Woodend Lock

 Yesterday early evening the pheasants were very vocal but we had a very peaceful night. By this morning the weather had improved greatly and we were greeted by a sunny morning. Several boats passed before we set off just after 10am. lots of them hire boats and we are now into October. We had a very nice view of the Tixall Gate House glinting in the sun.As we passed the Anglo Welsh hire base at Gt Haywood and  it was empty with all their hire boats out.The wind was whipping up the Trent and Mersey when I poked my nose out to turn right, My plan was to drop back to the services to pick Diana up, but that was aborted as I was just making progress diagonally along the canal so I put a bit of power on and picked Diana up at the lock. There was one boat going down ahead and a couple waiting to come up, so many hands made light work. Opposite Shugborough Hall we passed this pair of old working boats painted in the colours we chose for Harnser and they are still trading.

Colwich lock was its normal muddieness over the bridge, again we had one boat going down ahead and two waiting to come up. I expected the River Trent to be carrying more water than it is with all the rain we have had.
I don't know who the chap with the chainsaw was who carved this woodpecker from a tall tree stump, there is even a hole with the beak poking through. The fuel boat Dexta has now had a cabin fitted and been painted, I suppose this is one way to fit the offside portholes'

When I am this way I always look forward to coming into Rugeley to see what is new at  https://www.facebook.com/naomislanding/ at the moment its Neptune  

On the far side of town both the houses had their birds out on the lawns on stands

We stopped to fill with water at the water point by the Spode hall long tern moorings, there was a motor parked by the tap, I wonder if it was a special birthday present for someone? Its a long time since I have seen so many toilets stacked up outside the Armitage Shanks factory, maybe its something to do with lack of transport. Years ago the whole yard was stacked high with them but in recent times you have been hard pushed to find one. We were now looking for somewhere to moor for the night, but with the wind really picking up I was looking for a hard edge away from the trees, we had to go a bit further than planned and ended up just above Woodend Lock

Todays Journey 13 miles, 2 locks in 5¼ hours