Day 5 - Alrewas to Handsacre

Set off 9.30am for Fradley Junction, delayed by half an hour with a borrowed magnet fishing unsuccessfully for a dropped mooring hook.  CRT volunteers helped considerately and slowly with the paddles with the first 3 locks at Fradley so we were through in time for a late breakfast at the holiday park tea room.  The CRT volunteer at the fourth lock raised paddles smartly without asking, requiring throttle to avoid ramming the top gate.  Her supervisor said only "she's wanting her sandwiches, she's a thug at the moment".

Lovely woodland outside Fradley, then the spell was broken when an oncoming steerer commented about some "characters" at Wood End Lock,  A hire boat emerged from the lock with two young men balanced precariously on the bow and Blue Adeline entered to find another boatful waiting to come down and two of the crew manning the bottom gates.  One seemed more or less comatose but the other impatiently and aggressively urged us to hurry because "I want to get to the pub".  A face-off followed, Denis exuding silent menace and the impatient one fell quiet only for an onlooker on the bridge to pipe up with "you're wasting water, you know!" and we suddenly realised we'd been so distracted we'd all failed to notice one of the bottom paddles was still open and the boat hadn't risen an inch!

Woods outside Fradley

We moored for the night at Handsacre before bridge 59 and Jan set off to find the nearest shop, according to Nicholson guide '500 yards south of the bridge'.  Eventually, after directions in the friendliest fashion from three Handsacre residents and lots of "me ducks" the shop was located and a sausage stew dinner was enjoyed before an early night.