Look who we found

We set off on Friday, on our own for the first time since the incident - this was the state of his ankle/foot and I'm not meant to be exerting myself - only gentle, limited exercise. We devised a plan whereby I booted him off at the entrance to the locks and picked him up on the way out. We waited outside the first lock for a boat to come down. I felt dreadful that I wasn't up there helping them...let's face it, it's bloody rude. I felt like making out a placard to hold up saying, "sorry".

 and look who popped out.....our mates Mags and Geoff on NB Seyella  who were going down to wind and come back up. We quickly appraised them of the situation and, once again, we had help.

So we set off for Fradley Junction in convoy

 With Seyella behind and Geoff closing our gates behind us before re-setting the locks for Mags

 On arrival at Fradley they just managed to grab the last parking space, whereas we were turning left down the Coventry. I actually persuaded G to let me do the swing bridge as it's very well balanced, but Geoff moored Seyella and sprinted round the corner before I even reached it - that man is fast.

 We moored up temporarily to accept the invitation to take pooches for a cup of tea, so here we are again, Mags Geoff and Graham

 Unbeknown to me, Floyd had been giving Muttley tuition on Thursday.  Muttley went straight onto Seyella, ate Megs' dinner and then started decimating her toy box-no manners, but Megs is very long suffering (and looking very smart after her shower this morning).

Back to front; Megs, Muttley and Baxter (trying to dissociate himself from his bad mannered son.

Great to meet up again and thank you for your help. 

Caxton's crew come out to play

The approach into Alrewas with Wychnor church on the hill to our right

 This weir is no more horrendous than many that we've seen on the River Trent but, because this little bit of the Trent is so tiny, you have to get way too up close and personal

 The village of Alrewas was as pretty as always and we wandered in for a drink at the dog friendly George and Dragon with Lizzie and Andy when we arrived on Wednesday (they do great value food).

 We found this Ford Pilot V8 lurking in a car port - don't be impressed, Lesley told me what it was; I can just about distinguish a Mini from a Roller

The following morning we waved a reluctant goodbye to Andy and Lizzie but they are also on a schedule and heading in the other direction at Fradley, whilst we were waiting for Floyd and Fletcher Joe and Lesley.

Nothing changes, although we hadn't seen them since May, Floyd followed all his old habits - shot into MR making a bee line for Muttley's food bowl (it always needs tidying up) then trying to climb on my lap and wash my ears

 After lunch Lesley and I walked our happy band of four down the River a little way.

 No prizes for guessing who was first in

So we arrive back at MR with four wet dogs and Lesley set about drying off Muttley. There's something about Muttley being up in the air that incites Floyd to riot - look at him eyeing up his chance

and then going for it.......grrrrrrr........let me rip his head off! It was lovely to see them all having fun together again

It was also very nice to see Lesley and Joe again after such a long gap - but don't tell them I said so!

We need, ideally, to be in Birmingham Wednesday (although Thursday will do). We should be OK as we only have one last hurdle, albeit a large one, the Farmers and Aston flight into Brum on Wednesday.

Our Good Samaritans-the amazing crew on NB Snowgoose

Having had MR rescued by Shangrila on Thursday, they moved off on Friday whilst we had a late start and stocked up at Sainsburys. We moored at Derwent Mouth lock in front of NB Snowgoose, owned by Lizzie and Andy whom we had not met before, but took our rope and invited us round for a drink later. We hadn't been there for more than an hour when I decided to pull a full blown drama queen stunt. It seems that I had a TIA or mini stroke and it was alright for me as I was blissfully unaware of anything but was, apparently, not unconscious as I was trying to co-operate with their instructions (that'll make a change for me then!).
Upon dialing 999, there was a fair amount of difficulty in explaining where we were and the ambulance went to Shardlow - about a mile away (see previous blog).

Graham, having torn a calf muscle several days previously, ran the mile down the towpath in the dark and a mile back again carrying the paramedic's bag whilst Lizzie and Andy looked after me - they then moved Snowgoose up to Shardlow, in the dark, whilst the paramedic (who was seasick) attended to me. Persuading another boater to shift so that they could moor near the ambulance, they then walked back to MR to walk the dogs and back again - doing the same thing again at 6.30am.
Graham returned in the morning and they helped him move MR to Stenson (10 miles and 5 locks) for easier access to Derby hospital. ( When G returned to the hospital, his leg was such a mess after his adrenalin fueled run on the existing injury that they offered us the bogoff; stroke unit for me; A and E for Graham).
Once out, they continued to help walk the dogs and stayed with us until Thursday helping us through all the locks to Alrewas as neither of us was in a fit state to do much (we are only trying to move as we want to get to Birmingham for a boater's wedding).

We really have no way to re-pay such kindness; I just hope they'll accept this little blog as a tribute to their wonderful natures - I bet they'll be more careful about who they invite round in future though! I jest - I know they'd do it all again.

If you are going to have a crisis, I strongly recommend you try and have it in the vicinity of Snowgoose's crew!

PS Lizzie makes a wicked roast dinner