Reversing

The turn on to the Shroppie under the bridge at Autherley junction is very sharp. We managed it perfectly, only to find there was a crew-less boat in the stop-lock – she'd been dropping off rubbish while the water went down its normal 6 inches. So I reversed out of the bridge-hole to let her emerge. We were only going up there for water – Nicholson's Guide says the next water point down the Staffs and Worcs canal is a long way away, and we were needing to fill up, but the only tap at the junction is about 50 yards up the Shroppie. This can make taking on water a long procedure. The stop-lock often has a queue, and today was no exception, and then the next winding hole is about two miles further on.

Although, as I noted yesterday, we're in no particular hurry, I decided I wouldn't go up and wind. Instead, I reversed back to and through the stop-lock. There's a boat-hire agency here and lots of people doing things, but we managed to negotiate the space between the various boats and emerge with them, and Erin Mae, unscathed. Very satisfactory!

Back on track we stopped at Oxley Marine to get some machine screws replaced in the back-door lock. We hadn't met Dave (who did it) before but I was kicking myself afterwards for not having got a photo of him doing it. It seems mandatory for all the engineers at Oxley Marine to have long white beards. Orph and Phil have them and Dave's, if anything, is the longest of the lot. I wanted the evidence on the blog! That's twice in three days I didn't think quickly enough about getting out the snapper.