A lot of effort for no gas

Our first task today was to get gas and diesel at Fazeley Mill Marina. We had overshot the marina yesterday so that we could tie up on the piling with other boats (and go for a curry at Kudos) - so we went to Fazeley Junction, winded and retraced our steps to the marina. Shared ownership boat Sorceress had just beaten us to it;' we had to wait while they had two pumpouts and a diesel fill. Meanwhile I opened the gas locker and removed all the things which are not supposed to be in there so I could get at the empty gas bottle. You know, the anchor with its chain and warp, the hose, an old barbecue, a hose reel, another old hose and a few spare pipe fenders. I undid the connector and lifted out the empty bottle. When Sorceress slid out we took its place and I told Jackie I'd like gas and diesel. Ah. She had sold her last gas bottle yesterday. Hmm. Now I had to put everything back and do it all over again when we found some gas. The moral of the story: check there is actually gas available before getting the old bottle out.

We were glad we got diesel, though, as it took 82 litres. This meant that there had been only 18 litres left in the tank where I thought we had about 50 left. It must have been all the upstream river cruising we did since the previous fill.

Back at Fazeley Junction we turned left from the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal onto what most people call the Coventry Canal. It is, in fact, still the Birmingham and Fazeley for another five and a half miles, splitting the Coventry Canal into two chunks. On my cycle back to get the car I found the place where the "detached portion" of the Coventry Canal meets the Birmingham and Fazeley.

The plaque below the ancient-looking boundary marker talks of it being "sponsored" by the local branch of the IWA. Is it not the original boundary stone? It's obviously been remounted but it looks genuine enough.

A certain blogger was not in as we passed through Fradley Locks this afternoon.

A shame not to see you, Nev. Percy's paintwork is very smart.

We stopped at Alrewas where there was plenty of space. I counted 30 boats on the move that we met today, surely a record for us for this year. (I counted them on a replay of my timelapse recording - I've had the camera going since Droitwich. The uploads will have to wait until we get home, and I hope I can remember how to do it.)

My cycle back to get the car from Fazeley seemed longer and more arduous today. Perhaps it was the wind. Strong and wrong direction. Even the drive to Alrewas seemed far further than it should have been, but I kept a close eye on the satnav and the route was a sensible one.