Oh so slowly to Stone

Saturday 31^st August; Barlaston to Stone (above locks)

Last night was quiet, the only noise coming from boaters returning from the pub as we went to bed.  It was the dog that woke us this moorning, not the geese or the cows.

Slurping their tea – they seem to suck the water up and very noisy it is too!

We were ready to go at our normal time, between 9 and 9.30, but waited for a Black Prince hire boat which came by at the perfect speed to pass moored boats.

The cratch cover is much cleaner than it was, and looks good apart from the pawprints!  Maybe they will wash off in the rain.

Unfortunately, the Black Prince was still creeping along a mere 50 yards ahead as we came round the bend before the pub.  So we pulled in and I popped over the bridge to the shop.  I have always imagined it to be small and scruffy, the way it appears from the canal, but the scruffy bit is not the same business.  The shop is much bigger than it looked from the water, with a good range of bread and pastries, and everything else you might want a village shop to have.  Buying milk and the paper didn’t take long though, and we were soon gaining on the hire boat again, even though we were going barely above tickover.  It was clear that the steerer hadn’t boated before, but luckily the woman with him/her was on the ball, and once through the bridge before Meaford locks she took over, leaving us plenty of room to pass, along with the boat behind us.  Great, we thought, but there were already two boats waiting at Meaford top lock.  I wished I’d made a pot of coffee before we started down, as there were no boats coming up the flight till the third lock.  That boat was local, and moors on the offside by the housing below the bottom lock.  They kept meeting neighbours and stopping to chat while they worked the lock.  Not at all annoying …  It was gone 12.30 by the time we moored above Lime Kiln lock, the top of the Stone flight.

About time too

We will stay here for the rest of the day.  After lunch we all walked down the locks, Dave to entertain Jess in the park and me to get some supplies in M&S.  I walked over the road bridge for a snap of the boat stern welcoming boaters from the south.

The flowers are looked after but some of it needs a bit of work

Dave was waiting outside the Star as I returned to the canal, and I helped him with his pint.  We strolled back in the sunshine, and didn’t do much for the rest of the afternoon, apart from having a cuppa and some nice-looking Eccles cakes from M&S.  They weren’t as good as the ones I got last week in Milton though.

A good day to dry the washing

There were still plenty of boats on the move, though we had noticed most of the green hire boats from Stone were still moored up.  Traffic had more or less stopped, including walkers on the towpath, by about 5.   All except for a small boy, who can only have been 4, driving a rather large electric ‘toy’ car so quickly his Dad (and dog) had to run to keep up.  There is grass between the towpath and the canal, but it was rather alarming from our point of view – it could easily cause damage to a boat, quite apart from the horrifying alternative!

3 miles, 4 locks, 3 engine hours