Another break in cruising

On Sunday morning we walked into town down - about half and hour - in order to go to the main service at the town centre church. At present the parish is without a full time minister and the service was led by a retired priest as well as a reader. There were around 70 people in the congregation including a small choir.

Mike left fairly quickly after the end of the service - Christine stayed longer to chat - as he was going to the station to catch a train to Stafford, and then to Stone, so that he could collect the car from Aston Marina where we had left it. The two trains ran much to time and Mike arrived as expected - at Stafford he was able to book a taxi rather than take the long walk out of town to the marina (about two miles)

The drive back to Rugby, largely down the motorway took just over an hour and Mike was able to park overnight just opposite where the boat was moored.

And the reason for collecting the car? Mike had a meeting in Truro first thing on Tuesday so on Monday he drove down and stayed the night at home. We did look at trains but from Rugby it is not straightforward and it would not be possible to get back on Tuesday.

The journey was straightforward and traffic light - no delays other than the long term road works (we are working hard to improve your travel experience)

After he meeting it was back on the road and back up the A30 and then the motorways. However, we decided that it was best to leave the car at Droitwich where we are now heading to our winter mooring. Once off the motorway Mike booked a taxi from the marina to the station. It was efficient and dropped him off just in time to catch an earlier train than expected.

The first train was to Birmingham New Street followed by a change onto a London-bound train to alight at Rugby. From here it was about 20 minutes easy walk back to the boat. As Christine had been kept up to date with progress, she had a meal ready and waiting.

Whilst Mike was away Christine caught up on cleaning and other housekeeping but also walked to some of the nearby large stores although mostly she could not find quite what she wanted.