Tixall Time !

We had a great mooring at Stone for the last two nights.  Yesterday evening we met up with friends Pat and Arthur on nb ‘Amethyst’ for a meal in ‘The Star Inn’ at lock 27.  We were joined by their son Steven and his wife Amy and daughter Abby.  We had a lovely couple of hours catching up, so much so we forgot to take any pictures!  Food wasn’t too good though.

Our very pleasant mooring above lock 27 at Stone.
This morning we left at 8 o’clock, silently passing nb ‘Amethyst’, so as not to wake the inhabitants (!) and motored onwards towards our next destination of Tixall Wide near Great Haywood.

Looking over the wall at Aston Lock we found this rather nice bijou residence (with en suite!).

We had sunshine all day although the wind was a little chilly sometimes.  Bathed in the autumn sunshine, this is Sandon Lock where someone is doing a wonderful job of renovating the lock side cottage.

The bridges come and go as you cruise along the waterway then suddenly we find ourselves passing under this splendid example - this is bridge 82.  There are several very large country houses around here, Sandon Park and Weston Hall to name just two, and the canal bridges often reflect the wealth in the area  when the canal was built in the 18th century.

A rare picture of the crew having a break from the relentless grind of the days’ work!

We obviously work some of them too hard!
We reached Great Haywood at midday and successfully negotiated the junction turn onto the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal – it’s a pity the Anglo Welsh hire boats are sticking much too far into the main canal just after the bridge hole.
We were very lucky to get one of only two moorings available at Tixall Wide when we arrived.  However, mooring up was made very interesting by two swans on the bank who certainly were not going to move for us and they were also not the nicest tempered of the species!  Anyway, they are now our close neighbours albeit not on speaking terms.

After a bit of a “wash and brush up” of ‘Chance’ we took the mile walk into Great Haywood to get some exercise.  After the purchase of a home made pork pie and a bite size cheese and tomato quiche to eat on the hoof as a late lunch, we walked up to the farm shop and had some fun at the Pick Your Own.

We’re now looking forward to fresh strawberries and cream for dessert tonight.  Yes, we’re eating in tonight!