Saturday 23rd February 2019



Early on, we moved the 200 yards down the canal to the service point before boats started moving. Watered up, emptied the loo and dumped the rubbish, we had so much. Then reversed back to the mooring.

The service point is at the top of the locks, a lovely location. I was talking to the guy that lives at the top lock. There used to be two wharfs here, one either side of the canal, both now filled in and one with housing on it. One used to supply the town and the other the gas works, now gone.





AtherstoneTop Lock



At the gas works wharf, the stable block survives and at the town wharf, what used to be a farmhouse then a pub still survives, although in an abandoned state, apparently the building is listed, makes you wonder if they are not just waiting for it to fall down.




                                                      Gas Works Wharf and Stable Block                               
                                                          Wharf-side, derelict pub, Queens Head, then a farmhouse





We then had a bacon and egg breakfast, the first for a long time it seems, then cleaned and tidied the boat and waited for Marin and Michelle to arrive.

Martin and Shelley arrived about 3pm. We had a few drinks on board before feeding the dog and going out to watch the England-Wales rugby match. The first pub we went in was a strange kind of place, very noisy, no real choice of beer and loads of kids running riot. The second pub was a much nicer place but had no TV and so we finished up in a place with no real character or identity, but they were showing the match. Unfortunately.


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