Penkridge to Great Hayward - 10 miles
Our first stop today was Acton Trussell, a very posh village which was rather spoilt by the continuous noise of the M6 motorway which passes half a mile away. The village had replaced the "Best Kept Village" competition with another featuring scarecrows, as you can see above and left the locals have put quite a bit of effort into it.
The main object of the day was to visit Stafford. One of the snags of canals is that their builders selected the flatest route so rather than going through the centre of towns they skirt the edges.
Stafford is no exception and we had a horrid mile and a half walk from the boat into town along a busy road past two retail parks which presumably hollow out trade in the centre. Neither of us had any recollection of our five years nearby and were surprised to find quite a nice central square (right) but other than that Stafford seems a very forgettable place which is probably why we have forgotten.
We did have our first meal out in three months, a burger in Weatherspoons, we certainly know how to live!
We have now moved onto Great Hayward and tomorrow will probably have lunch in Stone before mooring for the night near Trentham Gardens which we will visit in the rain on Tuesday.