Thursday 29th July 2009
Staffs and Worcester
16 Miles
12 Locks
7 Hours
This was last day of our holiday and some of the dark clouds which yesterday crowded my mind had lifted somewhat and been replaced by dark clouds of a more meteorological variety. It started off fine and sunny as we refilled with water, but our subsequent visit to Anglo Welsh for a pump out, diesel top up and new gas cylinder was met with a wall of water from above. The rain was so severe that both we and the Anglo Welsh team abandoned the pump out gear and sought shelter, whilst their workshop slowly filled with floodwater.
The storm was as brief as it was heavy, clearing into a lovely sunlit day. The journey back was familiar but not uneventful. As we approached Acton Trussell we were amazed to come face to face with the back end of a rubbish truck, lying on its side in the middle of the canal. This huge truck had clearly come too close to the soft edge of the towpath, which crumbled beneath its weight and left the poor vehicle stranded in the water like a toy discarded by a careless child. It must have made one heck of a splash!
The rest of the journey was serene, helping smooth some jangled nerves. We arivied at Calf Heath at about 6.00pm, with the boat all clean and ready for use by some members of our family the following week. The great thing about lending the boat to relatives is that it forces us to give it a really good clean, a task which we don't necessarily perform with the same degree of enthusiasm when it's just us using it. A sort of win win situation.
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