Many meetings

Taking on water after coming up Penkridge lock we got chatting to Michael, back in this country on a trip with his New Zealander wife. She, being a high school head, had gone off to discuss some educational principles being used in a local school – leaving Michael to eat an ice-cream on this super-hot day and investigate canals and boating, courtesy of the CRT notice-boards and a conversation with yours truly. We also chatted about educational things, and he gave me a theorist's name to follow up on later. Thank you, Michael – I enjoyed it. Sorry I forgot to get a photo to put up here!

At Otherton lock we encountered a boat to add to my list of Tolkien-themed names. NB Frodo's Dream was coming down the lock as we waited.

On the bows, where some have decorative designs and some have a name, we saw this.

I know enough to identify this as Elvish script, but not enough to offer a translation. Perhaps a reader could leave one in a comment…

Amazingly, between Gailey and the Hatherton branch we came across another boat for the collection. The list grows – I'll put it at the end of this post.

Opposite the Hatherton branch they were putting in some new Armco.

Nice to see some work being done, but I wonder if they'll ever be able to do anything about the depth of this section of the canal. They've done some good work between Great Haywood and Milford, clearing a section that had become very narrow and shallow. Perhaps there are extra complications here. We passed a boat that was trying to moor up, completely unsuccessfully, because they couldn't get in to the bank. We, on the other hand, have found ourselves a delightful spot to spend the late afternoon and evening. The map shows us to be in the middle of a network of roads, but all we can hear are the countryside sounds, and all we can see is the blossom and the fields beyond.

Anyway, here is the updated list of those Tolkien-themed boat names we've spotted.

Arwen Evenstar
Aragorn
Bilbo Baggins
Brandywine
Earls of Rohan
Frodo’s Dream
Galadriel
Gandalf
Goldberry
Hobbit
Lord of the Rings
Lóthlórien
Many Meetings
Riddles in the Dark
Rivendell
Shadowfax
Silmaril
Smaug
Strider
There and Back Again
Thorin