Goodbye for now playmates

Come the morning we had planned to have coffee with Lesley and Joe prior to us departing, I had secured tickets online for the gardens only at the National Trust property Wightwick Manor, HERE      its about a three minute walk from the canal there, although the Manor itself is a big draw for crowds, the gardens are pretty and I love gardens.  

Wightwick was not too far away but mid morning coffee had to be had very early so we could get there at the strict admittance times.

We said goodbye and had big socially distanced hugs (not) Joe and Lesley are going south and are out for weeks.  We are returning to base.   HERE

  

We left first or I waould have got a shot of the lovely, gleaming NB Steadfast in action.

Borrowed by kind permission of Lesley for that one.

We went off, it was a delightful morning and a joy to be out. The gardens were lovely, modest but lovely.  The social distancing thing worked fine, but I felt there could have been more people allowed in at similar times, plenty of space for all.  Good luck to the NT on getting some money in.  I wanted to make a cash donation to Wightwick, not an online donation to the NT in general.  This proved tricky as there are no tills open, bar the vegetable honesty box.  But the general manager passed by and I was able to put my cash into the parking donation box which is currently in a closed office.

What times we live in. 

Lace cap Hydrangea I liked. 

Wightwick Manor. Not Tudor but Arts and Crafts Late C19th.

Thought we should get under this tree very quick lest it fell on us.

We went on, stopping at Oxley Marine again to fill up with diesel at a good price.  

Over the last couple of days onboard we stopped at Coven and then Penkridge, this time stopping right outside another garden that was full of Sweet Peas.  Every now and then the perfume wafted into the cratch where I was relaxing with a great book, The Dry by Jane Harper.  

Supper that night was tremendous, David had wanted steak for his delayed Birthday Supper, we generally follow a veggie diet these days, unusual for a farmer, don't tell anyone but we also eat a bit of Vegan food too!!   but we had brought fillet steak which melted in the mouth from M&S in Kidderminster, 

plus real chips that were roasted in the oven and frankly were absolutely delicious.

Dessert was strawberries and cream.  

The M6, I always feel super smug looking at motorways from WaL, so glad not to be on there.

Next time we'll moor opposite here to gaze right down this pretty valley

A bit late in the season me thinks to get these grown before winter.

We had our last night on Tixall Wide, as did over eleven boats when I lost count.  David scrubbed the green cratch cover (Its now black again) and I packed our bags.  Next to the boat was this large planty shrub, looking much like thistles but the leaves were not.  It was absolutely buzzing with insects, bees and butterflies.  I was tempted to dig a bit up to bring home for the garden.   

Peacock butterfly?

Unknown butterfly

I would hazard a guess at a Red Admiral 

No idea.

We are home again now, WaL was delivered into the careful hands of our "Boat Sharers" Amanda and David.  They have her for a week so they could easily do the Llangollen canal and get to Braunston, possible down to London.  If you see them say hello.

We'll be back later.

Forgot to say another visitor at Tixall, it stayed quite a while too.