Burston

Well I can’t say much has changed since last year, the weather is still very unseasonably warm and even sunny. There weren’t as many boats moored on Tixall wide as I expected and at Gt Haywood Junction we turned left and stopped to dill with water. Across the canal from the waterpoint there were people camping, most left their vehicles on the hard standing but one had taken his Audi right across to  marshy bit and pitched tent there, he was digging his front wheels out when we passed.
The farm shop just through the bridge was closed, I suspect they missed out on a lot of trade with all the walkers who were hoping for a coffee. They ether had a bumper year growing pumpkins or a poor year selling them as the field is still full of them. A bit further on and the field was full of Canada geese, I bet they eat almost much as sheep do, talking of sheep I saw one with a jacket on today, that’s a first for me. I think we have seen more boat on the move today than we have in the past 10 day, three came by before we were up. I didn’t photograph one of my favoured looking bridges, Salt Bridge as the light was all wrong, maybe on the way back, but I did notice someone has run along one of the offside fenders that were installed to save the bridge. I thought this bush was looking rather splendid with all its bright red bark.

After 4 hours we decided that the moorings at Burston were far enough away from the railway for tonight. Four hours is about the minimum I can get away with to recharge the batteries and for some reason they were lower than normal this morning. Again we shut the stove down last night as it was so warm, this meant the electric kettle was out to make the first cup of tea.

Today’s Journey 8¼ miles, 4 lock in 4 hours