Final Weeks Cruise of 2010 - Part 1

Saturday 18th September 2010 - Great Haywood to Rugeley

Although we broke up from work yesterday for a week we had intended travelling down to Great Haywood last night. The delayed start to the holiday was as a result of my Volvo experiencing some kind of electronic fault on the Thursday evening, whereby the car went into "Full Guard Mode" thinking for itself that it was being stolen. This involved a very difficult recovery on the Friday, as all the wheels were locked in gear; made slightly worse by an over exuberant recovery driver who clearly underestimated the cars determination not to be stolen which in the end involved the back axle being pulled off by his winch! This making the repair much more prolonged than anticipated and probably much more expensive (although the recovery company are footing the bulk of the bill).
However it was nice to be driven in Elaine's car for a change. As I had no control of the vehicle (from the passenger seat) this meant that when we were passing Amerton Farm Shop; Elaine was able to pull in and I ended up buying a wedding cake for our wedding in May next year! Well at least ordering a cake (I guess a fresh one would go mouldy by May). Non the less it will be a very fine cake; made by the same people who prepared a cake for the last royal visit to Staffordshire. By Appointment to the Queen no less!
Once at the Marina we unloaded the car. While Elaine found a home for the contents of this latest food drop I applied the name plate to the 2nd spare toilet cassette. This tank is now called 'Hobbs' after our neighbours back home. This completes the set of three tanks. The others being 'Maynard' and 'Dickson' who are my parents neighbours with whom they have had many years of legal wranglings. No doubt by the end of this week; like their namesakes; they will also be full of s**t!
Finally setting sail down the Trent and Mersey at about 1.30pm we moored just beyond Bridge 66 in Rugeley. On the way we passed Linda and Ian who were now heading home for the winter and had overnight mooring near the Christian Boaters Fellowship. They introduced us to their new crew member - a 9 month old black Springer Spaniel. We will no doubt meet up again this week as we are sharing the same canal for the next 3 days.