Rowkin Rovings Blog

Saturday 4th June 2016.

We actually managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8.00am so that we could be cruising by 9.00am as we needed to make it to Milton to pick up the new battery for the computer. It was rather a nice experience cruising at that hour as it is very still and quiet. You can hear lots of song birds but alas no sight of a Kingfisher yet which the Caldon Canal is known for. Back to Milton in time to visit our mate Martin at the butcher shop, some light food shopping, pick up another jigsaw puzzle and of course the new computer battery.

We chugged along until 3.30pm to get us into the Hanley Park region where we tied up for the evening.

We wanted to be close to Eturia where the heritage canal boat festival is being held this weekend but not too close where you get a lot of the noise.

We got on our trusty Apollo folding bikes and rode the 1 mile down the canal to check out the festival for tomorrow and just see how busy it was.

Still quite a few people around and caught up with some other boaters that we had met previously. We are starting to feel a little bit like local water gypsies now as we are meeting up with people whom we have seen before and who greet us like old chums.

Riding back we both brushed against some of the stinging nettle that was growing on to the towpath – gosh, this is nasty, cruel stuff. Medical advice is that you shouldn’t rub it – typical reaction is that all you want to do is rub it as it is so painful. Learning to discern what stinging nettle looks like and avoiding it like the plague is the best cause of action. It doesn’t seem to worry the dogs because of their fur which is a good thing.