A Wet Day's Cruising.

Monday 21st October, 2013 at Great Haywood.
It was dry all night but started to rain heavily just after dawn. Bother! The forecast again was not good and, if we are to get to Aston (out over-winter mooring) in time to go home on Thursday, we need to make progress today. We would much rather have stayed moored up in some rural spot to read books but, instead, we braved the rain and moved on.
This was supposed to be a nice picture of a popular wedding venue next to the canal, but mostly it just shows how wet it was!

Once clear of Rugeley and its power station, the canal becomes rural again and is lovely even in driving rain! Beautiful beech woods accompanied the canal much of the way. Colwich lock looked rather different from the sunny day in mid-September when a herd of cows paused on the bridge to watch our progress in curious fashion. Then...

And now...

It was a pity to pass Shugborough Hall without visiting it yet again (this is the fourth time we have cruised past) as it offers a wealth of historical interest, much of which is out of doors and today is not a day for outdoor activities.
By the time we reached Haywood lock, the rain was of the "stair rods" variety. Definitely not great boating weather! At the lock, R insisted on doing the lock on his own as he was soaked already and there was no point in M getting saturated as well. We couldn't help but feel sorry for those we saw out on hire boats, obviously on holiday.
The rain eased a little by the time we reached Great Haywood and we took on water beside the beautiful stone junction bridge, without question one of the loveliest bridges on the waterways.

Then, with a sigh of relief, we moored up for the day opposite the marina there.
Today: 10 miles, 2 locks and 5.9 hours.
Trip: 576 miles, 353 locks and 456.3 hours.