After finding Shaemus on the stern deck with a live rabbit pinned to the deck boards last night with the look of utter terror glinting from its eyes.. I was expecting a bit of a mess out there this morning considering the remains of the last few he has caught – but nothing – that is until later on there was a knocking at the door.. and it was the rabbit. Half dead with not long left.. time to put him out of his misery.
With the last few rabbits gifted by the ginger tom… and having been skinned and the bones boiled off.. we didn’t need any more skins or “annex” ingredients.. and Luna is quite happy playing with the skins she has now there dried out and supposed to be on the altar.. so to find a quiet spot at the bottom of the bank for the now lifeless body after his spirit was taken away by the black rabbit.. all that is left is a carcass – so lunch for a fox me thinks!
And no.. the kids are still not allowed to watch Watership Down.. even I can’t be dealing with that aftermath for days..
Set off at lunch time to get to Stafford.. there is an Aldi within minutes of the canal, and we can get some supplies in ready for the bank holiday weekend travelling.. as I hope to get some miles done whilst I have 4 full days off to do so.
What.. again.. Went past a now familiar boat.. I’m sure I’m being followed.. 😉
And yes.. this is still a canal.. just this bit has a flash area on it known as “Tixal Wide”.. as its in Tixal funnily enough and its also rather wide.. and ready to catch out an un-aware hire-boater.. as yes.. there’s water over there.. but its not deep enough for a boat to use!! (as I have seen to their peril in the past.. grounded out and pushing frantically with the boat poles to get into deeper water!)
And in the distance.. Tixal gatehouse built in about 1580 by Sir Walter Aston to stand in front of an older house. The main house and a successor, built in 1780, have now disappeared but the gatehouse still survives and is surrounded by grass.
Today however; it is a guest house and could be a rather cool setting for a weekend of “Who Dunnit” 🙂
If you want a read on this building – click here 🙂 ( Courtesy of The Landmark Trust )
From there.. on into Stafford :
Another sign post.. not that its difficult to get lost on a canal.. but even so.. 🙂
And onto the mooring for the rest of today and tomorrow..
Took a bit longer than “lunch time” to move here, but I can catch up on time lost later on this evening..
Time to get some packages ready for posting tomorrow and to get some supplies in for the next run over the bank holiday onto the Shropshire Union Canal, and towards (but not quite to) the Llangollen Canal.
Until next time.. after the bank holiday (as I may put the whole of the weekend into one large post! )