People decorate the tops of their boats in different ways. Often you will see planters full or herbs or flowers, rubber ducks, garden gnomes, or buddhas. Once we shared locks with a boat that had a lawn on top. It needed mowing and watering. Then there’s this.

This isn’t even the most surprising boat topping I’ve seen this trip. We went past a boat with an open topped crate containing two Harris Hawks. Yep, there’s a falconer living on a boat with his own mobile mews. That’s a serious commitment. Not only do birds of prey need attention and exercise every day, you also have to keep a freezer full of pheasant, rabbit, and squirrel for them to eat.

Last night we moored at Sutton Cheyney Wharf, a very flash Canal and River Trust facility with nice toilets, free hot showers, and a cafe, as well as the usual water point and elsan facilities (don’t ask). We stayed around this morning to do a load of laundry, and then chugged off up the canal with the washing drying on the bow.

The heatwave is over, though it is not raining. This is the weather the English describe as, “you can’t complain, can you?” It is a bit windy, though, which makes steering the boat harder, so I was quite happy to get to our mooring for the night in the little village of Shackerstone. The local houses have high pitched roofs with curves or gables and neat cottage gardens.

The church tower is 15th century, but the rest of the church was rebuilt in Victorian times, and not by the lowest bidder.

There’s a vintage railway here. Tomorrow we ride the Battlefield Line.