Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2000 14:33:16 +0100 From: Andrew Dyke Reply-To: Canals To: Canals Subject: Trip Report - From The Cut [ The following text is in the "iso-8859-1" character set. ] [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set. ] [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ] Hi All, First report on the way to the GIG. Saturday 12th August 2000 On Saturday evening at 6.40pm, John, Janet and I left Evesham in John's car and headed for Rugelely. Wendy had already gone ahead the day before to take all our bedding and provisions. We arrived at Nb Shy Talk at 8.00pm ish and unpacked John's stuff. Wendy had prepared ham and pineapple pizza for our evening meal and with a few beers and glasses of wine to swill it down we were soon ready for our beds. Shy Talk was a hire boat in a past life and is fitted out with 8 bunks. Wendy has already chosen the stern end 4 bunk set for us, with our own bathroom and John an Janet get the Bow set with their own bathroom including the shower. We sleep soundly. Sunday 13th August We all wake up early, 6.30am. I guess we are all excited about the weeks holiday in front of us. At 7.56am we leave the moorings. We have done all the pre chug tests and everything on board is running and working as it should. A lot of work has been put into the engine and electrics, not to mention the salon area in Shy Talk since we were last on board. The weather is dry and quite warm. John and I share the steering and the girls sit in the bow. The canal goes through some lovely countryside and the views across Cannock Chase are spectacular. We travel through some wooded areas as well. At Colwich we pass the big houses with rolling gardens that run down to the canal and we enter our fist lock of the day. There is a boat in front of us and a small queue of 3 boat going the other way. We chat to the other boaters, as you do. Once through the lock we chug again and now in glorious hot sunshine. At the Great Haywood Junction with the Staffs and Worcs we stop for water. Last time we were at this junction, we turned down onto this canal, in the poring rain and moored at Tixall Wide. We now carry on up the Trent and Mersey and onto canal we are unfamiliar with. We sit and enjoy the views and the peace. There are not many locks on this stretch and we progress well. We pass John and Gill and Watson going the other way and later on Jack and Sandy in Zephyr. We wave and exchange quick hello's before we are past each other and on our way again. Up through Sandon and Burston, the weather now raining that annoying rain that comes and goes. On this stretch also we see the results of Cyanide being accidentally discharged into the canal. Thousands and thousands of dead fish. All shapes and sizes. A very sad sight. We pass a huge filter type thing that is being operated by the Environment Agency. The water cleaning process will go on for some time, me thinks. At Stone we start the small flight of 4 locks. Stone is quite picturesque and is busy with people. Its now 2pm ish and a bit early in the afternoon to stop for the night, so it is decided to crack on and complete the next set of 4 locks. After this we continued on through Barlaston, past the Wedgewood factory and on to bridge 106, our mooring for the night. The TV picture was very watchable although not perfect. Showers all round, except Janet, watch Coronation Street, and off to the Toby Carvery, which was only about 5 minutes walk from the canal. We decided on the carvery and very nice and good value it was too. £40.30 for all of us including 2 bottles of house wine. We returned to the boat at 9.15 and after a couple off glasses of port and whiskey, turned in at 10.45pm. A very good day. All systems working well. 'Don't Fall In' Andrew >From the Cut andrewdyke@thatcameraplace.freeserve.co.uk ---