Burton to somewhere near Colwich Not exactly sure when we started thanks to a PDA crash with my GPS logs on it, but sometime around 10:00am. We were following several boats, but at the first lock the one in front had cleared it well before we arrived. We were just about to turn it when we noticed another boat coming down, and so worked them through.
The boat in front was "Away For Awhile", a hotel boat - they only had one guest on, but September was fully booked - go figure! They pulled in at Alerewas, and then we had the 'lets tie the boat up like we staying for the night on the lock mooring, and then only once the gates are open we'll start to untie' group on a hireboat - they even used the centre rope as well to tie up. They thankfully let us past at the bottom of the first Fradley 3, but the boat in front of them was waiting for a boat to come down - none in sight, just waiting so they didn't waste the water and s*d the queue behind them. Our friends behind had three people holding on to the three lines in that pound rather than use the bollards above the last lock, or just use two lines and send someone up. There was another wait at the lock before the junction, but once through that it all cleared and we whipped up the rest of the locks. We had a good run along the long lockless pound through Rugeley, but it didn't half rain just before the tunnel - we were still getting wet under the large fishermans brolley we have! (No - we didn't steel it off some poor fisherman! :-) We stopped for tea at 7pm at section of piling just before bridge 69. After we had our food it was starting to get a little late so we decided to stay. There were quite a few boats on the moorings but all had gone by 10am the next day. Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_DOT_zapto_DOT_org/
