Adderley to Audlem

Cloudy day, with  little sun. Got down to the moorings just as rain began. Found Adrian and Dawn on Chalico, and Adrian helped create space behind them for us, just below lock 13.

2.7 miles, 13 locks, 3 engine hours

Market Drayton to Adderley

Set off late morning, once the overnight rain was over. Dawdled the three miles to Adderley, came down the flight and tied up on the moorings at the bottom. After lunch we were going to go for a walk to the village, to see it and to find a spot with mobile signal or a WiFi hotspot, but the rain came on again heavy for a while. Eventually went for our walk about 4.45. Found a BT hotspot among the houses, and posted to the Erin Mae blog.

3.6 miles, 5 locks, 2.4 engine hours

Gnosall to Market Drayton

With sun promised all day, but rain tomorrow and Sunday, decided to do a longer run than usual. All very straightforward, though we had to wait more than once for hirers to negotiate a bridge hole or a narrow section as they approached us. Tied up at "the Labybird moorings" in Market Drayton.

14 miles, 5 locks, 5.8 engine hours

Bridge 7/8, Shropshire Union to Gnosall

Cloudy, grey day, but only started to rain as we tied up. Coffee / cake (The-Mess Bistro) and shopping in Brewood. Coffee was good at a good price, cake was nice but a little dry. Ham salad batons from the bakery were very good.

Water at Wheaton Aston, then diesel from Turner's (68.28 litres @ 58.9). That makes about 1.6 litres /hour on this trip (ignoring Webasto use, which would probably account for 4 litres or so).

10.1 miles, 1 lock, 4.1 engine hours

Calf Heath to Bridge 7/8, Shropshire Union

Lots of traffic early on, but leaving later we missed most of it. Very pleasant in the sun. Came through the narrows north of Autherley Junction without meeting anyone. Overall, made very good progress.

9.1 miles, 1 lock, 3.5 hours

Teddesley Park to Calf Heath

Went to Midland Chandlers first thing, to replace some stolen fenders and get a second aluminium windlass. Stopped briefly in Penkridge for a visit to Jaspers and one or two other places, and because we were going to be stuck in a queue for the lock anyway.

When we returned, a boat coming down the lock prompted us to get going in spite of slight drizzle. Came through to Gailey with some help from other boaters on some of the more difficult locks, took on water, and kept going until just after Long Moll's Bridge, 76 (passing "Substance Inside" on the way!). The extra time will help to give a bit of leeway for getting to Audlem by next Sunday evening.

6.3 miles, 8 locks, 4.5 engine hours

Radford Bank to Teddesley Park

Carvery lunch at the Radford Arms  – much better than last time some years ago. Then an easy cruise to Park Gate Lock, ready for a visit to Midland Chandlers in the morning.

4.1 miles, 3 locks, 2 engine hours

Great Haywood to Radford Bank

Water at GH, pump-out from Anglo-Welsh (£20 with blue), then a steady cruise to Radford Bank so that  on Sunday (a) we could have a carvery for lunch, and (b) we would have a reasonable bit on Sunday afternoon to the Penkridge Midland Chandlery lock, where we wanted to stop overnight.

5 miles, 1 lock, 3 engine hours

Little Haywood to Great Haywood

Came up Haywood Lock and tied up a hundred yards after. Kept the engine running for a while as we doing a wash load. Early sun made us think we might dry it easily, but it rained intermittently in the afternoon.

Picked up lenses from the PO, replaced the 2032 batteries for the scales, bought more kindling for £3.99. The chain locker had a inch of water, so cleared that out.

0.5 miles, 1 lock, 1 hour engine

Rugeley to Little Haywood

Rain promised, so we started earlier and did 3½ miles to a spot overlooking Shugborough. Rained for a bit but not much.

Got 3 bags of SuperTherm from Auriga (25kg for £12).

3.3 miles, 1 lock, 1.4 engine hours

Fradley to Rugeley

Mostly dull but dry. A fair bit of traffic meant we queued at Wood End Lock and to get through the narrows. The most awkward moment was passing NB Sanity Again moored up, with a difficult bend, not a lot of room, and a boat coming the other way. I cleared them by about three inches, and only realised who they were afterwards. Glad we didn't touch!

Stopped to shop in Rugeley, and then used on to the 48 hour moorings by the aqueduct over the Trent – our first time to tie up here. Two of our neighbours had experience of going up to Lechlade and said that mooring on the Thames was not really too difficult.

9.2 miles, 3 locks, 1 swing bridge, 4.5 engine hours

Whittington to Fradley

Lovely day for cruising but we decided to make it relatively short and tie up at Fradley – in the event, before the swing bridge – so we could eat at the Swan tonight. Andy and Helen Tidy came by, so we chatted and bought some product, and then went for a walk in the woods.

SmartGauge on 88 overnight, but up to 98 by Fradley.

3.4 miles, 0 locks, 1.5 engine hours

Fazeley to Whittington

Stayed on the Fazeley mooring Thursday afternoon to Monday morning, without needing to run the engine for the batteries. SmartGauge down to 59 by Monday morning.

Reversed back to Fazeley junction and took on water. Mostly fine, with some sunshine. Just before King's Orchard marina the rain began to come down heavily, so we stopped and had a late lunch inside.

7.7 miles, 0 locks, 3.6 engine hours

Fradley to Fazeey

Sunshine and cloud, with just a spot of rain at one point. Coventry Canal not very busy, but as usual we met at least two boats underneath awkward bridges. The canal is shallow, which makes for erratic steering. One incident pushed us underneath blackthorn bushes which damaged the aerial.

However, generally made good time and filled up with water at the junction before coming round the corner to moor behind NB Sonflower by the bridge that led to St Paul's.

11.2 miles, 0 locks, 4.3 engine hours

Rugeley to Fradley

No storm damage last night. Sunshine this morning for the first hour or two of travel, and then showers. Queues at the locks lengthened the journey considerably. Tied up at the end of Fradley's visitor moorings, after filling the water tank.

7 .5 miles, 3 locks, 1 swing bridge, 4.6 engine hours

Great Haywood to Rugeley

Very windy getting out – had to reverse up our arm of the marina. Mostly sunny, a little bit of drizzle, but when that went it got quite hot. Tied up on Rugeley visitor moorings at a point where we shall hopefully have some shelter from the wind expected in the night.

5.5 miles, 2 locks, 3.5 engine hours