14th July – Sport, beer & BBQ

Stephen & Lucia moved off early-ish, we waved them goodbye but would catch them up later at Fradley bridge. In fact we leapfrogged them at Rugeley when they stopped to visit Tesco. Just one lock, Wood End today plus the excitement of two very narrow stretches near Rugeley and Armitage.

Rugeley
The narrow, rocky bit – just room for one boat – luckily we followed a guy . . . so it must be clear!
Hmm, rocks!
Surprisingly quiet this Sunday morning – the Trent & Mersey looking good
Still following that same chap . . . past the Armitage Shanks factory
This doesn’t help the waistline but is rather nice
Final Stretch down to Fradley
Final resting spot – taken Monday. Sorry no pix of Sunday evening, when we were obviously having toooo much fun! A pint in the Swan followed by a MrD BBQ – with his fancy fan driven BBQ machine – producing excellent results – belly of pork strips plus Bratwurst & sausages. Lots of nibbles, a super Lucia salad and some quantity of Sicilian wine followed by either Zubrowka vodka or Navy strength gin! All this with the background of the British Grand Prix (British win & a record set!) plus probably one of the greatest cricket matches ever – the World Cup, going to a tie and a tie breaker! Well Done England and well done Mr D & Mrs D for a lovely evening. We got up to see them off on Monday morning, helping them through the two locks. Hopefully we’ll meet up again back in Yelvertoft.