Something for the weekend

The title of this post just means I have pulled some pictures together for readers to view over the weekend. We will be stopped over this w`end but this is not for us the norm, ie cruise Monday-Friday and moor up Sat/Sun anyway I have some thoughts on this and will blog them in the near future.

The title of this post takes me back to childhood and dad taking me to the barber for a haircut. I would go in the chair first and when dad had his turn the barber on finishing dad`s hair would say"something for the weekend sir?". There then followed a fumbled attempt of the barber to pass a small package to dad without me seeing. Surely dad was not a weekend spy getting his orders, was the barber `M` to my 007 dad.
It was some years later my dreams of dad being a spy were shattered when my reading improved and I discovered, probably in the school playground, what Durex (Trojans Stateside) were for.

OK first up some pictures taken when I walked along the Hatherton branch of the Staffs & Worc. canal.

The entrance taken from Staffs & Worc.

Taken from bridge in previous picture. The towpath is all closed off and the surrounding roads need to be used to follow the route of the canal.

The canal ends at the end of a garden. The M6 has been built across the canal. A culvert beneath the motorway(freeway) allows the natural flow of  what is a feeder to the canal.

Walking below the motorway the canal towpath can now be accessed from a bridge in Oak lane.

Remains of a bridge

Wonder if this is listed as a stoppage

 The Health and Safety dept. of  British Waterways have been busy following the sad death last year of

a cyclist. This is the 3rd bridge that a barrier has been erected to prevent the bridge use. Sad as it is if the cyclist or even a boater for that matter had fell into the lock do we then fence off the locks. Life is full of dangers and we just have to accept some degree of danger and behave accordingly. Sad for the parents, they have my sympathy.


Another lock along the way had this little shrine. I have cut out the youngsters face in the name of

decency. Unlike the previous picture I have no desire to find out the story behind this. Yes my little beautiful one....rest in peace.

Gailey reservoirs have a very healthy stock of h2o. I must say the water situation since we left the Grand Union and came north has been tip top. Plenty of water in the canals up here so far.

We that is my wife and I, that sounds good to me, decided to invest in a decent chainsaw as the cheap one I have been using has given up. This one is a Husqvarna 435, Swedish made. Jaq says they are used by the United States forest service. Thing is with smokeless fuel now reaching £10($15) per bag the burning of logs during the day and evening is a big saver. The coal just to keep the fire going all night.

Look at this, I nip down below the Aqueduct to take a picture of the Aqueduct and someone is up there pointing a camera at me. Stretton Aqueduct over the A5 built by Telford in 1832 and still doing the job 180years later.

After mooring up we walked back from Wheaton Aston to visit Sarah and Jim on Chertsey and Bakewell.  Cups of tea with good conversation and before you know hours have passed. Lovely to meet you both.

Turner`s wharf at Wheaton Aston and the price of red diesel 78.9p per litre. We took on 107 litres, it would be a shame not to at that price. Turners for those not aware is a small country garage up on the bridge that has both white and red diesel pumps the latter having an extra nozzle stretching down the embankment for canal boats. Up on the road his red pump serves the local tractors etc.
For the American readers our wonderful government under pressure of Europe have allowed different duty(Taxes) on diesel used for charging batteries and producing hot water and diesel used to propel the boat. The HMRC(our tax people) suggest 60% propulsion and 40% batteries/hot water. They leave it up to the boater to declare his duty for propulsion so what happens at the cash point is for me to know and you to guess. Friends in USA read here about the farcical way they collect taxes.