Pottering on away from the Potteries

Once south of Stone, you don't think of being in the Potteries any more, though I guess the fact that most of the country's sanitary ware is made in Armitage, beyond Rugeley, makes that less clear cut than you might think.

No matter, after a very quiet night last night (there was still a lot of space on the towpath this morning), we had a relaxed start after a lie in. I eventually wandered down to the shop to get a paper, whilst Sheila got Sanity Again ready to cruise. It was her turn to lockwheel, so she walked on ahead when we set out. I managed to time my arrival at the lock (which I knew was empty from walking past it ten minutes before) so that I barely needed to go astern to wait for it to be ready.

The weather was very pleasant indeed, sunny and calm, though quite nippy. It's the time of year when boating in a southerly direction in the morning can be complicated by sun dazzle, but that's a small price to pay. A couple of boats left their moorings below the lock as we passed and followed us to Colwich, where again we were able to go straight in and down.

There was a handful of boats on the towpath either side of Wolseley Bridge, including some of the regular lurkers on this stretch, but still no huge jam of them. Where is everyone?

No boats tied at Bridge 68, either, so we had a choice of mooring spot; we picked a straight stretch in the sun, opposite the pig farm. The farmer has been working with a telehandler for some of the time, but when there's no noise from its engine and reversing alarm, we can hear the gentle grunting of the porkers as they go about their business in the cool autumnal sun.

Elanor has agreed to take in an Ocado delivery for us at the weekend, so I've sorted that this afternoon, as well as reading the paper, doing the crossword and having a little post prandial doze.

It's a great life – even the forecast is better for tomorrow than it was, so we may well carry on through Rugeley, but if not, we've plenty of supplies to keep us going here until the day after.

I just won't be able to get a paper, that's all.

/floor