Big boys toys

Stoke Golding to Market Bosworth : 6 miles, 0 locks
To date : 1260 miles, 872 locks

After talking with Angie and Dave about the Battlefield Line railway we looked up the operating hours and saw today wold be the only day we could take a trip on it.  We missed out on doing this on the Caldon Canal with the railway there being closed on the Sunday we visited.  We had a choice of stopping at Shenton, Market Bosworth or Shackerstone.  We were also interested in checking out the antique centre at Shenton so tried there first.  There were boats on the moorings we would have liked to have stopped at, further on when we tried to get into the bank we ran aground.  In the end we decided to continue on to Market Bosworth where we moored in front of the new unfinished marina there. 

We walked to the railway station and discovered there was an event on this weekend.  It was the miniature traction engine weekend so there was more to see than we expected.  They had many of these tiny little steam engines (big boys toys).  They were tootling around with wives riding pillion or dogs in little trailers (at least they had that the right way around!).

We bought our train ticket and enjoyed the afternoon on the train and checking out the stations along the way.  As we were at the middle station we went first back to Shenton, then on the train again back to Market Bosworth, then off again to Shackerstone.  Each time we got back on the train we chose a different carriage.  They were all about 1960's era.  It was pretty busy with lots of little kids enjoying their afternoon out.

The station at Shackerstone had a railway museum and a gorgeous little tea room.  At each end station they detached the engine and shunted it to the other end of the train for the return journey.  We crossed over roads with lines of cars and kids waving, the driver hooting the train whistle.  On the final return to Market Bosworth there was a crazy symphony of all the little engines blowing whistles in response to the big engine. What a fun afternoon we had.

The weather was on and off today.  We had sunny spells interspersed with rain.  In the end we decided to save the antique centre for our return trip on the boat.  We know where we can moor now!

We noticed a sign for Will's free range eggs on the canal side today so when we reached the right bridge I jumped off the boat and through the little gate to find a box attached to the other side of the fence with a money tin with a locked code on it.

It was another enjoyable day today.  Nice cruising this morning... chatting to passing ramblers... seeing nesting swans.... donkeys in spotted rugs.... horses rolling in the grass... and the afternoon was a very pleasant way to pass a few hours.