The rain was hammering on the roof when we went to bed last night, but by this morning it was dry and a bit more mild than of late. We were under way earlier than normal, at 8am. Just along from our mooring was an impressive railway bridge, that leads to Rugeley Town station.
By the time we got to the Ash Tree Boat Club we had caught up with a boat in front, but he pulled over onto the water point. He didn’t actually stop though, as he came out behind us. I suspect he was single handed and preferred to be behind us at Armitage Tunnel. Adrian got off there and walked ahead, in case anything was coming the other way, as it’s narrow and you can’t see the other end. Most of it is no longer a tunnel, just a narrow with a big road over it.
As we approached the Armitage Shanks works there was a huge crash, as substandard pieces were disposed of.
We plodded through Handsacre, and past King’s Bromley. Then it was through the wooded section to Wood End Lock, where a boat was just coming out and left the gate for us. A boat was also just coming out of Shade House Lock, the top one at Fradley, and a lock keeper was also waiting, so we were soon on our way down.
Middle Lock also had its top gate open for us, and with a boat waiting below I didn’t have to do any work at all. The lockie also radioed ahead, so Junction lock was ready. As I walked down, a woman started speaking to me, and then we realised we knew each other. It was Cheryl from Firecrest, which we’d seen moored at the top. Even a brief catch up is a good one, and we were soon on our way.
The fourth lock also had a volunteer so he’d got that ready, but I had to walk down and turn the bottom lock for us as a boat had just gone down. All five locks had taken only about 35 minutes. When we got to Common Lock, a boat was about to come up, and it turned out to be Kat on Bargus. We like to support the fuel boats, so we bought a couple more bags of coal and some logs, which were left on the lock side until we went in.
Bagnall Lock was the last of the day, and then we turned at the winding hole and moored up. It’s all on a bend here so we picked the straightest bit although the bow is still well out. We hadn’t been moored up long when it started to rain a bit, including a very sharp shower. We didn’t actually need to come to Alrewas, but we’re meeting the Tidy’s for a meal out this evening, and they suggested The Crown here.
9 miles, 8 locks. (75 miles, 51 locks)
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