White Rabbits and Peter Rabbit.

Thursday 1st September, 2016 near Hurleston Junction.
Nature blessed us today; it was one of those rare, exquisitely beautiful early mornings when the mist lingered, swirling above the still water as the sun rose. Utter magic.

We set off at 8:20 to try to get through the locks before the queues built up. We just glimpsed the deer again as we passed; the stags' antlers just sticking up over the brow of the hill.

This lovely old signal box may have survived but the local station did not - it was closed by B**ch*ing in 1966.

Soon, we arrived back at Bunbury staircase locks, which have a small, but well stocked, shop. M bought two pints of milk and sat it on the mooring bollard as we did the locks. There are usually C&RT volunteers to help with the locks - but not today, so we took our time operating the staircase.

 

As usual, there were several onlookers watching the progress through the lock. Two of them were very curious about the lock workings. Gavin (from Brisbane) was keen to help and he and his wife Hershey ended up on board for a short trip down the canal. They were so taken with the trip, that they talked of returning from Australia again next year and hiring a narrowboat.

Finally, for the first time, and with more than a degree of excitement, we turned off the "Shroppie" at Hurleston Junction and towards the four locks that mark the start of the Llangollen Canal. Our timing was perfect as a boat had just come out of the lock and they left the gates open for us.

There are four locks with only a short pound between each. On one side is Hurleston Reservoir and on the other side there are lovely views across the Cheshire countryside.

Half a mile from the top of the locks, we moored up. The guide books indicated the proximity of Park Farm, the home of Snugbury's Ice Cream; we are very familiar with their products as they are stocked by Aston Marina and one or two other retail outlets that we have visited this summer. The route from the canal to the farm was well signposted, so we set off across several stiles and fields to find it.

The farm is famous, not only for its ice cream but also for its large straw sculptures, a new one and a new theme each year. This year it is Peter Rabbit to celebrate 150 years of Beatrix Potter. "Peter" is 36ft high and weighs in at 8 tons!

The farm shop is open every day except Christmas and Boxing Day and receives over 200,000 visitors a year. Today was no exception, there were hundreds of people and quite a line for the shop.

As we waited, we studied the mouth-watering menu - in total they had over 35 flavours available.

The queue moved very quickly, however, as there were several staff serving inside.

We both settled for the Clotted Cream Vanilla (although R was sorely tempted by the "Death by Chocolate flavour!). It was so good that, when we got back to MM, we wrote to Alex at Aston Marina suggesting that they should stock that flavour and serve it in the Bistro.
On our way back to MM, we passed the remains of last year's sculpture, which was a 35ft Dalek. Much to their surprise, it got Snugbury's into the Guiness Book of Records for the largest Dalek in the world!

Back on MM, we found that we could see the tip of Peter Rabbit's ears from the canal a mile away.
Another brilliant day.
Today: 8 miles, 9 locks and 6.1 hours.
Trip: 309 miles, 226 locks and 230.9 hours.