Set in Stone

What an excellent evening yesterday.. Good friends, conversation, food and drink. Thursday is an absolute rest day, nothing planned to do except some admin. I went for a wander and inevitably found an old trackway. You can see why it's called Redhill!

which took me high above the town.

On my return, via MnS Foodhall

I had some crumbs from a packet of Ryvita finished today, chucked them over the side, where they were pounced upon by some young moorhens.  Vocal in their appreciation!

The rest of the family can be seen coming in at speed, and what looked to me little more than dust was soon disposed of.

Friday, Andrew was off to deal with home and family needs while I boat sat. A good opportunity to yomp up to the laundrette although quite hot. Crossing the R. Trent on the old bridge instead of the new one, I could see the canoe course set out.

We have been running scenarios  whether to continue up the Trent and Mersey as planned, or turn around and go the longer way back up the Shroppie.  This due to lock 57 T&M being out of action. It's not all that far from home but a new part needs to be fabricated and a crane got into position to lift the gate out for repair.. but it's on a really busy canal so they'll do their best.. but is that good enough for a return to base by 19th July? Waiting for updates.. Meanwhile, just sitting in my happy place. What a beautiful evening. 

Quiet morning on Saturday as the canal was being topped up:

Oh man, quiet afternoon doing yoga then:

Sunday, and I emerged to do some shopping. Amazing how heavy 'a few bits' can get after a mile or so.

Afternoon and guess what, Incoming..

and yup,

lovely stuff. Quite noisy at times, too.

We are indeed directly beneath that lot. Afterwards, I opened the back door to get some air through, and found:

Almost topping over into the cabin. Baling out, it was this much:

and I've now addressed the drainage hole with a pointy stick so hopefully no more trouble. And all the birds are singing again because:

Monday 10th, and Andrew has returned. Hurray! However, so has the rain. Found a break in the weather to walk the rubbish up to the bins, only a cheeky kilometre.

It's a lovely walk though, especially once the load had been dumped. Past the brewery,

and Stone Boat company, long established firm with venerable buildings still used for their original purpose.

plus a hoverfly, since it posed so beautifully

while I was playing with the macro lens

Still here Tuesday, expecting update on lock 57 on Wednesday, and immediately a burst of energy either northward or southbound. We treated ourselves to brunch in town and just get back before, you guessed it, the rain came back.

Then, news. Not about the closure ahead of us, oh no.

This is blocking our alternate route back! And this is why the waterways need to be properly funded, folks! So, still sitting tight, ready for long days of cruising when we are finally released.

Wednesday.  Bad news to the North. It's going to be weeks, not days. So still stuck in Stone. We will head south tomorrow into the wilderness towards Great Hayward, the Land of No Mobile. Better get cooking some chilli. Lovely view but had enough of it now!