Chugging on through Rugeley

The internet here at the pig farm mooring has become quite amazingly slow, even though the modem is showing a strong signal; maybe everyone is watching Wimbledon on iPlayer. It’s a shame, because we’ve had a good day in general, even if we didn’t sleep brilliantly last night. We’d estimated two hours from Kings Bromley to Rugeley and another 45 to 60 minutes from there to the pig farm at Bridge 69.

So we set off at half seven, having been up since just after six, and did indeed take almost exactly two hours to get to the shopping mooring. After the first half hour the battery bank had finished the bulk charge phase and the water was good and hot, so Sheila started a washload. This was almost done by the time we were ready to stop; we just had to wait ten minutes or so for the final spin to complete.

Once that was done, we went to Morrisons and to Lowndes the greengrocers. Shopping done, off we went again, Sheila now steering whilst I stowed the supplies. I took over before we got to Brindley Bank Aqueduct, where for once I made a complete hot milky drink* of the turn and had to go astern before I could get the boat round.

I was being tail gated at the time, but I really shouldn’t have let that influence me. Once over the river, I slowed right down and waved them though. They soon disappeared into the distance; slowing down for moored boats, blind bridge holes or anything else clearly wasn’t part of their technique.

Now feeling much more relaxed, we ambled on to find the pig farm moorings vacant, though they’ve filled up a bit as the day’s worn on.

It’s been another quiet, not to say dozy, afternoon, the weather now quite warm and sunny; there's another steady run in prospect for tomorrow, through Great Haywood and about halfway on to Stone.

*A Horlicks, in other words

Off we go again

I found myself lying awake in the night wondering if the wind would moderate sufficiently for us to get away today, but needn't have worried. Although it was mizzling down in a rather unpleasant way first thing, there was very little wind at half eight, and I made the turn out of the junction without too much trouble.

There was a fair amount of traffic about, but we only had to wait a little while at both Haywood and Colwich Locks. There was plenty of room to tie here at the Pig Farm by Bridge 69, which we reached at half ten.

We spent the rest of the morning pottering about, mainly on the internet, and listening to the wind rising again. Early boating was the answer today, no doubt about it.

Just as we were thinking of getting some lunch, Hadar was seen through the portholes, apparently coming in to tie. In fact they'd just stopped to sell some coal to the boat tied behind us, which didn't prevent us all having a good old natter on the towpath for about half an hour.

We've not had a chance to catch up for a couple of years, so it was very good to be able to do so. Jo is now selling mats and coasters based on her wildlife photography, so we've bought a set for Walnut Lodge.

The afternoon has slipped quietly by, Squirrel lit and the paper to read. It's still pretty yucky out there; we're hoping for an improvement before a longish day's boating tomorrow, through Rugeley with a shopping stop and on to Kings Bromley.