Rugeley isn’t the most picturesque mooring, but it serves a purpose and we had a quiet night. This morning when I took Macc for his walk we found a set of wood and earth stairs up a bank by the canal, and much to my surprise he went up them without even thinking. He won’t do any of the steps on the boat yet, but then they are much taller and the treads don’t have much room. We set off about 8.45, which seems to be becoming our usual, immediately passing under the impressive railway bridge.
We stopped at the Ash Tree Bridge water point to fill the tank, which has been depleted by a couple of loads of washing. It was a good fast tap, and in full sunshine so the solar panels could do their thing at the same time. Setting off again, we were straight into the Plum Pudding cutting, which used to be a tunnel. You can’t see through and are supposed to send someone to check the route is clear; we saw someone appear at the other end and then vanish again, so Adrian went to see what was going on. There was a boat coming the other way, but they’d thought we were closer than we were and were waiting.
From the water point we’d had Macc up on the rear slide, and he was very concerned about Adrian getting off. He seems to like seeing what’s going on though, and was interested by all the noises from the Armitage Shanks factory.
We met quite a few boats at Handsacre where it’s pretty tight at the best of times, but we all got round each other without touching. At the winding hole there, someone appears to have come to an unfortunate end.
On the long section from there through King’s Bromley and on to Wood End Lock, Macc actually settled down in his bed, often resting his chin on the side, and seemed to be enjoying the warmth of the sun.
It’s a step forward for him to relax like this, so progress is being made. The next step would be going to sleep up here, but that might be a way off yet. When we reached Wood End Lock a boat was about to come out, and there was one waiting below. Adrian got off to work the lock and again Macc was very concerned, with lots of crying and whining. Consequently no photos were taken, and once we were down the lock he was put in his crate inside for the next two locks. Remarkably, the moorings above Wood End were empty, and there was only one boat above Shade House Lock at Fradley. There was a volunteer on duty, so he got the lock ready and open for us.
We were soon down, and the volunteer had alerted the keeper at the next lock so that was ready too. He’d also ascertained that we were turning onto the Coventry, so didn’t need Junction Lock.
Adrian had walked round and swung the bridge open, and there was plenty of mooring space here too so we picked a nice straight bit. It’s only dappled sunshine for the solar panels, but we’d been up to 100 per cent en route anyway.
We gave Macc his lunch and then he crashed out in his crate, not having had anything like enough sleep this morning. This afternoon I’ve checked the battery water and done the loo. Then we had visitors, Stuart, who used to work with Adrian, and his partner Helen live close by and came to see us on Briar Rose last year. They wanted to check out the new boat, and we thought it would be a good opportunity to take Macc to the pub. Macc’s timings were all out though, so he’d gone to sleep about ten minutes before they were due to arrive. So Adrian headed down to The Swan to meet them, while I stayed with Macc, and walked him down there when he woke up about an hour later. Again, after a few minutes of being too interested in everything, he settled really well.
Stuart and Helen came along to the boat once we’d finished our drinks. It was really nice to see them again, and none of us could quite believe it was very nearly a year since we last saw them. Macc had his dinner, and then fairly quickly went to sleep again. He’s had a very busy day!
8 miles, 3 locks. (56 miles, 36 locks)