Back down the Caldon

Wednesday promised to be fine weather but we were moored under trees so we thought it was a bit dull when we woke up.  Anyway we set off retracing our steps back down the Caldon and were soon in the sunshine - it was definitely shorts and tee shirt weather. 

We travelled a couple of miles and went up three locks back to the summit and to the junction of the Leek branch.  Some volunteers were repainting an iron bridge at the top lock so we stopped and had a chat with them.  With very little boat traffic on this canal you are not likely to hold anyone up if you stop and have a chat in a lock.

We stopped for water at Endon and had lunch whilst waiting for the tank to fill.  After lunch we went down the five locks at Stockton Brook.  Karen spotted an out of focus CRT guy down the bottom of one of the overflow weirs.

I went for a wander whilst waiting for Karen to set a lock and found this old railway track.

As it was so nice we moored up in the early afternoon and sat in the cratch and read in the sunshine. There was a reed bank opposite us and House Sparrows were constantly hovering and catching insects.  We knew these sparrows could hover but not for the length of time these guys were - maybe it's a phenomenon associated with the habitat.

In the evening Karen cooked a Chinese stir fry with some of yesterday’s roast chicken.  Still bright at 9.30 in the evening.