Sleepless in Stone

For the last few nights/mornings Sadie has turned from the model on-board cat we had dreamed of having to the cat from hell, doing Yoko Ono singing impressions endlessly at some unearthly hour or other. Feeding her ends the torture very briefly but then she starts again and the cycle begins again. We will very soon have a Guiness book of records fat cat, a hairy, non swimming,meat eating hippopotamus  quite likely to ground the boat at any point. in addition the owners will appear in the same book as humans able to survive on the least sleep ever previously recorded.

The morning, despite my sleep deprivation, was beautiful with steam rising off the canal above the white frosted towpaths and below seamless blue skies and bright sunshine.

We made a late start on our journey for lunch in Stone, a quite picturesque little town with lots of character and some excellent cafe's and restaurants, with the Trent and Mersey running through the centre, including 4 locks. 

After a pleasant lunch we left Stone for a top-up with water and coal, plus emptying our toilet cassettes and dumping our rubbish in ever increasing sunshine and temperatures, almost summer-like. By late afternoon my lack of sleep last night took it's toll and we moored early for our overnight stop adjacent to a quite posh new housing estate. Karen and Steve are still with us but we, and they,remain confused regarding where we are going, or for how long. It makes life interesting, I suppose.