Toilet town

 

Pressing on towards Arewas and Carolyn managed to get this picture at Tixall lock. Not a clue what sort it is but I’m told it looks very pretty.

The Elizabethan gatehouse at Tixall wide as we passed through always looks magnificent. We would have moored in the wide but it was full. Mind you it wouldn’t have been full if boaters didn’t leave 20 feet between them and the next boat. Anyway ,we managed to pick up a good mooring at the end of the wide where we spent the night

The following morning with the mist still on the canal we pulled pins at 07.15 and headed towards the junction with The Trent and Mersey canal.

I just don’t understand how some people can sleep in and miss this most beautiful Sunrise. This is the junction at Great Haywood, where we turned right and headed towards Rugeley.

Passing Maid of Oak. This boat is now for sale and the price in the window is £65,000. Built in 2006 it may well be the last ever Narrow boat built in Oak. It’s on Apollo Duck at £60,000 ,but looks very different in the pictures on there to what it looks like now.

Arriving at Rugeley and who should we bump in to but Tony and Jacqui on NB Timewarp. While Carolyn and Jacqui were up in the town Tony and I sat on the towpath and enjoyed a beer and a good old chat . Tony sells one of the biggest selections of Tillerpins I have ever seen and his prices are very good. Not only that but they also now sell the most delicous Fudge which is made on board by Jacquie. Well worth a stop and a look if you see them on the cut…

After filling the cupboards on Inca we said goodbye to Tony and Jacquie and headed out of Rugeley passing this fine looking Bird on the way. It’s a bit strange to pass through Rugeley without smoke coming out of the massive towers of the power station which closed back in June with the loss of a couple of hundred jobs.

There’s no way you can go through Armitage ( we call it toilet town ) without taking a picture. This is the factory of Armitage Shanks where they produce Sanitary ware. I don’t think Carolyn approved of my toilet talk and jokes as we passed the factory.

We then picked up a mooring about a mile South of Armitage where we will spend the night before heading through Fradley junction and in to Alrewas in the morning.

                                                                                                   Happy Days