And more books

Visited our fave secondhand bookshop this week at Coven about 5 minutes walk from the canal and got re-stocked!!   What we tend to do is buy books at charity shops, read them and then either return them to another charity shop or leave/swap them at the various “book swaps” in a lot of services on the canals …. Or we exchange with another boat.    But this particular bookshop always has a lot of the sort we like.     We also have our “cannot bear to be parted from” books from previous lives and then I also have an e-book reader so we always have something to read.    Dai gets through them much quicker than me cos he reads a lot more where I also do my craftie things when we are inside the boat which, of course, is now getting more and more with the shorter days.


While we were at Coven we also had a coal delivery from Viv off Monarch and Grimsby who were moored just above Great Haywood but they kindly bought us 10 bags by road which was great as we were down to 2 bags and nowhere to pick up any (of that we prefer) until Wheaton Aston.    At our rate of knots that was about a week away and its definitely getting colder now so the fire is in 24/7 and although we burn wood during the day, we do need to stoke the fire up with coal for overnight.


So we are now on the Shropshire Union going north and today are moored at Brewood.   Went a six-mile walk this morning by towpath up to Wheaton Aston to buy eggs from Bridge Farm there but they didn’t have any!    All those weeks we were iced in at Wheaton Aston last winter (which, incidentally, started on Nov 27 last year!!) we could always get eggs from them.    You can see the hens running around the field so they are truly free-range.    Never mind, got some obviously from the shops in Brewood to tide up over and maybe the farm will be stocked again over next couple of days as we are heading that way.


Since last blog we have done … 7 miles and  1 lock
Total since Setting Off ….. 1492 miles and  1206 locks  

going through the narrows between the M54 motorway bridge
and Autherly Junction on the Worcs and Staffs Canal

Nice perch Mrs Heron -
we then saw 5 herons sitting in a field between
bridges 4 and 5 on the Shroppie and today
I saw 2 herons flying together along the canal
which is something I haven't seen before

View from Jandai at our mooring on Nov 20 between
bridges 7 and 8 on the Shroppie

same place on Nov 20 looking southwards