Rugeley

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 5.8 miles

Total 4984 Locks  359 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,441.9 miles

 

So, after a pleasant 4 days at Tixall Wide, we move on to Rugeley carrying out the usual domesticky stuff at Great Haywood. It wasn’t quite as chaotic there as it had been when I passed through on Monday to catch the bus to Stafford, so we were able to get done quite quickly. Once again it is an easy cruise from Great Haywood through to Rugeley, although it can be a bit shallow in places. Only small issue I had was meeting another boat in one of the bridge holes. A boat had been moored right by the bridge on my approach side so I wasn’t able to go in at the angle that I would normally have done. What this meant was that as the boat came from the opposite direction I didn’t have the space to try to turn, so the only option was the ‘nuclear’ one of hard astern. Of course once you do that you then have no real say where the bows go and they began to swing across the canal. I didn’t hit anything, but the boat coming the other way gave the bridge quite a belt.

We’ll be here until probably Saturday as it is convenient for two supermarkets for our weekend shop, and then we’ll head on towards Fradley.

Tixall Wide

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 9.3 miles

Total 4982 Locks  359 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,436.1 miles

 

Today was the sort of day that one goes boating for, a canal that has plenty of depth, fine sunny weather all day and only a few boats on the move, so we travelled to our intended destination of Tixall Wide. Moorings with the best view were already taken but that was expected for a fine Sunday in June, but since we intend to remain here for a few days, and some of the boats moored in the wide are hire boats, it is almost certain that moorings will become available. Not that there is anything wrong with where we are moored, it’s just that it is nice to get a mooring overlooking the Tixall Gatehouse.

As I say, I’m not sure how long we’ll stay here, we have water and toilet space for about 6 days but will probably move on sometimg mid-week. My intention tomorrow is to walk the to bus stop and catch the bus to Stafford to go swimming.

Penkridge

 

Here I am Rune

Distance 0.8 miles

Total 4976 Locks  359 Tunnels

Running total mileage 7,426.8 miles

 

A very short hop today, just to get us a bit closer to Penkridge village which gave me the opportunity to go to the excellent bread shop, Jaspers, in the village and stock up with bread for the next few days. You can tell how good the bread is because there is usually a queue (today 10 people). One very unhappy person however who had obviously queued for a while but when he got into the shop found out that they don’t take cards or contactless. The notice in the shop says,”we are unable to take cards or contactless at the moment” however when we were loitering here 3 years ago, it had exactly the same notice, so it obviously isn’t some temporary arrangement. As the gent was walking out I was tempted, in my best yokel accent to say,”You’m not from round these parts are you’m” but thought it might unnecessarily aggravate him, clearly all of the locals know full well that it is cash only.

 

I had hoped to make use of the leisure centre here with it's 17 metre swimming pool, however they were doing lifeguard exams in it today so it was out of use.

 

Tomorrow the plan is to do the domesticky stuff (water,rubbish,Elsan) before leaving, then head onto Tixall wide, which is about 9 miles away (and a few locks).