No surprise you couldn't get in there beyond the road bridge - it's been like that for years. (We have hit rocks 10' out before now on that section.) Passing in July we got the impression it (which is under Fazeley Unit) was left as it was for the rally - unlike the bit beyond the stop lock which is under a different unit. If you go through the rocking you will find a brand new towpath and very nice safety rails. Good to know some money is being spent on the area.
--- On Fri, 8/22/08, Michael Askin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Michael Askin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [canals-list] Kismet Hols 08 To: "Canals" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, August 22, 2008, 9:06 PM We left our overnight stop at 10:15am, quite early for us! We stopped for water at Norbury Junction, and watched Emily Anne chug her way up to the rally while we filled. Once the water tank was full (we didn't fill it earlier as we wanted to get through the locks). It didn't take long to catch up with a hireboat slowly following the aforementioned steamboat, and when we asked to go by they decided they wanted to overtake as well. I said "Hello" as we passed Emily Aanne, and mentioned that I'd seen Daniel's messages on the Internet about her. We stopped for diesel at Wheaton Aston at 66.8p a litre - which is the cheapest on the system (usually), by the time we reached the lock there was no queue, and we were straight in after emptying from the boat in front. We had a good run up the rest of the Shroppie, and finally reached the moored rally boats about 1.5 miles from the junction. President, and Kildare were just arriving as we passed the boats, and so we had a good view of them. When we arrived at the stop lock a boat had just come out, but they turned it for another one coming down. It didn't take more than a few seconds to turn the lock, but it took a lot longer for them to get the boat in even though it was already waiting in the lock entrance. We turned left to point North again, to find the "X" moorings - nobody knew where they where, but they guessed it was in the same direction as the Y moorings. We reached X1 which is about 1/3 mile from the junction, which is good. The problem... it's not very deep, and we don't carry a plank. The harbour master could not been more helpful, and someone else lent a hand also (thank you both). We tried to get the back in, but there are some nasty rocks on the bank. We tried to get the bow in, but it's nearly as deep and didn't get much closer. Dad had a walk up the boats with one of the helpers, and found a couple of boats that were happy to have us alongside. Because it took Dad so long to come back we had some more goes, and got the boat a bit closer. Someone had a spare gang plank, and so we ended up borrowing it for the weekend (thank you also). So, now we are here, and both hungry. We had some chicken+cheese wrapped in bacon in the fridge, but needed something to eat them with. We normally have chips, but we only have an electric chip fryer which takes a lot of current and since we have to last a few days without much engine running Dad walked to the supermarket just down the road for some oven chips. He ended up with some cheapo Microwave chips, which didn't turn out very nice, oh well at least I'm getting 3.5g here, so nice fast internet. Cheers, Mike -- Michael Askin http://shoestring_ DOT_zapto_ DOT_org/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
