Damp dog day

 Locking up in Stone

We cruised to the bottom lock in Stone and filled with water while in the queue. The boat behind was due back in Stone as they entered the lock behind us. There was only 10 feet of mooring left above the lock but I tied to the mooring ring and the first locking bollard while waiting for the boat ahead to use the lock. The Captain scurried into town to pick up supplies so I sent the hire boat ahead of us. It had just entered the lock when the Captain returned with all the essentials so we moved onto the lock pins to wait our turn.

Traditional working boats

Lottie had a short run with a little dog in a life jacket but otherwise seemed rather tired.

The weather remained cloudy threatening rain all the way to Barlaston.

After lunch we decided to carry on as the weather seemed brighter.

“Once past Trentham Lock there will be nowhere to stop until Westport Lake,” the Captain muttered.

half way up the Stoke flight

As we left Trentham Lock it started to rain and grew heavy. The captain thought about returning to Barlaston to moor but the rain eased so he carried on. For the rest of our cruise the rain wavered between light, heavy and torrential. Lottie wanted to stay in the dry but she wanted one of us with her – impossible when locking! I lost count of the times I wiped her paws so she could go back into the boat. Even so the seating would have been soaked if we hadn’t covered them in old towels.

disused industry under restoration

The locking went smoothly apart from a disgruntled lurcher looking down her nose at me. After the top lock I took the soggy lurcher  inside, dried her off with her towel and stayed inside with her.  Lottie scraped the dog towel off the sofa but I pushed her off before she could settle down. I replaced the towel to stop the sofa smelling of damp dog and sat with Lottie while the Captain guided the boat past old kilns and factories.  We took the first space at Westport lake and moored up. Shortly after we had stripped off out wet gear the rain ceased. We were not amused especially as the lurcher demanded a walk round the lake as soon as the Captain sat down with his cup of tea.