Monday 19th April.
Today has been a bit of a Curate’s egg really. Not bad weather although cloudy and not as warm as the weekend. We had a good trip from Fradley to Handsacre where there are 2 pubs, hurrah! Unfortunately, we discovered after mooring up and telling George he was now going, that neither of them was open! George was halfway up the road before you could say knife! He must be able to smell pubs! How can you make a dog understand ‘This one’s shut, we’ll have to go to the next one’?
On we went to Armitage, where they make the toilets and where, again, there are 2 pubs near the canal, or rather, one pub, called The Spode Cottage and a brasserie, called The Plum Pudding. Unfortunately the moorings were outside the brasserie and the pub was on the other side of the road! After negotiating the tricky little tunnel without a roof we moored opposite Hawkesyard Hall. I’m afraid there is no photographic evidence of this or indeed today’s pub because my, not very old, camera has gone kaput! I’m afraid this will necessitate a trip to Curry’s or Comet (can’t remember which off hand) for a replacement. Bugger! Meanwhile I will have to ressurrect my old one.
There is a bit of noise from the road here but it’s quite a nice mooring, with the hall on the other side of the canal and the road is down an embankment on this side, with quite a wide path and strip of land between. We decided to stay here tonight as we didn’t know if we would be able to moor again before we got right into Rugeley, which we didn’t want to do tonight. We’ll probably find an abundance of suitable moorings just round the corner, as we always do when we move on in the morning after spending the night in a dodgyish (is that a word?) one!
Anyway, we walked back to The Spode Cottage pub, George was very enthusiastic. It is a lovely old timbered cottage and has a large garden. We spent some time chatting to the landlord’s father, who was doing the gardening. A very nice chap. The Old Speckled Hen was good too!
After a cup of tea and a garibaldi Ken and I went into the village for a paper. This trip would not have been necessary had they not have sold the last one at Fradley this morning just before I got there! However it was a pleasant walk into Armitage and the village shop was marvellous. It was a garden centre/ironmongers/newsagent/general store all rolled into one having 3 different doors, making it look like 3 different shops but it was all one room inside! There was no one behind the counter when we went in, then the woman who was serving appeared from the back where she had been watching tv or something. Fab!
When we got back another couple had moored near us, for the same reasons we had, as it turned out. They went for a walk, in the opposite direction to what we had and when they came back they told us there was a lovely pub just round the next bend with moorings! See, that’s Sod’s law that is!
Rugeley tomorrow for shopping and then a country mooring for the night, I hope.
