Great Haywood To Alrewas, 2 Days 11 Locks.

Catch up time again.

Friday was a staying put type of day as we had a very good TV signal and the final of Masterchef was on.

Moving on and losing the signal might have seen me losing something as well.

Saturday arrived with everything intact so off we went. All nice and sunny........for a while then it was coats on, coats off, coats back on for the rest of the day.

We managed to dodge the worst of it to pick up vittles from Rugely, not fancying an overnight stop there we moved on, and on, and on, and on. There are not that many places to pull in along this stretch of the Trent And Mersey so as six o'clock arrived we grabbed the first spot we could.

This as it turned out was a bit of a mistake as the family in the boat ahead of us spoke to each other with their voices on full volume.
Dad,..... Dad,.... DAD,
WHAT......?
CAN I GO FISHING?
YES.

and so it went on all evening. The lad did catch a fish but I think it was stone deaf when he put it back in the canal.

Leaving the Munsters on a bright, sunny and warm Sunday morning we started passing boats with some very miserable looking people aboard. No cheerful greetings or waves just blank looking stares.

It was all cisterns go as we bowled past the enormity that is the Armitage factory.

Not long after, we found the reason for the glum faces......Fradely Junction in all its organised chaos.

 Maybe a warm Sunday afternoon was not the best time to try and negotiate this mess.
A plethora of a certain hire boat fleet named Hire A Canalboat were doing their best to totally jam everything up.
Mooring at the service point and going to the pub, amongst other things, were causing tempers to flare, and I can see why.
We were glad to get away from there and back out into the country.

I was a bit surprised to find this sign alongside a lock, River section? what river section?

Note to self: Read the Nicholosons book properly.

Alrewas, very busy but we got in on the end.
We spent the afternoon and evening with our table and chairs on the bank, soaking up the late sun whilst chatting and having a drink with the people from the boat in front.
You have to make the most of any gap in the rain.

It is now Monday and the rain is falling again, in fact it fell all night and so heavily it kept us both awake. Such is the British weather.




Until next time........................




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