Tixall Wide and the right decision!

A good days cruising although the weather was better suited for sailing with an incredibly fierce wind blowing headlong into my face all the way from Rugeley to Tixall Wide! Stopped at Rugeley to get anew electric toothbrush from Argos along with a selection of magazines to read whilst at Tixall. As I approached the broad water, I saw a frantic of untying of knots from a moored boat - no sooner had I passed under a bridge when the bow was pushed hard out in front of me! It was obvious that they had arrived too late yesterday to get onto the broad water and seeing my approach; panicked and pushed out in front. I actually had to pull Khayamanzi hard astern to prevent hitting it, sure enough they pulled into a neat little mooring on the wide leavingme to squeeze in between 2 other boats right under a tree and in totally the wrong place for ANY TV signal! Last time I was here, I reported getting an excellent terretrial signal, a first class satellite signal and even several bars of 3G internet; this time,I get absolutely NO terrestrial TV, absolutely NO satellite whatsoever and only a couple of bars of GPRS internet!

It did tickle me that on my way past Spode House at armitage I noticed the Waterscape boat moored up in a strategic position, oferring prime advertising to all the passers by on the road just below the embankment, however if you examine this picture closely....

....you'll notice that the craft is displaying absolutely no licence disc! Either BW coulodn't get organised to provide them with their licence on time or the Defra cuts have had a much greater effect already!

I did pass NB Rivendell on the way towards Colwich Lock. Rivendell is part owned by Don - an avid reader of this blog and a 'virtual' friend for some time now. I can confirm Don, that Rivendell is safe and well, (assuming I have the right boat that is!) An interesting report on board Rivendell in dual lingo can be found here.



Now for the right decision. The environment agency website is reporting the following:

There are now no Flood Warnings in force for the River Thames. However
water levels are still dangerously high and the river remains 'out of banks' in
many areas.There is still a very strong stream warning in force over the full
length of the Thames and red boards continue to be displayed at all locks. The
strength of the stream will remain very strong even though water levels are
beginning to fall. We understand that boaters are anxious to know when the
river will be safe to navigate. This is very difficult to predict, but it is
good news that dry weather is forecast for the coming week. The situation will
slowly start to improve but we do anticipate strong streams for at
least another week.This weekend there were several emergency incidents involving
boats navigating against our advice. One boat was drawn through a weir and both
crews had to be rescued. Not only the boaters themselves but also the rescue
crews were put at unnecessary risk.Our advice remains to stay safe and
leave boats moored up where they are, the river is dangerous to navigate and
many locks and also lay-bys are still impassable.