Edstone Aqueduct

What a glorious day it's been today. I'm back in shorts and a strappy top and have dug out the sun screen again. I'd like to think it'll last but won't be holding my breath.

We set off late morning and moved on to Wootten Warwen to moor in the basin while we went into the village, to the Aladdin's Cave that is the village shop. This place isn't cheap but the range of stock they carry is very extensive and the fruit and veggies were much better quality than those for sale at the nearby farm shop.

After lunch we pulled onto the aqueduct at the Anglo Welsh hire base and filled up with diesel (95p/l domestic... ouch...) emptied the toilet tank, replaced an empty gas bottle and filled up with water. After all that we carried on down 1 lock and are now moored just before Edstone Aqueduct which is a cast iron trough taking the canal over the railway lines.

looking towards the aqueduct

the cast iron trough

looking back towards our mooring

Henley-in-Arden & Wootton Wawen

Last night while we were watching TV we kept hearing an owl hooting. Just as dusk started falling we saw it flying low over the field opposite our mooring. I’ve never seen a barn owl flying in the wild before and wish I could have photographed it as it was magnificent.

here's one I took earlier, (at Leicester festival)

This morning we took the shopping trolley and walked the 1 ½ miles to Henley-in-Arden. It took 35 minutes being mostly uphill and the path isn’t really suitable for the trolley but it was definitively worth the effort. The High Street is almost a mile long and has over 150 listed buildings some of which are so old you wonder how they manage to stay standing.

The Guild Hall & St. John’s Church

We had lunch in the White Swan pub which is very swish inside with timber beams and plenty of reinforcing steelwork holding the brickwork together. The Cornish Doom Bar beer was excellent, as were the salads.

After lunch we did a bit of grocery shopping at the Co-op and got a taxi (only £4) back to the boat before setting off again towards Wootton Wawen.

Some days I wonder what on earth I can write about as surely nothing new can happen. Well that wasn’t the case today as we've had a pump-out in the most unusual place you could think of. The pump-out station and water point at the Anglo Welsh hire boat centre at Wootton Wawen are right on the aqueduct that crosses the main road and to use either you have to block the canal.

Luckily there weren’t any boats wanting to cross while we had the tank emptied, which was done by a very friendly young man who also lives on a boat and therefore knows how a pump-out and efficient rinse out should be done. £16 well spent.

We’re now moored up for the night just past the aqueduct and have been for a walk round the village. There’s a large farm shop which we’ll visit tomorrow as it was too late this evening.

click on the photo to enlarge & see what's here

We paid a quick visit to the Navigation pub which is canal-side by Anglo Welsh and Chico hid under the garden bench waiting for a passing dog to ambush, he was fastened up of course but that didn't stop him hoping.