Round and back

Etruria to Etruria : 5 miles
Total to date : 118 miles, 80 locks, 20 lift bridges, 7 tunnels, 6 aqueducts

No, it isn't a typo.  We needed water and we needed to wash.  What to do, what to do.  We've enjoyed being at Etruria with easy access to shops and we'd like to stay another day or more.

Eventually we decided that we'd cruise down to the water point just inside the Caldon Canal, do a quick load of washing on the way which would use up the last of our water, fill the tank at the water point, wind (turn) just beyond it, back onto the Trent and Mersey Canal (now pointing in the opposite direction to the way we're heading), get a second load of washing on the go (this time drying too as we don't have space to hang 2 loads of washing), cruise back past where we have been moored towards Longport to the winding hole, turn and come back to where we started and hope like mad we can get a mooring on the same little stretch as we really liked it.  There's only space for 3 boats and there were already 2 others when we left.

All went according to plan, including two text book turnings by Mick.  When we got back to our starting point the boat that had been behind us had moved forward into our space.  The three moorings are on a curve and ours was the straightest of them.  So now we're in the third spot on the curve. It didn't bother us at all to be on the curvy spot - we've got our tyres for fenders now!

I did a couple of hours work and after lunch we went for a walk to top up the groceries.  We discovered a large Tesco a bit further afield and lugged back a few bags.  Mick spied a little custom kitchen workshop and got chatting to the fellow.  He's going back tomorrow and they'll see if they have some offcuts in a suitable timber that he can use to build a shallow cabinet above the basin in the bathroom.  He's already sourced some mirrored doors for it.  It will be great to have somewhere to shut away the toiletries.

I went back to work while Mick made some phone calls about cratch covers and then did a rubbish run.  Another day gone in the blink of an eye.

I've noticed a strange thing happening when we're off the boat.  I'll be standing in a supermarket aisle looking at things on the shelves and I swear the ground is moving.  It's the oddest sensation.

In the drink to date : Elly - phone charger (retrieved - it floated!), Mick - sunglasses, Mick - hearth brush, Mick - mooring hook (retrieved with sea searcher), Mick - reading glasses