Friday 30th April.
We have spent another 2 days at Barlaston as it is a very nice place to stop. Yesterday (Thursday) we thought we’d walk back to a pub we’d seen, set back from the canal, on the way past, called the Lakeside Tavern. It was quite a walk but George seemed up for it so off we went. However, when we got nearly there and he decided he didn’t want to go any further, so back we went (at break neck speed it has to be said, the shyster) to the Plume of Feathers again. This time we sat right outside the pub and not by the canal as it was raining and we needed the cover. We had a long conversation with a lovely lady called Andrea, a consumate dog lover and former veterinary nurse. Among other things she told us about one of her dogs (she has 8!) being a blood doner, which we didn’t know could be done. While we were there Barry and Barbara came past shouting that they thought they’d see us outside the pub. I don’t know what they can mean! They went all cultural and visited the Wedgewood factory instead of coming to the pub! We didn’t see them later, despite the fact they were moored right near us, as it was raining really hard and none of us ventured out again.
Today we only took himself for a little toddle as he was still tired from yesterday’s efforts, bless and he found a squeaky toy which he wanted to keep. Surprisingly he still has most of it, the squeak has gone though, which is a good thing, however, it may reappear later! Ken and I decided to go to the Lakeside Tavern on our own. A bigger disappointment you couldn’t hope to have. It looked quite nice from the canal and I’m sure it was a lovely pub once but a close inspection revealed it to be rather run down. There was a strange smell in the foyer, the bar was tiny, considering the building was large this surprised us and it was dark with a really low ceiling. The ‘beer garden’ was two rickety tables outside the door! The ladies loos were dark too (probably just as well!) and the door was damp so it stuck when I closed it, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get out! The beer was flat and cloudy so all in all it was not a pleasant experience. We had one beer as we had walked quite a long way to get there and then we high tailed it back to the Plume of Feathers which as it turned out, after first impressions, was a nice pub.
This afternoon and evening it has rained hard again. The good thing about being on the canals as opposed to the rivers is you don’t have to panic when there is a lot of rain!
Tomorrow we will be off to start our journey up the Caldon Canal.
