As we have breakfast we can here railway engines in steam with great clouds of smoke and steam emerging from behind the trees. After breakfast we walk to Shackerstone station and find we have to purchase a platform ticket for a £1 to gain access to the station. Platform tickets are a thing of the past and back in the ‘Good old days’ these cost 1d (that’s one old penny!). The platform ticket gives us access to the Museum and the station tea room where the home made cakes can only be described as excellent value for money. We meet several people who have had the misfortune of being on the platform when the last train departed and are covered in sooty ‘smuts’. As the train arrives we beat a hasty retreat not wishing to indulge in a coating of soot!
We spent the afternoon cruising to Market Bosworth, stopping off Sutton Cheney Wharf to top up with water. We arrived at the 48 hour moorings by Bridge 42 around 4:00pm. With shopping for provisions a necessity we set off to Market Bosworth town centre which is about ¾ mile from the bridge. As we walk up station Road towards the town centre we pass the Market Bosworth Golf and Country Club. A hoarding announces that the golf and country club was due to be completed in 2009. Whilst there was plenty of evidence that the golf course was complete and maturing, the porta cabins bore little or no resemblance to the artist impression of the country club! Market Bosworth has a plentiful supply shops and pubs around the market place. We booked Sunday lunch at the Old Red Lion which seemed the best value. Fish ‘n’ Chips was planned to be our evening meal but we could see no prospect of getting back to Digitalis and them still be hot. Note to self: get the bikes on Digitalis then distant shops would not be a problem!
