Stratford Theatre Tower

We had a trip up the tower to admire the views

Of course, we were moored right behind the tree in the centre!

Where have I been for the last fortnight?

Sorry for the lack of posts!

We've been back on narrowboat Stella for two weeks and I forgot to leave the blog primed with posts for when we were away!

Our trip took us from Hockley Heath near Birmingham to Stratford on Avon where we went on to the River Avon for a couple of days, then moored in the Stratford canal basin for a weekend.

Here we are moored right by the theatre

Saturday night sunset over the canal basin

London on Monday

First we went to the Tower of London to see the completed poppy installation for remembrance day.

After that we took a boat trip to Greenwich to see Cutty Sark.

Since the last restoration after the fire, you can now go under the ship to see the incredibly sleek lines of the hull which was clad in metal.

Then followed a 50 yard pub walk between Gipsy Moth...

...and the Spanish Galleon

Mnozil Brass

Yes,MNOZIL Brass

We went to see them last night at St.Albans Arena, and it was quite a show!

Here's a first clip...

Wilmcote Railway Station

We moored "Stella" at Wilmcote and caught the train in to Stratford on Avon to avoid doing the last few heavy locks. It was very quick and really quite cheap.

Here's the wonderfully quaint station...

 

Stella - back in June!

Sorry for the delay in posting. We've just had the whole house re-carpeted and the office was out of action for a while.

 

This is on the Stratford canal way back in June.

I think these photos of the Edstone Aqueduct are self explanatory.

Not as long as the Pontywotsit in Wales, but just as scary!

 

Incidentally, why is it Aqueduct and not Aquaduct?

Wycombe Museum

Wycombe museum is housed in this lovely old building

They currently have a very good World War I exhibition

Derby Railway Sheds 3

 

Don't worry, this is the last Derby Railway Sheds post

Our lunchtime venue beckoned and we passed the Midland Railway Institute...

Then a few of these old streets...

To get to The Brunswick Inn where they had 40 cask ales available

 

We couldn't believe that they had hacked a chunk out of this beam to give the darts players a bit more room to fly their arrows 

 

When we dragged ourselves away from the pub we got back to Etches Park and found they had named an engine in honour of the event

Derby Railway Sheds 2

I won't show you any more trains because you'll get bored, won't you?

There were some splendid model layouts there...

Derby Railway Sheds

If you're not keen on trains - look away now!

 

On Saturday we went to Derby with UK Railtours where the Etches Park depot was open to the public for the first time.

 

Here's our train arriving at Luton Parkway station.

This is what the same train looks like in the maintenance shed.

Well, it's almost the same train and it's a bit cleaner too

Lots of engines on show...

Cruising around the UK - Last Post!

The view from the restaurant overlooking St.Peter Port harbour.

From here we sailed home to Portsmouth.

We thoroughly recommend the cruise and we enjoyed every minute.

 

Thank you for coming on the journey with us!

 

Cruising around the UK - Last stop Guernsey

The fast catamaran arriving in St.Peter Port 

Our tender waiting to take us ashore

St.Peter Port

Voyager once again moored offshore

Cruising around the UK - Eden Project

Giant bee, around 15 feet long

In the 'hot house'

Titan Arum Lily

Flowers very rarely and smells like rotting flesh - nice...

Couple more of the MANY photos taken