Sunday 26 February 2012

We discover Ifton mine and Stans.*

Congratulations Wales, well done England, I think that disallowed try in the final seconds will be a subject of dispute for a long time to come. Personally, much as I hate to say it, I think the decision was correct, the ball was not grounded correctly, curses.
We're moored just above the New Marton locks and a fellow boater told us there is a supermarket just over the hill from the canal so we set off to investigate, not that we needed any thing from the shop, just out of curiosity.
At the down stream end of the forty eight hour moorings is a bridge over a ditch.

 You bear left across the field,

climbing this stile appears to be optional, carry on to the hedgerow and after crossing a small stream on another bridge and a bit of ducking and weaving over, or under, an inconvenient fence you follow the worn track up the hill, encountering two more stiles,


 and eventually come into the village of St. Martins right by the old pinfold.

Originally used to impound straying farm animals, the owner then had to pay a fine to reclaim them, I suppose the modern equivalent would be car clamping.
Passing St. Martins church (locked),

through a rather boring housing estate you come to a mini-roundabout next to

a memorial to the Ifton miners. Up until 1968 there was a major coal mine here.
Leaving the past, just across the road is


Stans* Superstore and super it is. Huge, immaculately clean and the shelf stacking would be an object lesson to the major supermarket chains. It also has a cafe, coffee walnut cake, there goes the diet.
We returned via the road and the towpath, it's a bit of a drag, about a forty minute walk, but provisions plus exercise?

* N.B. the apostrophe is deliberately missing from Stans as that is how it is displayed on the store.

Watch this space............

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