We wend our way to Woodend.

For a Saturday, it was surprisingly quiet in Rugeley last night. By early evening all the space between Bridge 66 and the railway bridge were filled, as were those north of B66. It was an early start for some, boats started to move out at eight, we were more leisurely, waiting till 10.

Voyager will voyage no longer

Not without a lot of work, anyway! What a shame.

Leaving Rugeley on a sunny Sunday morning.


We had a frost last night, but the day soon warmed up. We’ve had good long sunny spells, but the temperature drops significantly when the sun goes in.

This poor girl was desperately fighting off the amorous attentions of two drakes, trying to protect herself and her one remaining duckling.

Mags enters the narrows, the channel that used to be the Armitage Tunnel.
I was off to make sure that nothing was coming the other way. You can take a chance, but Sod’s Law says you’ll meet another boat. Of course, if you do the right thing and check, there’s no-one in sight!

I think this one should be called Old Mother Hubbard!
Thirteen babies will keep her busy!

We passed through Armitage and Handsacre, then back out into the country. The banks are often attractively wooded, particularly Ravenshaw Wood. We pulled in at the end of the wood above Woodend Lock, in a pleasant spot we’ve used before.


If this had been occupied we’d have tried just above Shadehouse Lock, the next one down. But that’s a very popular spot so we’d have been lucky to get in there on a weekend.

Tomorrow we’ll be swapping the Trent and Mersey for the Coventry.

Locks 0, miles 6½