Armitage to Tafts Farm - Trent & Mersey Canal

Thursday 26^th April

We are on the move today only a mile or so up to Rugeley so we can do some shopping and wait for the laptop to be ready as we can easily walk back from there.

The sun was shining but it was a bit breezy.  We went across to the other side of the canal where the tap is and filled up with water then headed off up the canal and soon we were at Rugeley.  We moored up in the visitor moorings.

Going under the Railway Bridge

Another Bridge Coming into Rugeley

We had ordered a couple of things from Tesco Direct as there is a large Tesco in Rugeley right by the canal so we walked over there, got a few supplies and picked up our items.  We walked back to the boat, had some lunch then headed out again up to the Aldi and Morrisons.

We got everything we wanted and headed back to the boat.  We heard from Joe and he said the laptop would be ready this afternoon.  We just chilled out for a bit and then we heard from Joe that it was ready, so we walked back down the canal to bridge 64 and followed the path up to the road and into the business park, unfortunately Joe’s office was the farthest away but we were soon there and picked up our laptop.  We had really good service from him and he seemed really knowledgeable and we would definitely recommend him, his company is called Symmetry IT Solutions in Rugeley.

We walked back along the canal to the boat, it was a lovely sunny evening and the forecast for tomorrow is not good and we were planning to move on, so we decided to go this evening, so when we got back, we got ready, untied and off we went.

Sign Near Aqueduct

The Bloody Steps

We chugged on through Rugeley and then came to Brindly Bank aqueduct where the canal crosses over the River Trent and also on the opposite of the canal is some steps called “The Bloody Steps”.  They are called this as in 1839 Christina Collins was travelling to London to join her husband and booked a passage on a narrowboat, but unfortunately the men on the boat she was travelling on killed her and left her body in the canal and legend has it that locals carried her body up the steps and into the Talbot Inn and apparently sometimes blood can be seen seeping down the steps!

Crossing the Aqueduct

We carried on over the aqueduct and along the canal and moored up just before the diesel boat Dexta which is moored at Taft’s farm.  We will fill up with diesel when we leave on Saturday.

We are staying here tonight and also tomorrow as it is supposed to rain most of the day and then on Saturday we will carry on

Friday 27^th April

When we woke up this morning, it was raining and did rain for most of the day, so we were confined to barracks.  We just had a lazy day and sorted out the laptop and caught up with the blog.  Tomorrow hopefully it will be dry and we will chug on.

Moored At Tafts Farm