Saturday 4 Sept 2010 Fradley

We set off on a slightly chilly day at 10 am after doing a weed hatch visit, I thought there was a little something there which turned out to be a load of fabric, it could have been an umbrella or a kite as it was multi coloured pieces joined together.
As we needed water we decided to top up at Great Haywood Junction and as I stuck my nose out of the junction started to turn left, as I emerged I saw there were three boats at the water point so I spun round to top up later in the journey, at that moment both boats simultaneously switched of the water taps so I backed up and waited, little did I know what would unfold over the next 20 minutes.
The boat nearest the junction who was waiting for water had already run his hose out so I backed up and waited for the one at the other end to leave which he did a few minuets later, in the mean time the other boat who had taken water took the hose out of the tank and let go their front rope. We tied up and started filling from the other tap. At this point the chap who's wife had just filled up and dropped off the rope came back with the porta potty and then nothing. The waiting boat had undone his ropes and was holding his boat ready to pull it back to the water point. At this point nothing was happening on the boat that had just filled up, the crew disappeared inside and nothing. Then the chap came out and dipped the water tank, the water had been running out of the filler when we arrived, then he replaced the filler and started playing with the Porta Potty, this was followed by him disappearing back inside. A short time later he was back with his hose, then he unplugged the hose of the chap waiting and plugged his hose in again taking the end into the boat, 5 minutes later he was out again, by now another boat had arrived and was waiting. Said chap just stood there, doing and saying nothing, he then coiled his hose again. The chap waiting asked him how much longer he was going to be, to which the reply he received was "I've got all day I am not in a hurry". By now our tank was just about full and it had been 20 minuets since we arrived and the chap not in a hurry had filled his tank, The chap waiting pointed out that he didn't have all day and the chap thought it better that he left which for some one not in a hurry he did with some speed passed the moored boats just through the bridge. I found the whole episode almost unbelievable, how the other boater kept his cool I don't know.
We pushed off and were surprised not to find a queue at Colwich lock with no one waiting to come up, but two boats behind us. Then we met a whole row of boats coming towards us, we carried on through Rugeley stopping for a quick chat with Chertsey and Minnow at Kings Bromley Wharf, just through bridge 54 there is a new set of finger mooring for about 10 boats. Once we reached Wood End Lock we were following a boat but also meeting boat so the delay was very short for Fradley Junction.
We turned hard right into the Coventry Canal where we saw our old boat Water Witch moored for the night,so we breasted up to her and stopped for coffee and a chart, we hadn't seen them for over a year, then it was off to find somewhere to moor, after about 500 yards I went over something and the rudder went very stiff , at first I thought it had jumped out of the cup but then got a bit easier, we carried on to just through bridge 90 where we moored and I had a poke around with the cabin shaft, I could feel something between the skeg and the rudder but couldn't move it so I tried via the weed hatch, a combination of vigorous rudder moving and poking with the shaft eventually got rid of it, it felt like wood as I poked it but the main thing is, its gone!