Stone to below Great Haywood Lock.

Hi Folks.

Yesterday afternoon there was great excitement onboard, because Keith sold his first Rag Rug.

Keith had spent many hours making Rag Rugs whilst he was poorly in 2010. Making them took his mind of the immense pain he was in at the time. Having finished them he then put them up for sale on our other Website products page. A lady who reads our facebook page, came over yesterday and bought the rug on the photo. I am so pleased for Keith because he really did work very hard on them all. We already know that they lady in question is very pleased with her purchase. Yesterday evening Keith and I had a fantastic meal at Thai Lanna in Stone. We have never had a bad meal there, the service was second to none and the food was sublime.

Well here we are another Monday, is it me or is this year flying by?

Whilst out walking his lordship (Paddy), a hot air balloon drifted over the canal, no idea where they were heading for, but it looked beautiful in the early morning sunshine and haze.

We left our weekend mooring at 7.40am, which is a late start for us at the moment, but we did not want to wake the neighbourhood up, so left later for the first of nine locks I would do today. I waved goodbye to Roger's boatyard and hope we see them all again soon.

We left Stone for another year, not sure when we will be back again. Many of the locks I was to work today were either with us, or someone was coming out of them, so it was our lucky day.

Below Aston Lock, we came across Rob and Tina's boat but they were not onboard, which meant they were walking the dogs, and sure enough we met them further along the canal. We said our goodbye's for now and waved to them as they walked into the distance. Yesterday morning I spent a lovely couple of hours with Tina nattering about all sorts of things. She is a dear friend.

When ever we are on the move we see interesting things and this morning above Hoo Mill Lock it was the old and new in caravans. I prefer the old one personally.

As we approached Great Haywood Lock, we were third in a queue our first queue of the day. As we pootled in the centre of the canal the boat in front of us waved us through, which was extremely nice of her. The lady onboard said "You are working, so please go before us". I explained to her that we were going to moor up below the lock, but she insisted we carryon, so who am I to argue with such a lovely gesture. Not many people like that around these days.

There was plenty of mooring space both above and below Great Haywood lock, so we have moored up below the lock. I think we will pay a visit to Shugborough Hall after lunch to see how the walled garden is progressing, and have a nice walk around the gardens. Toasted Muffins for lunch followed by a coffee, Keith is now putting up the TV aerial and I am now going to change before we go off for our way, so may chat again later with more photos.

Chat later xx