Rain and leaves

I took a walk into Stoke Golding yesterday afternoon once the rain had cleared, the start of the ascent, how unusual the village is at the top of the hill, is along a footpath running through a cow field, watch your step there, then a short section of quiet lane with no footpath before you reach the outskirts of the village.

It is obviously a popular and still spreading village, with fairly recent developments leading off in all directions, 3, yes 3 pubs all very close to each other, The George & Dragon in Station Road and both the Three Horse Shoes and The White Swan in the High Street, once again I never ventured in any of them although at the time of my walk (lunchtime) only The George and Dragon was actually open. The parish Church of St. Margaret of Antioch is a very large imposing building but was hidden from decent camera shot by trees and new housing, and to be honest I’ve got enough pictures of pubs and churches for 2015 and was looking to find something a bit different to show you, I failed, I would have liked to have shown the primary school children running around enjoying themselves in the playground, all in their school uniforms, and having a wonderful time, but did not want to risk arrest by taking my camera out near children in this sad modern world! And so just before starting back across the field towards the boat I took this view instead.

That's Quinquireme just off centre,

Stoke Golding also has a small post office and a convenience store, that was good as I needed more milk, and not much else really, for what is now a quite large village I would have expected to see a few more shops and a  petrol station maybe, but the community obviously don’t feel the need with Hinckley and Nuneaton not to far away.

Today I moved on again away from the 48hour moorings and taking myself closer to Trinity Marina in readiness for my stay there next Tuesday, my timing was not good, having watched a drizzle of rain for an hour or more I decided to move at around 11am and of course no sooner had I got going than there was a very heavy 20 minute downpour, which then turned back to light rain as I approached a decent looking mooring, it has continued to rain steadily all day, but rain or shine, it beats being stuck on the M25. 

Of course being Autumn now the canal is full of leaves and they cling to the propeller, so every now and then just dropping out of gear allows them to fall away, if not a quick burst of reverse usually does the trick, it’s quite surprising how much they effect the performance.

I will probably stay where I am until Tuesday although I may walk further along and see if there are any decent moorings even closer but from memory when I passed this way heading down I think I will prefer to stay where I am, its countryside and peaceful here, no pictures from today as the rain meant I left the camera safely tucked away.

Total travel: 2.5 miles