On the move

We've to be in Fazeley by Friday, for a Boaters' Christian Fellowship event. It seemed the weather was going to be so appalling we seriously considered doing all the travelling by car, but we didn't want Erin Mae to feel left out. Anyway, driving from Tamworth to Great Haywood on Friday and Saturday just to sleep didn't really appeal. Interrogating the weather website in a bit more detail showed that there was some good cruising weather expected between the storms, so we decided to brave it. Yesterday we drove up in the pouring rain, which conveniently stopped as we arrived, to enable us to unpack the car in the dry.

This morning the sun shone, mostly, but the problem was always going to be getting Erin Mae out from her mooring, given what the wind was doing. Eventually I reversed up the first section, this being the only way not to be blown fatally on to other boats and pontoons. It took a while, but we managed it and emerged without a single scrape onto the Trent & Mersey.

The cruise down to Rugeley was pleasant and uneventful. There were a lot of parked boats on the run in, but there was a good space on the visitor moorings where we'd planned to stop. The forecast says Storm Aileen will run across us overnight, bringing winds of 65-75 mph in the early hours, so we wanted to be in a place where there is some shelter from buildings and trees – though not the sort likely to topple in the breeze. As I write the promised rain has started, but the wind will come later.

If I don't post tomorrow, you'll know we drownded or got torn to shreds.