Our few hours boating can be seen here:
We have been following the A51 and the West Coast mainline for a little while now but today we chuckled as we don’t think the railway can get any closer! We were headed to the Tixall Wide, a lovely spot to take a couple of days off boating and just relax.
Today took us through Richards old stomping ground as he used to moor here many moons ago. Apparently nothing much has changed!
I decided to do the locks today as there were only 3 and well spaced out so I could reintroduce my upper abdomen to the movements. I hadn’t appreciated just how much work your core does! In the first lock was a lovely old gent, a single hander so he stayed onboard while I worked the lock for him, in return he gifted me a tangerine and a big smile.
Spotted a lovely looking bridge:
Spotted some funny little boats in one of the private boat yards:
After a bit of weird boat movement up ahead we were able to go through the bridge and turn right onto the Staffs & Worcs canal. This canal would be the one to take us all the way back down to Stourport on Severn.
We pulled over to check the mooring situation and as I walked off to see if there were any better spaces it would appear a gust of wind took the boat. I turned around to see my boat drifting off into the wide bit of water, Richard with a sliver of rope left to cling on to. I watched him launch himself onto the bow of the boat. He got on and walked down the edges to the back and steered her over to where I was stood a little further down. The weirdest thing about that whole scenario was that I wasnt worried, I think even if Richard hadn’t have been able to launch himself on I figure I could have got another boater to take us over to wherever she ended up to bring her back. I would definitely not been as calm if this had happened back before i’d had any major long boating trip experience.
It is feeling very odd to know we are going to be back on the home mooring within a couple of weeks. If it wasn’t for other arrangements I would seriously consider staying out over winter but once i’m back home it really is too late to be going up and down the River Severn so it would be a total commitment. Maybe this could be something to consider for other years when my summers are again filled with work.
That Niggling Thought 