A literary delight

I managed to find some bacon, eggs and left-over potatoes to fry for a brunch this morning, so despite having no bread and hardly any milk we still ate a hearty meal to commence the day.  We were amazed not to wake up until 20 past 9, so just took our time as we hadn't much on today's agenda.

The entrance to the now disused Hetherton Canal - under the bridge is Calf Heath Marina, with Misty's pub on the right

Barry went for a short walk before breakfast and found this idyllic fishing lake complete with boat

This would have been full of water at one stage surrounded by the stone wall - it must've been a very special place in it's prime

We re-visited the round house at Gailey lock, but this time we weren't so frugal!  We took delight in sitting down in the bookshop on the first floor and skim read a few books before deciding which ones we'd spend our precious cash on - there's so many it was a struggle to contain ourselves!  The great thing about the shop, apart from the array of books, is the chairs available to sit and read in order to choose from the eclectic collection at a leisurely pace.  I found one that had interested me yesterday but I wasn't sure if the writing would be to my taste; having read the first three pages I was hooked.  It's called 'Kiwi Afloat', by a woman from Auckland who travelled on Britain's canals during the 70's and 80's before she returned to New Zealand in 1990.  She apparently self published and marketed her book - you can discover more on the canal shop uk website.  I'll let you know whether it's worth purchasing when I've read it in a few days or weeks.

Sandra immersed in her soon to be purchased book!

We got talking to the cheery lady who owns the shop and she informed us that she'd bought the building over 20 years ago.  It was originally built as a toll house in order for the toll keeper to see all angles of the canal and ensure that boats didn't slip through without paying, especially those carrying coal as they were charged extra.  When they bought the place it was derelict, but they've lovingly restored it and now live on the top floor.  What a wonderful place to reside.

Another shot of Gailey lock and toll house from Sunday's trip

This boat was called 'Yorkshire Rose' and had written on the side - "You can take the Lass out of Yorkshire but you can't take the Yorkshire out of the Lass" - wonder where they're from?

We meandered casually to Penkridge, arriving just before 1700hrs - we'd only managed about 5 miles and 7 locks, pathetic really!  Of course being on the canals should be the fastest way to go slowly - so we had a festina lente day (make haste slowly), such a luxury in this crazy 21st century of busyness.

Luckily the Co-op was still open and we stocked up on much needed provisions.

Today we've woken to persistent rain that appears to have set in for the day so it's unlikely we'll be moving far - but Penkridge seems like an interesting place so we'll be off to find out ...