Day 21

Before we leave Birmingham we drop back in to see if anyone is at home at Caroline’s old house.  We meet Colin, long time owner and his partner who kindly show us through the house and the back garden.  Lovely people, poor Caroline was in tears at the end and so was Colin, so pleased was he that he could do something for her.

Like it or not our maps did not cover every street therefore over the past few days we had the odd moment of “I don’t think we are on the right road…”.  Therefore we bought a satnav thing that has made life a lot easier in the navigators side of the car. 

Did Cadbury World, very interesting history over a vast site.  Mum got her photo taken with Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men - weeeee.

Off to Great Haywood (near Stafford) where we pick up our canal boat.  Load in all the gear and have our induction training before leaving the marina.  The instructor seems to think we are more than capable at handling the craft so leaves early and off we go by ourselves.

Chug, chugging along at about 3 km/hr you find this place England is very beautiful.  You would think that something like 80 million people all crammed into what is a quite small country would not leave much room for anything else, however the country side is just beautiful.  The woods are so lush, thick and green. Big oak trees overhang much of the canals.  Miles and miles of fields, quaint little bridges, busy villages and some of the gardens along the way are just beautiful.  We really did strike good weather – a typical English summers day, about 17 to 20 degrees, no wind and the occasional burst of sunlight.  The sunlight begins at 5am and doesn’t get dark until about 10.30pm.