Gailey, the Round House and a Day Off.

 Thursday 28th and Friday 29th September 2023 at Gailey.

On Thursday morning, we waved goodbye to Jenni, Will, Ed and Rufford as they headed back towards Norbury Junction. It has been truly lovely to spend time with them.

We stayed on at the junction for a while, catching up with our friends Peter and Annie, who run the Napton's hire base at the junction and from whom we rented our very first narrowboat nb "Emma" 13 years ago.

Opposite the junction is a large park with a magnifient willow tree, this is one our many routes to Morrison's as M had decided she needs a few more bits! R doesn't grumble, as he knows he gets well fed as a result!

Back at MM, we set off towards Gailey. For about a mile the canal here is very narrow, only just wide enough for one boat to pass through. It's very daunting for any novice hirers who have just set off from Napton's back at Autherley; they must have their fingers crossed that they don't meet a boat coming the other way!

The reason this stretch is so narrow is that it's cut through a solid rock section and it was only made this wide because cutting through the rock was so difficult and time-consuming.

Further up we came across a large group of children in canoes. As we passed, they all shouted in unison "Aye Aye Cap'n" when prompted by their instructors. It looked like they were having great fun.

It must have been school nature day as we then came across this large group of children with their teachers who all waved enthusiastically as we passed.

Soon after, we arrived on the outskirts of Gailey and moored up in the exact spot where we spent our first ever night on n.b "Emma" 13 years ago. It was here where we woke up that first morning on the canals to see the mist rising from the water and were hooked from that moment on.  This time, however, we were moored under oak trees and acorns rained down on us all night.

We awoke to a clear morning. While our first morning on Emma  had been misty and magical, the view this morning was just as beautiful in the sunshine.

After breakfast, we moved up to Gailey lock and its famous Round House. We have visited it many times and met the lady and her daughter who run the shop and live in the tower above. The shop had been closed when we came this way last year. so we were pleased to see that the shop was open and still run by the daughter, Karen. Sadly her elderly mother, Eileen, died last year. Karen was so very pleased to see us and remembered us. She was quite emotional and said that the shop had been closed for three years due to Covid and her mother's illness but now she was very happy that it was open again. We promised to come by and see her again next year.

Just below Gailey lock we moored up again as we have both got a bit of a head cold and were not feeling brilliant, so we decided to take a day off and spent much of the day sleeping. The weather was glorious and M dried a machine load of washing on the line.

Just after 7:00pm the full moon rose over the horizon. A beautiful sight.

Two Days: 9 miles, 1 lock and 1.1 hours.

Trip: 297 miles, 123 locks and 157.9 hours.