PAINTING – The Crown Inn, Handsacre Bridge 58
Very fortunate to have 2 weeks on Watermark, although the landslip at Brinklow meant we had to change plans. We travelled north on to the Coventry Canal – Hawkesbury Junction provides great manoeuvring practice! Up to Fradley Junction to join the Trent & Mersey Canal, then on to Stoke-on-Trent to meet new crew on Friday. We stopped for afternoon tea and a walk around Shugborough Hall (NT) at Great Hayward. We then travelled some way up the Caldon Canal for the weekend – definitely one to go back to and explore in full another time. Sunday lunch at the Foxley Hotel in Milton was good. Back to Stoke-on-Trent to meet more crew, then started the journey back south. We stopped at the Plume of Feathers in Barlastone (owned by Neil Morrisey) for lunch – excellent food!
On the way back we turned into the Ashby Canal, intending to wind at Shenton before taking a trip on the Battlefield Heritage Railway. However, the winding hole was completely silted up and after fun and games extracting ourselves from the mud, we continued to Market Bosworth to turn around. Did the train trip and visited the site of the Battle of Bosworth – an excellent visitor centre, well worth taking time out for that.
Finally, we travelled down to Lime Kilns and had an excellent meal in the pub by the canal – really great value too!
We were really lucky with the weather – really warm for the first week and only one day of rain in week 2. We were a bit soggy after the 11 locks at Atherstone and 11 miles – the rain hardly stopped all day! By the end of the week the sun was back – hurrah!
We have enjoyed exploring the canals around Rose Narrowboats and look forward to new adventures from Alvechurch next year.
J, D (the artist 😊), A, H & C