Welcome to the first entry of our blog. We picked up our boat this morning, filled it up with medical supplies (wine, gin and rum) and then with essential supplies (tonic, beer and coke) before setting off up the Staffordshire and Worcester Canal towards Stafford.
Between 1980 and 85 we lived in High Offley and probably visited Stafford every week as it was our main town but it clearly did not make much of an impression as neither of us can remember anything about it!
Perhaps when we visit the town tomorrow the memories will come flooding back.
The boat is very similar to the one we hired last summer in France, in fact it was made in the same yard although unlike the French boat the toilet waste goes into a tank which needs emptying once a week, in France the poo goes straight into the canal to feed the fish. Last year we travelled hand baggage only yet managed to have everything we needed for a months holiday. This time we had a whole car full of stuff yet managed to forget a vital lead to connect cameras to the PC! Travelling light means you are more careful about what you take, there is probably a moral here somewhere.
The boat does have a fully equipped kitchen although we hope to eat in canalside pubs and restaurants now the lockdown is easing. We expected the canal to be busy as this is the first day after lockdown and the pubs to be rammed, they weren't, perhaps people are being sensible after all.
As it was quiet and no one was watching us I managed to get Gill to steer the boat. She managed five or six locks without too much damage, she did manage to hit a bridge fairly hard but that is part of the learning process, when things go right it all seems easy, when they go wrong it is embarrassing. It is not easy and the canal here is very narrow, perhaps only 2ft wider than the boat under the bridges.
Gill at the helm allows me to get some exercise opening the lock gates, opening the paddles and chatting up any young ladies who are also on the canal. A good plan however, we have not met a soul at any of the locks so far.