THURSDAY 10TH TO MONDAY 14TH MAY
2012
We both boarded the bus
to Lichfield on Thursday to attend to some financial matters before a big shop
at Aldi and a bus back. We had decided that on Friday we would move on, but as
the weather was mixed we walked up to the isolated old Church at Wychnor and on
the way back to SKYY we indulged ourselves in ice-creams from the Rainbow gift
shop. Best ice-cream since our last visit to Alrewas in the autumn. To be
highly recommended.
Saturday morning: and we
eventually moved, on leaving Alrewas via a lock and one of the tiny brick
bridges that are the norm on this part of the Trent and Mersey Canal. We weren’t
going far, but had booked into Barton Marina for a few nights, which was only
an hour or so away, we needed water and other services and Janet and Peter from
Parsons Passage had suggested this was a good place to stay.
The marina has existed
for some years, but The attractive Waterfront development was only completed in
2007. We tied up alongside the promenade that fronted the restaurants and shops,
before visiting the marina office and being assigned our visitor pontoon. In
front of a substantial number of spectators I turned SKYY around and backed
onto our pontoon fortunately without making a hash of it.
The village of Barton
under Needwood is a short walk away and has more than its fair share of very
grand old houses, originally built, we were advised, for the owners of the many
Burton breweries, and a battlemented church sits neatly in the centre of the village.
Despite our guide listing only one pub, it in fact boasts four. There was a
blackboard outside the Three Horseshoes, stating that there was going to be
live jazz on Sunday night, this would be a first for us, we are always too
early or too late for any musical performance, but this time we were determined
that we would be there and we weren’t disappointed.
The five lads,
comprising ‘Funktional’, were to our surprise, all in their early twenties,
they met at Lichfield but are now studying at various universities. Nick
Dewhurst - Trumpet / Guitar, Tom Miner – Saxophone, Sam Craig – Keys, Chris
Langford – Bass, Matt Sellar – Drums. They were all very accomplished musicians,
playing their versions of some old classics and their own compositions; they
and the pub crowd thoroughly enjoyed the gig, a great evening!
Monday was another lazy day taking full advantage of the
shops and facilities at the marina, but we discovered a small lump above Duggie’s
left eye, so we shall be moving on the Burton upon Trent tomorrow to visit a vet.
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