Our explorer cruise is over - shame. We met new friends and had a great time travelling along the designated route. We bade farewell to our fellow explorers as we/they/both went on their ways. Our first weedhatch visit was in the last lock of the Oldbury flight - and so the day went on. All proceeded in a normal fashion until Merryhill. Brenda had convinced Diana ( nb Harnser ) that a slow cooker was a good galley aid. In Sainsburys they got several models out of their packaging mid aisle. A choice was made so they can't moan. As we returned to the boats a group of people were admiring them and photographing each other with one as if they were the proud owners. They walked to the Delph flight alongside us and were genuinely interested in the whole process. After one lock Brenda asked if they'd like a ride down a lock. They piled aboard, all 6, and stayed for 2 locks. One of their party got more and more involved and crewed for us for 6 out of the 8 locks. He weilds a mean windless now! Thanks to our Irish tourists we worked two boats down the 8 locks in just over 1 hour. After we'd moored for the night a hire boat steamed past us with crew on the roof. They were swigging red plonk straight from the bottles. That probably led to the near miss we witnessed. The steerer didn't account for the very low raod bridge, the roof toppers didn't bother to get out of the way. Only some very rude words suggesting the steerer engage reverse gave the roof passengers time and space to avoid losing skin at the very least. Brian and Diana came around for an evening meal before we all decided to call it a night early as we were all suffering from an early start this morning. Graham www.jannock.org.uk
