Great Hayward

We had a visit to the garden centre but no luck with the cocoa shells so when we got back we completed pre-flight checks and then set off. The was only one lock at Colwich and there was a short wait there. We were heading for Great Hayward Junction and this is always a busy place. It was dull when we set off but quite soon the sun came out from the clouds occasionally. . On the way we saw a bunch of crows 'attacking' a horse. It looked like that they were pulling beak fulls of hair from the horse that was just laying there and letting them do it. I had never seen this before.

Crows getting bedding from a horse.

As we approached the  Junction there was a nice open aspect of the parkland so we thought we would moor here so that we weren't cooped up. Great Haywood is right next to Shugborough Hall. 

This is the pack horse bridge over the Trent from the village to the hall. Helen was busy baking so I washed down the port side of the boat ready for polishing. We then decided to go for a walk. We went down the towpath to the junction and then walked up to the village. From there we were going to walk to Little Haywood but saw a path through the National Trust land on the other side of the Trent. It was a nice couple of hours and give us an appetite.

Part of the walk was through a sandstone quarry.

The pack horse bridge was too narrow for the Lords of Lichfield to get their carriage over to go to church so they built their own bridge.

Helen watching the swans from the Coach Bridge.

 After tea we were visited by the swans that we had seen earlier. They were knocking at the window and asking for bread.