Ouch!
Well, we made it to Gailey, although we nearly gave up a couple of times.
The ice wasn’t too thick as we left the moorings in Penkridge after shopping and saying our goodbyes to Rita and Scooby on NB Festina Lente, and Mrs Ian across the water on Tom’s Moorings.
Leaving Penkridge
It started to get thicker as we left the built up area, towards Otherton…..
And got thicker still as we swung parallel to the motorway.
We couldn’t hear the traffic over the crack and crunch of the ice.Ann and Charles walked down to meet us near Otherton Lock, the “off-boat” pictures are hers. Thanks, Ann.
Meg jumped ship at Otherton Lock; she’d had enough of the noise and shaking by then. But she waited for us at each subsequent lock.
What kept you?
It was a bit easier going around the Rodbaston, Boggs and Brick Kiln Lock areas, where BW had been dredging, breaking the ice as they went. Then around one last bend and the welcome sight of the Gailey Roundhouse could be seen on the skyline.
Gailey, with Moore2Life and Rock ‘n’ Roll moored below.
We went up Gailey Lock, filled with diesel at the wharf, then across the cut and filled the water tank and emptied the loos, before reversing back down the lock and mooring near M2L.
We’ll wait out the weekend’s bad weather here, then see what it’s like. We’ve Tescoman coming on Tuesday morning, so can’t set off before then, anyway.
It’s a relief to be here, with full and empty tanks as required. It’s an easy trip up the lock and back to fill up again, so we’re OK here for as long as it takes. And the towpath is quieter!
Adam left a comment yesterday, apparently NB Debdale is on the move back to Norbury today. They may be lucky, I’d heard that The Jewellery Boat is on the move from Great Haywood. They may well have a groove to follow. They certainly have between Penkridge and Gailey…
And Ted, things may be quiet again for a few days, some more Arctic weather is due…
Still, at least we’ve a different view through the windows!
Thanks for the good wishes, Sue. They seem to have worked! Unlike Tesco.com!
Locks 7 (1 twice), miles 2¾. AT LAST!!!
2 comments:
Glad you got there. The plan to move Debdale didn't come off -- reports from the Great Haywood area suggested that a lot of the ice was still four inches thick, so our intrepid owners thought better of it. With the next lot of cold weather coming in, goodness knows when she'll get back to base.
Thanks Adam, we are too!
I think they made the right decision. If we'd known how thick it was alongside the motorway we may have thought twice....
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