Back On Dry Land

Weston Lock

Hello Jotters

Oh! The luxury of a flush toilet and a full size freezer. Here I am, back in the winter quarters, tapping away on the laptop without a care in the world. I have an unlimited supply of electricity to keep my batteries topped up and a mini magnum whenever the fancy takes me. I'm also enjoying the luxury of having a lengthy shower instead of a making do with a teacup full of water, twice a week! (eye roll emoji – I am exaggerating slightly!) We are once more looking in all the cupboards for our land legs, checking the loft for squirrels and looking for any spare nooks and crannys to store the car load of miscellaneous items that came back with us. Our little car greeted me with disdain when I trotted along to the car park to collect it. I had my fingers crossed, hoping it would start. Moving day can be fraught if things go wrong, the Captain gets grumpy and I get snappy – the day can quickly deteriorate into a row! All went well, except for needing to blow up the tyres. Thank heavens for those portable thingamabobs that plug into the cigarette lighter and do all the hard work for you. By lunch time, we had packed up the boat, loaded the car and were bouncing out of the marina heading for home, calling in at Alrewas to collect a couple of kilos of the blessed Coates Sausages. Another boating year has  ended.

Reflections

Our last two weeks have been simply glorious. The weather continued to be kind as we left the Shroppie and turned back onto the Staffs and Worcester. We mostly managed to dodge the showers, but we did need our warm jackets and boots, against the early morning chill. The stove has been lit every morning and evening and Tricky has resumed her place on the hearth mat, basking in the glow of ash wood scrumped from the tow-path to eke out our coal. Like everything else, the price of coal has rocketed and that will make life very hard for the growing number of people who have been forced onto the canals to find a home.

 

Tricky on Duty

We took a short detour up to Stone, turning left at Great Hayward and taking a couple of days to explore along the way. We walked along the tow-path, over a stile and crossed the canal to reach Sandon by way of a green lane, littered with acorns and beech nuts. We found a village that time forgot with a row of pretty terraced cottages around a large pond, an information board informed us that we were on the 'Two Saints Way' which connects Chester and Lichfield. We could see a building with a bell tower tucked away behind a house by the pond and curiosity led us up the path and into the quaintly named St Rufin's Church. A village with its roots in the Doomsday Book and a bloodthirsty history that would make you shiver follow this link if you want to know more. https://www.twosaintsway.co.uk/

Hidden Church Sandon

Stone was busy with boats but there was space by the winding hole so we turned and moored up for a trip into town. I was overjoyed to find that there was an M&S Food store right by the canal and I promised the Captain some treats for the return journey. It is several years since we were last this way and the town is looking decidedly shabby. The canal boat planter on the bridge that was once a brightly painted feature as we walked into town, is now a faded wreck and I wonder why no-one notices. I nipped to the supermarket for Tricky's dog food ( she has become very fussy and will only eat freshly cooked minced beef and gravy) and we chugged off back to the same mooring we left that morning – a delightful spot where kingfishers flash past and geese honk in the field opposite amongst the highland cattle,with their shaggy fringes and cute little horns. I will miss looking out of the hatch, my window on the world, to get a birds eye view of the sun setting or the stars winking in the night sky. To chug along with the sun reflecting off the water is a joy. I never tire of seeing the clockwork ducklings following mum through the rushes or big footed moorhens with fluffy, ugly offspring. I look out for the glamorous swans, stealing the show with their newly hatched cygnets and I especially love the birdsong that lifts the spirits and gladdens the heart.

 

Highland baby

Sorry, I seem to have gone all poetic and I really only wanted to say goodbye for now and I'll be back again in the spring. Take care and I hope we meet up soon.

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

Great Haywood 

PS We almost made it home without mishap, in fact we were unloading the car and longing to get indoors for a cup of tea when a full tin of paint fell out of the door and spread a puddle of Atlantic Grey on the road by the back wheel. I threw a newspaper over it, which didn't really do much to stop the paint making off towards my neighbours house. Then the wind got up and blew the newspaper up into the air where it plastered itself around my jeans. I somehow managed to transfer the paint onto the car seat and the steering wheel as well – oops!

PPS I was delighted to see What A Lark on our way to and from Stone – one day we will find ourselves together on the same mooring and have a proper catch up!

Nearing Penkridge

Locking down

Deptmore Lock

Tixall Wide - The Folly

Fungus on the lock wall

Fungus on the lock beam

More rain needed

St Rufin's Church

Village Pond at Sandon

Morning Shadows

Gloves for the Captain - it's chilly

Flags in the bows

Shugborough Hall

The Ruin at Shugborough

Colwich Lock

Colwich - the last lock this year