Tuesday 30 June 2015

Getting hotter

It's a good job we got everything done that we needed to do this morning, because this afternoon it's been a case of staying as still as possible in the shade. We timed our start exactly right for once, setting off at half eight and getting to the shopping mooring in Rugeley just after ten. It was a very pleasant morning's boating with a bit of traffic about but not enough to cause problems through the various bottle necks around Armitage.

Spode House was looking grand as ever and has lost the horrible advertising banner that used to disfigure its frontage. There are a lot of gaps in the long term moorings there; hopefully CRT will rationalise those one day to close them up a bit. Between those and the Ash Tree moorings just through the bridge you spend a lot of time in tickover.

A visit to Tesco replenished our supplies of perishables and we got one or two other bits and bobs at the same time, including another pair of pyjamas for yours truly, short sleeved and short legged ones for these hot nights. Whilst I put stuff away, Sheila went into the town to get a puzzle book from WH Smith and some lens cleaner from SpecSavers. We don't use their glasses any more, but the cleaner is the best value around.

We'd planned to go on to Bridge 69 as I said yesterday, but have decided to stop on the new visitor moorings just beyond the Brindley Bank aqueduct. It's a bit noisier here with the ring road bridge just beyond, but distinctly less smelly in this heat. Braidbars spotted today: Bessie Surtees again as we leapfrog with them towards Great Haywood and Martin and Anna on One Day heading the other way through Rugeley.

Tomorrow, on to Tixall Wide, probably. It's 30ยบ in the shade here now, so not a lot more is going to get done. All the doors and hatches are open and mostly fly screened and we've put the porthole bungs in down the sunny side. Definitely another night for salad, methinks.

No comments: