Fun in the sun.

There is nothing to say about the rugby last night so we will move swiftly on to leaving this morning basking in the sunshine as we trundled on to Atherstone.

This was close to our mooring last night. We were just round the corner from Springwood Marina and the autumn light on the trees was beautiful.

There were a few boats moving but not as many as I had imagined on a day like this. If we were going to meet a boat this is where you would expect to, a bridge hole on a blind bend. The only thing we met in this situation today was a canoeist who obligingly stopped for us.

As we approached Hartshill these swans seemed to be on a mission as they didn't want to move over for us at all. They have done well to keep six cygnets.

We were going to stop at Hartshill services to take water and dump the rubbish but somebody was already in the process so we carried on. If the Hartshill yard was in a city there would be all sorts of little businesses working from here plus food and a pub I would say. It seems a little wasted here as it is a complete package. 

Around Mancetter these alpacas were enjoying the sun and there were some baby ones too. What do you call them, foals?

We stopped on the straight before the Atherstone top lock to go and get a paper and do a little bit of shopping at the Aldis. I like Atherstone, a good honest place with a lovely selection of buildings and shops. This sign reveals why it is here. It was built on the Roman road Watling Street and this sign shows how the road maintained its importance on the Thomas Telford A5 joining London to the the ferry for Ireland on Holyhead. On the main street there are some nice coaching inns still surviving. The traffic is now diverted on a bypass and the main street, or Long Street as it is called has a good few different shops, cafes, and other services.

St Mary's Church stands on a slight hill at the top of the Market Place that is a little of Long Street. There is a nice atmosphere there and the stone church with the octagonal tower sets the whole off. There are plenty of pubs in the town so it would have been rude not to visit a couple. We chose the relatively new Angel Ale House. They had a good bear selection and I picked Citra from Oakham Brewery. It is nice and hoppy and tastes of grapefruit juice. There you are Marilyn, keep your eyes out for it and try a half! We then popped over the square to the Market Tavern which is owned by the Warwickshire Brewery so it would have been rude not to try one of their beers I picked Golden Bear and it was thick and rich and malty. 

We walked back to the boat and had some lunch and sat and read the paper for a bit before we decided that we had better move on a little. We got to the top lock and as a volunteer Lock keeper was looking after Helen I dumped our rubbish and then moved on to the next lock.

Helen approaching No.4 lock.

We stopped by No.5 to fill up with water and I got a little depressed thinking that could well be the last time this year. The lock cottage makes a nice photograph in the sun.

I love this round spill weir. How much easier it would have been perhaps to build a normal one but it certainly locks a treat despite the guard rails.

I think that this is the wall that was built by out of work hatters in the 1800's. It was built to keep poachers out of the grounds of Merevale Hall and had a look out tower at one place. There were several hat factories in the town. The last one closed in 1998 and is the damaged building above the top lock. The hatters were out of work as slavery had been abolished. Every slave on many plantations were given a woolen felt hat made in Atherstone! Who can see the many ramifications of a single action.

We continued down a few more locks and parked between 9 and 10. We have a clear view for the solar panels and so we have the best chance of seeing the Super Blood Moon between 0300 and 0400. That is if I can drag Helen out of bed.