Aston Marina - Wedgewood Nr Barlaston - 5.5 miles, 9 locks, 3 hours 35 mins

We left the marina at just after 10:00 this morning, it was a bit grey but the sun was trying to put in an appearance.

We were unsure how far we would be able to get today as we had received a canal and river trust notification that the canal was blocked by a fallen tree just north of Stone.

As it transpired the tree was not going to be the the risk to our journey, but instead a lack of water ............... I know we have had one of wettest winters on record ......... But something was not right today with the flow on the canal.  As we started the Meaford flight of locks, the boat waiting to come the other way advised they had been waiting for a good couple of hours for the water levels to come up sufficiently for them to move, and another boater advised they had been sitting on the canal bottom overnight.

The site of the fallen tree.

The lock is full, but is a good foot below where it should be!

You can see where the water has dropped.

We proceeded with caution, as we filled the locks you could visibly see the canal dropping, very bizarre . Once we got through the top lock all seemed to back to normal....... who knows what the underlying issue was.

There were some early signs of spring with cherry blossom and our first sighting of lambs.

Our first cherry blossom.

Spring has definitively sprung :-))

EH 490.6

Family Weekend

Friday afternoon we headed to Cambridge, Saturday was my brother George's 65th birthday and his wife Carol had organised a birthday bash at their house.  Friday afternoon traffic was the usual nightmare, so what should have been a 2 1/2 hour journey turned into a near 3 1/2 journey, but we got there in one piece which is the main thing.

Saturday morning was spent getting the house ready, with first guests arriving at about 12:30.

We had a great day, it was lovely having so many of the family together, the weather was kind to us and the kids had a fantastic time, they definitely wore little George out.

George opening his birthday present.

John demonstrates his handicraft skills helping the kids make glove puppets and flowers.

The girls enjoy the sun!! and some deserts :-).

Nic and Steph, looking cute.

The boys enjoy a beer to two!

Carol had made George a lovely carrot cake.

Freddie's finished glove puppet - a great job.

George decides he needs a comfy place to sleep and Annita is on his bean bag!! She will just have to share!!

As soon as Annita moves Matt decides it's his turn.  Don't they look cute?

As a reward Annita gets the last of the trifle :-).

The last of the family left just after 9:00, and the four of us spent the next 90 mins clearing up, but we went to bed with all the washing up etc finished, could have done without loosing an hour with clocks going forward :-).

Sunday we had a bit of a lazy start and then headed off to see Rodney's Mum, we met Tania and Michael there.

Rodney with his Mum and Tania.

Then we headed off for a beautiful Sunday lunch.  Following which we met Michaels Mum and Dad.

We left them just after 6:00 and the traffic was much kinder to us, we got back to By The Way for 8:45, just in time to make a lovely coffee and then settle down to watch the Musketeers!

It was great weekend and was lovely seeing our families :-)).

Kings Bromley Marina to Aston Marina Nr Stone.

We set off late Sunday afternoon and cruised for about a mile, mooring near Handacre, it was great to be moored up in the open again!

Monday was a beautiful day and we cruised to a place called Wolmsley Bridge - we have stopped at the pub here with Mike and Liz several times after mountain biking in Cannock.

Tuesday we were aiming to get to Weston, but it was raining pretty much all day.  We did I manage to squeeze in a couple of hours when the rain slowed down and ended up at Great Haywood, which was very handy for the farm shop that we have visited before.  So we had a bit of a midweek treat roast beef and yorkshires, very nice though I say so myself.

Mr B is still desperately clinging on to his cruise memories, so I had to make him a chicken ceasar salad, he had one pretty much every day on the cruise, obviously it wasn't as good as the ones on the Quest but it disappeared quite quickly :-).

George has settled back into the cruising life as if he had never been away

Wednesday and Thursday were work days for Mr B, so we set off again early this morning, pulled the pins at 7:30.  We were lucky the weather stayed dry and all of the locks were in our favour!! There were only 3 but it made a nice change and helped to break me in gently.

The reason for us stopping at another marina will become clear, in the next post!!

Have a great weekend.

Cruising Part Four - Costa Rica - Panama - Costa Rica - New Orleans - Key West - Miami - Duck Key

.The next morning we approached Key West.  There were two ships already docked at the key.

The ship at the back is a Disney cruise ship which provided some great entertainment later in the day.

Docking was very smooth and we would soon be heading off to explore Key West.

Key West was a hive of activity as many people were taking the opportunity to celebrate St Patricks day.

They reckon you can easily put 7lbs a week on when cruising, looks like we have put on considerably more than that!!

It was a lovely warm day as we wandered around soaking in the atmosphere on Duval Street.  We stopped for some lunch which of course had to include a slice of Lime Key Pie, Les introduced Rodney to Samuel Adams beer which was to be his drink for the rest of our time in the Florida Keys.

We also visited the little White House, now a museum.

There are lots of really pretty houses once you get off the busy main streets.

We were due to leave Key West at 4:00, so we headed back for our last afternoon cocktails!

We were slightly delayed as we had to wait for the Disney cruise ship to leave before us.  She was a beautiful boat and as we sat on the back of our boat watching her pull away, we were entertained by her horns, which instead of the usual loud blast ships make, she played "When you wish upon a star" - so Disney!!

We enjoyeded our last meal in Discoveries restaurant and of couse enjoyed our last frozen Mojitos!!!

We were due to disembark at 9:00 in Miami, which was again well organised.  We were booked to go on a final trip to the Everglades and then be dropped off at the airport, where we would pick up our hire car.

We enjoyed a great trip on an airboat and saw several Aligators on the trip.

At the end of the airboat ride we were able to enjoy a short presentation with some baby Aligators and a very big frog!!

Time for one last photo before we headed back on the coach for airport.

Windswept and interesting!!! Well windswept anyway.

The cruise was over and it was time to say goodbye to Les and Lin -aka Dad and Mum, who were flying home whilst we had a further 4 nights on the Florida Keys.  Thanks for taking us under you wings, showing us the cruising ropes and being great company.

Looking forward to coming to see you in Spain.

Once we had our luggage we just needed to get the car, which was really easy and then find our way out of Miami not so easy!!!!  We got there in the end and were finally on Interstate 1, on our way to the keys.

The views were beautiful as we headed towards Duck Key.

We were staying at Hawks Cay Resort, which was lovely but very big and very busy, after the intermacy of the cruise ship, it was a bit of a culture shock but it was a great base for exploring the keys and we soon found that it had a tranquility area which was a real haven.

The next day we headed out to explore the keys.  The scenery is impressive and it is quite something to be driving down the road with the ocean either side of you.

As we headed south we crossed over 7 mile bridge, which is exactly what the name says a bridge that runs for 7 miles linking two keys.

So long you can't see the end!!

We also explored the harbour on our own key where we saw some amazing wildlife including Manatees.

The next day as we continued to explore we ended up unintentionally back in Key West, we weren't stopping as we had already spent time here whilst on the cruise, but we were surprised to see the distinctive gold wrap BMW that we had seen when walking around a few days earlier, I suspect it is owned by a poser who just drives round Key West all day!!!  Nice work if you can get it :-).

When we woke the next morning it had been raining and was overcast and a bit breezy so we took the opportunity to visit the Dolphin research centre.  We spent several hours here watching the dolphins being trained and playing.

They really are the most beautiful and intelligent creatures, most of the dolphins at the research centre have been born there, with a few that have been rescued. 

There was also a resident Iguana and some sea lions.

That night we ate at a great restaurant call Sparkys Landing, worth a visit if you are ever in the keys.

On our final full day we took a kayak out for a couple of hours, was great being out in the open, although we were not that good, steering is not as easy as it looks!!

We spent the afternoon by the pool recovering.

For our last night we ate again at Sparkys after visiting 7 mile bridge to watch the sunset, unfortunately it was bit cloudy.

Our first and last selfie!!

On our last day our flight wasn't until 21:45 so we headed to Miami beach, to check out Miami Ink and to get Rodney a mini Ipad.  Driving to Miami beach was interesting, and certainly a lot busier than the Florida Keys.

We then headed to the airport and checked in.  Everything was going great and we boarded on time, but unfortunately we were delayed from taking off for about half an hour as Miami airport was closed as Airforce One was landing!!!! How inconsiderate of Barack Obama!  Still after the nightmare of arriving into Miami, it wouldn't have been right for it to be all plain sailing on the way home.

It had been the most amazing holiday, everything we had hoped for and so much more, absolutely awesome!!!  We will definitely be taking another cruise - just have to decide where to go.

So we are now home and back on the move on By The Way.

With captain Brown back at the helm :-))

And I am adjusting to the fact that no-one makes my bed, cooks my meals, serves me drinks, or turns down my bed each night and leaves me a chocolate - well no-one but me. :-))).  We have a further three months before real normality returns.  Here's to a great three months - no frozen Mojitos but lots of proper cups of PG Tips!!! Oh and some great british weather - fingers crossed :-).