I know we’re getting close to the Black Country. I just bought a packet of scratchings.

Scratchings are pork rinds, similar to the Hispanic chicharrón, but tougher and greasier, and still with the occasional bristle attached. As the pork scratching fan site HairyBarSnacks.com says, they are only for people with strong healthy teeth.

They are a common pub food in the West Midlands. My favorite brand when I was a kid was Ernie Round’s, but they seem to have gone out of business. Perhaps ads like this explain why.

This was a stop and go kind of a day. We started with four locks, then stopped for a lift bridge. The ones on this canal have to be manually cranked up, about eighty turns on the windlass to go up, and another eighty down. Then we stopped to let a rain shower pass over, and then stopped for diesel. That was not as expensive as I had feared, all the traveling we have done so far used less than a hundred dollars worth. We stopped near a convenience store to pick up something for dinner, and then stopped again at an excellent bakery and deli to pick up more goodies, including the packet of scratchings.

Which is all gone now, and the shop is closed. I may have to go back there tomorrow and buy another.