Tuesday 24th September
We actually made it off the moorings this morning before 8 am, wonders will never cease! We had a journey today of 8 miles and 2 locks to get from Armitage to Tixall Wide and we had to stop in Rugeley on the way to do some shopping so we wanted to get away sharpish. Mick and Cathy had already left.
Just after we left our mooring at The Plum Pudding we passed Hawkesyard Hall and stopped at the water point. After filling with water we continued to Rugelely where we found a mooring at Bridge 66 (the best one for the shops) and went off into town. The new Tesco near Bridge 66 will be slightly more convenient than Morrison’s, when it opens, simply for the fact that you won’t have to go over the bridge and cross the road to get to it, meaning you will be able to wheel the trolley almost to the boat!
It is not opening until Thursday so we went to Morrison’s. We had to go into town anyway because I had some change to pay into the bank (which incidentally didn’t open until 9-30 am and we were there at 9 am) and Ken needed to get some engine oil. We also went to the fruit and veg stall opposite Morrison’s because their prices are very reasonable.
When I eventually managed to get in the bank there was another delay while they got the counters up and running (I forget what all that was about) and by that time there was quite a queue with only one cashier. All in all we were titting about in Rugeley for about 90 minutes.
Underway again we got a text from Cathy saying they had taken 50 minutes to get through Great Haywood Lock as there was a lot of traffic this morning. I hoped it would have abated by the time we got there. At Wolseley Bridge a boat pulled off the moorings in front of us (this is getting to be a regular occurrence we must have an invisible cloak) and in his haste went round the corner too fast nearly taking out a boat coming the other way!
Of course there was a boat coming out of Colwich Lock when he got there so we missed out on going straight in just like yesterday at Alrewas. We got to Great Haywood Lock just before 1 pm and there was no queue so we were quickly through. We were surprised to see Mick and Cathy sitting in the garden of the Lock House Tearoom actually having a cup of tea! And the pub was open!
We went round to Tixall Wide and found it chocker. We had to go nearly to Penkridge to find a mooring! It was a long way to The Clifford Arms but we managed to get there and had a few Broadsides with Mick and Cathy who had given up the tea in favour of beer by this time!
We are staying here tomorrow, Ken is going to fit our new pure sine wave inverter and I will be the one doing the ironing!
