Post 15 - Tragedy in Stone

Sailing in the spring and summer is so different from the winter months as so many more boats are on the Cut. So timing in finding a mooring can be everything if you're not spending the night in a little used secluded spot. Entering Stone - a pleasant little town in Cheshire - we decided on stopping just before the locks which take you through the town. But being on the cusp of June there was no place for us to moor. So we were forced to continue blindly on hoping we'd find a place for a few days.

We went up through the first lock which is outside the Star Inn and as it was a very sunny day, there was a good audience watching. No mooring in front of us in the pound so through the second lock. We saw a possible mooring in a nice position but when Marian asked it was permit holder only. Continuing onwards past Joules' brewery with some of the workers taking a break on the balcony overlooking the canal to the third lock.

Rising up through the lock, both of us tired I decided that we would spend the night in the short pound before the last lock. The last thing we wanted was to go up it and then find nowhere to moor. We moored the boat on pins. I really don't like them because you have to hammer them in the ground and hope that they are not pulled out by passing boats. No matter that everybody knows that one should pass moored boats at a slow speed but too many don't!

When I was sitting in the boat moored last autumn at Leighton Buzzard two boats went by together too fast. The first pulled my pin out at the bow causing me to run out and grab the rope and the second boat's skipper said I ought to get longer pins passing by at the same speed. Now that's irony. I think it is one of the few things that has become a plague on the Cut and has the propensity to irritate people more than anything else, sadly.

However we moored about a hundred yards from the lock in front of us and could see two men fishing to the right of the lock as we looked at it. We locked up and went for a wander around the town and called for a pint at the Swan Inn. A great real ale pub and then returned home to cook dinner. In the morning I said to Marian how well we'd slept not waking once.

As it was about 8'o'clock and before I ate breakfast I decided to walk up over the last lock and see if there was a mooring, passing a fisherman on the bank. He asked me if I'd heard all the commotion with the police and ambulances that morning. I was really shocked to hear that one of the fishermen had fell in the canal and drowned in the night. He had been drinking and I heard a few days later that the poor chap Ricky. who was only 30, was believed to have fell asleep and rolled in the water. To think I was within a few yards from him but knowing nothing disturbed me for a good few days. Such a terrible tragedy for him and his family.

Post 14 - Moving on to Rugeley

As we travelled up the Trent and Mersey to Rugeley the weather was ideal for sailing at a sedate pace. The baby birds all in evidence. We saw Canada Geese chicks for the first time. One pair had twenty and another two. Talk about being productive!

Rugeley was a very busy mooring destination for boaters and entering the town via canal it was boat to boat on the towpath. I was a little bit concerned about meeting a boat coming the other way with the channel so narrow and at some points little room to pass. Lady luck smiled upon us and we managed to find a mooring for a few days there.

The only thing about our position was that the bank had deteriorated and deposited its gravel into the canal. Every time a boat went past the base plate ground on them making uncomfortable noises. I couldn't stand it and after a couple of nights we carried on.

Rugeley was pleasant enough. I'm not a great fan regarding the behaviour of supermarkets in relation to the way they treat farmers and other producers; let alone building stores in areas that don't want them and then seeing little established businesses unable to compete and disappearing from the High Street. But what struck me about the Rugeley store was its concourse from the canal. It is charming and seems to exude a peacefulness that relates to its waterside neighbour.

I was struck by it not only because it was a nice space to come on to but that it wasn't built on.
After attending the very nice church on Sunday we set off again towards Stone. Just as we were mooring up opposite Shugborough Hall, Great Haywood, we met the priest from the morning service with some parishioners on a sponsored walk. So we donated a tenner for their efforts and pot for good measure.

The mooring  was very pleasant and we stayed till Tuesday morning so we could do some walking and visit the Hall's grounds. Six miles in lovely sunshine and back for 2 p.m. to have some lunch.

Sandiacre church from the cut

A lovely view