Fradley

Friday 19 September 2014 – Fradley Junction, Trent & Mersey Canal

Chris, Les and I started out at 08:00 and at Colwich Lock I let them go ahead as I planned to shop in Rugeley.  A quick trip to the centre to check finances then back to the new Tesco within sight of Bridge 66, very convenient for the grey boater!  When I had finished and was preparing to continue another boat came along and with a bit of a shuffle I relinquished my spot, his crew had already walked past looking for a mooring and had to be called back.

Then it was a quiet run on passing a few boats going the other way and the three locks at the junction all had boats coming out which made things easy.  The last lock drains very quickly and it was half empty by the time I had walked up to it, there was a boat approaching so I drained it and opened it up for them.  It turned out to be Braidbar No 112 “Sir James” with it’s new owners!

Autumn has arrived – today there has been no sun just continuous low cloud with patches of drizzle.  Approaching Rugeley I didn’t see the Cooling Towers until I was in the Tesco car park where normally they dominate the scenery for miles.