Sunday 26th Jun – Compton to Gailey
A rainy start to the day meant that we sat tight at Compton until 1pm, but spent the time joining Riverside Elim Church on-line when the sun appeared we set off for a lock free day along the summit pound.
We stopped at Oxley Marine for diesel (£1.40/litre before tax) then passed through Autherley Narrows where we met just one boat at the last passing place. Being a Sunday there were several fishing matches in progress, but most were good humoured about us disturbing their ‘sport’.
Just after 3pm we were passing The Fox & Anchor Pub but resisted the temptation to stop. By 4pm we were at Hatherton Junction and near Long Moll`s Bridge saw friends on nb ‘It’ll Do’ on their mooring and exchanged a few words.
I had felt progress had been a bit laboured so little further on I stopped to investigate and found loads of fishing line wrapped around the prop-shaft. After removing this with some difficulty the boat seemed to fairly fly along through the Schenectady Chemical Works at Calf Heath where you are warned not to stop under any circumstances!
By 5:30 we were at Gailey and found a Wrens-Nest sized spot to tie up with the help of the owner of a fibreglass cruiser moored in the next spot.
We were ready for our burgers, new potatoes and veg and spent another peaceful night here with birdsong for company.
Monday 27th June – Gailey to Teddesley
Another rainy start to the day so we waited until after midday before cruising up to the Gailey Lock, unfortunately everybody had the same idea and we waited over an hour there filling up with water before it was our turn to go through and start the descent of today’s eight locks.
In a couple of hours we reached Otherton where we had a mooring previously and at the lock met Ben who used to work at Stourport, we had a quick catch-up before heading down into Penkridge where I cheekily popped to the nearby shop to buy half a dozen eggs whilst the lock was filling.
Just Longford Lock to go and under the M6 to Teddesley where we moored just before the next lock as I want to visit Park Gate Chandlery in the morning.
We had good TV, internet & phone signals here and weren’t disturbed too much by the motorway traffic in the background.
Tuesday 28 June – Teddesley to Great Heywood
This morning I visited the chandlery as planned and bought some nice shiny links to hold the boat’s front fender on as one had broken a few weeks ago.
That job done, it was down two locks to Acton Trussell where we came to a sudden stop by the Moat House Moorings, investigation found a piece of matting and what looked like a green scarf wrapped around the propeller.
By 12:30 we were at Radford Bridge, Stafford and I walked down to Aldi where I was embarrassed at the checkout to find my wallet was back on the boat (Joy discovered it and phoned me at the same time) The guy was very good about it and put the transaction on hold until I returned.
After some homemade leek and potato soup we set off again and travelled down to Great Haywood through Tixall Wide and were surprised to find plenty of moorings near Shugborough Hall.
So we’re settled in for the night ready for the off again tomorrow.
Narrowboat Wrens-Nest 
Always something happening ! Love your blog xxx
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