Well, the forecast gets worse. Rain later, then gales on Saturday with almost constant rain. Time to move and move early (for us) – off by 0820! No time to shave or eat (and that’s just Viv 🙂 ). Beautiful morning and this first stretch of the T&M is wonderful – I saw our first Kingfisher – a flash of brilliant blue and then he was gone. Pun Day? Well, we went thru Armitage and Rugeley – can’t say we’re hugeley Rugeley fans, then our final destination was Tixall Wide, a lovely wide expanse, probably made to give the landed gentry a better view but for us, it Tixall the boxes!!
An amazing early morning stretch 
Kingfishers flew here 
Armitage – the first of two narrows 
Yes, Armitage of the Shanks fame 
And the second of the two narrows – a notice advises to send a crew member ahead to check . . . 
Looks dodgy – rock against steel 
As Tim West would say, I think we came through that OK 
And over the Trent on Brindley’s aqueduct 
the first of two locks – Colwich 
And under the listed iron bridge, to help the Anson family get to church 
a deft left turn and we’re on to the Staffs & Worcs canal 1772 
our final spot – in the wide 
opposite the remaining Elizabethan gatehouse of Tixall 
now owned by the Landmark Trust (£100+ a night) 
We seem to be 10 days adrift but then we did have 28 days “adrift” planned in to the itinerary!
Oh, and Viv reminded me there was a third Pun. Our compatriots for the day were on a boat called Paradigm. They were occupying the water point at Armitage but they were about to leave so I called out, come on Paradigm, Shift. Well, I thought it funny.