Sorry this post is a little late, where we were moored in Lowsonford it was an internet blackspot, none at all. This is the first time on our trip that we haven't been able to get any internet, so we can't really complain. So late post is below:
Monday 25th May
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| First of 15 locks today |
We are chugging off today and the sun was shining and it was
quite warm. We have 15 locks to do today
so off we went through the first few, then stopped for water and get rid of the
rubbish. It was quite busy with a few boats
some way in front of us and several coming the other way so quite a few of the
locks were set.
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| Into virgin territory we go! |
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| Past Kingswood Junction |
Past Kingswood Junction
where there is one of the unusual barrel shape roof cottages, then we were on
new territory for us as we have only done the first bit of the Stratford canal before, so quite exciting!
As we had done the washing earlier, we stopped again just to top up the
water tank, then on through the locks we went.
It is a really nice canal, very rural and a lot of the locks have the
cast iron split bridges unique to this canal.
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| In last lock of the day |
Soon we were coming to our last lock, through there and
moored up opposite The Fleur-de-Lys Pub.
On the lock, there was a sign saying there was a farm shop just up the hill,
so we walked up there to have a look.
They sell beef and pork, but unfortunately they didn’t have any chops or
gammon steaks, so we bought some sausages and a steak pie.
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| Sculpture by Sir Anthony Gormley |
We decided to go over to the pub for a meal, so walked down
to the lock and on the lock there is a man standing there looking into the
lock, he didn’t seem to be helping anyone!
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| Sculpture by the lock |
It is a sculpture by Sir
Anthony Gormley. It is one of five
that he has done and has been dotted around the country. It will stay here at the lock until next
May. It is amazing, it looks like it is
made of wood but is made of iron, really interesting. This statue is one of five commissioned around the UK by the Land Mark Trust to mark the charity's 50th birthday.
The iron sculpture weighs 1,543lbs (700 kg) and is the only one that has been placed in a village, the other four have been positioned by the coast.
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| The Fleur-de-Lys Pub |
The Fleur-de-Lys pub
is really nice. As it was Bank Holiday
they were only serving food from 4pm to 6.30pm, but we got there just after
4pm, so that was good. It was quite
quiet when we went in, but quickly filled up.
The pub is 13th-C cottages, which once incorporated a bake
house, converted into a beamy pub in the 15th-C with open
fires. The famous Fleur-de-Lys pies were
once cooked here, but switched to mass production during the 1950s. They do several different pies and they
seemed very popular, so Kev had Chicken of Aragon, it is a proper pie encased
in pastry and very tasty, we could see why everyone was having them. We had a really nice meal and the bar staff
were very friendly.
We waddled back to the boat, suitably full and chilled out
for the rest of the evening. It is a
really nice sunny spot here and very peaceful, popular with boaters as all the
visitor moorings were full. We are
having a day off tomorrow, then moving off on Wednesday.
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| Moored opposite The Fleur-de-Lys Pub |
Tuesday 26th May
We are staying put today to do a few jobs and chill
out. The sun was shining and it was nice
and warm. Kev made a loaf of bread and
it was really nice. We had it for brunch
with sausages from the farm shop we bought yesterday, bacon we bought from a
really good butchers in Droitwich and free range eggs, very tasty. We did a few jobs in the morning and cleaned
up, then after brunch, we went for a walked down the towpath to see what the
locks were like that we have to go through tomorrow. Walked back to the boat, then just chilled
out, it was a really lovely sunny evening.
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