Todays journey is here; a short hop along the way to Wheelock and a weekend seeing friends!
Today was only going to be a short hop as we have arranged to meet some friends over the weekend at Wheelock. It was only 6 miles, 4 locks and it took us just over 2 & a half hours.
As we were heading in the direction of the rising sun, the glare was quite intense that morning. I was locking as Richard was steering the boat in.
I saw a sign at the side of the road and it caught me off guard and then a big grin crept over me as I felt weirdly at home. This is a typical road sign in Thailand and I suddenly felt very homesick for my second home and gutted I can’t plan a winter jaunt over there this year.
We then passed a massive salt factory on the left. It was cool to see the raw substance at the base of the operation and then lorries leaving with the processed rock salt in packages onboard.
The rest of the route saw us peacefully winding our way round bends as the sun came through the morning chill and started to warm us up. Loved the front window detail on the boat below, it was even stained glass on the top half in amongst the branches.
We had a visit from one of Richards friends, it was really lovely to drink tea, chat and head to the pub for some lunch! I got plenty of dog cuddles of this cutie:
We’d seen there was a farm shop about 20 mins walk away so we decided to go get some fresh supplies. Saw an interesting fairy log on the way and a uncharacteristically friendly bull who came to the fence for head scratches! In the end his eyes were freaking me out, all bulging and looking in different directions like a chameleon!
Sunday was round 2 of friends as one of my oldest friends came over with her lovely boyfriend. My usual working diary makes it so hard to get away to go up to hers and visit so it was great to be only 45 mins away and that they were free to come over. Went for a lovely walk along the River Wheelock and back along the canal then out to the amazing Old Hall for lunch. Seriously, what a stunning restoration of a huge old building. Inside and out was really something else, would love to go back there one day.
That Niggling Thought 