Rugeley next stop

There was a quick thaw on Sunday night and we woke up on Monday morning to lots of boats on the move.  At last we could get on the move ourselves.  Before we set off Rick dropped some coal off for us and we then headed north west -  about seven boats had already gone through in that direction so any residual ice would be broken up.

Apart from Wood End lock with its bent balance beams because of the close bridge it was a lock free cruise of eight miles to Rugeley.

Typically all the tight turns had a bridge on them making them even more blind.

 Just before Rugeley we went through this cutting which was originally a tunnel.  A crew member has to go ahead and stop any boats coming in the opposite direction as it is too long to see if a boat is coming.

We passed Spode House, originally the home of the famous pottery family.

This was a strange figure we saw as we came into Rugeley.

Rugeley power station and cooling towers can be seen for miles around.

We moored in the middle of Rugeley, opposite this derilict wharf, for lunch – home made sweet potato and lentil soup with pumpkin bread.   

Whilst eating lunch we kept seeing boats pass us who we had been stuck with at Arlewas.  Quite a nice little community as everyone is happy and friendly and full of useful information especially once they find out this is a new area for us.  Fortunately we were moored near a Tesco superstore so we did a large shop that should keep us going until we get to the middle of Birmingham in a couple of weeks (as long as Jo only stays one night).  We then moved to the outskirts of Rugeley and moored for the night in a more countryfied area.  We need to stay here as Jo is coming up to see us on Tuesday for a sleep over.  She’ll be pleased we’ve had a supermarket shop.