We’re cruising again.

2 Locks, 5.23 Miles. Now moored at Rugeley.

Friday we had a surprise email from Derek and Carrie on Nb Uccello to say they were in the area. Next day there was a knock on the boat and they had moored just below Great Haywood lock. Since parting company at the bottom of the Wolverhampton flight they had completed their trip down to Gloucester docks returning via Stratford upon Avon and were now heading North back to the Llangollen Canal (all this while we were gallivanting in New Zealand). Carrie had made a large Lasagne and invited us over for supper to catch up on all our travels, theirs and ours. It was great to see them and Bungie the dog again.

After a couple of days to recuperate from all our recent travels, Monday arrived all too soon and it was time to head off towards Rugby. After last years adventures up on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal where we virtually had the canal to ourselves except for the odd occasion where we met a fellow boater, it was a bit of a shock with so many boats on the move. Being a Bank holiday week-end and school holiday didn’t help with all the hire boats around.

We encountered the usual delay at Colwich lock with 3 boats on either side waiting to pass through. I don’t know why there is always delays at this lock except that it is a slow filler. Arriving in Rugeley it was wall to wall boats but we did manage to find a mooring down near the railway viaduct.

Not long after we had moored up our friend’s John and Elizabeth arrived by car from Trinity Marina in Hinckley. Like us they had taken advantage of the Air NZ special offer and had a month back in NZ arriving back in Blighty the day before us. There was plenty to talk about over coffee on the boat and later dinner at Weatherspoon’s in Rugeley. We may finish up cruising with them for a while depending on medical appointments for Dot and John.

2216 locks, 4255.62 miles, 91 tunnels, 130 swing bridges and 58 lift bridges since Nov 2006