Friday 20th Sept
Our stay at Burton meant that, although there was no great hurry, we felt we had to be getting a move on — and so we started promptly at five to seven. We were assisted in getting through the first couple of locks by a bearded chap who was walking along the towpath, clutching a can of Carlsberg Special Brew and accompanied by a young dog. The dog (who was called Charlie) made overtures to Maddie but, as his owner put it, 'She put you properly in your place, didn't she?' We got to Barton Turn at half past eight, continued fairly steadily. The weather was rather brighter and slightly warmer than yesterday, but we still found that we needed our jumpers. On the way we passed a boat with some rather nice examples of the traditional canalboat decorations, of which I managed to get a photo.
We got to Fradley Junction by ten past eleven and turned into the Coventry Canal. Just as well, as it looked as though the continuation of the Trent and Mersey was going to be very crowded. We moored a little way past the junction and went along to The Swan for an early lunch. It's right on the towpath and we sat outside — somewhat incommoded at times by the cars driving up and down the towpath, particularly as one group had parked their car right on the towpath by the pub and the other cars had to squeeze between it and us. We opted for a variety of rolls and (in Penny's case) a variation on a ploughman's lunch, which they called a Bargee's platter.
At just after half past twelve we were on our way again. No locks for quite a long stretch on this canal, so we had a fairly uneventful afternoon. We spotted a parachutist at one point, and then not far away a 'Micro Lite' flyer. It reminded me of the time I'd visited a precipitous gorge in a river called the Verdon, near where my sister lives in the south of France. We were about a thousand feet above the bottom of the valley, and looking down we could see the river looking very small and an awfully long way down. Just to the side of where we'd parked the car, there was a launching-off point for hang gliders, complete with instructions about what to do in various conditions of wind and weather. It made me feel dizzy just to think about it. We're continuing to see a lot of dragonflies on the canal — rather later than usual in the year, I would have thought.
There have been a lot of comments about snoring, directed towards Alan (and to me, but as I'm at the other end of the boat it doesn't have a comparable effect). It was some consolation to us, then, when a man passing by on the bank said, referring to Penny, 'She's asleep in the front, snoring her head off.' Later in the afternoon we went past a marina in Alvecote, and saw so many Canaltime boats moored there that this must surely be another of their establishments.
At a quarter past six we reached Polesworth and stopped for the night. Walking into the village we made for the pub known as 'Foster's Yard', seeing from the guide books that it includes a Balti restaurant at the back. The front part is rather interesting — the 'pub bit', that is. Various touches inside seem to indicate an American theme, from the pool table to the neon Budweiser sign on one of the walls — plus the frontage, which is rather difficult to describe, but adds to the general impression.
After we'd had a pint in the bar, we went around the back to the restaurant, the 'Café Spice', for the serious business of the evening — curry. We got on splendidly with the waiter. He was very helpful regarding the choice from the menu, and also quite enthusiastic about Bangladesh and its history, and we had quite a lively conversation about a variety of topics. The food was delicious — amongst the best we've ever had. Everything was just right. Brilliant.
Back to the boat about half past nine, and then we had a 'slide show', as Penny calls it, using the laptop to look though the photos of the last couple of days. We all went to bed straight afterwards, ready for what we hope is going to be a good night's sleep.