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Thursday 2nd October, 2014 at Gailey.
It was cold! We both put on extra layers but by mid-day were peeling them off again as the sun came out and gave us a lovely afternoon. At breakfast, we were joined by a very tame duck who would take bread out of your hand.

We cruised past Aldersley Junction, this is the bottom lock of a flight of 21 locks that take you up to Wolverhampton and on towards Birmingham (we've not done that flight of locks yet).

Autherley Junction comes next and was the usual chaos of boats trying to get in, out and through the junction bridge all at the same time!

R reversed into the stop lock and on to the Shropshire Union Canal as we only wanted to visit our friends Pete and Annie at Napton Narrowboats and fill up with diesel before going back on to the Staffs & Worcs canal again.

It was lovely to see Pete, the Manager at Napton, who immediately recognised us and waved. Annie was on duty in the shop. We had a catch-up; it was 15 months since we saw them last. Pete had very kindly agreed to take delivery of our new perspex rear door for MM, which means that we can now have natural light in the very rear of the boat without losing heat or letting the bugs in when it gets dark.
We walked briefly up to Morrisons, about 3/4 mile away, for the inevitable "few bits" before filling up with diesel and then said cheerio to Pete and Annie, Napton Narrowboats and Autherley. We have a special affection for all of them as the very first narrowboat that we rented was nb "Emma" from here back in April 2010.

Peter waved us farewell as we went back through the stop-lock and back on to the Staffs and Worcs then turned north towards Great Haywood. We had done this section before on nb "Emma" but never with MM, so it was new territory for her. The first part goes through an area of very hard rock, therefore the "navvies" only cut a narrow passage through the rock for the canal with passing places. Naturally we came across two boats coming the other way so for a while it was trifle chaotic!

We moored up at Gailey in exactly the same place as we had moored up in nb "Emma" on our first night four years ago. It's a very pretty spot and it was a lovely evening.

R fitted the new "door" and it was declared a great success. It is only the reflection of the flash that gives it away, otherwise you would never know it was there. M is wondering how long it will be before she forgets it's there and tries to walk through it!

M went to photograph the sunset through the trees, but when she pressed the button she got more than she bargained for - where did he come from???!

Today: 11 miles, 5 locks and 5.3 hours.
Trip: 290 miles, 194 locks and 218.9 hours.