Lunch out and Morris Dancing - Fradley Junction

Saturday 8^th September

We are staying put today and just as well as it was very drizzly on and off all morning.

Another Fine Ploughmans

Ham, Egg & Chips

We decided to go and have lunch in the cafe so we walked up to the top of the locks first as it had stopped raining then walked down to the Laughing Duck cafe there but I fancied chips and they didn’t do them so we walked back up to the Kingfisher cafe and went in there.

I had ham, egg and chips and Kev had a Ploughman’s with chips, the food was really good.  After lunch, we walked back down towards where we were moored and saw lots of Morris dancers heading up towards us, so we asked them where they were going and they said to dance outside the Swan pub.

Ryknild Rabble

The main group was called Ryknild Rabble from Lichfield and it was their 30^th Anniversary Day of Dance.  They were going around the pubs in the area giving performances. They had some guest dancers with them.

The Band

The Three Spires Morris also from Lichfield in their red skirts & black jackets performing  dances from the North West of England and The Hotpots, two lasses from Lancashire who now live in Lichfield who perform traditional Lancashire clog dances.

The Hotpots

Very |Young Morris Dancers

During the industrial revolution, workers flocked to work in the Lancashire cotton mills wearing clogs with leather uppers and soles made of Alder wood.  After a day's work they would tap with the clogs and dance the rhythms of the looms and machinery in the mills. Thus evolved the now famous ‘heel & toe' dances, and later on tap dancing.

Three Spires Morris

They all did a few dances which were great fun and really good and the Ryknild Rabble had two young children dancing with them.  It was drizzling with rain but several people came out of the pub to watch so they had a small crowd.  It was good to watch, they then moved onto Alrewas for their next performance.

We walked back to the boat and just chilled out.  The drizzle did stop and it brightened up a bit.  We are having one more night here then going up three locks and a few miles tomorrow morning, let’s hope the sun is shining.