Snarestone to Stoke Golding

Yet another fine sunny morning. Just before 9.00, I walked down to the swing bridge to undo the bolt at one end and the padlock at the other end, and make sure I could open it. Stephen motored through and we were on our way again.

Strings of big bricks - Bridge 62

I took this photo yesterday, but I thought I'd include it here - it shows the use of old double sized bricks in Bridge 62; they were salvaged from the dug out canal bed. They were made in Joseph Wilkes'local  brick works over two hundred years ago with the double purpose of speeding up construction and of reducing the amount of brick tax he had to pay.

We did meet one obstacle en route - it had also been there when we went through yesterday. Steve reported it this time so hopefully it will be moved soon.

Obstructive Tree

We had coffee on the move as we wanted to stop at Shenton for lunch. We arrived at the mooring near Bridge 35 at 12.15, but it took us the best part of half an hour to moor up as the water was too shallow and our boat too deep. Eventually, we got the bow in and left the stern sticking out a bit. We walked over the bridge to Shenton Station – no trains today, but we did have a look round the glass gallery and workshop which is based at the station.

We then walked down the road, under the canal aqueduct and into the village of Shenton with its 17C hall and picturesque houses. We were heading for Whitemoors Antiques and Craft Centre. There is a lovely tearoom there so we had lunch before exploring the centre. We didn’t find much in the way of craft, but if you like rooting through small antiques and collectibles, bric-a-brac and knick-knacks, you could spend several hours here. We stayed nearly two hours and walked back to the boat taking a short cut on a footpath across a field back to the bridge.

(No photos of this section - I left my phone on the boat.)

We got going with no trouble (having feared we might be wedged on silt and mud) and made our way to Stoke Golding and Duck Corner where we had moored on Tuesday evening.

0 locks 12.50 miles