were told they were fully booked and turned away, so we left the festival and went back into Stone to the Crown and Anchor for lunch.  Later we went back to the festival with the intention of sampling a few beers in the Titanic Brewery beer tent but again it was rammed and several of the beers had already run out, so we left again and went in the Swan.  The Festival itself wasn't as big as I'd expected for a £6 entrance fee but we bought some amazing Toulouse pork pies and Dragon Eggs (black pudding scotch eggs) which we've never had before. I doubt we'll ever pay to go again in future years as the Farmers Market and the Swan provided us with much more for free.

Tomorrow we're moving down the locks and going into Aston Marina for a while.