Saturday 3rd October, 2015 Near
Polesworth.
Nice to see
nb “Tacet” still next to us in the early morning. We made an early start,
hoping to find the Atherstone Flight of eleven locks in our favour.
No such
luck! Another boat had started up the flight even earlier than us and, as a result,
every lock but one was against us! Despite this, we did the flight in just two
and a half hours and found them thoroughly enjoyable. Close to the top, we met baby Malachai (aged
16 weeks) doing his first ever locks – with a little help from his Dad!
Malachai’s
Mum and Dad live on board, so no doubt it won’t be too long before he is doing the locks
on his own.
Bridge 42
presented a lovely vista with the Virginia Creeper turning red.
We moored up
at the top of the lock flight opposite a disused hat factory. We met the lady
who owns the house opposite, she complained that yobs were always robbing stones
from her garden wall to throw at the factory. In consequence, her garden wall
had a large hole in it.
Atherstone
has a proud history of hat making, which we plan to explore more on our return
journey in about ten days’ time. The town has some charming side streets that
are still cobbled.
And, no
visit would be complete without a short break at Costa!
After lunch,
we carried on south. It is not often that we have seen llamas on our travels.
But
certainly, this is the first time we have ever seen Dr Who’s Police Box – I
wonder if he remembers where he left it?
There are
many tall spoil heaps in this area, remnants of an industrial past. The one in
the background of this photograph is known locally as “Mount Jud”.
This was a
surprise! A reminder of a less sophisticated technology – able to handle as many
as 24 trunk calls simultaneously!
Today: 11 miles, 11 locks and 9.0 hours.
Trip: 412 miles, 316 locks and 310.7 hours.
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