Slow travel

7/10/2018 Our last week on the good boat Santiago has been shared with  dear Aussie friend Jan, encouraging us to play tour guide in the potteries of Stoke, sharing canal travel, visiting some quirky National Trust houses and gardens. In the Biddulph gardens we spied this bee completely focussed on a dahlia. There too, oak tree roots have been piled to form walls, looking both unusual and a little sinister. The gardens were established by a Victorian horticulturalist, James Bateman. From our marina mooring we've visited Mow Cop, a folly on a Pennine ridge, views for miles across several counties.  An aspiring preacher in 1807 led an initial service on Mow Cop, lasting 14 hours!  I haven't found out whether his followers attended a second service. Walks from the mooring to a nearby pub for fine dining, from a local shopping expedition via Cinderhill Lane and a kilometre or so in late afternoon sun along the towpath, up towards Mow Cop. And now, packing, 'winterising'