The Hodma'dod: Time flies

Its amazing to think its only 5 weeks now and we will be back home and its 2 weeks since I last posted so here's a potted summary of the last 14 days or so.

As I mentioned in the last post we went as planned down the other arm of the Caldon towards Froghall. We spent the first night at Cheddleton where there is an old flint works, in fact two together, both water powered although unfortunately they only open at the weekends but some good picture opportunities. The following day we moved on to see if we could go down to Froghall but the weather was so atrocious and the pub we had wanted to stop at for lunch had no available moorings so in disgust we turned round and went back to Cheddleton. Its a shame because the pub at Consall Forge is supposed to be very rustic - spit and sawdust and the steam railway station there is very well preserved - a point of interest being the waiting room which is cantilevered over the canal. We had thought also about taking the train to Froghall but the day we were there was a special "Pepper Pig" day and we didn't really fancy sharing the train with loads of screaming kids - and I don't think T & T would have appreciated it either. One way and another the Caldon was proving a real pain!

We then retraced our steps back to Stoke and the Trent and Mersey without too much of significance happening and made our way towards Stone through yet another drenching. Not only was it wet but cold too and I ended up in anorak, woolly hat and gloves and we put the heating on in the boat for the evening. This was after hearing that the following day was promising temperatures in the 30's for East Anglia. Huh! Hope you all enjoyed roasting!

Stone is a pleasant town and we set off the next day for a few days R & R on Tixall Wide, an area at the start of the Staff and Worcestershire canal which we passed through earlier in our journey but didn't stop. We were lucky to find a mooring there and spent 3 nights with what we regarded as good weather. I managed to get the chair out and sit on the towpath on one day and we only had the occasional thunderstorm to contend with.

From there we continued our journey down the Trent and Mersey and on to Fradley Junction and down the Coventry canal. Friday night we stopped at Whittington and then on a couple of miles on Saturday to meet friends John and Louise (nb Bluemoon) for lunch and a couple of jars. The day had not been forcast to be good weather wise but as we spent a good part of it in the pub it wasn't a problem but we did actually miss the worst of the weather anyway.

Sunday saw us come on to Alvecote where there is an historic narrowboat gathering and we moored there at lunchtime for a look around. Its great to see so many old boats in such good condition. Its just a shame that the owners don't bother to dress the part. We were going to spend the night there but when the band started we decided it might be a good idea to move on so came another mile or so and will spend a couple of nights here whilst the bank holiday traffic goes by.

Bank holiday Monday and the skies are overcast and the odd drop of rain falling. We went this morning to look around the Pooley Field Centre but there was very little of interest there, not really sure what it was meant to be displaying although we had thought it was going to be about the mining history of the area.