31st August – 6th September
This will probably be the laziest week of the trip so far. It started just outside Wolverhampton near a village named Cross Green whose only claim to fame is The Anchor where we ate a late Sunday lunch and will, we hope, end in Penkridge where there is/was a very good Saturday market, so if all goes well a total distance to travel of just seven miles of which we did five on Monday morning in an unsuccessful attemp to reach the services at Gailey, then on Tuesday a whole 0.62 miles to the visitor moorings below Gailey lock. That half mile took over two hours to complete because our reason for moving today was a desperate need to empty toilets, dispose of rubbish and fill water tanks. Once those tasks were complete we crossed to the boat yard on the other side of the to fill both boats with diesel and in, our case, replace a gas cylinder, it seemed pretty pricy at £216.58 for diesel alone but that works out just over £20.00 a week since we have been away. By the time everything was done and we had dropped down the lock 2 hours twenty minutes has flown by, time to stop for the day and get some breakfast.
After mooring Tuesday we checked the forecast for Wednesday. It was horrible, rain all day coupled to high winds. After discussion we decided to stay put on Wednesday, and Thursday didn’t look much better.
We had a bit of a lay-in Wednesday morning and over breakfast had a look at the latest forecast. It had changed and although still a little windy but it had moderated and there was no rain expected until later in the afternoon. We were underway by 10.00 am cruising just over 2 miles, through 4 locks to moor up at Penkridge 5 day moorings just b beyond the Cross Keys pub where we spent a couple of pleasant afternoons. We plan to stay till at least Sunday.
Thursday night marked another first for the trip for us. We lit the stove. After weeks, nay months, of swelteringly hot weather it is getting very autumnal, or in more simple terms, bloody cold. There were some very heavy showers today which although needed will help very little as continuous heavy rain is required for many weeks to rectify the situation with reservoirs being all but empty.
Penkridge was a very pleasant town with everything you wanted including two first class butchers, a proper greengrocer and a baker that we never saw without a long queue outside. After we had tasted their bread and cakes we fully understood why.
We had stayed in Penkridge so long because we wanted to visit the Saturday market which for a small town is huge, covering a large dedicated area with if not hundreds then many dozens of stalls both inside and outside. However we were disappointed at how few food stalls there were, a pork butcher and a general butcher, a single fruit and veg stall, a fish stall. There were a few stalls with jam and pickles as a side line but no proper deli or cheese stall. If however you wanted power tools, clothes, household goods etc., etc., you had a very wide choice.
