Day 4 Wednesday 24 September
Almost Alrewas to Alrewas via Barton-under-Needwood

As we didn't quite reach Alrewas yesterday evening, our original plan today was to just chug down the 1 lock & stop and then spend the day visiting the National Memorial Arboretum, but once we started off we changed our minds & will visit the NMA tomorrow.

Let me start my recap of the events of the day from the beginning!  Stuart was so impressed with his breakfast this morning that he took a picture!

Eggs Benedict....with rather a lot of sauce!

After our leisurely breakfast, we set off down the 1 lock & into the village of Alrewas, which is very pretty with many canalside properties & thatched cottages.  They used to make baskets from the Alder trees in Alrewas.  Once through the village you drop down 1 more lock & onto a managed section of the River Trent.

Highest navigable stretch of the River Trent

After about a mile of river we reached Wychnor lock & back onto canal.  The canal runs alongside the A38 which is dual carriageway; very noisy & we could hardly hear ourselves speak.

Back in 1988, when we'd been going out for about a year we took a little break & went to Alton Towers.  We stayed in a Travel Lodge at Barton-under-Needwood which was on the edge of the canal, today we've been past that Travelodge! We then turned at Barton Marina & headed back to Alrewas.  Just as we came back into the village we heard these 2 planes, which were part of a dedication of the new Normandy Campaign Memorial, they had 600 invited VIPs & guests at the NMA today - we will be going tomorrow so hopefully can find out more then.

A Dakota & a Spitfire

So now we're moored in Alrewas & this evening we're off to The Crown for a meal

Wildlife we've spotted today

A coot - it's usual to see ducks, swans, geese & moorhens so this coot was more unusual

Lazy day today, only travelled 3 hours through 5 locks