Sunday 9^th September

Left the mooring and had a quiet journey up to Rugeley going through the Armitage Tunnel which had its roof removed in 1971 to combat the effects of mining subsidence. It is very narrow and has a kink which prevents you seeing the other end; so making it necessary to send a crew member through first to stop other boats entering at the same time.

 Armitage is also the home of the famous sanitary fittings maker and you can see loos and cisterns piled high in their yard.

* Armitage Tunnel that was.

We stopped at Rugeley and went to the conveniently located Morrisons near to Bridge 66 for some provisions. When we got back to the boat it was mayhem with boats going in all directions through the narrows, two even colliding near to us. So we decided to make a quick exit and head towards Great Haywood before it got any busier. As we left a boat was waiting to jump into our mooring space.

We travelled on and crossed the interesting Brindley Bank Aqueduct which goes over the river Trent. There is a sharp right hand bend immediately before the aqueduct and as usual a couple of boats were coming the other way but fortunately there is plenty of room to manoeuvre.

* Brindley Bank Aqueduct looking back to the bend.

Just afterwards we came across Nb Levick moored in a lovely little spot with Angela and Michael sitting on the bank enjoying the sunshine. We stopped for a quick chat but as it was narrow and another boat was coming we had to move on.

As we approached Wolseley Bridge the mooring was empty and the sun was shining on a nice patch of grassy bank so we moored up for the day and got the chairs out to enjoy it.

* June enjoying the Sun

Whilst we were sat having lunch Nb Marric moored up behind us and we started chatting with the owners who wanted to know the colour of our boat as they liked it. They went on to say that they were in the throws of considering buying a new boat so June showed them around ours. They were very impressed with the workmanship and asked for details of the builders.

After lunch we had a walk around to the Garden Centre and the Art and Craft shops and then enjoyed tea and scones in the café.

As I was preparing dinner a boat came and moored in front of us and we thought we recognised its name, thinking that it must moor in our marina. June had a chat with the owners and it turned out that it was Nb Nesta who went into Liverpool with us earlier in the year and whose friends had contacted BW to get our convoy in early so that we could see the Giant puppets. How often do we say what a small world it is on the canal.

* Nb Nesta