Blimey that was refreshing

We are at Percy for a couple of days with both the dog Leia and the cat Lily. They are getting ever closer physically but not trusting of each other yet.

There are boats moving quite regularly now, it is amazing how this 'season' has just switched on. It might be that we did a fair bit of winter cruising this year and the lack of boats then has contrasted with the normality of the Fradley traffic. Not that I am complaining, I like our mooring here as we can watch the boats go by and they do sometimes provide entertainment at Hunts lock.

We also have the privilege ( although we pay for it) of a Fradley mooring. Fradley was solid yesterday (Easter Sunday) to the point boats were mooring between Hunts and Common lock. Interesting though that they were all moored above Common lock, not seen that before, they normally moor below Hunts opposite us.

We came back to 100% on the Smartgauge (thanks to the sun) so did not need to run the engine. However we were in the need of a moving boat so we waited until it was a Little quieter and took advantage of the lighter nights with a couple of hours cruising down to Alrewas ( full moorings) to wind. It was also a test for Lily of a moving boat. She was not too impressed but did tolerate the engine this time - last time she hid under the duvet !

It was fresh, especially the run to Alrewas with a bitter wind in our face. As the sun got lower it got colder but the back cabin stove do a great job of keeping us nice and warm. We both fit in the rear hatch so only Leia got cold.



You can just see NB the Cats whiskers below Bagnall lock



I winded the boat while Rachel went off to the Coop for supplies. By this time the boat traffic had stopped so I waited in the lock until she came back.






We ended up watering up from the water point put in for the Hunts lock boats. We prefer to do it last thing as it causes less confusion with boats going up Hunts as they assume you are waiting for the lock.

We only used 4% off the Smartgauge last night. I think the device is now getting better calibrated to the inputs and outputs.... as the manual says.

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Location:Alrewas