We moored up expecting rain but were rewarded with a few precious moments worth of blue sky as I looked across the water meadows.
We had seen the church perched on the hill as we cruised through Wychnor
So I took the opportunity to walk back along the river section for a closer look.
I climbed up the hill and found some info boards in the adjoining fields hinting of the archaeological significance of mediaeval settlements, but the village was wiped out during the plague, I didn’t stick around to investigate more. Alrewas however survived and became a thriving village with some stunning timber framed thatched cottages
And Coates, one of our favourite butchers shops.
We can recommend the pies, sausages and rump steak, however we suspected the local camel would taste a bit wooden.
We wondered if there’s an equivalent term for boaters who look wistfully at houses like gongoozlers watch narrowboats. And where does that place us with our modern electric boat, hankering after an old thatched cottage.
We didn’t make it up to the national memorial arboretum this visit, preferring to follow ratty’s advice on this Canal side cottage.
So we had to smile when we came across another Braidbar boat, appropriately named.
And we continued our journey up to Fradley
