A cake eating lamb and autumn, but no fireworks.

It doesn't take long to get from Market Drayton to the top of Adderley locks and Simon and Allisons splendid little farm shop.

If you look closely you will notice the battered remains of one of Allisons glorious Victoria Sponges on the ground, the culprit?

The pet lamb which has appeared in several of the tabloids and is now booked to appear on Blue Peter, fame appears to have gone to his head and he has developed a taste for the finer things in life, perhaps a glass of champers next?

The locks looked beautiful with the autumn colours, shame the autumn leaves that had fallen into the cut kept getting wrapped round the prop, I seemed to spend as much time in reverse as in forward, a quick burst of back'ards usually clears them.
Saturday evening provided us with a sunset display

that easily outshone the firework display from Adderley village, sorry, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get any pictures of the fireworks.


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

Market day and good? news on B.W. pump out cards..

There seems to be a lot of whatever this is being grown around here. Is it one of these bio fuel type things? Answers on a postcard.

Below Tyrley Locks, just by bridge 61, yet more folk art.

Market day

at Market Drayton, we bought garlic and chilli sausages, cod fillets and wild rabbit and watched a stall keeper give a shop-lifter a slapping, well done that man. The fishing tackle stall has gone, sign of the times I suppose.
For those who haven't heard the good news yet: as of yesterday cards for B.W. pump outs are going up from £10 to £14.75, work that out with the rate of inflation. We've cleared the local stockists out at the old rate!
Back into no signal land tomorrow.

Watch this space........

Numbers to play with.

 This morning Jill pointed out that the date is 1-11-11, in ten days time it will be 11-11-11 and and not to far off it will be 20 11 2011. The numerologists can make of it what they may, personally I don't think it will make a blind bit of difference to what happens but I thought it was mildly interesting.
Anyway my false choppers have been patched, the dodgy filling replaced and my few remaining fangs have been descaled and I still have no love for the dental profession.
Highlight of the day was the purchase of a new shopping trolley in Wilkinsons, how good is that?


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

Horror at the Anchor.

We've had to wend our way back to Market Drayton as the nice new top plate I had made earlier this year has cracked, I hate dentists.
Saturday night found us at The Anchor (again), it took a brave man to brave the horrors of the garden,

yes, it was their Halloween party.
Fancy dress was the order of the day.

Kim and Elaine were bewitching behind the bar.

Maggie was looking cheerful but Duck Dave

appeared to be contemplating the true gloominess of the season.
Soon a fine collection of ghouls, ghosts, witches and monsters were joining the clientele.

I'm not sure what was going on here

but it looks like ectoplasm.
But as this was The Anchor it wasn't long before the instruments came out

and the music

began.
Behind all this, quietly making sure everything was perfect was our revered landlady,

the wonderful Olive.
It was all too soon that last orders was called and we all made our way home, most to our boats but some, perhaps, back to the crypt.
Just for information, The Anchor is now on its winter opening hours, weekends only.
Yesterday we moved down to Goldstone Wharf and just next to the bridge was  a group of fly agaric,

not a sign of a gnome though, perhaps they had been partying last night.
We have no definite plans for the winter.

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

Llamas, straw and a little sunflower.

It's amazing, the things you find as you wander around the English countryside. We strolled out from Little Onn bridge yesterday, along the towpath and then up onto the lane at Rye Hill Bridge, just by the rather nice house with the gardens coming down to the cut, and in the field by the house were four llamas.

They refused to get together so I could get them all in the same photo' but one

did come over to check on who was passing, he seems to be amused by the sight of us.

Number four decided that striking a noble pose would impress us, I didn't like to disillusion him.

The lane runs alongside a disused wartime airfield, the old perimeter track is clearly visible. It is all now part of a farm which has the biggest stock of straw I have seen.

 Miles of it.
Back by the boat we spotted this growing right on the edge of the towpath.

It is definitely a sunflower but only about eighteen inches tall, I reckon someone must have emptied their parrots feed bowl and one seed survived but Jill thinks it is an escapee from a roof top flower tub. We do lead an exciting life, we worry about the provenance of a undersize sunflower. Oh dear.

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

Weather forecasts and art criticism.

Out of the clutches of Norbury Wharf at last. That is very unkind as they have been brilliant, we now have six domestic batteries, a new fridge and a beautifully blacked bottom, not to mention the fact that I can now remove the batteries without dismantling the entire back end of the boat!
We have decided to spend the winter around here for a change as, according to Waterscape, there are no stoppages booked for the Shroppie this winter although looking at some of the long range weather forecasts nature could be providing her own stoppages, ice, snow and probably a plague of locusts to round it off. The best comment I saw on any of the weather websites was along the lines of "This is Britain, we'll get what we get and anyone who tries to forecast more than a day ahead is just dreaming".
We're having a quiet few days out in the wilds,

The countryside along the Shroppie is pure England at its best. Until we moved onto the boat, as far as I knew, Staffordshire was completely covered in potteries and all I knew about Shropshire was that the correct abbreviation was Salop. Now it feels like home and I love it.

An abundance of berries this year, is this a sign of a hard winter? Probably as reliable as some of the forecasts. They won't last long, the redwings and fieldfares have arrived and are already tucking in. We now have our share of the autumn harvest, two and a half litres of gin are now warmly wrapped around sloes and turning that lovely shade of purple, it'll be ready for Christmas.
I suppose that will be the next thing, Christmas shopping, oh joy. Rather foolishly I mentioned that we could do a trip to Chester, it was immediately jumped on as a good scheme so it looks like we'll be heading back that way soon.

Place to be!
And finally, rural Staffordshire's answer to the Turner Prize.

Welded to a farm gate, it has more artistic integrity than a lot of modern sculpture. (I got that phrase from the Weekend Telegraph arts supplement. Plagiarism? what's that then?)

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

The Wrekin and a Bear.

As you go down the A518 towards Telford you come across these on one of the roundabouts, it has to be the most extreme road safety initiative ever, my driving improved 100% until I was out of range.
We passed them yesterday on our way to The Wrekin, we thought a gentle stroll up the hill would be a pleasant way to pass an hour or two. Wrong, it was a mind boggling trek up what felt like a vertical mountain.

View from the top with remains of iron age roundhouse in the foreground.

A rather windswept Jill by the triangulation point on top, I was collapsed, gasping for breath like a stranded haddock. By the time we got back down I don't think either of us had a leg joint that wasn't screaming. One of the problems with living on the cut is that walking up hill is a rarity, climbing up The Wrekin was a bad mistake. Make a note, must get fat fit.
Today we went to the R.A.F. museum at Cosforth, unfortunately the warplanes hanger was shut but it was interesting, they had a model of an old friend,

a Tupolev Tu-95 Bear,  when I was in the R.N. everytime we went up the North Sea or round the north of Scotland one of these would turn up as escort, we were actually rather fond of them, made us feel needed.
Merlin just starting on the telly so that's all for now.

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