From lumberjack to engineer

Wednesday morning and getting ready to set off further on our journey south. 

A last look at our overnight stopping place. 

A lovely day for messing about on the canal. 

Here we go past the old Wedgwood factory. We visited here once before, so, no stopping for us today. 

Some lovely canalside cottages in Barlaston. Straight out of the front door into the canal. 

We were going along quite nicely until we got to Measford top lock where we met up with a queue of 5 boats. Not again!? This time I forgot the grumpy old man bit and went up to the lock to see what was going on. There are 4 locks close together here and one of them was a slow filler, causing much of the problem. I took over operation of the top lock, sent people down to fill the next lock ready for the boat coming through, then filled the lock ready for the following boat. It certainly helped to move things along and no one got upset by me sending them off. In point of fact they thanked me mostly for helping them through. 

Here's the captain on lock duty. 

You possibly can't read the signs but they say 'Welcome to Stone'. 

We moored here for the night but first went into town to the Coop for supplies. When we last came to Stone we commented on the variety of small shops in the town. This time round there seem to be more charity shops and many vacant premises up for sale or rent. Let's hope for better fortunes in the future. 

Another glorious sunset. 

Thursday and heavy rain forecast for later in the day so we are stopping where we are and giving me time to effect some repairs. 

Off I went to the local chandlers to buy a Morse cable. No, nothing to do with morse code! The Morse cable I needed controls the engine throttle and, at present, it's broken. The boat still moves backward and forward but I can't get full power to the engine. It's like having only first and second gear on a car - no real oomph. So, up with the floorboards, expose the throttle cables and, before you know it, I have removed all the split pins, undone all the screws and bolts and am grinning like an idiot with the old broken cable in my hand. What have I done? No going back now! Next comes the threading of the new cable, which is writhing about like an uncontrollable python, through a tiny hole that you can't reach by hand, round the back of the gearbox and into the place where you think the old one went, but you're not quite sure because when it came out you forgot to note which of the four holes available the fixing screw went in. Oh well, tighten everything up and see what happens! Eureka, it works! 

And there it is, in place. It's the shiny rod thing in the centre of the picture. And I did it all by myself! All I have to do now is rebuild the boat around it again but, as you will gather, I am well pleased with the overall result. 

Settled in for a quiet afternoon with Brigid knitting and me reading whilst listening to CD's. We'll move off tomorrow when the weather's forecast to be much better.