Crewed again!

OK, once again, I have a crew! Set off this morning and completed the last 4 locks into Barlaston where I managed to get a mooring right in frontof the 'Plume of Feathers' public house. Not only highly recommended for its excellent prawn baguettes and choice of real ales but also for its canalside mooring and ease of access from the road when meeting someone. Picked up my father and continued on towards Stoke.

Locking through the Stoke flight and we met up with Aaron and Steve, (hope I've spelt the names right!) Two guys who were interested in how things worked. To cut a long story short, they ended up helping with the locks and I even felt confident in letting them both have a go at steering under my supervision - something I certainly wouldn't do to any old bloke I happened to meet in Stoke! I have to say, Steve was quite a natural on the helm, (leave a comment if you read this either of you!)

With the pork chop dinner roasting nicely in the oven, the evening sun only just beginning to loose its heat and the dog satisfied with his dinner, we pressed on to Harecastle tunnel where we arrived and moored in the queue as boat number 3 for an 8.00 passage tomorrow morning. (There are now 5 boats already moored in the queue!)

Having just turned the page of the Nicholson guide and seen how many locks there are tomorrow, I think I might turn back! 24 locks just to run through the next 2 pages! Beyond the Middlewhich branch is breaking new territory for me and I hope to get that far tomorrow.