Worcester to Kingswood Junction

Departed late after an unexpected lie-in onThursday, 13 June, heading in the general direction of Bath via Stratford Canal, Grand Union, Oxford, Thames and K&A. It seems some years since we last cruised this area.
Although there seemed a lot of water flowing down Offerton Locks, all pounds below Astwood Locks were 6-9" down. No problems after Astowwod so is all the water running down the Droitwick?
Moored for the night in Stoke Pound on pins. There a better moorings further on in the flight. Successfully used the digital 'stick' aerial very impressive for such a small, omi directional device.
Away early next day for Tadebigge. Entered bottom lock at 0800 and moored below top lock at 1230. We were teased at the start by the first 4 locks being set in our favour and the rest against until we met boats coming down just over half way through. Even then the last few locks were against us.
Not much water coming down except on one occasion when locks being emptied above must have come together to flow over the lock gates. Moored tired below top lock.
Pump out and fuel planned for today. Concerned being Saturday that the hire bases would be busy but first boatyard, Anglo Welsh obliged. Wast Hil Tunnel was surprisingly not especially wet and moored at Kings Norton for lunch. The Stratford Canal seems pleasanter than I recalled and moored just outside Hockley Heath for the night.
The new advanced digital alternator regulator is not working and we need about 6 hours crushing to fully recharge the batteries. The Smartguage is an invaluable aid to managing battery capacity. The unit, like the old one, is indicating correctly the battery type, which is set using dip switches, but nothing else indicated. I'm using the field wire I fixed when I bought the old unit many years ago. Is it connected correctly to the brushes? I will investigate but need to be cautious as no spare if I damage anything.
Next day stopped to shop in Hockley Heath. Al we remembered of the place was a rather iffy roast lunch at the pub by the canal. We were pleasantly surprised to find a good shop, Chinese and Indian restaurant/takeaway and a SteakHouse. Had a choice of NT properties to vist, Packwood House or Baddesley Clinton and decided on the latter so moored on the Grand Union to walk there along the Heart Of England Way. However, decided to leave the visit until tomorrow.
Poor or no digital TV signal so resorted to satellite as there was a clear Skye in that direction.

Shake Down Cruise

During half term holiday we took a few days to check how fit Ada is and have a few days away. We cruised North to the Staff and Worcs and then on to Stourton Junction and return. First 3 days of the Bank Holiday Weekend were brilliant, but cool, sunshine. After that it rained so much that the River Severn was threatening flood conditions. As we had a date with our Granddaughter, N, we returned a day early. In the event the rain stopped and the river was never Red.
Ada was mostly fit. However, the recently fitted advanced alternator regulator was not working. As this device is over 10 years old I'm assuming it's the unit and not how I fitted it. A new digital unit is on order and I'll fit it as we cruise next. The Smartgauge showed that we used between 40 and 50% battery capacity overnight and it took 4-5 hours of running the engine to get back to 100%.
Holding tank is giving us about 9 days endurance and the level can just about be made out through the natural plastic side. I'll have to mark off 'days to go to full' on the tank side!
I also tried a TV 'stick' aerial but in a cutting. The result was surprisingly good but not enough for comfortable viewing. I'll try it again when the surrounding countryside appears better for reception. The   advantage of the 'stick' aerial is that it does not consume battery capacity, unlike the satellite aerial.
Now provisioning Ada for our long cruise.