Burton and beyond

Marstons Brewery in Burton

Today we travelled for 5 hours to catch up on our schedule after yesterday's early stop. We left Branston at 9am with the weather rather cooler than yesterday and reached Burton on Trent mid morning.

Burton is not the most attractive town when visited by road, dominated by the breweries in the centre and modern warehouse development around the outskirts. However the canal route is pleasant, clean, and tidy. Much is tree lined with some well kept parkland and playing fields. There are also good views of older buildings, perhaps the most notable being Marstons brewery.

Leaving Burton the canal remains attractive though it is dominated by the adjacent A38. We stopped for lunch at Willington. After Willington the canal travels through fairly flat farmland with little contact with the outside world except for the occasional train on a nearby line.

Approaching Stenson lock we were surprised to see a hairy bull contentedly munching grass on the towpath. We then passed a farmer walking down the towpath looking for his bull and then a policeman doing the same.

All the locks so far on our journey were narrow but Stenson and subsequent locks are wide, accommodating 2 narrowboats. We were fortunate to be able to share the lock with another boat.

We moored at 3pm out in the countryside near Swarkestone, famous as the point at which Bonny Prince Charlie abandoned his march on London and started his return to Scotland some 30 years before the canal was built.