Narrowboats – Day 3 – Trent/Mersey Canal

Our transportation, accommodation, food and entertainment cost so far

Sep 14 ~ Day #127	Budget to date	Spent today	Total to date	Daily average
Total	$12700	$70.38	$11488.46	$90.46
Miles by Road	Miles by Sea	Miles by Air	Miles by Train	Total Miles
14068	4463.3+12.7=4476	5180	119	23843

Current Location: Town of Alrewas

Today’s Total Expenses: $70.38

Narrowboat: $70.38 (cost of narrowboat – transportation and accommodation)

Miles Traveled Today:
Sea Miles: 12.7 (canal miles)

Losing Part of the Team

After coffee and a hearty breakfast we were underway again just before 10:30am.

This trip was actually a working holiday for T. He was still working on a project for his employer that had a fast approaching deadline and his employer was starting to panic.

It didn’t help that any Internet connection we had was sketchy at best.

So T decided that he needed to head back to work so that the project would get completed properly and on time.

That meant we had to make it to a place along the canal system where T could catch a bus or a train to get back to work.

He decided he would rejoin us on Saturday. He would keep in touch by cellphone so he’d know where to meet us.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Of course the day we simply HAD to put a certain number of miles behind us was the day it decided to rain almost constantly.

This meant Geoff, being the one who handled the boat best, was stuck in the uncovered cockpit getting soaked to the skin.

Yes, he had a raincoat of sorts and an umbrella, too, but he still got soaked through and it was a cold rain as well.

But, he pushed on so we could get to a sizable town.

Along the way we stopped for a while so that Geoff could change into dry clothes and get warmed up before braving the elements again.

Quaint English Town

After checking the map and the time (you don’t want to be navigating a narrowboat in the dark), we determined that the town of Alrewas (pronounced, if I’m getting it right, all-RAY-wus) was of sufficient size for T to get a bus back to work.

When we had an Internet connection T was also able to check the bus schedules and discovered he could get the bus he needed at about 9:30am the next morning.

After tying up the boat for the night we ventured into town. It wasn’t a really large town. After just a short walk in one direction we actually found ourselves in the English countryside.

But there were pubs, of course, and some cottages with thatched roofs as well as one of the best butcher shops that I’d ever seen. Everything was so fresh.

Geoff was so impressed by this butcher shop that he took lots of pictures.

We spoke with the owner for a while and found out that they even did their own slaughtering onsite.

It was also amazing, for me, anyway, to see the owner and employees dressed in matching uniforms, aprons and even hats! I was to discover later that this was the case in other grocery stores in the UK. But I was really impressed.

Geoff was going to buy some liver and make his world-famous liver and onions dinner but they wouldn’t have any liver available until the next day.

So, after checking our schedule we determined that we could be back in Alrewas on Thursday, September 16th and would spend the night there on our return trip to Sawley Marina.