Where have all the children gone?

We have been travelling for more then half of the summer holidays, through big towns like Wigan, Leigh, Rugby, & Stoke on Trent and have been struck how few children we’ve see out & about. Our hearts were lifted when we saw these kids in the playground of the tiny primary school in Brinklow!!!!!

We spent the long bank holiday weekend at Weston upon Trent. We had planned to travel on the Friday, but we encountered a long lock queue and decided to call it a day once we were down. We had a lovely hedge to shelter us from the sun as it was very hot. Our friends Colin & Mavis came to visit for the day while we were there.

I sat in the shade spinning as I took part in an ‘average spinning’ competition. I had to time my spinning sessions and submit the total minutes. I’m afraid I wasn’t the average spinner. Once we headed off on Tuesday I hadn’t got my spinning on my wheel completed, so I decided to start a second 100g batch on my ‘Turned on the Cut’ drop spindle. I literally spun every moment, taking the boat down in a lock (once below the cill), while waiting for locks to fill & empty and while we cruised.

 

We strolled along a disused railway line to visit the narrow gauge Amerton Railway. 

Apart from seeing the ugly children at the school and all the other scarecrows, we hiked up the motte & bailey at Brinklow. John also picked lots of apples & blackberries which we stewed.

 

 

It’s been lovely travelling along some new stretches of canal that we’ve not been on. They are all very scenic with rolling countryside, the southern end of the Coventry Canal to Hawksbury Junction and north Oxford Canal. There were an amazing amount of aqueducts through Rugby.