Two Closed Cafes

Saturday 13th June 2026 at Stone.

 M got up early at 3.45am to listen to the dawn chorus already in full swing from the huge mature beech and sycamore trees beside our mooring.  However, this proved to be in vain, as the birdsong was completely drowned out by the racket coming from a large flock of quarrelling Canada Geese! They are most definitely not our favourite creatures at the best of times.

Later another visitor tapped on the window in the hopes of some breakfast for her family of cygnets. Not having any bird food or bread, we did try porridge oats, but they sank as soon as they touched the water. We had more success with cornflakes, so the swans were happy!.

 We had arranged some time ago to have breakfast with Bridgett and Peter in the Saracen's Head over the road from their house.Again, this establishment has been the site of many gathering of friends and, as ever, the breakfast and the company lived up to expectations.

After breakfast we said sad farewells to Bridgett and Peter and we promised to drop in by car in the not too distant future. What lovely friends they are!

Sandon Lock has often been the first and/or last lock on many of our trips from Aston Marina, where we moored MM for 12 years. This time, unusually,  there was a queue of three boats waiting to go up through the lock, which delayed us a little but we were soon through.

The penultimate bridge before Aston Marina we call Sheep Bridge because we have often seen sheep wandering across it. Today they were all the the next field and the bridge was closed off so it looked sad and lonely with no sheep looking down at us as we passed underneath.

 

We definitely could not pass Aston Marina without dropping in to see the guys. Unfortunately Nick, the Moorings Manager, was off this weekend but we did see Sandra and Nick's son Tobias, who has started working at the Marina having finished at University. We also took the opportunity to top up with diesel.

Finally, we arrived in Stone quite late in the day to find, predictably, that there were very few moorings available, so we ended up quite a long was from Star Lock.

As soon as we had moored up, we set off for the town because we wanted to visit Donna and Gaynor in the Secret Tea Room before they closed at 4:00pm, not least because they are due to retire soon. On the way we passed a young lad and his Dad just as they caught a large crayfish. They were totally astonished and clearly didn't know what to do with it. We do know there are two species of crayfish in our waterways. one of which is native but the other is a highly unwelcome and invasive type.  Unfortunately, M couldn't remember which is which! 

Having finally arrived at the Secret Tearoom, we were disappointed to find that it was already closed. Knowing that Donna and Gaynor want to retire soon, we will try to drop in with the car when next we are passing. In the meantime we will drop them a note to say how sorry we were to have missed them.

M needed a few bits, so we went to M&S intending to have a cuppa and cake in their cafe. A prospect made sweeter by the fact that M had an M&S voucher for £2 off in the cafe. Imagine our horror to find that the M&S cafe closed for good a couple of months ago. However, M was prepared to forgive them (just!) because they did have fresh peas in their pods - the first of the season! So, we went back to MM for tea and coffee instead.

Today: 6 Miles, 2 Locks and 2.2 Hours.

Trip: 149 Miles, 90 Locks and 70.0 Hours.