Monday - something a bit different

Well, it didn't quite work out like that. We left our mooring late, since we planned to travel so little. Just two miles further along, we stopped to look at the remains of an ancient priory.

In fact, there was little of it left, so we weren't there long. But on our way back to Kantara, we diverted into a Pooley Country Park, a nature reserve, a huge area once left bare from largely unsuccessful coal mining, but now turned into beautiful woodland, with marsh and lakes. At the far end of the reserve is a huge hill, created from the waste materials from the mining. The views from the top were wonderful. The strange structure seems to be simply a piece of sculpture.

When we returned nearly two hours later, we decided to stay where we were for the night. That means I'll have to do the eleven Atherstone locks all in one day tomorrow, though we're hoping that the town's not as inhospitable as we've been told, and that we'll be happy to spend tomorrow night there, rather than feeling the need to push on through. We shall see!