Another weekend and another Midland's town.

We are making a slow approach to Coventry where a Floating Market will be held as part of the City of Culture celebrations and this weekend we have reached the historic town of Atherstone, an old market town on the A5 which has provided a stopping place for travellers since the  Roman first built it and gave it the prosaic name of Watling Street. 

This association with lines of transport have continued through the centuries, first with the road and then the Coventry Canal and finally the railway which still carries a vast volume of passengers and freight. But this association with transport isnt the be all and and all of Atherstone. For the first half of the 20th century it was famed for its felt hat manufacture, with several factories employing thousands of the local population. Sadly, the fashion for hats faded away in the 1960's and the last hat factory closed in the 1970's.

Anyway, Atherstone represented the last significant town on our route to Coventry, so a weekend on the visitor moorings was planned. What we didnt anticipate was the rain which lashed down all the way up Atherstine's 11 locks. 

This year we have been paying far greater attention to our social media presence when we are trading, offering a heads up as we approach a few days before and then a reminder on the day - and Atherstone as a particularly well connected Facebook Forum. This on line activity resulted in a lot of purchases on Saturday, the one day of dry weather sandwiched between a few days of heavy rain.