Still about the grandsprogs.

Wednesday morning found us on our way, soon had them hard at work at Graham Palmer lock. This is not one of the original locks but had to be inserted during restoration as the peat, through which the canal passes, had shrunk during the time the canal was shut, lowering the whole area by a foot or so.

I seem to remember that a year or three back an appeal was launched to raise money to replace the vandalised memorial stone. Wonder what happened to it.

These plants are a feature of this stretch of waterway, we call them "Captain Caveman" grass because of their resemblance to that splendid character from the late seventies. He was voiced by Mel Blanc so that makes him ok by me. Check him out.

We moored just below the first of the Aston Locks, a favourite spot of ours. It's only a short walk back to Queens Head where there is an excellent pub and a convenient bus stop. Route number 70, buses go to Shrewsbury one way and Oswestry the other.
So the next day it was out bus passes and off to Shrewsbury where we spent a couple of happy hours exploring some of the minor streets.

We followed up with lunch in the Armoury,

thoroughly recommended. It's situated on Victoria Quay, just by where the trip boats leave from.
On Friday we moved on down to Maesbury Marsh ready for Mum and Dad's arrival on Saturday.
They kindly ran us through to Oswestry to replenish the store cupboard and we took the opportunity to climb the castle.

There's not a lot left of the masonry but enough to climb.

King/Queen of the castle.
Sunday morning they departed for Plymouth and we stowed the life jackets and the Old Maid cards, not to mention the Snakes and Ladders. Suddenly the boat seemed very quiet.
This morning we winded and set off back up towards Queens Head.

To all intents and purposes this is the end of the navigation, the canal is in water for another few hundred yards but as there is no winding hole at the end it would mean reversing out.
Back on our favoured spot we intend taking a couple of days out. Jill has gone down with a rotten cold and I intend making a fuss of her, she deserves it after the last week.
And thanks to ChrisF: I checked it out on Google and agree, it is a Chinese goose, obviously an escapee from somewhere.

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