Day 5 - Wednesday 28th June 2006 Plenty of boats today, mostly, thankfully going the other way. That is until we reach Fradley, where three boats suddenly pulled out of the Coventry, and so we all piled up at the next lock. After helping everybody else through, it was our turn. The boat previous said there was nobody following him, so we turned the lock. We were nearly ready to open the top gate when another boat reached the lock, so we didn't slow anyone down! We were delayed at the next lock for a long while, and of course there were not enough mooring bollards. The problem was a hire boat, with a bow thruster. The bloke driving didn't have a clue, and while using the bow thruster to move the bow right, was steering left with the tiller, and no narrowboats don't go sideways very well!
We lost one boat before the top lock, but we still caught up with the one in front of them at the next lock. We didn't catch them up though before they moored further down the canal. I did get worried when I caught up another boat going slowly, but thankfully he instantly waved me by. We moored at Rugeley to try and find an orange mobile phone, to use their cheaper internet access. I was trying to find one with Bluetooth so I could get a better signal without having to move my laptop outside. Even if you wanted an IR one, you had to have Bluetooth as well! N-viron (or something like that) didn't have the cheaper phone, and the other independent company could not sell the phone for less. Now I know it has to be a Nokia, or Sony to work with GPRS that's needed for the cheaper access. We left Rugeley with a bag of breadcakes instead. As we came through Great Haywood all that could be heard was Madonna blasting out across the wood. One of the boaters moored there said it something to do with Scouts, or Guides. We decided to keep going, and we found a nice mooring (with rings) about a mile south east of Weston. --- Mike Askin nb. Kismet http://shoestring.zapto.org/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Something is new at Yahoo! Groups. Check out the enhanced email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/SISQkA/gOaOAA/yQLSAA/ygtolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canals-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
