Two days to Great Haywood

Yesterday morning we moved just 20 minutes, around the corner to moor near Taft Bridge.

Under the Rugeley by-pass bridge

We spotted our first spring lambs in the meadow on the opposite side of the canal.

Mum 61 keeps a wary out for the youngsters

This morning we headed to Great Haywood, stopping first to fill with diesel at Taft Wharf.

NB Dextra, cheap diesel at Taft Wharf

And mum number 65 herds the young uns away from this intrusive metal thing.

I enquired about another service now being offered here…
Our 2nd 4-yearly Boat Safety Scheme check isn’t due till June, but I thought I’d ask as the £100 quoted is very reasonable. I wanted to know if it included the £38 fee for the certificate, and it does! I don’t think we’ll be taking advantage of it, but it’s worth knowing, isn’t it. If you can get the inspection done inside 2 months of the old certificate expiring, the new one will be dated to the end of the old one.

We only put 50 litres of fuel in, but at 79p that’s saved us about £5 at the going rate.

The brisk, cool breeze we started the day with slowly eased and the day warmed up, with the odd splash of sunshine to brighten things.

A fine array of daffodils at Little Haywood

Just one lock today, at Colwich.

We moored before Great Haywood, looking out of the Trent towards Shugborough Hall.
A team from the estate were removing a large tree, a casualty of the winds.

We’re looking forward to a fine weekend, according to the forecast. It’s not been too bad today, we just caught the fringes of a thunderstorm a while ago, but that’s the only rain we’ve seen.

I’ve tried Meg off her Metacam for the last few days, that’s the NSAID for pain management and to reduce inflammation caused by her arthritis. She was OK for a couple of days, then was obviously in a bit of pain so I started her on it again yesterday. This afternoon she was back to being bright and bubbly again, wanting to play and larking about with other dogs. I guess we’ll have to keep her on it, but she’ll need regular blood tests to make sure that the drug isn’t affecting her kidneys.

Not sure what we’re doing over the weekend; we may stay here or move on a bit towards Stone.

Locks 1, miles 3½