Locks Again, At Last!

Well, we have travelled over 40 miles over the last few days and have only been through 3 locks and one of those was only a foot deep!
Today we prepare to tackle the 11 locks in the Atherstone flight but not before we came across this sad sight.

 

We then passed the famous C&RT yard at Hartshill complete with crane and splendid clock tower.

 

We dismissed the flight in 21/2 hours and moored up a mile short of Polesworth. Although rain had been forecast we had not seen a drop all day so we decided to get the bikes out and trundle along the towpath to Polesworth. The splendid gatehouse and the clerestory are all that remain of the 10th-C abbey, where Egbert, first Saxon King of England, built a nunnery. In the grounds stands the church but it is closed on a Monday but the porch did provide some shelter as the promised rain arrived.
When it eased we ventured along the High Street in search of a coffee shop until the rain cleared. We came across a wonderful venue called "Yesterdays". It is decked out in 1960s American memorabilia including a juke box that had records such as Runaround Sue available. Unfortunately the box was broken awaiting repair. 

Even the loo wasn't forgotten

It had been raining heavily whilst we had tea and cake so we returned to the boat via the road in order to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a bottle of bubbly that Maggie kindly gave us when were moored up in Bristol City docks.