Salt to Weston upon Trent - Trent & Mersey Canal

The Holly Bush Pub

Tuesday -  we stayed put and did a few chores in the morning.  We then walked up to the Holly Bush pub which is about a 10 minute walk from the canal and had some lunch.  It was a nice day so we sat outside in the garden.   We both had oatcakes filled with bacon and cheese with salad and saute potatoes and unbelievably it was only £3.95, they were delicious and such good value.

We then walked back to the canal and just chilled out for the rest of the day.

Wednesday – We are moving on today only a mile or so to Weston upon Trent where we are meeting our good friends Gerry and Honor.  We haven’t seen them for quite a while so will be nice to catch up.  We set off along the canal, it was overcast and no sun and it started to rain just before we got to where we were going to moor, so we got wet!

Goose Family

I got off under the bridge to go and see if there were any spaces in the moorings and a boat pulled out of the moorings so I said to him there is a boat coming but he ignored me and just carried on to the bridge.  Kev had seen him and waved him on but this chap then sounded his horn for about 10 seconds and as he went through the bridge hole he did again twice for about 10 seconds each, so then Kev replied with our horn keeping his finger on it.  When he went by, Kev said to him I had already waved you on so there was no need of the horn, what was that all about the chap just went on his way, some people are unbelievable!

Gerry Mooring Up

We moored up in the rain and within about half an hour Gerry and Honor came around the corner and moored up alongside us as all the moorings were full, but within about 10 minutes one of the boat pulled away so Gerry reversed back into the space.  We went on their boat and all had a drink together and a catch up.

The Saracens Head

There is a pub right near the canal called the Saracens Head, it used to be just a drinking pub and not very nice but it has been transformed and we have heard good things about it so we decided to all go there for tea and would rendezvous at 6pm.

Me, Gerry and Honor

We met Gerry and Honor at 6pm and we went to the pub, the car park was nearly full and when we went inside and asked for a table, they said have you booked and we said no, they said the restaurant was full but there was a couple of tables in the bar which they pushed together for us to make a four.  We had a lovely evening eating, chatting and drinking and the food was excellent, clean plates all round, we could see why it was really busy.

We walked back to the canal and Gerry and Honor were getting the bus to Stafford in the morning and we are moving on, but we said we would see each other before we left.