Edstone (a visitor and yet more ice cream)



Karen’s eldest daughter, Catherine, came to stay on Saturday evening; she is on a bit of a whistle-stop tour saying farewell to people as she is off to live in Spain for a while on the next journey of her life.  It goes without saying that we had a lovely time and wish her well on her travels.

We all went for a circular walk on Sunday including a stop in Wilmcote for yet more ice cream.  With almost a week of dry and warm weather the towpaths and fields have been transformed.  There are now very few muddy spots and walking is so much easier.

Ice creams finished!

Catherine was interested in seeing Edstone aqueduct which is just where we are moored so we had a good look around.  I couldn’t believe that we hadn’t noticed the drainage tap before; we found it under the northernmost arch.  When the aqueduct is due for a regular inspection, stanks (dams) are put in at either end and the trough is drained into the field below by opening the tap at the end of the drainage pipe.

Aqueduct drainage pipe that we hadn’t noticed before


Before Catherine left we went through the photographs we took when we visited her whilst she was living in Ecuador three years ago.  We spent a pleasant hour reminiscing before driving her to Coventry station for her train journey home.

Our Monday night bridge classes have now finished – it’s hard to believe we went for two years.  We now have to consolidate our learning and will practice with our friends Jo and Ileen in Stratford whenever possible on Monday evenings.

Another change is that now we are nearer Stratford I no longer take Karen to work on bridge days.  She will now pick me up on her way her home which means I no longer have the car on Mondays.  This is actually quite handy as I won’t have to worry about the car if I want to move the boat on a Monday.  Saying that, we will probably stay here for the full two weeks apart from a trip to the water point at Wootton Wawen when we need to top up.


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