On to Rugeley

 

We spent most of the morning with the captain sorting out the washing and me getting the computer back online and working on church accounts. 

When we did set off we passed these delightful cottages before arriving at the first lock of the day. 

After the lock, someone had great fun carving a woodpecker out of the remains of a dead tree. 

A family of geese sunbathing on the towpath. 

As you come into Rugeley the mileposts are all golden. I looked it up on Google but there is no reason given as to why they are gold. Strange. 

Found a nice place to moor. 

Over a cuppa the captain was reading her despatches (looking at Google) and discovered that the Atherstone locks are going to be closed from next Tuesday. We need to get through them before that happens. So, a slight change of plan. If we cruise for 6 hours a day we can clear the locks by Sunday evening or Monday morning giving us time to spare. It's also been rumoured that Watford locks may close mid-August. So we will probably need to get back sooner rather than later. 

In light of that decision we popped along to Morrisons for supplies and worked out what else needed doing before setting off in the morning. We also had a long chat with the boater moored behind us who wasn't too worried about stoppages as he tended to pootle backwards and forwards along the same stretch of canal. That's the life.