This is a bit of a catch-up blog: on Thursday: on Thursday we caught a train from Stafford down to Windsor where we stayed overnight in the central Travelodge, three trains via Oxford and Slough. Late afternoon we walked over to Bolton Road to have tea with Alice and Jess; we arrived bearing, as instructed, lemon drizzle cake and Victoria sponge from Waitrose. (As it happened, Joanna was also there) We had some good conversations but did not stay too long - homework still has to be done! For an evening meal we went to a Thai Buffet just opposite the Castle - nothing fancy but the food was tasty and relatively a bargain price!
The reason for the trip was Mike had a meeting at Lambeth on Friday morning. he caught the 8:21 from the Riverside station (the other one that we came in on the day before) and was at Vauxhall about an hour later. Christine met up with Joanna for lunch - a posh pizza! She and Mike met up again at Euston station where we had a bit of a wait for our train (we had booked the earliest of a much cheaper rate!) We adjourned to a nearby Cafe Rouge for a cup of tea only to meet two people from Wadebridge who had also been in Windsor the day before! The train was a little delayed as a passenger had been taken ill on the preceding train but we were back at the boat before 9.30 and quickly turned on heating.
When we planned this part of the trip we had expected to return to Cornwall for a few days (with Mike travelling from there back up to London) However, for various reasons, the activities back in Cornwall all disappeared so we ended up wit h a few days in the marina. This meant that we could explore the area a little more - taking advantage of the National Trust membership that Christine took out just before we left home.
On Saturday, we started very slowly and late morning topped into Stone to top up our food supplies at Waitrose. Then, after lunch, we drove up to Little Moreton Hall. Although it is not far from both the Trent and Mersey as well as the Macclesfield Canals, we have never managed to visit it.
The hall was built over the period from about 1511 to 1610 as the family expanded what was initially a modest house. When completed it formed the three sides of a courtyard.
The moat would have been, like many of the features, a status symbol, and never used defensively.
The Long Gallery was one of the later stages and poorly designed structurally as it sat on the ceiling of the floor below rather than on the outer walls. As a result it was constantly in need of work but finally, in recent times, major work seems to have solved the problem and visitors can now explore it once more.
The house has never been sold on the open market and is largely as it was at the end of the construction although the half-timbered structure has gradually warped and moved over the years so that it looks like something fantastical! Gradually the original estate had to be sold off until only the house and a small amount of garden remained.
The family eventually moved away and the house was let to tenant farmers until the 1930's when it was in such a state of disrepair that even the parts previously used needed a lot of money spending on it. As a result it was gifted to the National Trust who, indeed have had to spend large sums of money just to keep it from falling apart. Whilst the building looks as it did on the 17C, a model on display shows that a large amount of steel, all hidden away, keeps it together. The latest restoration project is still on-going so we could see another steel plate being inserted.
The knot garden was created in the 1970's based on plans from a much earlier time.
We took the last guided tour of the day which was indeed informative as we were taken around the ground floor rooms. There is almost no original furniture apart from two large tables.
In one corner of the building is a chapel - the ground floor was for the servants whilst an upper room (heated unlike the lower room) had a view of the altar but kept 'the family' hidden from the prying eyes of the inferior staff!
On Sunday we went to the family communion service at St Michael's in Stone. There were around 40 people and it was a quite traditional form of service. We stayed for a while afterwards to share coffee and a biscuit - the Rector is a long standing fan of canal boating.
After lunch we drove to another National Trust property - Mow Cop. This is a landmark for some considerable distance - we could see why once we arrived in the car park, just below the main folly at the top.
Sadly, the cloud was very low when we arrived - we felt as if we almost had our heads in it! As a result the views were not of the best but we certainly felt a breath of fresh air!
It was built as a summerhouse in the mid 18C. (See here for one history of the construction) The first Primitive Methodist gathering in 1807 was held here. Although Mike first became aware of Mow Cop in 1962 when he lived for a year in Alsager on the Cheshire plain, neither of us has ever visited it. There was a steady stream of visitors today - quite a few very young children were enjoying the views from the craggy rocks.
Today we began by doing another shop at Morrisons before preparing the boat for a resumption of cruising. We cast off from the mooring to move over to the diesel pump pontoon, where we could also do the usual disposals. Alas, brother boat just beat us to it so we had a little wait as they too took on diesel and did a pump out. By the time hey had finished, the marina manager was called away, promising to be back in just ten minutes. By the time he made it back about 45 minutes later (his task had taken rather longer than he had hoped) there was quite a gathering of boaters claiming his attention! We were eventually re-fuelled and we could set off. It was almost lunch time but we wanted to make a little progress so had a cup of coffee to keep us going.
The morning had been grey and quite chilly but the afternoon gradually turned wet.
We paused just above the first lock at Sandon but by the time we set off again rain had started to arrive.
We passed under the much photographed Salt Bridge, named after the nearby hamlet itself the name of a wealthy family from the area. On our very first canal cruise in 1967 we more just before this bridge and walked around to the church that we could see across the fields for the early morning service. It is interesting to reflect on how much less information we had available then just to find a church and its service times. Moments on the internet now yield the answers.
Initially the rain was quite light but steadily increased and by the time we reached Weston, the last marked mooring option before the next lock, we conceded defeat - it was not worth both of us getting a soaking working the lock. Tomorrow is forecast to be a lot better!
5.1 Miles - 1 Lock
No comments:
Post a Comment