Though I was born in Staffordshire, I’d never been to the county town, Stafford, until today. I have to say that everyone we met seems to be very nice. At the bus stop we got talking to an old waterman. These days he has his own canal boat and also does volunteer work for canal and river trust, but he got started as a kid leading the horse pulling a commercial boat, delivering coal from the mines on Cannock Chase to power stations in the Black Country.

I had barely taken my camera out in the market square when we were accosted by a schoolgirl who wanted to be photographed with her friend. Here you go, girls.

A career in modeling awaits, I’m sure.

Stafford’s main tourist attraction, the Ancient High House…

… was closed today, so we took a look at the churches. St Chad’s has a wonderful door surround.

The building dates back to the 12th century, but bits of it have fallen down and been restored over the years, including the almost obligatory Victorian makeover by one of the Gilbert Scotts, so who knows who came up with those strange triangular faces.

These days those stonemasons could get a job as costume designers for Doctor Who.

St Chad, in case you are wondering, was a 7th century Mercian abbott. He was buried in Lichfield cathedral, or at least some of him was. His skull was kept in a separate chapel, and lost during the reformation. Another collection of his bones passed through various hands until they ended up on the high altar of Birmingham’s Catholic Cathedral, also dedicated to St Chad. The original bones included three femurs, but since the Venerable Bede never mentioned Chad having three legs, one of them was deemed to be insufficiently 7th century. The rest were authenticated by the Vatican as 100% saintly, and not just some random collection of bones including three legs that someone dug up to attract pilgrims, no siree!

After St Chads we were briefly distracted by a tea room…

… before finding our way to the Collegiate Church of St Mary.

The oldest thing in the church is the 12th century font.

It has four lobes, and strange figures between them, and nobody is quite sure where the design came from. Suggestions range from Scandinavia to Byzantium.

However, the best thing in the church are the carvings at the end of the pews.

Every one is different, and yes, there are even a couple of green men.

This morning we left the Trent and Mersey and turned onto the Staffs and Worcester, with Paula singing Leaving Trent and Mersey to the tune of Ferry Cross The Mersey. A few bits of boat art we passed on the way. First a nice dragon.

Some more Latin for Nick to critique.

Lister is a vintage brand of diesel engine.

Finally, we passed this boat last year, and were sad to see Mark still hasn’t filled his vacancy.

Hang on in there, Mark. Somewhere on the cut is the right person to raise the paddles and open the gates for you.